ST. PETERSBURG – His mom was seriously injured in an Alabama car accident during spring training. Then he lost a big league job to Josh Phelps at the end of camp and suffered through the indignity of no other team wanting him for free.
So, Andy Phillips toiled at Triple-A until the middle of June not knowing if he would ever make it back to The Bronx. And even when he did, there was talk the Yankees were looking for a first baseman anyway.
Yesterday at Tropicana Field, Phillips went a long way toward saving the Yankees’ season with clutch hitting and an outstanding defensive play that led the Yankees to a colossal 7-6 win over the Devil Rays in front of a sold-out Tropicana Field crowd of 36,048.
“He has been through a lot,” said Alex Rodriguez, whose leadoff double started a three-run eighth in which Phillips’ contributed a two-out RBI single that put the Yankees ahead. “You like to see great people get rewarded.”
In the Yankees’ designer universe, Phillips is strictly off-the-rack. Yet, his 2-for-4, two-RBI game lifted his average to .304 and if it didn’t end the Yankees’ search for an upgrade at first, it certainly has made it less pressing.
“It’s been crazy,” Phillips said of the past five months. But it’s getting better. Linda, his mother, was well enough to travel and was on hand to see two games this weekend but was not at yesterday’s tilt.
On top of the key hits – he had an RBI triple in the fifth when a fly ball to center reversed course on B.J. Upton – Phillips made the play of the game in the eighth.
Kyle Farnsworth, who has to be in danger of losing his eighth-inning job, allowed the Devil Rays to cut the Yankees’ lead to 7-6 via two doubles. And when Dioner Navarro, the No. 9 batter, laced a liner toward right field it appeared the Devil Rays would tie the score.
Yet, Phillips dove toward his left, snagged the ball in the air and fired to second to complete the inning-ending double play.
“You are hoping (to catch the ball) to be honest,” Phillips said about his thinking when he left the ground.
“He saved our rear ends today,” said Joe Torre, whose club took the required three of four from the lowly Devil Rays and has won eight of the past 11 games.
At 45-44, the Yankees are over .500 for the first time since June 22. Coupled with the Red Sox losing, the Yankees moved to within nine games of the AL East leaders. The last time the Yankees’ deficit wasn’t double digits was June 19. They remained eight lengths back of the Indians in the Wild-Card race.
Even in a 7-3 victory Thursday night, the Yankees never handled the Devil Rays. But they won three and that was the minimum they could afford when the post All-Star break schedule began.
“It’s huge because 2-2 would have been a loss for us,” said Rodriguez, who is 2-for-14 since homering in the fourth inning Thursday night. “We want to win series, whether it’s two of three or three of four, that’s what we are looking for.”
Mariano Rivera had a one-run lead to work the ninth with and it immediately got tense when Akinori Iwamura blooped a single to center leading off and Carl Crawford was awarded first base when his bat tipped Jorge Posada’s glove on a 0-2 pitch.
But A-Rod turned Brendan Harris’ grounder into a 5-3 double play and Rivera sealed his 13th save in 15 chances by popping up Pena to end it.
“You can’t go 2-2, especially after being 2-1,” Torre said.
Thanks to Phillips, they didn’t.