Daily Archives: July 28, 2006

The complete game shutout. Last year, the Yankees got four of them, the first coming on May 7 when Mike Mussina shutout the A’s on a sunny Saturday in the Bronx. That kicked off a ten-game winning streak that pushed the 11-19 Yankees over .500 for the first time since the fifth game of the season. The last of those ten wins was the Yankees’ second complete game shutout, thrown by some guy named Carl Pavano in Seattle. Less than a month later, Moose tossed his second shutout, this one at home against the Pirates, kicking off a five-game winning streak that pushed the 30-32 Yankees back over .500 yet again. Finally, Aaron Small bookended things nicely by shutting out the A’s in Oakland on a sunny Saturday afternoon in September.

Last night, the Yankees received their first complete game shutout of the year as Chien-Ming Wang made short work of the Devil Rays by limiting them to just four base runners, two on singles, two on walks. Wang needed just 104 pitches to shut out the Rays in a game that lasted two hours and 33 minutes primarily because the Yankees put 17 men on base and scored six runs. Wang was perfect through four innings, faced just 30 batters, and recorded 18 of his 27 outs on ground balls. The only man to get past first base was Julio Lugo, who reached on an infield single with two outs in the sixth, stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch only to be stranded when Rocco Baldelli flew out to center.

As for the Yankees, they got on the board right away when a two-out Alex Rodriguez single plated a Johnny Damon lead-off double in the first. They added two more in the second. Andy Phillips led off with a single and was called safe at second when Julio Lugo bobbled and dropped the pivot on a double play ball off the bat of Melky Cabrera. Miguel Cairo then bunted both runners up and Derek Jeter drove them home with a single to right. Two more runs came in the fourth when Devil Rays’ starter Tim Corcoran (no relation) followed a Derek Jeter one-out double by walking Giambi, Rodriguez and Posada, the last two on nine pitches. Posada’s walk drove in the Yankees’ fourth run and drove Corcoran from the game. Chad Harville then came in and, after getting Bernie Williams to fly out to shallow left, walked in the Yankees fifth run by giving Andy Phillips a free pass on five pitches. Two innings later, Bernie homered off Harville to put the final score at 6-0

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Although it didn’t work out particularly well in Toronto, the Yankees have had some rather fortuitous timing since the All-Star break. First they faced a White Sox team that had a .648 winning percentage in the first half just as it hit its first serious skid of the year. The Yankees swept the Chisox at home to open the second half, and the Sox have since gone 2-7, pushing their skid to 3-12 dating back to their final series before the break.

Next the Yankees faced the Mariners at home without having to see Jamie Moyer or Felix Hernandez, taking two of three. They then traveled to Toronto on the even of the Shea Hillenbrand fiasco. The Jays took three of four that weekend, but have since lost three of four to put their post-Hillenbrand record at .500. Most recently, the Yankees stopped by Arlington, Texas to finish their season series with the Rangers with a three-game sweep. The last of those victories saw the Yankees score four runs in the eighth inning against Francisco Cordero, who just earlier today was sent to Milwaukee in the deal for Carlos Lee. Had that trade happened before the Yankees traveled to Texas, the sweep may not have.

Tonight the Yankees come back home to host a three-game weekend series against the Devil Rays. Good timing? Well, Scott Kazmir was supposed to start tomorrow, but has been skipped due to shoulder soreness. Alex’s boy, Yankee-killer Jonny Gomes, has a shoulder injury of his own that will require surgery this offseason. Though he’s tried to play through it, it isn’t working. Gomes is hitting just .121/.181/.258 in July and has been dropped to the bottom third of the order. Finally, Aubrey Huff, the other Devil Ray who always seemed to hurt the Yankees (in part because, like Gomes, he’s simply a good hitter), was dealt to Houston for a pair of minor leaguers two weeks ago.

Yeah, that’s good timing. Not that the Devil Rays have been a big threat to the Yankees thus far this season (the Yanks lead the season series 6-2), but every little bit helps.

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According to Buster Olney:

The Yankees want Bobby Abreu, and the Phillies keep calling the Yankees and asking for top prospects; the Yankees’ executives will not trade pitcher Philip Hughes. If the Phillies’ priority is to dump salary, it appears Philadelphia will have to lower its demands in order to give itself a chance to move Abreu’s contract — and even then, it wouldn’t be a sure thing. Abreu must approve any deal.

Even if the Yanks don’t make a splashy move, it’s hard to imagine that they won’t make at least one small deal. So, what do you think is gunna happen?

Every time I approach my barber’s shop on Smith Street in Brooklyn, I expect to be greeted by awful news. My barber is too old to work anymore, or worse, he’s dead. I lived in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn from 1994 through 2000. One day I was looking for a barber shop, and I ran across Efrain. He came to Brooklyn from Puerto Rico in 1955. His father was a barber and his three older brothers were barbers too. He cut my hair with such care and patience that I have been a loyal customer ever since. It’s worth the two-plus hour roundtrip commute to the Bronx. Efrain, a silver-haired man with kind eyes and soft, smooth hands, no longer owns his own shop—he had to give his up five years ago, a victim of Smith Street’s rapid gentrification. He’s past retirement age but still works six days a week.

Now Efrain has a chair up the block from his old place, in a barber shop run by Ray, a self-absorbed Puerto Rican man in his mid-fifties. Ray’s shop is no longer cluttered mess it had been for years, as Ray’s daughter and her boyfriend use the space one a week to give dancing lessons. Three chairs stand in the middle of the space, and both walls are covered with mirrors. Ray has a trim mustache and likes to pontificate authoritatively about boxing, salsa music and women. When he is not holding court, he is sullen and removed as he works. Rays’ son Macho, a plump man in his early thirties with a thick scar on his left forearm, cuts heads too, his chair situated between Ray’s and Efrain’s.

It was overcast and muggy last Saturday morning when I arrived. Macho was walking out as I was walking in. I said my hellos and Efrain motioned to me, tilting his head forward and looking over his glasses, a pair of scissors in his raised right hand. Only three heads waiting in front of me, not bad for Saturday. I stuck my nose into my book. Old Salsa music played over the stereo. I didn’t recognize the tunes, but they were familiar anyhow. This was the music I heard up and down Amsterdam Avenue when I was a kid: Ray Barretto, Willie Bobo, Willie Colon, and Mongo Santamaria. Not ten minutes later, I was pleased to discover Efrain calling me to his chair.

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