By Bob Smizik, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Pittsburgh Pirates Ryan Doumit (41) congratulates teammate Freddy Sanchez (R) as he scores against the New York Yankees on a double by teammate Jason Bay in the third inning of their Interleague MLB baseball game in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania June 24, 2008. REUTERS/Jason Cohn (UNITED STATES)
If it's the Yankees in Pittsburgh, it must be a World Series. Right?
And that's the way Pittsburgh treated it last night at PNC Park. The town is so starved for meaningful baseball that it lunged at the opportunity to make the Yankees first non-exhibition game appearance in Pittsburgh since the 1960 World Series something extra special.
Every seat for the three-game series was sold in March, the first day the public had a chance at them. They all showed last night, too, 38,867 to be exact, which was the third-largest crowd in PNC Park history. The Pirates loved it.
Ryan Doumit, who homered and had three hits, called the atmosphere "playoffish," and said, "I could get use to this."
Jason Bay, who had two doubles and drove in a run, said: "It was like the All-Star game [in 2006]. There was an electricity in the crowd. We did something, and the place went crazy."
It was all there, except for one ingredient: The opposition.
Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop Jack Wilson (R) turns the double play over New York Yankees Derek Jeter (2) in the third inning of their Interleague MLB baseball game in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania June 24, 2008. Yankees Bobby Abreu was out on the play as well. REUTERS/Jason Cohn (UNITED STATES)
The Yankees, the most famous franchise in baseball if not all sports, are what drew this crowd. It was the prospect of watching Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter, two certain Hall of Famers, and being in the vicinity of that great Yankees history and tradition that packed the place. A ticket was a badge of honor, and, just like at a World Series, many were there not so much because it was a baseball game but because it was an event.
But the Yankees never showed.
Where was the team with the $200 million payroll? Where was the team that had won eight of its past 10 games and appeared to be making a move in the American League East after a slow start? That team never surfaced and became a 12-5 loser against a Pirates onslaught that never rested. The Pirates scored in six of their eight at-bats.
It's not like the Yankees weren't presented with a splendid opportunity to flex those well-known, if somewhat missing in action, offensive muscles against Tom Gorzelanny, who, as has been the case most of the season, wasn't very good.
Gorzelanny wobbled through six innings, throwing 99 pitches, 52 of which were balls. He allowed six hits, five walks -- four in the first three innings -- and one hit batsman. But, for all those baserunners, the Yankees could get only one run through five innings and three in six against Gorzelanny.
This was no Murderers' Row, as the great 1927 Yankees team of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig were known, but a Multimillionaire's Row. Batters two through six for the Yankees all earn eight-figure salaries, and three take home more than $20 million annually. It was this group, and, perhaps, only this group, that Gorzelanny handled.
Pittsburgh Pirates' Ryan Doumit (41) rounds third past New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez, left, after hitting a fifth-inning solo home run off Yankees pitcher Darrell Rasner in a baseball game at Pittsburgh Tuesday, June 24, 2008. The Pirates won 12-5.
(AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
There was no greater example of Yankees ineptitude, and Gorzelanny's brass, than the third. He opened the inning by going 0-2 on his pitching opponent, Darrell Rasner. He then threw eight consecutive balls to Rasner and Melky Cabrera. The Yankees had Gorzelanny right where they wanted him. Due up were Derek Jeter, salary $21.6 million; Bobby Abreu, $16 million; Alex Rodriguez, $28 million; Jason Giambi, $23.4 million; and Jorge Posada, $13.1 million. The salary of those five batters was $102 million, more than twice the Pirates' current 25-man payroll.
Gorzelanny looked to be in deep trouble. But, as manager John Russell would put it, "he battled all night."
Jeter bounced the ball sharply to Gorzelanny, who could have had a double play by going to third or second. He looked at third and then threw badly to second, eliminating any chance for the double play. No matter. Rodriguez obliged with another double-play grounder, and this one was converted superbly by Freddy Sanchez and Jack Wilson.
In the seventh, the Yankees' big hitters had another crack at the Pirates when Jeter doubled to start the inning against Tyler Yates, who replaced Gorzelanny. But Abreu popped up, Rodriguez grounded out and, after Damaso Marte replaced Yates, Giambi struck out.
In a game with two ineffective starting pitchers, it shouldn't be that big of a surprise that the Pirates would have the edge. After all, they've hit more homers, 80-77, and scored more runs, 382-356, than the Yankees.
"We swung the bats well, and we kept the pressure on them the whole game, Russell said. "We kept adding on, which is very important against a team like that."
The atmosphere of the night was not lost on Russell, who keeps his emotions in check. "It was a great night. The fans were into it, and the players fed off that."
Bob Smizik can be reached at bsmizik@post-gazette.com.
First published on June 25, 2008 at 12:00 am
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