Cairo bats right handed and is not a power hitter. Nathan throws right handed. The logical move was for Yankees manager Joe Torre to pinch hit for Cairo with either Kenny Lofton, who bats lefty, or switch hitter Tony Clarke, who seemed to be the better choice since he has home run power and much of the Yankees' scoring occurs when they hit home runs.
Torre went against the book. Cairo has gotten some big hits this season and has been one of the more consistent Yankees at the plate. Lofton doesn't have much more power than Cairo and is a less disciplined hitter. Clarke does have much more power but he is extremely inconsistent and strikes out a lot. Nathan is not a curve ball pitcher so the lefty-righty advantage would not be great. After the game, Torre said, "I know one thing about Cairo. He's going to give me an at-bat."
And he did. Cairo drew a base on balls to put the tying run on first with Derek Jeter up. Jeter had led off the game for the Yankees with a home run, the first run they had scored in this playoff series. A repeat would be nice and many batters would be tempted and anxious, but Derek Jeter is not like many batters. He drew a four pitch walk, moving Cairo to second. Alex Rodriguez was the batter.
Nathan checked Cairo at second and Jeter at first. He brought his hands to the belt and fired the pitch to the plate. Rodriguez took ball one. Pat Borders threw the ball back to Nathan. Rodriguez got ready in the batter's box. Nathan again brought his hands to the belt and delivered the pitch, which was just above the knees on the inside of the plate for a called strike one.
Rodriguez stepped out the batters box, rubbed his hands together, and then got back in. The runners took their leads from first and second. Nathan peered in to get the signal from Borders, nodded assent and delivered.
Go To Page: 1 2
