 Colin Curtis hits his 1st career home run after a wild sequence that featured Brett Garder getting ejected from the game in the 7th inning. (AP) YANKEE STADIUM -- Talk about an unlikely hero.
With the score 7-5 in favor of New York after DH Juan Miranda's solo home run (3) in the bottom of the seventh, rookie Colin Curtis was just another dugout spectator watching left fielder Brett Gardner hitting against Angels reliever Scott Shields with men at the corners, 1 out and an 0-1 count.
Shields' next pitch, a 90 mph fastball Gardner laid off because he felt it was out of the zone, was called a strike. Gardner spun around in frustration and said something that prompted home plate umpire Paul Emmel to eject him from the game.
"I was scratching my head, and that's all I'm going to say about it," said manager Joe Girardi, who got thrown out of yesterday's 10-2 loss, of Gardner's swift ejection.
Brett Gardner took the same laconic stance on his ousting.
"It's the first time I've been tossed ... ever, and hopefully the last," said Gardner. "I rather not talk about it; it's like beating a dead horse."
The stunning development left Girardi with no choice but to send 25-year-old Colin Curtis out to hit in an 0-2 hole in what was a crucial moment in the game.
After taking a few warmup swings, the lefty-hitting Curtis stepped into the batter's box and battled Shields to a full count. On Shields' 3-2 pitch, a 91 mph fastball, the product of Issaquah, Washington, did the unbelievable: he hit a 3-run home run into the right field stands - the 1st of his career - to give the Yankees a 5-run cushion at 10-5.
New York (59-34) would eventually go on to beat the Angels (51-46), 10-6.  Colin connects, and the 47,000-plus roard as the Yankees were on their way toward splitting the 2-game set with the Angels. (AP)
"It's really exciting running around the bases, trying to hold your smile back," said a giddy Colin Curtis. " ... I'll never forget this moment."
Given everything that led to his boisterous, Stadium curtain call, it's safe to say that there's no way Colin Curtis, a home-grown Yankee drafted by the team in 2006, could've ever imagined hitting his first big-league homer in such a scenario.
"Not in those circumstances," he told Latino Sports. "But after the fact, it's pretty exciting."
Forgotten, because of the seventh-inning chaos, was Yankee starter Javier Vazquez (4.68 ERA) improving his record to 8-7; Vazquez was aided by early, substantial run support, and the 5 runs he allowed on 9 hits (2 HR) in 5 innings (plus 2 batters) was slightly better than L.A. starter Joel Pineiro's line of 6 runs on 11 hits (1 HR) through 6 innings. With the loss, Pineiro (4.18 ERA) fell to 10-7.  It wasn't pretty, but Javier Vazquez (W, 8-7) got the win despite giving up 5 runs in 5 innings of work. (Photo by Bill Menzel)
Like yesterday, New York got on the board in the first inning by taking a 1-0 lead on Alex Rodriguez's RBI groundout (6-3 fielder's choice) that scored Derek Jeter (3 for 5, 3R) from third.
In the third, the Yankees opened up on Pineiro, with Jeter leading off the inning with an infield single to deep short, and Nick Swisher's double down the right field line. Jeter and Swisher (2 for 5) came in to score, easily, on Mark Teixeira's 2-run single to right-center.
Two batters later, with Teixeira (3 for 5, 3 RBI) still on first and New York up 3-0, Robinson Cano hit a home run (18) into the Yankee bullpen that made it 5-0. Teixeira continued his onslaught in the fourth, driving in Jeter with a double to left that gave the Yanks a 6-0 stranglehold.
But before the Yankees could so much as think about the possibility of cruising to a blowout victory, the Angels finally got to Javier Vazquez in the fifth, scoring 3 runs on Kevin Frandsen's RBI single and Bobby Wilson's 2-run homer (2) to left.
Later that inning, when Bobby Abreu was at the plate, Erick Aybar (3 for 5) was gunned out trying to steal third by catcher Francisco Cervelli (2 for 4) following Vazquez's 2-2 delivery for the second out. Vazquez then put himself in line for the win by striking Abreu out swinging with a 3-2 changeup.
2009 World Series MVP Hideki Matsui resumed his effectiveness in his second trip to The Bronx this season, hitting a 2-run homer (12) to right that got the Angels to within 6-5. Former Yankee Hideki Matsui's .248 batting average isn't much to brag about, but New York wouldn't mind getting 12 HRs and 51 RBIs from the DH slot a little over the halfway point of the season. (AP)
Vazquez was immediately yanked following Matsui's blast in favor of reliever David Robertson, the hero from Sunday's 9-5 win over the Tampa Bay Rays, but after Robertson struck out first baseman Mike Napoli for the first out of the inning, the Halos eventually loaded the bases with 2 outs.
Given a chance to add to his repute as a Yankee killer, Howie Kendrick did his part by crushing Robertson's full count, 92 mph fastball to right - but unfortunately for him and the Angels, the line drive was right at Nick Swisher, who put it away for the 3rd out.
After lefty reliever Boone Logan recorded the first 2 outs of the seventh inning, there was a collective "Oh, no!" from the 47,521 fans at the Stadium when Joba Chamberlain (H, 18) was announced as the next reliever.
Chamberlain (5.18 ERA), who came in with a runner at first, found himself in trouble when the Angels loaded the bases. The embattled 24-year-old reliever, however, managed to escape the threat after getting Kevin Frandsen to ground out softly to third.
In the eighth, Chamberlain (1.1 IP, 3H, 1R) gave up the Angels' 6th and final run, which came on Bobby Abreu's RBI groundout. With the Yankees up by 4, Mariano Rivera pitched a scoreless ninth in a non-save situation.
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