Pinstriped Villains: A Tale of the Joe Girardi Era and Beyond

[d32123]

#27

There were no miracles, no broken curses. There were no underdogs triumphing, no youthful exciting teams for America to get behind. There were no long-time losing franchises stealing the headlines, no empty stadiums getting filled. There were no feel good stories, just a big ugly black mark in baseball's records that everybody wants to forget except for those despicable degenerates that actually wanted it to happen. Number twenty-seven was finally in the books.

The atmosphere was good. It was a crisp and cloudy day at new Yankee Stadium. The temperature was 45 degrees and it felt it. A year of ups and downs, a year of laboring away to earn millions and earn the honor of millions. It all came down to this, a game that could clinch it all. It was a marquee pitching matchup. Two sinkerballers, one from Kentucky and one from Taiwan, were set to duel it out. Both had their best stuff, and the Yankees were able to manufacture four runs in seven innings off Webb while Wang only allowed two Diamondbacks hits in seven and two thirds innings before leaving with a mild hamstring strain. Jose Veras, the twenty-nine year old Dominican relief pitcher came in to fill in and finish off the job.

Pretty soon it was the ninth inning and the Yankees had a comfortable four to nothing lead. Amazingly, the game had only lasted a little over a couple of hours at this point. Twenty-seven year old North Carolina-born designated hitter Josh Whitesell was up to bat. One pitch, strike one. The second pitch he got a bad swing on and hit it right to second baseman Robinson Cano, who threw him out easily. Two outs away from number twenty-seven. Stephen Drew was up next. He was young as well, only twenty-six, and normally hit righties such as Veras very well. Everything changes when you're under pressure such as this, though. He took the first pitch for ball one and then ripped the next one for a double. He had hushed the roaring mass of Yankees fans for a little while. The crowd eagerly awaited for the next gladiator to arrive, twenty-two year old superstar Justin Upton. The Virginian kid new it was a tough task for his team to win, but at the very least he could drive in a run here. Ball one, the fans started to get antsy. He proceeded to then foul off the next two pitches and it was now one and two. Next pitch, snatched by Jose Molina, Upton took, and prayed for God's mercy. It was a borderline pitch and he looked back at the ump. All he saw was a double punch out motion and an unintelligible roar from the man in black as the roar of the crowd became deafening. A 'Let's Go Yankees!' chant began to go aorund, started in the bleachers and quickly traveling to behind home plate. Time froze for the twenty-six year old Chris Young. A strained hamstring had left him out of the lineup for three weeks after the St. Louis game. He had returned just the day before and had gone two for three with a couple of walks. Today, against Wang, he, like most of the Arizona lineup, was hitless. He had grounded out twice and flown out once and his hamstring was starting to hurt again. He attempted to do what had worked so well in high school and on into the minors by staring into the pitcher's eyes. Veras stood unintimidated and hurled the first pitch to Young. He fouled it off, and the raucous anthem of the Bronx faithful grew louder. The next pitch came in, another high nineties fastball in the same location. He fouled it off again. The fans became ravenous as the scoreboard showed the truth that the Yankees were only one strike away from number twenty-seven. Young suddenly became determined to not strike out. If he did, he would forever be in highlights on ESPN Classic, MLB Network, and on the shelves of Yankees fans in Yankeeographies forever. The next pitch was a slider, and it felt high. He took it, and the ump rewarded him with the count now one and two. Groans echoed throughout the cathedral as Yankees fans wanted the call. Normally he would have smiled, but Young was focused on not striking out. Veras, now sweating, looked right at his catcher and just nodded. With pursed lips he fired the ball towards the plate. It was another fastball, this time right over the plate. Young could not pull the trigger, and he did not even hear the ump call strike three. He just walked silently back to the vistor's dugout along with teammate Stephen Drew. Number twenty-seven was now in the books, and Chris Young would forever live on in Yankees lore.

Tens of thousands of peoples' hearing abilities were significantly damaged that night. Complete strangers embraced each other in the stands as pure joy radiated through the Bronx for the first time in nine years. On the field, Yankees players raced to the mound from the outfield, from the infield, from the bullpen, and from the dugout. For many Yankees personnel, such as manager Jose Girardi, team captian Derek Jeter, and pitcher Andy Pettitte, this was not their first World Series championship, but for many more players such as second baseman Robinson Cano and centerfielder Melky Cabrera, this was a first of hopefully many more to come. Perhaps the happiest of all of the Bombers was right-fielder John Rodriguez, who had started the year in AAA. After many injuries, J-Rod had gotten his call-up and had impressed immensely and won the starting job over established star Xavier Nady. Rodriguez went on to play 125 games, hitting a solid .285 and more than doubling his career total with ten home runs. A native of New York, this title ment even more to him than his first back in 2006 with the Cardinals. There is something special about winning with the Yankees.

There were no miracles, no broken curses. There were no underdogs triumphing, no youthful exciting teams for America to get behind. There were no long-time losing franchises stealing the headlines, no empty stadiums getting filled. There were no feel good stories. Money had triumphed. The bad guys had won.

And boy did it feel good.

[bucketsndimes]

Wow, great read. Interested to see where this goes.

[muted79]

fantastic start, looking forward to more.

[d32123]

Thanks for the replies. This is sort of a summer project for me so expect around daily updates.