YANKS ‘HAF’ LIFE! Travis Hafner is congratulated by third base coach Rob Thomson after hitting a three-run home run off Jered Weaver during the third inning of the Yankees’ 6-5 victory over the Angels yesterday. (
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ANAHEIM — Can you even imagine the anxiety that would have enveloped The Bronx today had Mariano Rivera served up a walk-off hit to Albert Pujols? Good grief.
But the best closer ever struck out one of the best first basemen ever, concluding a thrilling ninth inning with a 6-5 Yankees victory over the Angels at Angel Stadium, which means this: Tally another win for the B Squad.
It will be a nearly impossible mission for these Yankees, as currently constituted, to fight their way into the playoffs. Fresh off ending a five-game losing streak, headed back home after this grueling West Coast road trip, they’ll give it a shot nevertheless.
“We don’t really have a choice,” said Travis Hafner, whose three-run homer off Angels ace Jered Weaver broke a scoreless tie. “People get hurt. Injuries are part of the game. With the group that we have, we have to go out and win games. Overall, we’re a confident bunch.”
Mark Teixeira received a cortisone shot to his right wrist yesterday, his immediate and long-term future uncertain despite the relatively good news that he did not re-tear the ECU sheath. None of the rehabilitating group of Francisco Cervelli, Curtis Granderson, Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and Kevin Youkilis is expected back any time soon. A major trade at this time seems unlikely.
So it’s up to these guys, whom Yankees hitting coach Kevin Long dubbed the B Squad on Saturday — much to the players’ amusement.
“You’ve got to loosen something up,” Lyle Overbay said.
Hafner began the day hitless in his last 23 at-bats. Vernon Wells was 8-for-77, Overbay 6-for-31 and Jayson Nix, well, he wasn’t really slumping as much as performing to his norms as a hitter in the major leagues.
Those four guys, however, gave the Yankees a five-run third inning with a string of two-out hits. A Wells sacrifice fly in the eighth provided the visitors with an insurance run that proved far more valuable than the Yankees ever could have imagined, as CC Sabathia’s brilliant, eight-plus inning effort unraveled with the Angels putting up five runs in the ninth off Sabathia, David Robertson and Rivera and loading the bases for the Pujols-Rivera matchup.
As nightmarish as the ninth inning nearly wound up for the Yankees, they are going to be just fine if they score six runs a game. The bigger question is: How feasible is anything approaching that level of offense?
The Yankees (38-31) matched their highest run total of this road trip, which they opened with a 6-1 victory over the Mariners on June 6. They passed the Twins for 10th place in the American League in runs scored (270). And for all of their recent ennui, they trail the Red Sox (42-29) by just two games in the loss column, three overall.
Such positivity was nowhere to be found early yesterday, as the Yankees left three runners on base in the first inning — they couldn’t even cash in on a second-and-third, none-out rally — and made two straight outs in the third with guys on first and second. Only when Hafner crushed his 11th homer could the Yankees exhale — temporarily, as the ninth showed.
“I figured all of those monkeys jumped off our back,” Overbay said. “I think we were pressing a little bit. That was a big hit for us. After the first inning, definitely that was a big lift.”
And when Wells followed with a single, Overbay with a double that scored Wells and Nix with a single that scored Overbay (thanks to Angels catcher Chris Iannetta’s inability to hold on to Mike Trout’s one-bounce relay from left field), the B Squad had triumphantly returned.
“Timely hitting,” Overbay said. “I think we’ve got away from that. Trying to do too much. We did a real good job as far as taking the hits, taking the one RBI, leaving it up to the next guy. We’ve got to continue to do that. That’s what we’re good at.”
Perhaps an improvement in approach can help, yet the Yankees’ underwhelming group numbers reflect reality more than some baffling drought. When Joe Girardi points out that these guys helped the Yankees reach a peak of 30-18, he is unwittingly conceding the team already put together one miraculous run this season.
The rest of us can and should discuss the unlikely math, the mounting odds, the strong likelihood this will be the first Yankees team to miss the postseason since Girardi’s first team in 2008.
But the actual Yankees? They might as well go for it.