Yankees 7 Expos 2
MONTREAL – Is it safe to say the Yankees are ready to launch the type of run they have used to win two straight AL East titles?
Is there enough juice in the bats to carry a suspect starting rotation long enough until Roger Clemens, David Cone and Ramiro Mendoza straighten out or Brad Radke arrives in a trade?
One week from today we will know more since the Yankees will have played the Mets and Red Sox in six high-voltage games at Yankee Stadium. However, the way the Yankees handled the Expos in winning two of three at Olympic Stadium after taking two of three from the Braves in Atlanta, there are solid hints the two-time defending world champions are finally ready to flex their muscles.
Fueled by the effective pitching of Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez, timely hitting for the second straight game and swiping a season-high five bases against the slow delivery of pitcher Carl Pavano and the anemic arm of catcher Charlie O’Brien, the Yankees topped the Expos, 7-2, last night in front of a crowd of 25,381.
The victory gave the Yankees (32-23) a one-game lead over the Red Sox (31-24) in the AL East and a 4-2 interleague road trip record against the Braves and Expos, two teams among the NL’s elite.
“I was pleased with how aggressive we were,” said Joe Torre, who has always wanted his club to run more than it has. “Bernie [Williams] is getting better and for that I credit [coach] Lee Mazzilli. And with [Derek] Jeter it’s only a matter of time until he steals 40 bases.”
Williams had two of the five steals and for the second straight game supplied a clutch hit. Tuesday night it was a three-run double in the eighth that enabled the Yankees to breeze home. Last night it was a two-run single in the six-run fifth that erased a 2-1 deficit.
“The offense has been clicking,” said Jeter, who went 1-for-5 and is 24-for-51 (.471) in the 11 games since he came off the DL. “We have been getting our hits but not getting them with runners in scoring position.”
In addition to Williams’ key single that was followed by Tino Martinez’s career-high fourth triple that scored Williams, Jorge Posada contributed to the rally with an opposite-field home run to left, his 11th of the season.
In the six-game trip, the Yankees scored 38 runs and collected 74 hits. In the past two games, they beat Javier Vazquez and Pavano, two of the best arms in the National League. Saturday in Atlanta they punished Greg Maddux. If it’s a smoke screen, it’s a good one.
While the pitching rotation has as many question marks today as it did in late February, Hernandez provided a level of comfort not seen all that much this year when the starters have routinely failed to hold leads.
After giving up a two-run homer to NL Triple Crown threat Vladimir Guerrero in the first inning to put the Yankees in a 2-0 hole, Hernandez dominated the rest of the way to win his second straight and improve his record to 6-4.
Working for the second time after being forced to miss a start due a bad back, Hernandez went eight innings, allowed two runs and four hits, none in the second, third, fourth or fifth innings.
“The problem with the back is over. I made a strong swing and didn’t feel it,” said Hernandez, who had a sacrifice bunt in the third and hit two balls hard.
Like a lot of Yankee hurlers, Hernandez has been hampered by feeble run support. The Yankees have scored three runs in his four losses and were blanked twice.
“I always want the team to score 20 runs,” Hernandez said. “But I know they always can’t.”
The Yankees took advantage of Expos shortstop Geoff Blum throwing away Ricky Ledee’s routine ground ball with one out in the fifth and went on to score six runs. Just like Williams and Jeter, Ledee runs hard on every ground ball and it paid of when Blum’s throw pulled Lee Stevens off first base. Jeter followed with a single to center that put runners at the corner for Paul O’Neill.
With Jeter on the run, Blum vacated the hole at short and O’Neill hit a liner through the vacant area to score Ledee and send Jeter scampering to third. O’Neill, who is playing with a painful torn nail on his right foot, swiped second and scored behind Jeter on Williams’ ground single up the middle.
“We took advantage of the running game,” said Ledee, who singled in a run in the second and stole second. “I don’t run a whole lot but I saw a scouting report and he was slow to the plate so I took off. He was slower than other pitchers. We have to take advantage of the running game because we can’t wait for the two- or three-run homer.”