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Admirable
Halsey steers ship
Staked to quick 4-0 lead against Nomo,
he strikes out first batter, gets hit in
first at-bat and wins major-league debut
for Yankees |
BY JIM BAUMBACH
STAFF CORRESPONDENT
June 20, 2004
LOS ANGELES -- When Brad Halsey entered
the clubhouse, the last thing the
23-year-old looked like was a
major-leaguer. Clubhouse attendant or
batboy, perhaps, or maybe one of the
players' sons. But certainly not the
Yankees' starting pitcher.
"One player thought he was Neil Allen's
son," Joe Torre said, referring to the
46-year-old pitching coach from Triple-A
Columbus who accompanied Halsey here.
But there was Halsey before the game,
calmly sitting in front of his locker.
He has wavy blond hair, a slender build
and a baby face that requires no
shaving. But as much as he looked as if
he didn't belong, it didn't take him
long to prove his worth.
Given a four-run lead before he threw
his first pitch, Halsey marked his
big-league debut by earning his first
victory. The lefthander pitched 5 2/3
innings, allowing two runs, five hits
and a walk, as the Yankees picked up a
6-2 win over the Dodgers before 54,876
at Dodger Stadium.
"You know when they throw the ball
around the infield?" Halsey said. "When
A-Rod threw the ball to me, I was like,
'A-Rod just threw me that ball.' It was
awesome."
As excited as Halsey was after the game,
he was just as calm and reserved on the
mound. He didn't seem to let anything or
anyone bother him.
Not long after meeting him for the first
time, the Yankees gave Halsey the best
kind of welcome, handing him a quick
four- run lead. With two out and none
on, Hideo Nomo walked Rodriguez and
Jason Giambi. After Gary Sheffield lined
an RBI single to centerfield, Hideki
Matsui reached for an 0-and-2 forkball
on the outside corner and hooked it into
the first row of the stands next to the
rightfield foul pole for a three-run
homer.
"That definitely helped because I knew I
had to go out there and throw strikes
and make them put the ball in play,"
said Halsey, who threw 70 of 108 pitches
for strikes. "Nobody likes to watch guys
go out there and walk guys, especially
when you have four runs on the board. I
just went out there with the attitude I
was going to challenge the hitters."
After striking out the Dodgers' leadoff
hitter, Cesar Izturis, Halsey gave up a
single to Jayson Werth and a double to
Milton Bradley. Shawn Green grounded out
to make it 4-1, but Adrian Beltre flied
out to right.
Catcher John Flaherty said he knew right
after that inning that Halsey was going
to be fine. "I never really saw him get
rattled," Flaherty said.
But for everything he did on the mound,
Halsey said his favorite moment was his
one-out single in the second inning,
which was his first at-bat since his
sophomore year of high school. "I saw
the first fastball go by and I was like,
'I can hit one of those,'" he said. "He
threw me the next one, I was a little
late on it, but I hit it to leftfield."
After the ball dropped in front of
leftfielder Werth, Halsey looked rusty
running to first. He ran through the bag
as if trying to beat out a grounder
instead of rounding it and turning
toward second, drawing laughter from the
Yankees' bench.
"I didn't know what to do," he said
while sipping a beer, another sight that
didn't seem to fit his youthful
appearance. "I was like, 'I think I just
got a hit.' And I ran through the bag.
Being in foul territory, I figured I was
safe. I didn't really know."
Said Torre, "Some of the players were
wondering whether in Triple-A, second
base was down the rightfield line."
But the embarrassment didn't bother
Halsey. He gave up a leadoff homer to
Nomo in the fifth that cut the Yankees'
lead to 4-2 but retired the next five
batters before allowing Juan
Encarnacion's two-out single in the
sixth and giving way to Paul Quantrill.
Torre said he wouldn't hesitate to start
Halsey a second time, though whether
that actually will happen is unclear, as
Kevin Brown can come off the disabled
list Friday. Plus, in George
Steinbrenner's world of instant
gratification, Halsey's trade value rose
significantly. He might have become
prime trade bait to acquire Carlos
Beltran or Freddy Garcia.
Asked about the possibility of being
traded, Halsey said he understands the
situation the Yankees are in. He was
just basking in the experience. Said
Halsey with a smile, "It's all kind of a
blur right now."
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