PHILADELPHIA – Derek Jeter, Tino Martinez and Gerald Williams followed a 13-inning game Monday night with a late dinner. While eating, they noticed TV highlights of Ramiro Mendoza.
“Suddenly, we were talking about him,” Jeter said.
The conversation centered on Mendoza’s versatility, value and that “people don’t realize just how nasty his stuff is because he is so effortless,” Martinez said. “Without him, we would be in deep trouble.”
The Yankees went into last night’s inter-league finale against the Phillies having won four of their previous eight games, and the victories all shared one trait – vital work by Mendoza.
Monday, he surrendered a single to the first man he faced, Doug Glanville, leading off the sixth and then not another hit in three innings. He provided the base for what would be seven shutout innings by the Yankee bullpen.
The performance was critical. The Yankee offense managed just three hits after the fourth inning and would ultimately need a two-out, two-strike, bases-loaded balk by Phillie reliever Ed Vosberg to deliver the go-ahead run.
Mendoza and Mike Stanton, in particular, were the heroes in keeping the Yankees from enduring another loss at a moment in the season when such a thing would feel like so much more.
The Yankees have a grasping sense about them these days, that they are trying to hold on during a desperate moment so as to survive for an assault on a fourth straight title. Thus their 6-3, 13-inning triumph Monday and their 5-4, 10-inning victory Saturday in Florida resemble a heavyweight champ stealing rounds when everything is going horribly.
Maybe we will look back at this period at some moment in October and remember how the Yanks eked out two extra-inning wins just after the All-Star break and emphasize just how vital it was that they went 2-3 in their opening five games of the second half rather than 0-5. Should that be the case, then Mendoza once again will have quietly put his imprint on something wonderful happening with the Yankees.
“He’s like our unsung hero,” Paul O’Neill said.
His importance was emphasized by the Yankees’ last two wins of the first half and opening two wins of the second half, when Mendoza’s dynamic sinker has been dominant:
*July 6: Yankees 8, Mets 3 -The Mets trail 7-3, but put two on with no out in the seventh against Andy Pettitte. Mendoza gets Mark Johnson to fly out and Rey Ordonez to ground into a double play en route to a three-inning save.
*July 8: Yankees 4, Mets 1 -The Mets take a 1-0 lead in the sixth and put runners on first and second with no out. Mendoza replaces Randy Keisler and Vance Wilson singles to fill the bases.
But Mendoza induces Ordonez to dribble the ball in front of the plate, initiating an inning-ending double play. Mendoza then pitches a 1-2-3 seventh and earns the win when the Yanks score three times in the bottom of the inning.
*July 14: Yankees 5, Marlins 4 (10 innings) -The Yanks lead 5-4 going to the bottom of the 10th. For the second time as a Yankee, Mark Wohlers is allowed a chance to close. But he puts runners on first and second with one out. Mendoza enters and on his second pitch earns the save by getting Dave Berg to ground into a double play.
*July 16: Yankees 6, Phillies 3 (13 innings) -Mendoza gets nine outs in 24 pitches, economically enabling the Yanks to force extra innings.
That is four games, 8 shutout innings, one win and two saves. For the season, Mendoza was 6-2 with four saves in four tries and a 3.84 ERA.
“He pitches long, short, starts, closes; he pretty much does everything and does everything well,” Jeter said. “How many guys can do that?”
Not many, which is why Joe Torre always has fought to keep the quiet righty. Despite missing the first seven games of the season as he rehabbed following shoulder surgery and making two starts, Mendoza still went into last night third in the AL in relief innings (53″).
He has essentially helped fill the roles of departed long man Jason Grimsley and departed righty set-up man Jeff Nelson. Even with the additions of Jay Witasick and Mark Wohlers, Mendoza remains Torre’s most trusted late, righty, set-up option.
“It is not just this year,” O’Neill said. “Ramiro has been a big part of the winning here. He doesn’t rattle and always seems to pitch his best when we need him most.”