Yankees Combine Power and Clutch Pitching

Yankees Combine Power and Clutch Pitching

By ZACH SCHONBRUN
Published: July 14, 2012
Yankees Manager Joe Girardi does not offer sweeping assessments of his team often. But on Saturday, after the Yankees beat the Los Angeles Angels, 5-3, to improve their major-league-best record to 54-33, Girardi was pressed to consider whether this season’s team might be evolving into the finest of his five-year tenure.
“Remember, the year we won the World Series, we won 103 games during the regular season,” Girardi said. “But I think this team is playing almost about as well as it can. We’re getting contributions from a lot of our different guys at different times.


“Could some individual numbers be better? Yes. But the contribution we’re getting from all 25 guys has been really good this year.”

That evaluation, from the manager of a team with a $209 million payroll, might cause some eyes to roll. But while Friday’s come-from-behind victory belonged to the star slugger Mark Teixeira, who homered twice, Saturday’s game was flavored by a fill-in starting pitcher, Freddy Garcia, and a quirky reliever, Cody Eppley, who was not on the roster when the season began.

Add another strong performance from Robinson Cano, who homered for the first time since being shut out in Monday’s All-Star Home Run Derby, and the Yankees improved to 23-8 since June 8.

“Everybody’s contributing, and that’s what we want,” Cano said. “Everybody’s doing the little things, and our bullpen has been good, too.”

Cano’s first homer since July 1, a two-out, two-run shot in the first, did not clear the playing field by much. It hit squarely on top of the wall in left-center field before skipping into the bleachers. But that hardly mattered as it tied the score, 2-2, and provided a lift to Garcia, who was making his third start since replacing the injured Andy Pettitte in the rotation.

Garcia allowed a walk and three hits in the first, including a two-run single to Alberto Callaspo. But Cano’s homer erased those early miscues.

“That was nice, to give up two in the first and then get it back,” Garcia said. “The next inning, I was able to shut it down, and it’s good when that happens. I was able to go five and give up three. And the bullpen did a great job.”

Garcia, 35, likes to take his time on the mound, as if it is a stage he wants to occupy for as long as possible. He saunters, fidgets, tugs at his jersey, readjusts his hat, lingers over the catcher’s signs — collecting himself in every manner imaginable before somewhat begrudgingly releasing each pitch.

It is not the most electrifying approach, especially on a muggy day when an afternoon game followed a night game and the pace of play dripped. But it may have lulled the powerful Angels (48-40) to sleep, too. Garcia settled down after the first, giving up three runs and five hits in five innings.

“He did a nice job,” Girardi said. “He gave us the five innings, and that was important.”

Curtis Granderson had a two-run homer in the third, his 24th home run of the season, and Cano added a run-scoring single up the middle in the sixth to give the Yankees a 5-3 lead. That came after the game had been turned over to Eppley, a sidewinding right-hander who was claimed off waivers in April and began the season with Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Eppley, 26, pitched two scoreless innings, continuing his emergence as an effective middle reliever for a team that has pieced together its pitching staff in the wake of injuries to Pettitte and C. C. Sabathia. Saturday was Eppley’s sixth consecutive appearance without allowing a run.

“I think we expect each other to go out there and get the job done every day,” Eppley said of the Yankees’ relievers. “We feed off each other.”

Eppley provided the bridge to setup man Dave Robertson, who pitched a scoreless eighth, and closer Rafael Soriano, who shut down the top of the Angels’ order in the ninth to earn his 22nd save. Soriano has converted 13 consecutive save chances.

“They’ve done a tremendous job,” Girardi said of the bullpen. “It’s been different pieces, and guys have done different roles at different times. But I love the job that they’re doing. They’re ready to pitch at any time I call upon them.”

Cano said he watched his home-run ball just long enough to see it careen off the top of the wall, and smiled. He could not even do that at the Home Run Derby.

“This place is fun,” Cano said, “especially when it’s hot.”

INSIDE PITCH

C. C. Sabathia (strained groin) reported no soreness after throwing 30 pitches in a simulated game Friday. He will throw a bullpen session Sunday and is expected to be activated from the disabled list to start against the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday.