TORONTO – A players-only meeting in which captain Derek Jeter was one of several speakers Tuesday was followed by a stomach-turning loss.
The topic of the 10-minute chat was every at-bat was important and “doing the little things” was emphasized.
Then Johnny Damon dropped two fly balls, Alex Rodriguez got thrown out trying to stretch a ninth-inning single into a double when trailing by a run and a gem by Darrell Rasner was flushed.
Last night, Jeter opted to let his bat do the leading and with a huge assist from Andy Pettitte, Jeter carried the Yankees to a 5-1 victory over the Blue Jays in front of 34,910 at Rogers Centre.
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“Leaders have to step up and that’s what they are doing,” Joe Girardi said of Jeter and Pettitte, half of the quartet (Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera are the other half) left over from the Joe Torre era that produced four World Series victories, 10 AL East titles and a dozen straight playoff appearances.
The victory, coupled with the AL East-leading Rays losing to the Angels, pulled the Yankees to within 10 games of first place. They also moved 5½ lengths back of the wild card-leading Red Sox.
After being dominated by A.J. Burnett Tuesday night in a 2-1 loss in which they fanned 13 times and tonight staring at Roy Halladay, arguably the best pitcher in the AL, it was imperative the Yankees beat lefty David Purcey.
“You know what you are going to get with Halladay,” Girardi said. “He is one of the best pitchers in all of baseball.”
Jeter’s two-run homer in the three-run fourth stretched a 2-0 lead to 5-0 and provided Pettitte with a big enough cushion to win for the first time since July 26.
It was Jeter’s eighth homer of the season and 203rd as a Yankee. That ties him for 11th place on the all-time club list with Roger Maris. Jeter finished 3-for-5 and is on a 16-for-28 (.571) tear. He is two hits shy of 2,500.
Pettitte, who was winless in the previous four starts (0-2; 7.40 ERA), improved to 13-9. In seven innings, the third straight start that Pettitte logged that many frames, he gave a run, five hits, fanned four and didn’t issue a walk.
“I felt my command was good early on and that helped me relax and pitch my game,” said Pettitte, who didn’t face a batter with a runner in scoring position until the sixth when three straight one-out singles produced the Blue Jays’ only run.
The Yankees loaded the bases without an out in the first on singles by Damon, Jeter and Bobby Abreu and scored twice thanks to Jason Giambi’s sacrifice fly and Xavier Nady’s two-out single after Rodriguez popped out to short right field.
Purcey (2-4) was gone after four innings in which he allowed five runs and seven hits.
Brian Bruney took over for Pettitte in the eighth and recorded the final six outs without allowing a baserunner.
Things around the Yankees haven’t been this bleak in a long time. Still, Pettitte is hanging on to a sliver of hope.
“We have a good team and a great lineup,” Pettitte said. “I don’t know what it is. I believe in this team. Hopefully, everybody will relax.”
Yankees 5 Blue Jays 1