In the not too distant past, Pirate closer Jose Mesa would have considered two options when Jason Giambi came to bat with first base open and one out in the 10th inning: Work very, very carefully to him, or do not pitch to him at all.
However, in a more recent past, Giambi has become a weak-hitting disgrace. His final three at-bats in regulation had not only ended in strikeout, weak pop out and strike out, but also ever escalating boos from a crowd of 48,828, who essentially were as fond of him as whooping cough.
“Let’s be honest,” Joe Torre said, “he is batting eighth in the order now and has not been the hitter he was.”
So Pittsburgh manager Lloyd McClendon and Mesa did not see a menace to anything more than the reputation of major league baseball. When Mesa pumped a first-pitch fastball for a called strike, Giambi knew he was not being intentionally walked or pitched around with cutters and splits. Mesa was coming after him with heat. “Game on,” Giambi thought.
Mesa threw five straight fastballs, the final one on a 2-2 count, wound up in the upper deck in right for a two-run homer and a 7-5 Yankee victory. So a day that began with city and team officials announcing plans on razing the roof of this old stadium ended with the fans who booed Giambi raising the roof.
“I’m a human being,” Giambi said of the jeers. “It’s not a [stinking] joy, especially in my home ballpark.”
Giambi, in so many ways, is representative of the 2005 Yankees, famous and rich, but also too often an embarrassment. He played a game in the field last Friday night in St. Louis that did not even belong on the outtake reel of “The Bad News Bears.” The performance brought renewed calls to simply waive the one-time most obvious juicer in the game and eat roughly $80 million.
That is still too much of an expensive meal for George Steinbrenner, whose family yesterday guaranteed to put up 10 times that amount to finance a new Yankee Stadium across the street from an old one not breaking down quite as quickly as his team.
Steinbrenner’s mere presence at the Stadium heightens the anxiety level, and so Giambi’s walk-off homer was not merely one small step toward redemption, but also one giant opportunity for an organizational to exhale. The Yanks moved back to .500 (32-32) and, with Randy Johnson starting tonight, have a chance to sweep Pittsburgh to open a 13-game homestand. Like with Giambi, the Yanks can only hope it is truly indicative of moving toward better things.
In case Steinbrenner and, more important, the mean-spirited whisperers who have his ear did not notice, Torre and beleaguered pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre made a subtle, winning move. They summoned Mariano Rivera for an untraditional spot, to protect a one-run deficit in the ninth. He did. The Yanks tied the score, helped by a blown call at first base by ump Tony Randazzo, who incorrectly ruled Gary Sheffield safe, negating what should have been a game-ending double play.
That mistake allowed Jorge Posada to deliver a clutch, two-out, RBI single, Rivera to work a scoreless top of the 10th and for Giambi to finally have another moment as big as that walk-off grand slam in the rain against Minnesota on May 12, 2003. The Yanks needed it so much YES probably has a Giambi Yankeeograpy in the works now.
“Hopefully this is a turning point,” Giambi said.
He could have extended that hope to not just himself, but his team. This was just the first time in 31 opportunities that a club with Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez, Hideki Matsui and Gary Sheffield and, yes, Giambi, had won when trailing after eight innings. It was just the Yanks’ 12th come-from-behind victory. They had 61 last year.
But for one night mystique, aura and Giambi were back. With a new stadium now in the future, it felt like the clock had been returned to a better time.
—
Back-to-back at last
Yankees won consecutive games for the first time this month:
DATE — OPPONENT — RESULT — RECORD
June 4 Minnesota Won, 4-3 28-27
June 5 Minnesota Lost, 9-3 28-28
June 6 Milwaukee Lost, 4-3 28-29
June 7 Milwaukee Lost, 2-1 28-30
June 8 Milwaukee Won, 12-3 29-30
June 10 St. Louis Lost, 8-1 29-31
June 11 St. Louis Won, 5-0 30-31
June 12 St. Louis Lost, 5-3 30-32
June 14 Pittsburgh Won, 9-0 31-32
June 15 Pittsburgh Won, 7-5 32-32
