The cornerstone for the current Yankees dynasty is pitching, pitching and more pitching, but as this first-place juggernaut rolls on, it is becoming increasingly evident that this club leans more heavily on hitting, hitting and more hitting.
It rarely matters anymore if a Yankee starter is merely ordinary, which was the case last night with David Wells. He allowed five runs and could not get out of the seventh inning, but he stuck around long enough to gain another victory, thanks to the batting prowess of his teammates.
These guys get their rips and circle the bases. They hit home runs on a record-breaking pace and get productive at-bats from their stars and their lesser-lights, such as Enrique Wilson, who made the most of a rare start by hitting a career-high two triples. It added up to an 11-8 victory over the Indians in front of 39,879 last night at Yankee Stadium.
“It’s nice to have an offense like we have,” Wells said.
What an offense it is. The Yankees scored five runs in the second inning, all with two outs, and four more in the seventh, again with two outs.
Of course, they hit a home run, this one by Alfonso Soriano, his 20th and the majors-leading 129th for the team. They even manufactured a run, which has not been a strong suit this season, as in the fifth Derek Jeter doubled, moved to third on an infield out and scored on Jason Giambi’s sacrifice fly.
They also hustled to set up runs, as Jorge Posada’s two-run single in the seventh was preceded by Raul Mondesi’s infield hit, as he hustled out of the box, slid into first base to just beat third baseman Travis Fryman’s throw.
“When you hit home runs you can go into a slump,” said Joe Torre, whose team remained one game ahead of the Red Sox and is 21 games over .500 for the first time this season. “We kept reminding them we still have to be that club that does the right thing.”
The lone notable achievement for the Indians was Jim Thome’s home run off Wells in the seventh inning, which gave Thome homers in seven consecutive games. That’s one shy of the major league record held by Dale Long (1956), Don Mattingly (1987) and Ken Griffey Jr. (1993). Thome has an American League-leading 26 home runs.
The Yankees hit for the cycle in the second inning off lefty starter and loser C.C. Sabathia (6-7). Ron Coomer, playing for the first time in 10 games because of a pinched nerve in his neck, slammed a double to right and Rondell White followed with a two-run single to center, with Coomer huffing and puffing and just beating Milton Bradley’s throw to the plate. Coomer later added a two-run double.
Pitching with the luxury of a lead is nothing new for Wells (9-5), as the Yankees entering the game were averaging 5.7 runs every time the lefty stepped to the mound. From the start, though, Wells did not look comfortable, falling behind hitters early and often in the intense heat. It was 93 degrees at the start of the game, and Wells despises pitching when it is so hot. “It flat-out [stunk],” he said.
In the past, Torre did not feel Wells battled hard enough in games when he did not have his best stuff. There was no quit in Wells – now 15-4 in his career against the Indians – this time around. He said he changed his shirt six times and that “my shoes weighed about 30 pounds each.”
Despite the heat, Wells after allowing three runs in the fourth inning was able to last into the seventh before Thome’s homer ended his evening.
A 10-5 lead was whittled down by the Indians, as Steve Karsay was charged with three runs in the eighth. Mariano Rivera restored order for his 20th save.
