Yankees-Blue Jays: Grading New York's Return of the Bunt

9:26 - 9:39 pm EDT on April 3, 2008 will be remembered as the beginning of the return of the Yankees dynasty. Tied at 2, Melky Cabrera led off the bottom of the eighth with a single to right field. After Scott Downs relieved Brian Wolfe for the Blue Jays, Johnny Damon laid down a beautiful bunt that rolled towards the first base line. Downs booted the ball and everyone was safe. With two on and nobody out, Derek Jeter laid down another great bunt. Replays showed he beat the throw to first, but Jeter was called out. Nevertheless, both runners advanced and the Yankees had two runners in scoring position. More importantly, New York had the potential game-winning run at third with less than two outs. Bobby Abreu then hit a bloop single to center, scoring Cabrera to give the Yankees a 3-2 lead, a margin they would eventually win by.

After suffering through the second half of the Torre regime that mostly frowned upon bunting and preferred to have base runners move station to station while waiting for a three-run homer that would usually never come, I can confidently say that the eighth inning of the third game of 2008 was the single greatest Yankees inning since Aaron Boone began and ended the bottom of the 11th in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS.

Here's how Thursday's eighth inning would have gone down under Torre. With a runner on first and no one out, Damon squares around to bunt on the first pitch, only to pull it back as the pitch whizzes by for a called strike one.

"Ah, perfect," Torre thinks to himself on the bench while chewing on a bowling ball sized peach pit. "The corner infielders are in now, I've got them right where I want them." 

Damon then fouls off the second pitch before swinging and missing for strike three. Jeter then singles to left, which would have scored the go-ahead run had he been in scoring position. Instead, Cabrera has to hold at second. Abreu then hits a towering fly ball to right, which is caught on the warning track. Cabrera tags up and goes to third.

"Damn, that was almost it. Oh well, at least Melky can score on a balk now," thinks Torre before returning to his blissful slumber.

A-Rod then ends the inning by striking out. Torre brings in Farnsworth to pitch the top of the ninth. He gives up 4 runs and the Yankees lose 6-2.

Have I mentioned how excited I am to have Girardi as the Yankees manager? On to the grades...

Joe Girardi, Manager: (A+) See above.

Johnny Damon, DH: (B+) 1-3, a run scored and a game-changing bunt.

Derek Jeter, SS: (B)0-2 with a double play, but he reached on a hit by pitch, scored a run and laid down a tremendous bunt in the eighth.

Bobby Abreu, RF: (A) Abreu continues his torrid start going 2-3 with a walk and an RBI. He's hitting .500. Abreu also made a nice catch against the tarp in right.

Alex Rodriguez, 3B: (F) Not a good game for the MVP who went 0-4 with two Ks.

Jason Giambi, 1B: (B-) Did his job with the game tying sac fly, but Giambi is still 0 for the year.

Robinson Cano, 2B: (F) Cano has gotten off to a rough start hitting .091 in the season's first series. He went 0-4 and left five runners on base Thursday. Cano also made an error on a steal attempt.

Hideki Matsui, LF: (B-) Godzilla looked a little shaky in his first game in the field this year. He went 1-3 at the plate with two strikeouts.

Jose Molina, C: (B) With Posada still nursing a sore shoulder, Molina got his second straight start. And for the second straight day, the backup catcher went 1-3.

Melky Cabrera, CF: (A-)Cabrera's single in the eighth started it all. He then came around to score the winning run. Melky went 1-2 with a walk.

Phil Hughes, SP: (A-) A solid first start for the youngster who proved why he should be ahead of Mussina in the rotation. Hughes' line: 6ip, 4h, 2r, 2er, 1bb, 4k. Phil was finding the plate all night, despite the sometimes moving strike zone by home plate umpire Bill Miller. Hughes had an a strike to ball ratio of exactly 2 to 1 (58 to 29).

Billy Traber, RP: (A) Apparently Billy Traber is on the Yankees.

Brian Bruney, RP: (A) Retired both batters he faced and bonus points for the mullet.

Joba Chamberlain, RP: (A-)One hit and one strikeout in one inning of work. Joba also picked up the win.

Mariano Rivera, RP: (B+) That's the Mo I know and love. Allow the tying run to get 90 feet from home, escape the jam, and receive all the adulation even though you were the worst pitcher of the five on the night.

Overall Yankees Grade: (A) Another comeback win against a good pitcher thanks to some strategic little ball gives the Yanks the series victory. Love it.