Daily Archives: April 25, 2005

Ever since leaving the ballpark on Sunday afternoon, I’ve been racking my brain to come up with something to say about Andy Phillips racking up four RBIs and six total bases in his first start of the year and the first Yankee Stadium start of his career, but I’ve got nothing. I’ve said it all already. The man can hit. He should be a permanent part of the Yankees’ 25-man roster and deserves the opportunity to establish himself in a platoon or even a starting role at first or second base. What happened Sunday was that the rest of the Yankee universe began to notice.

To his credit, Joe Torre may actually have been ahead of the curve. Torre was the man responsible for recalling Phillips when Ruben Sierra went down with a torn bicep, recognizing that Sierra’s only contribution to the team was at the plate and that Phillips is, above all else (and all others), a hitter. Torre then reacted to the two dismal losses that began the current homestand by inserting Phillips into Sunday’s starting lineup in place of left-handed fan favorite Tino Martinez despite the fact that the Rangers were starting a righty. Phillips then delivered with an RBI double in his first at bat and a three-run homer in his last. The home run earned him a curtain call from the Yankee Stadium crowd and, after the game, Joe Torre said, “he showed that we want to see him a little bit more.” Tom Singer of MLB.com went as far as to call Torre “a devotee of Phillips.” I hope he’s right.

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Randy Johnson was not overpowering yesterday, but he delivered his best performance in pinstripes as the Yanks bombed the Rangers and cruised to a tension–free 11-1 victory. Johnson’s fastball still isn’t blazing in the mid-to-high nineties, but he was still effective. The Rangers were impressed. Tyler Kepner reports in the Times:

“He was a lot different than what I’ve seen in the past and what I’ve experienced with him,” said Rangers catcher Rod Barajas, who caught Johnson with the Arizona Diamondbacks and went 0 for 3 yesterday.

“It’s not what we expected. We expected Randy Johnson to be throwing inside – hard four-seamers and sliders. He kept us off-balance. He hit both sides of the plate, and that’s not how you really know Randy Johnson. He was sinking the ball away and getting some weak ground balls. He did a great job of making adjustments.”

Third baseman Mark DeRosa added:

“It was like seeing a totally new guy out there,” DeRosa said. “He was throwing sinkers away and sliders away, where last year he would just be coming right in at 96, 98. But he still dominated.”

Derek Jeter (three hits including a solo homer) and rookie Andy Phillips (double, three-run dinger) led the offense. Jeter was one of several Yankees who spoke in a brief, players-only meeting before the game. Jeter would not comment about what was said, but Bill Madden hit the nail on the head:

The circumstances demanded a meeting, but as Lou Piniella was fond of pointing out during his tenure in Seattle as manager of the Mariners: “If you’re going to call a team meeting, it’s always best to make sure it’s the day before the Big Unit is pitching.”

Done and done.

Meanwhile, as expected, Jaret Wright will miss some time, four-to-six weeks to be exact. Chien Ming Wang will be called up later this week and start in Wright’s place.