Rookie has been a hit
Gardner quickly makes impression
NEW YORK - The little guy being swarmed and swallowed up by Yankee legends Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, and Mariano Rivera was a little Brett Butler-like kid named Brett Gardner.
His job is to replace Johnny Damon as left fielder until Damon (left shoulder injury) can return from the disabled list. And you know something? The last two games, the little guy from the College of Charleston in South Carolina is making quite an impression.
He knocked in the winning run last night in the 10th inning on a ground ball up the middle that trickled through the infield and off the glove of Alex Cora behind second base to score Robinson Cano in a 5-4 Yankees win.
"That's something I'll remember the rest of my life," said Gardner in talking about the tumult that crashed around him on the field after he produced the winning hit. "I just needed to get a good pitch to hit and he [Jonathan Papelbon] threw me a splitter that I was able to get some wood on.
"I didn't think it got through so I was talking to the ball on my way down to first base to talk it through. It gave Robby enough time to get to the plate."
Gardner's reputation as a hitter is precisely what he did against Papelbon. He grinds out at-bats. He slaps at the ball, fouls off tough pitches.
He fouled off a pair of 96- and 97-mile-per-hour fastballs, not an easy task for a little guy against a tough righthanded pitcher like Papelbon. But the result was also predictable. Though Papelbon thought he had Gardner struck out earlier in the at-bat, the young hitter has a good eye and has been producing like this all season in Triple A Scranton/Wilkes Barre.
It also helped that Gardner got a look at Paplebon Friday and worked a walk against him.
"I knew I was going to get some fastballs from him and he threw me some over the plate that I fouled off," said Gardner, 24. "I saw his stuff on Friday and it's really good so you have to try and hang in there against him and keep swinging away and fouling off tough pitches and make him work. That's what I tried to do."
On Saturday, Gardner had two key plays in a 2-1 win.
He threw out Dustin Pedroia trying to stretch a single in the first inning, showing a much better arm than Damon. He then drove in the winning run with a sacrifice fly. At Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Gardner led the International League with a .412 on base percentage. He batted .287, with 11 doubles, 10 triples, 61 walks, and 34 stolen bases.
"I had a good feeling Gardy would come through against Papelbon," said Yankees manager Joe Girardi. "I think up until the time Papelbon had walked Gardner the other night he had allowed something like five walks the whole year. I saw him fouling off a lot of pitches. He's going to fight you and fight you."
Gardner, who was 2 for 5 and also stole a base last night, has shown many of the same attributes as Damon.
"He's doing the things out there that we get from Johnny on a consistent basis, so with Johnny going to the DL, it's huge if we can get this type of performance out of Gardy on a consistent basis," Girardi said.
This was a huge win for the Yankees, who salvaged a split of the series against the Sox, and Gardner had a hand in both wins. With the All-Star break looming, Damon will have a chance to miss only a week's worth of games.
"It's too bad that Johnny is out," said Gardner. "He's such an important part of this team. But this is an opportunity to step in and help the team while Johnny gets healthy again. I'm just hoping to be able to contribute to wins. To get a hit like this against Papelbon, one of the best pitchers we'll see all season, is gratifying.
"Like I said, I won't forget this."
