Focused hurler emerges, but his flip side lurks
BRETT Gardner retrieved Evan Longoria’s double to the left-center field corner, and as he returned the ball to the infield, Yankees pitching coach Larry Rothschild already was moving toward the dugout steps, toward a conversation with Michael Pineda.
Pineda had danced with history. Twenty up, twenty down. The home opener. A capacity crowd growing louder and louder with possibilities. And then the 21st Rays hitter, Longoria, capitalized on a hanging slider. Brad Miller, the Rays’ top lefty power threat, was due up as the tying run. There was the short rightfield porch and there was Pineda’s penchant to make bad worse, particularly with two outs, especially when his emotions overwhelm his talent.
This is why Rothschild was out with such urgency to “reboot” the Yankees starter. He was there along with catcher Austin Romine and the entire infield, forming a huddle of encouragement around Pineda with this message: “They told me, ‘Don’t lose focus.’ ”
It has been a message delivered redundantly to Pineda. On arguably the best day of his career, it stuck. Pineda did not make bad worse. He made great better by striking out Miller on yet another merciless slider.
“It was the most composed I had seen him on the mound in a long time,” Romine said.
Pineda’s poise, power and precision allowed him to dabble with perfection on a joyous Yankees return to The Bronx. Gardner and Jacoby Ellsbury reunited atop the lineup to fuel the offense. Chase Headley continued his atonement tour. Aaron Judge went deep for a second straight game. And the Yanks piled it on in the end to win 8-1.
But the 115th Yankees home opener will be remembered for just how brilliant Pineda was — “I just think he executed pitches over and over,” Headley said. “I thought he was go- ing to throw a perfect game.”
Pineda had to settle for just mastery — 7 2/3 innings, two hits, one run (a Logan Morrison wall-scraping homer in the eighth), no walks and 11 strikeouts — plus a resounding standing ovation when he left with two outs in the eighth; an applause that could be deciphered as part appreciation and part plea from a fan base that has been both enthralled and enraged by Pineda.
No one has ever doubted Pineda’s talent, only his A.J. Burnett-esque trait of diminishing its effectiveness with lost command of his pitches, thought process and emotions.
Pineda faced the same starting nine five days earlier in St. Petersburg, Fla. He had two outs, two on in the second inning of a 1-1 game, facing Derek Norris, the kind of weak, strikeout-prone righty hitter whom Pineda should devastate. Instead, he yielded a two-run single, lost his concentration and let Norris (a catcher) steal second, from where Norris scored on another two-out single.
Pineda lasted 3 2/3 innings, rekindled every concern about him, then went out this time and showed why the Yankees don’t want to give up on him, despite all the frustration.
“He does have the ability to dominate like that,” Romine said.
Pineda was “dotting,” in Romine’s words, a 95-96 mph fastball to both edges of the plate. His slider was elite, the finishing pitch on nine of the 11 strikeouts. Romine even coaxed effective changeups from Pineda (he threw 11). So, on this day, Pineda was a three-pitch pitcher with laser command and no self-defeating breakdowns in serenity and stuff. But is it just another tease? I remember covering David Wells’ perfect game in May 1998 and writing a relatively negative column because Wells had the talent — especially as an elite strike thrower — to be elite. But a lack of seriousness and conditioning kept him off the A-list (he had a 5.23 ERA in eight starts at the time of the perfect game). But that historic event locked Wells in, at least for that season, and he emerged the ace on a champion.
Can Pineda lock in? He also is adept at throwing strikes, some times too many hittable ones, but on this Monday afternoon he threw strike one to 20-of-25 hitters and opened 16 counts either 0-2 or 1-2.
The Yankees, considering so many question marks in the rotation, would be hard-pressed to even make a strong run at the playoffs without excellence from the 28-year-old righty, whose motivations can hardly be stronger since he can be a free agent after the season.
Romine said he believes this performance will “help” Pineda when everything is not working quite as ideally as it did in the home opener, serving as a reminder to trust three pitches and his skills.
But as glorious as Pineda was Monday, he has a long way to go to gain full trust. Pineda does not have to be perfect — though he showed the stuff to chase just that. He just has to finally honor his outsized talent.