[RchW]

Here is an excerpt from the Blue Jays reporter Mike Wilner.

The highlight of my day, though, came not from watching Alvarez make mincemeat out of the young Yanks, nor did it come from finding a box of Franken Berry cereal at a Walgreen’s on my way “home” after the game (though that was close). No, it came in the bottom of the 7th inning, when Yankees prospect Pat Venditte came in to pitch for Tampa.

Venditte is a pretty famous guy for someone who has never pitched above Double-A. I noticed him as I walked past the Yankees’ bullpen the inning before going to my car to grab my recording equipment in anticipation of scrumming Alvarez. I saw him throw a warm-up pitch left-handed, then step down off the mound and ask his catcher if all was good. Figuring he was done warming up, I kept walking, but then I saw him take his glove off, put it on his left hand, and start to warm up right-handed. Very cool.

He came into the game pitching left-handed and faced the left-handed hitting John Talley, and got him on a weak comebacker to the mound. The right-handed hitting Kevin Ahrens was up next, so Venditte switched to throwing righty and got him on a grounder to short. Next up was switch-hitter Ivan Contreras, which presents a problem. In such cases, Venditte has to declare to the home plate umpire which hand he’s going to use before the hitter steps in the box. Not knowing anything about Contreras, Venditte decided to throw right-handed, so Contreras hit left, and struck out anyway.

Venditte also pitched the bottom of the 8th, but we were busy talking to Alvarez and Walton, which was the primary reason we were there, after all. It’s too bad, though, because Venditte pitching was one of the coolest things I have ever seen on a baseball field. I spoke to him afterwards:

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The game, by the way, finished in a 0-0 tie and was called after the top of the 10th. Apparently the Yankees didn’t bring enough pitching.