It Wasn’t exactly players materializing out of the outfield cornstalks, but it was nevertheless otherworldly to see Mariano Rivera, Alex Rodriguez, Andy Pettitte and Brett Gardner all appear in Pinstripes in the clubhouse yesterday before the Yankees closed their homestand with a 6-2 victory over Seattle.
“They had to be here [in uniform]; it was picture day,” Derek Jeter said. “They had no choice.”
If all goes well, Rodriguez and Pettitte will return next month from lengthy absences. It’s possible that Gardner, sidelined since April 17, could fill a limited role next month in which he assumes the role of a latter-day Herb Washington as a pinch-running specialist. The return of Rivera, gone since the end of April, will have to wait until 2013.
That quartet’s presence in uniform provided a dramatic visual of just how much of the rest of themselves the Yankees have gone without through much of this season. It generated a more vivid picture than the makeshift lineup provides on an almost daily basis, not that the Yankees need to be reminded of their missing limbs.
“You’re aware that guys are hurt. Everyone is aware that very important guys to the organization are hurt,” Jeter said. “But you can’t feel sorry for yourself.
“You have to go play.”
Yesterday’s victory was the Yankees’ third in four games on a homestand in which they went 4-5. They will face Justin Verlander in the opener of a four-game series in Detroit that precedes a three-game set in Toronto at 63-44 and with a 6 1/2- game division lead over the Orioles.
Which is to say that the laundry manager Joe Girardi has been throwing on the field and for which the fans root has survived adversity every bit as well as could ever have been expected.
“You have to be able to win games no matter what,” said Raul Ibanez, whose solo homer in the fifth increased the Yankees’ lead to 4-2 and whose two-out, two-run, bases-loaded single in the sixth after an intentional walk to Mark Teixeira extended the edge to 6-2. “Alex is a huge part of our lineup, he’s a great player, but we have to be able to find a way to get it done if he’s not playing,”
Curtis Granderson led off for the second time in three games and the sixth time this season, a spot in the order the centerfielder is likely to assume against right-handers for the foreseeable future. Jeter moved to second, followed by Robinson Cano, Teixeira and Ibanez in the middle of the order.
“It breaks up our left-handed hitters and forces [opposing managers] to make decisions,” Girardi said. “Are they going to use two left-handed [relievers] and burn three pitchers in one inning?
“With Alex out, you have to make some adjustments. Grandy would not be leading off if Alex were playing.”
Jeter has been the leadoff man in 100 of the club’s 107 games (Ichiro Suzuki has led off once), not only setting the table, but having hit seven first-inning home runs. The Yankees lead the AL with 88 first-inning runs.
The captain went 2-for-5 yesterday to complete a 13-for-38 (.342) homestand. He arrives in Detroit batting .314 and leading the AL with 140 hits, one more than the Tigers’ Miguel Cabrera. He is on pace for 212 hits, which would equal the third-highest total of his career.
Oh, he’s 38 years old.
“I had looked at Derek at 25 and [tried to project] that he’d be playing every day at 38, hitting .310 with the chance to get 190-200 hits, I’d probably have said that I don’t know if he could do that,” Girardi said.
“It is pretty incredible, but it shows the type of player he is, the type of person he is and what he brings to the ballpark every day,” the manager said. “He’s a special player and has been for a long time.
“I don’t know when it’s going to end for Derek, but I think he’s able to play at this high level because of what’s inside of him.”