The sense of sadness is everywhere at Yankee Stadium lately -- despite an
Opening Day win at the Stadium against Texas, the raising of the championship
pennant and the rumpled, lovable Yogi Berra throwing out the first pitch.
No matter how many psychological ploys the Bombers employed, they were
still suffocated by the reality of pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre's
cancer diagnosis and the knowledge that yet another member of the Yankee
family is, suddenly, fighting for his life.
|  | | Tough when it really matters: Orlando Hernandez is 5-0 in postseason play with a 1.02 ERA. |
"It just blows you away. You start to wonder what the heck is going on," Paul O'Neill said. First Darryl Strawberry, then Joe Torre, now Stottlemyre,
who will undergo chemotherapy as the first line of defense against multiple
myeloma -- a cancer of the blood plasma that kills 11,000 Americans every year.
The Yankees are crushed because they need Stottlemyre, both as a man and
as a mentor to the troubled pitching staff.. In fact, the starting rotation
might be in its first full crisis since 1996, now that Andy Pettitte is
headed to the disabled list with back problems, the AL is batting .375
against Roger Clemens with runners in scoring position and David Cone is
winless with a 14.09 ERA.
No wonder the Yankees lean so heavily on Orlando Hernandez every time he
takes the mound. He's their best pitcher right now -- trickier than Cone, more dominant
than Clemens and more durable than Pettitte.
Actually, El Duque might the Yankee hurler least affected by
Stottlemyre's illness, at least professionally. The Cuban-born right-hander
still struggles with English and relies on catcher Jorge Posada to act as
translator in conversations with his bosses.
Of course, that language gulf hasn't prevented the Yankees from
appreciating what's so very obvious about Hernandez. He led the Bombers with
17 wins last season, and then set the tone for the eventual four-game sweep
of the Braves in the World Series by outpitching Greg Maddux in a 4-1 win in
Game 1. Hernandez allowed just one run in seven innings while striking out
10, prompting Cone to observe, "He's got what you can't teach."
Cone was referring to Hernandez' uncanny ability to think along with a
hitter, pitch-by-pitch and then, somehow, devour him. One American League
scout said, "Hernandez doesn't have the best fastball in the league, not even
close, and the rest of his stuff is very good but not extraordinary. But I've
never seen a more creative pitcher under pressure."
Hernandez, who starts tonight against the Rangers, has a 1.93 ERA this
season in two starts, but his true genius is found in his success with runners in scoring
position. In such situations, the AL is batting a mere .182, and with two
outs, when El Duque is looking to kill a rally altogether, his opponents'
average drops to .167.
|
“ |
Hernandez doesn't have the best
fastball in the league, not even close, and the rest
of his stuff is very good but not extraordinary. But I've never seen a more creative
pitcher under pressure. ” |
|
|
— AL scout |
No wonder the Yankees are in awe of him.
"It's fun to play defense behind him," said Shane Spencer. "He makes you
want to go all out to make a play for him. And you know, even if you don't
make the play, he's going to take care of it."
Through all this, Hernandez just smiles and says, "Everyone makes
mistakes. My job is to help the team, no matter whose fault it is. I don't
know why I pitch better (with runners on base). I just do. My goal is to
never let any runners on, ever. When I come to the park, I tell myself,
'Today, no runs, no hits.' "
Most pitchers live by more realistic standards: two or three runs a game,
and maybe a little less than a hit an inning. But that's not good enough for Hernandez, who doesn't just retire hitters, he crushes them spiritually.
Case in point is Mo Vaughn, who served as Hernandez' guinea pig in the
season opener against the Angels on April 3. In a first-inning, nine-pitch
at-bat, Vaughn was forced to contend with Hernandez' sweeping, Frisbee-like
slider, a sinking two-seam fastball, a crisp 91-mph four-seam fastball and a
looping 67-mph curveball the first baseman helplessly swung over for strike
three.
All told, Vaughn struck out three of the four times he faced Hernandez
that night, and later admitted, "He never let me get comfortable. He's always
ahead of you in the count; you never get to sit on a pitch, 3-1 or 2-0.
Never."
Such praise furthers the Yankees' belief that Hernandez is on his way to 20 wins, and will soon be mentioned in the same sentence with Pedro Martinez or Maddux. Time will tell, and to a degree, Hernandez' fortunes
will depend on how well the Yankees are playing. So far, the Bombers have
given the AL reason for hope, and not just because the pitching has been so
mortal.
The Yankees don't hit much, either, as they're still trying to find a way
to replace Chili Davis' and Strawberry's combined home run potential.
The Bombers haven't been a big home run team in the last four years, but this
is the first time the starting rotation appears so blemished.
Pettitte may or may not be able to hold his own without Stottlemyre. Clemens
and Cone are less needy, but far older. And the Yankees don't even have a
bona fide No. 5 starter, after rookie Ed Yarnall pitched himself back to
Triple-A during spring training.
That's why the Yankees are facing the prospect of a sweaty pennant race. If they're going to cross the bridge to October, make no mistake,
it's El Duque who'll lead the Bombers. Possibly by himself.
Bob Klapisch of the Bergen (N.J.) Record will write his "Baseball in the Big Apple" columns periodically throughout the season. | |
ALSO SEE
Stottlemyre on hand for Yanks' home-opening win
Baseball in the Big Apple
|
