The night of June 6, 2006, was an ordinary Tuesday night for most people, but for fans of the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox, it was typical. Typical because the teams were locked in a tight, well-pitched, and nerve-wracking contest.
The pitching matchup pitted the Yankees’ Chien-Ming Wang against rookie David Pauley of the Red Sox. Pauley was making only his second big league start that night. He made his debut the week before on May 31, 2006, against Toronto and in that game, he gave up six runs on 11 hits in just 4 2/3 innings. The Red Sox ended up winning 8-6. Wang had pitched in relief three days earlier against the Orioles and picked up a save after pitching a scoreless inning in a 6-5 win.
If you had assumed that the Yankees were going to jump all over Pauley in this game because of his performance against Toronto, you’d be very wrong. And if you’d assumed that the Red Sox would punish Wang because he had a few iffy starts leading up to that relief appearance against Baltimore, you’d be very wrong again.
The game was scoreless until the top of the third when the second batter of the inning, David Ortiz, hit a home run to put the Sox up 1-0. Of course he did. When has David Ortiz not hit a home run in a game against the Yankees? Wang then gave up a single to Manny Ramirez but escaped more damage by getting Trot Nixon to hit into a line drive double play to end the inning.
The Yankees tied the game in the first at-bat of the bottom of the fifth against Pauley courtesy of a home run by Bernie Williams. It took until the bottom of the seventh inning for things to unravel for Pauley. It started off strongly. He got two quick outs thanks to a groundout by Andy Phillips and a fly ball to right by Williams. Then Miguel Cairo and Johnny Damon hit back-to-back singles which were followed by a Melky Cabrera walk to load the bases. Pauley was removed after 98 pitches and replaced by Rudy Seanez. Jason Giambi stepped in and worked a six-pitch walk to score Cairo to make it 2-1 Yankees, but Seanez bounced back getting Alex Rodriguez to go down swinging to end the seventh.
Kyle Farnsworth came in to pitch the eighth inning for the Yankees, replacing starter Wang who pitched brilliantly for seven strong innings. Wang gave up eight hits but was able to work around them and keep the Sox from scoring. Farnsworth got Mark Loretta out on a fly ball to center and struck out Ortiz on a 97 mph fastball, but it wasn’t going to get any easier for Farnsworth. The threat was nowhere near over because Manny Ramirez was coming to the plate.
After a first-pitch ball, Manny hit the 1-0 pitch, which was middle and slightly in, to deep left center field and for a moment, the game was going to be tied. Or so we all thought.
When the ball was in the air, most Yankee fans watching the game on TV probably cursed or kicked something because from the way Ramirez swung the bat to the way the crowd reacted at the Stadium as the ball took flight, it was forgone conclusion that Manny would be his usual thorn in their side and tie another game; poor Wang would get a no decision after a strong performance, and with the way the game had been up to that point, everyone at the Stadium, and at home, would more than likely have to sweat out a few extra innings.
Instead, by the grace of some baseball God somewhere, Melky Cabrera tracked that ball down, jumped up, reached over the 399 feet sign on the left-centerfield wall and caught it to rob Ramirez of a game-tying home run. The Stadium erupted, Johnny Damon dropped to one knee and pumped his fist, and Melky, who landed on his belly after making the catch, raised his glove in the air to show the ump that he had indeed caught the ball.
Everyone else’s reactions to the catch were hilarious, especially Farnsworth’s, Ramirez’s and Alex Rodriguez’s. Farnsworth looked like he was going to pass out, Manny appeared to be cursing at Melky in Spanish, A-Rod simply said, “Wow!”
It was a big catch, in what felt like a big game — because weren’t all Yankees/Red Sox games big 10 years ago no matter what time of the season they occurred? — and that catch helped erase the memories of the then 21-year-old Cabrera’s not-so-stellar defensive debut the previous season.
Cabrera had made his season debut back on May 9, 2006, against the Red Sox at the Stadium in a lopsided 14-3 loss. He was called up to the Yankees after performing well down in Columbus to replace Gary Sheffield who had hurt his wrist, and two days later, Cabrera ended up having to replace Hideki Matsui in left field when Matsui broke his wrist on May 11, 2006, during an unsuccessful sliding catch attempt. Matsui had surgery the next day and thanks to those two wrist injuries, Cabrera became an everyday player for the Yankees. And he did a nice job stepping up that season, batting .280/.360/.391 with seven home runs in 50 RBI in 130 games.
Cabrera’s catch helped the Yankees’ win expectancy go from 83 percent to 86 percent, but the danger wasn’t over. It was never over when the Yankees and Red Sox met in Yankee Stadium during the mid-2000s.
The Yankees did have a chance for an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth when Robinson Cano singled and stole second with one out, but Phillips struck out and Williams grounded out to end the inning.
Mariano Rivera came in to close in the ninth, and other than a slightly frightening long fly ball to left by Nixon that was caught for the first out, he dispatched both Jason Varitek and Mike Lowell rather easily on two pitches apiece with both batters hitting ground balls. The Yankees won the game 2-1 and maintained their slim 1 and 1/2 game lead over the Red Sox in the American League East.
After the game, Ortiz talked to reporters about the catch and said, “That’s why I hit mine 500 feet. Definitely, you’ve got to hit your ball upper deck.” His third-inning home run hit off the facing of the upper deck in right field. Cabrera told reporters through a translator, “That’s the best (catch) I’ve made it in my life.”
The Yankees won the game 2-1 and maintained their slim 1 and 1/2 game lead over the Red Sox in the American League East. The catch by Cabrera played a big part in the victory and after the season ended, it was voted on by the fans as the Play of the Year.
Photo: Flickr