This past weekend, Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez did a signing at a Modell’s in New Jersey. Unfortunately I couldn’t make it, but my WONDERFUL girlfriend went and was able to get a ball signed for me. Couple that with the fact the Angels are in town to play the Yankees, and I can’t help but think of one of my favorite moments at the old Yankee Stadium.
It was October 7, 2005. The Yankees were getting ready to play a pivotal ALDS game three against the Angels and I had a ticket to watch. Man, I hated the Angels. It always seemed like they had the Yankees’ number. I hated Bartolo Colon. I hated John Lackey. I hated Garret Anderson. I hated K-Rod. I could go on for days. I still wasn’t over the 2002 division series.
Being that it was 2005 and the Red Sox were defending their World Series championship, I kept a close eye on their series with the White Sox. Chicago was up 2-0 in the series, and was playing game three that same night – it started at 4:09 pm ET. The Yankees game was set to start at 8:09 pm ET.
I got to the Stadium early, but there was no batting practice because it was raining. Instead of showing bloopers or some other video on the jumbotron, they decided to show the Red Sox/White Sox game which was already in progress. Chicago had a 4-2 lead in the bottom of the sixth before Freddy Garcia gave up a solo shot to Manny Ramirez. Garcia would go on to load the bases with no out, forcing manager Ozzie Guillen to bring in El Duque.
El Duque is one of my favorite baseball players of all-time. He was so entertaining to watch, with the leg kick and the crazy arm angles he’d throw at. He always seemed to get the job done. Always came up clutch when his team needed it the most.
So here I was. At Yankee Stadium. Watching El Duque pitch at Fenway Park. It was almost surreal. He got Jason Varitek and Tony Graffanino to pop out, before striking out Johnny Damon to end the inning. No harm, no foul. The White Sox still had a 4-3 lead.
Those that were at the Stadium gave El Duque a standing ovation. He wasn’t on the Yankees at the time. He wasn’t even in the same ballpark. He was pitching for the White Sox, but he was still one of our own. He was sticking it to Boston again in Fenway, and everyone appreciated it.
El Duque ended up pitching three scoreless innings. He allowed one hit and struck out four, throwing 49 pitches – 33 for strikes. They showed the final out of the game, and the entire Stadium erupted. The Red Sox had been eliminated. The defending champs were going home. It was time to play baseball in the Bronx!
And then the Angels got in the way.
LA jumped out to an early 5-0 lead, but the Yankees came back with four in the fourth and two in the fifth to take control of the game. But as you’d imagine, it didn’t last long. The Angels put up two runs in each of the next three innings. They’d win the game 11-7, pushing the Yankees’ backs against the wall, going up 2-1 in the best-of-five series.
If only the Yankees had a guy like El Duque that night! The Yankees’ pitching during those years was so bad. They were depending on guys like Aaron Small, Shawn Chacon and an old Randy Johnson.
El Duque was ageless. In 2005, he was listed as 36-years-old, but we all knew he was probably older. He went on to the win his fourth World Series ring that year with the White Sox, but he’ll no doubt be remembered as a Yankee.
On that rainy night in the Bronx, we were all reminded of El Duque’s greatness, even though he was hundreds of miles away.
