Yankees 7 – Angels 4
What, exactly, do the Yankees have in Jon Lieber? Is he the quick-working, strike-throwing freak who has pitched brilliantly twice at Yankee Stadium? Or is he the chucker who was spanked by the Mariners in Seattle when he couldn’t get his pitches below the belt?
With their fifth-starter’s spot a disaster, the Yankees desperately need Lieber to provide solid efforts from the fourth turn in the rotation. They will find a fifth starter, but unearthing two arms (especially if Jose Contreras isn’t one of them) is a daunting task. Yesterday, Lieber delivered, hurling the Yankees to a 7-4 victory over the Angels in front of 41,089 at the Stadium.
George Steinbrenner watched from GM Brian Cashman’s box and had to like what he saw from 33-year-old Lieber, who paid a price for the two pitches he got above the belt but otherwise handcuffed the injury-depleted Angels.
Outside of the fourth inning, when he allowed four hits and three runs on Jose Guillen’s three-run, opposite-field homer to right, Lieber cruised until experiencing a mini-sweat in the ninth inning when the Angels nicked Tom Gordon and Mariano Rivera for a run. Rivera posted his 13th save by fanning Shane Halter with the bases loaded.
“We are relying on him, he is not a bonus guy for us,” Joe Torre said of Lieber (2-1), who went eight innings, allowed three runs and five hits. In 21 innings this season, he hasn’t issued a walk. “What we saw today and what we saw the first time, he could be huge for us.”
Lieber was supported by solo homers from Ruben Sierra, Hideki Matsui and Bernie Williams, who went 3-for-4 and provided hope that he is emerging from a season-long funk that has him in and out of Torre’s lineup. Going into the game, Williams was hitting .194 and was in a 2-for-17 (.118) slide, but he singled and scored in the first, doubled and scored in the third, and homered in the seventh.
“It felt great,” said Williams. “Obviously I haven’t been playing well. Hopefully, a game like this will give me a jump start.”
It’s nice that Williams hit, Sierra stayed hot and Matsui, who followed the homer with an RBI double to left, was more selective. However, the Yankees will go as far as their arms take them. That’s what makes Lieber so important. It’s also why they paid him $3 million prior to the 2003 season when they knew he would miss the entire year recovering from Tommy John surgery.
The victory, coupled with Boston’s 12-6 loss at Toronto, enabled the Yankees to take over first place in the AL East by a half game. They took two of three from the Angels and have won 12 of 15 going into a three-game series with the Mariners.
Lieber’s lone lapse surfaced in the fourth. Staked to a 3-0 lead, he gave up consecutive two-out singles to Jeff DaVanon and Vladimir Guerrero before Guillen drove a 1-1 slider on the outer half of the plate into the right-field seats for his eighth homer and a tie score.
“It was frustrating because I had a rhythm going,” said Lieber, who retired the first 11 hitters and the next 11 after he gave up a single to Casey Kotchman following Guillen’s homer. “I didn’t do a good job of keeping the ball down. It was a lack of concentration.”
Is it really as simple as Lieber makes it? Keep the ball below the belt and he dominates. Elevate it north of the buckle and he gets spanked.
According to catcher John Flaherty, it is. “In his three starts, when he has been down he has been effective,” Flaherty said. “Today he left two pitches up and they got hit.”
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Leave it to Lieber
Jon Lieber, yesterday’s winner in a 7-4 Yankees’ win, has sandwiched two good starts around one bad one this season. Here’s a look at the lines for Lieber, who sat out all last season after arm surgery:
Date+Opponent+Decision+IP+H+R+ER+BB+K+HR
May 1+vs. Royals+W, 12-4+7+5+3+3+0+3+1
May 7+at Mariners+L, 6-2+6+9+6+6+0+2+1
Yesterday+vs. Angels+W, 7-4+8+5+3+3+0+6+1
