Yankees 6 Angels 1
The Angels felt the mighty wrath of the New York Yankees last night at the Stadium.
Joe Torre started his half-and-half club in the first game of the homestand. Half of the pinstripers weren’t Yankees just a short time ago and the New Yanks bludgeoned the Angels, 6-1 behind home runs from newcomers Glenallen Hill, David Justice and Luis Sojo. That was more than enough to support the majestic pitching of Denny Neagle.
Neagle, who came over from the Reds on July 12, had lost three in a row, but worked on improving his arm angle to give more sink to his pitches.
The fifth new Yank in the starting lineup was designated hitter Jose Canseco and he walked in the sixth, just before Justice crushed his two-run homer high off the right-field foul pole.
All this power from a team that did not arrive home from Texas until 5 in the morning and didn’t have to be at the ballpark until an hour and a half before last night’s game.
“This was a great team before we came here,” Justice said after clubbing his 32nd home run and 11th as a Yankee. “All of us new guys just want to contribute and not hurt the team. I still think they’d be a great team without us.”
But they wouldn’t be as powerful. Torre said these new Bronx Bombers are the most muscular of his Yankee teams. “Adding Justice was just a perfect fit and they’ve all been so unselfish to make this thing work,” Torre noted of his new talent.
Mr. Makeover, general manager Brian Cashman, is winner of the executive of the past six weeks award for his deals that brought all this talent on the cheap to the Yanks, beginning with the theft of Justice from the Indians on June 29.
The most magnificent home run of the night belonged to Hill. His prodigious blast in the second inning off starter and loser Kent Mercker (0-2) landed more than halfway up the vacant black batter’s background bleachers in center field. This monster was shades of Mickey and Reggie as Hill became only the 15th player to launch a ball to that area since the stadium was remodeled for the 1976 season.
“I knew it was out, but I didn’t watch it,” Hill said. He missed quite a show.
Hill has seven home runs in 40 at-bats as a Yankee, one every 5.7 at-bats, for those who love their numbers crisp and clear. Hill said he is loving his New York experience. He is living downtown and adores the city.
“Early in my career I was afraid of New York,” said Hill, who came over from the Cubs July 20. Thank you, Andy MacPhail.
“But now I realize it’s such a great place to be. You just have to get used to the speed. Everybody is going somewhere in a hurry.”
Hill is going somewhere in a hurry as a Yankee. He’s batting .400 since the deal. He bruised his right shoulder running into a wall Saturday in Anaheim, but despite wearing a large ice bag on the shoulder before the game, he said he was feeling fine and proved it by putting a big hurt on the baseball.
As for Justice, he has as many home runs as Tino Martinez and Derek Jeter and one fewer than Scott Brosius. You can make the argument that Justice is the proving to be the Yanks’ greatest trade for a power-hitting outfielder since the deal that landed them Roger Maris in 1960. Thank you, John Hart.
“What Brian Cashman and his advance scouts have done is amazing,” said Neagle, who improved to 3-3. “There was talk about Juan Gonzalez and Sammy Sosa, but they couldn’t have done anything more than what Justice has done.”
He said he also could relate to Hill’s home run heroics. “He hit seven homers in something like 37 at-bats against me,” Neagle said. “I can relate to what he’s doing. It’s nice not to be standing on the rubber and watching those balls going over my head.”
The Yankees needed an electric performance from Neagle, who went 62/3 innings and did not allow a run. The lefty had surrendered16 earned runs in his last 141/3 innings. He started Saturday against the Angels and lasted only 12/3 innings, giving up six earned runs.
Neagle has worked diligently since that start, working twice on the side to correct a problem in his pitching motion.
Neagle also was helped by pathetic base-running by the Angels’ Benjie Molina and Benji Gil in the second and Darin Erstad in the seventh. None of that mattered, though, because these new Yanks were too much to hold down.