Nice Cushion Softens Halsey's Yankees Debut

By TYLER KEPNER

Published: June 20, 2004

LOS ANGELES, June 19 — There are five decks of seats at Dodger Stadium, and 54,876 fans stuffed into them to watch Brad Halsey on Saturday. The challenge for Halsey, who was making his major league debut for the Yankees, was to keep his gaze lower.

The Yankees promoted Halsey on Saturday, but he worked out in Los Angeles on Friday with Neil Allen, his pitching coach at Class AAA Columbus. Allen, a longtime major leaguer, gave Halsey simple advice: "Don't look at the upper deck at Dodger Stadium. Keep focused on the target."

But this was not Halsey's boyhood home in Houston, where his mother, Loretta, built a mound in the front yard and taught him how to pitch. And it was not the University of Texas, where Halsey helped the Longhorns to the 2002 College World Series title. He was pitching in a storied park for a team of All-Stars, and when Alex Rodriguez tossed him the ball before his first pitch, Halsey gave in to the moment. "A-Rod just threw me that ball," he said he thought to himself. "It was awesome."

The day got even better for Halsey, who lasted five and two-thirds innings, earning the victory as the Yankees beat the Dodgers, 6-2. Halsey, 23, a left-hander, gave up two runs, five hits and a walk, and even singled in his first at-bat since his sophomore year in high school.

"He started right out with strike one, strike two," Manager Joe Torre said. "He wasn't going to beat himself. I was very pleased with the outing. You couldn't ask for more than that, really."

The last Yankee to start and win his major league debut was Brandon Claussen, who did it against the Mets last June and was traded to Cincinnati a month later for Aaron Boone. The Yankees could give Halsey another start if Kevin Brown needs more time to recover from his strained lower back, or they could use him in a deal.

The Yankees want to trade for Seattle starter Freddy Garcia and reliever Mike Myers. Dan Evans, a Mariners scout and the former Dodgers general manager, watched the game from the stands. The Yankees are also monitoring the Kansas City Royals' asking price for center fielder Carlos Beltran.

Like all Yankees prospects, Halsey knows he can be showcased. "That obviously runs through your head, but it doesn't do any good," he said. "It takes away from what you're trying to accomplish, which is to be a better player. You get distracted with things like that."

The Yankees took some pressure off Halsey with a four-run first inning against Dodgers starter Hideo Nomo. With two outs and the bases empty, Alex Rodriguez walked, and Jason Giambi exhausted Nomo with a 13-pitch at-bat. After seven foul balls with two strikes, Giambi coaxed a walk. "That at-bat was dynamite," Torre said.

Gary Sheffield singled, scoring Rodriguez, and Hideki Matsui batted next, facing Nomo for the first time since a 1996 exhibition game in Tokyo. Nomo retired Matsui three times then, and he got ahead in the count, 0-2, this time.

But Nomo followed with a splitter, and Matsui reached down for it with a sweeping, one-handed wave of the bat. He hooked the ball down the right-field line, and it landed in the first row of seats near the foul pole for his 12th home run. The Yankees led by 4-0, and the Dodgers, who had no video of Halsey, knew they might be in trouble.

"Not knowing what he was going to throw worked to his advantage, and he had a generous strike zone that helped," Dodgers center fielder Milton Bradley said. "It helps when you go out there with a four-run lead and you have so many superstars behind your back. I'd be comfortable, too."

The last Yankees starter to make his major league debut, Alex Graman, had a 7-0 lead in Chicago on April 20. But Graman could not last three innings, and though he has pitched well for Columbus, the Yankees bypassed him for Halsey, who was pitching on three days' rest.

Halsey wavered in the first, when the Dodgers put runners on second and third with one out, but he escaped, allowing only one run. Nomo homered in the fifth, but otherwise the Dodgers struggled with Halsey's changeups and splitters. Armed with a below-average fastball, Halsey pitched confidently and hit his spots.

"David Wells made a living pitching inside to righties," catcher John Flaherty said, "and it seems like that's this kid's approach."

Torre said Halsey pitched bravely with his fastball, which averaged about 86 to 88 miles an hour, and he let him pitch until Juan Encarnacion's two-out single in the sixth. Torre took the ball and gave Halsey a fatherly pat on the head as he walked off the mound.

After the game, as Halsey sipped Bud Light from a can at his locker, a reporter asked if his debut was everything he thought it would be. "And then some," he said. "I don't even think it's really hit me yet."