Homers Aplenty: Philadelphia Phillies Pound New York Yankees, End Win Streak

The New York Yankees ran through the American League like a freight train on a mission. They were 15-18, yet another underachieving slow start to the season, suffering because of poor pitching and lackluster hitting from their extravagantly paid stars.

The Yankees snapped out of this slump, coinciding with the return of Alex Rodriguez, as they won 12 of 14 games and carried a nine-game winning streak into their interleague matchup against the defending World Series champion Philadelphia Phillies.

It did not take long for the Phillies to strike first. The first pitch thrown of an at-bat, let alone the game, is always enticing for an accomplished hitter. Predominately, pitchers try to sneak a fastball by the opposition, thinking the hitter will take a pitch to get a feel for the at-bat.

New York starting pitcher A.J. Burnett thought wrong, firing a 94-miles per hour fastball down the heart of the plate. Philadelphia lead-off hitter Jimmy Rollins eyes glazed over as the pitch drew into his wheelhouse. He swung with all his might and crushed the offering over the right-field wall. Just like that, the Phillies were ahead. Rollins set a trend.

Rodriguez did his best to answer Rollins home run. Johnny Damon was on first base the third baseman sliced the first pitch of the at-bat–a fastball—from Brett Meyers down the left-field line.

Three years ago, when he was fleet-footed, Damon would have scored on this play. Yet, once he joined the Yankees, he bulked up considerably, transforming from a singles hitter to one with a power threat. Because of this, and the fact that he’s an aged 35, scoring on a liner down the line from first was not a preconceived notion.

Raul Ibanez, the left fielder, not particularly fast either, gave Damon a fighting chance of scoring, taking his time to track down the ball. Once he collected it, with Damon rounding third base, he fired it the cutoff man, Rollins.

Rollins caught the ball positioned a mere five feet away from the chalked left-field line. Because he was almost in line with Damon, he had the smallest window at the most awkward angle to reach catcher Carlos Ruiz. If his throw was off in just a hair, Damon would get plunked in the back.

This didn’t transpire, as his relay was rifled to Ruiz, who quickly blocked the plate with his glove and tagged Damon’s foot. A split second later, and Damon would have scored. Baseball truly is a game of inches, and seconds.

The Phillies offense awarded its defense, picking up where they left off against Burnett. With a man on first, Ruiz got just enough of a fastball that tailed inside, looping the pitch that evaded the efforts of Damon and into the second row of the left-field seats.

Burnett had good movement, but two things were against him: the movement benefited Philadelphia, as pitches that would otherwise be outside were placed on a tee in the middle or on the inner-half of the plate, and 95 miles-per-hour fastballs, in this age of the sport, are not intimidating.

As the game went on, his fastball declined in speed and lost a considerable amount of movement. Jayson Werth saw four straight 93 miles-per-hour fastballs during his at-bat in the fifth inning.

The fourth was placed on the inner-half, missing it’s spot by a few feet. Werth, with a choppy swing, pulverized the pitch into the second deck of the left field seats. It was the first home-run to reach the second deck in the new Yankees Stadium.

Werth’s was not the longest home-run it in the game. This title was left to Raul Ibanez, who continued his torrid start to the season. Ibanez, signed as a free-agent this past offseason, has been everything the Phillies could ask for.

Entering his at-bat in the seventh inning against Chien-Ming Wang, who was making his return to New York, Ibanez was batting .350, with 15 home runs and 40 rbi’s; he was in the top-10 in each category, including a tie for first in home runs.

Now, he’s in sole possession of first place in long-balls after driving a 3-1 lifeless fastball from Wang deep into the second deck of the right-field seats.

The good news for the Yankees was that this was the final homer they allowed. The bad news, however, was that the four the combination of Burnett and Wang relinquished fueled a loss that halted a nine-game win streak.