Yankees 8, Red Sox 3 Yanks Make a Dent as Pettitte Finds Support
By TYLER KEPNER Published: May 24, 2007
The Yankees’ best chance to significantly dent the American League East standings this week would have been to sweep the Boston Red Sox. That did not happen, because the teams split the first two games of their three-game series.
The Red Sox’ David Ortiz was hitting .357 against Andy Pettitte. But Pettitte, who gave up one run in seven innings, retired Ortiz three times Wednesday. For now, the Yankees must take smaller bites. Their record is still below .500, and they remain far behind the Red Sox. But they won the series, with Andy Pettitte giving them seven solid innings and the hitters finally supporting him in an 8-3 victory last night at Yankee Stadium.
“We have to be thinking in terms of winning series,” Manager Joe Torre said. “We just haven’t been able to continue doing things, and we need to do that. It’s time for us to get our record where it should be.”
The Yankees are 21-24, nine and a half games behind the Red Sox, who are 31-15. But they have outhit their opponent in five of their last six games and churned out 16 hits last night. Derek Jeter went 3 for 5 to pass Joe DiMaggio for fifth place on the Yankees’ career hit list.
“He’s amazing,” Pettitte said of Jeter. “He’s an absolute hitting machine. He’s been getting a lot of hits for a long time. He’s a great player, probably the best I’ve ever played with as far as, if you need a big hit, you want him up there.”
The Yankees gave Curt Schilling his first loss since opening day. Every Yankees batter except the embattled Jason Giambi had at least one hit off Schilling, who allowed 12 hits for the first time in more than three years.
The victory was the Yankees’ third in four games, all against the Mets or the Red Sox. Mariano Rivera worked the ninth inning and struck out the last three hitters, sending the Yankees into a day off with a good feeling.
“It would have been a tough 24 hours if we’d have lost this series here,” said Doug Mientkiewicz, who had three hits, including a homer off Schilling. “We just played the way we’re supposed to play, that’s the bottom line.”
The last time Pettitte faced the Red Sox, on April 27, he allowed five runs and six hits in four and two-thirds innings. Pettitte chastised himself that night, saying he was embarrassed and calling it a joke that he could not last longer.
Since then, Pettitte had made four quality starts — at least six innings, no more than three earned runs — with just one victory to show for it. Torre said he was due for better luck, and it arrived in the bottom of the first inning, when the Yankees scored three runs before they made their first out.
Johnny Damon doubled and Jeter scored him with a single, the 2,214th hit of his career, matching DiMaggio’s total in 13 fewer games.
Jeter and DiMaggio have played almost the same number of games: 1,723 for Jeter, 1,736 for DiMaggio. Jeter reached the hit total in 6,966 at-bats, 144 more than DiMaggio. Jeter’s career average is .318, 7 points below DiMaggio’s.
“Honestly, I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t nice,” Jeter said. “But we’re concerned with other things. We’re concerned with winning.”
Hideki Matsui sent the Yankees toward the victory by following Jeter with a line-drive homer into the right-field seats. It was 3-0 Yankees, and they scored single runs in each of the next three innings off Schilling.
“He didn’t seem any different than his usual self,” Matsui said through an interpreter, before adding, “Maybe the velocity on his fastball might have been somewhat down.”
Mientkiewicz made the same observation. He had been 0 for 6 in his career off Schilling before turning on an inside fastball and smashing it off the facing of the third deck in right field. Mientkiewicz was 1 for his last 19 before the fourth-inning home run. “I took a little bit of frustration out on that swing,” he said.
Pettitte, meanwhile, managed the game much better than Schilling. He allowed nine hits and did not have a 1-2-3 inning until the seventh, but he allowed just one run, on a double by Mike Lowell with two out in the sixth. As he left the mound after that inning, Pettitte kicked at the dirt in front of the Yankees’ dugout.
Even a perfectionist, though, could have been satisfied with the way Pettitte handled two tough hitters. He retired David Ortiz and Jason Varitek three times each, even though Ortiz had a .357 career average off him and Varitek .366.
“I feel like everybody’s hitting .300 off me,” Pettitte said. “I know I give up a lot of hits. I just try to hopefully get some double-play balls and stay away from the long ball. It was nice to be able to go out there and shut those guys down.”
It was nice for Pettitte, and necessary for the Yankees.
INSIDE PITCH
Phil Hughes threw 35 pitches from the top of a bullpen mound yesterday in Tampa, Fla., the first time he has done that since straining his left hamstring May 1. With Hughes still recovering and Matt DeSalvo now in long relief, the Yankees will keep Tyler Clippard in the rotation and start him tomorrow against the Los Angeles Angels. If Roger Clemens joins the Yankees the next time through the rotation, Manager Joe Torre said, he would probably pitch May 29 in Toronto.
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