Yankees Get Stellar Start From an Unexpected Source

By TYLER KEPNER
Published: September 10, 2008

Yankees 7, Angels 1

ANAHEIM, Calif. — The man in the gray T-shirt, marked in black with a giant number 91, had been waiting for this moment for decades.

He played 10 years as a first baseman in the Mexican League, where he was teammates with Fernando Valenzuela. But Alfredo Aceves Sr. never got a chance with a major league organization, and his eldest son, Jonathan, topped out at Class AAA in a 10-year minor league career.

On Tuesday at Angel Stadium, a younger son, Alfredo Jr., made his first major league start, and it was a rousing success. Aceves held the Los Angeles Angels to one run and five hits in seven innings, pitching the Yankees to a 7-1 victory before 43,042 fans, including a father who was too tense to be excited.

"Just nerves," said Aceves Sr. "More nerves than emotions."

Baseball teams learn to be skeptical of what they see in September, a lesson that was reinforced for the Yankees this season. They gave starting spots to Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy after both pitched well late last season, a decision that seems rash in hindsight.

So while there was reason to temper enthusiasm over Aceves, the Yankees were cautiously excited. At 25, Aceves is older than Hughes and Kennedy, and catcher Chad Moeller said his pitches are well above average. Aceves throws a fastball, cutter, changeup and curve.

"He attacked hitters, and he has plenty of stuff," Moeller said. "He has a lot better stuff than a lot of guys in this league. It's just going to be learning what to do here."

Aceves' effort was not enough to rescue the Yankees from fourth place in the American League East, because the third-place Toronto Blue Jays won both games of a doubleheader in Chicago, running their winning streak to 10.

But it was the Yankees' first victory in five games this season at Angel Stadium, where the Angels often expose the Yankees' flaws. The Angels (87-57) used a makeshift lineup on Tuesday, but that did not matter to the Aceves family.

"His confidence," said Alfredo Sr., when asked what made him most proud. "He confronted a team that had big bats – the biggest, strongest team, the Angels, with a lot of respect to them."

Aceves signed with Toronto in 2001 and played one season for their team in the Dominican Republic. When the Blue Jays tried to send him back the next season, Aceves asked for a trade to the Mexican League, where he stayed until the Yankees paid $450,000 to sign him in March.

Manager Joe Girardi was unfamiliar with Aceves at the time, but he could not help noticing him with each glowing minor league report. Aceves went 4-1 for Class A Tampa, and soon worked his way to Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

The Yankees promoted him last month, and after throwing five strong innings in relief of Darrell Rasner last week, Aceves took Rasner's spot in the rotation.

Manager Joe Girardi said the quality of the last two opponents Aceves has faced -- Tampa Bay and the Angels – makes his effort more impressive. Girardi also noticed how confident Aceves seemed with his pitches, throwing a changeup to the veteran Garret Anderson with a 2-0 count.

"I think he has good stuff, because he locates and he changes speeds," Girardi said. "He's not a guy that just blows you away. He locates his fastballs, he locates his changeups and he has the ability to throw off-speed when he's behind in the count for strikes."

Girardi continued: "Not only in that at-bat to Garret Anderson did he throw a 2-0 changeup, he threw a 3-2 curveball for a strike. It's one thing when you've thrown 20 in a game, but he probably only threw four or five. He has a good feel for all his pitches."

The Yankees supported Aceves with a run in the second inning and a three-run homer to right by Alex Rodriguez in the sixth. The rest of the runs came on homers by Johnny Damon, who chased Ervin Santana (15-6) in the seventh and connected again in the ninth off Justin Speier.

Aceves was gone by then, leaving after seven and taking the approach of a pitcher who has done this before. He said he had more than 30 friends and family members at the game, but he did not know where they were sat and did not look around.

"I don't see the stands," Aceves said. "Just the game."

INSIDE PITCH

Derek Jeter singled in the first inning for his 2,519th career hit, passing Babe Ruth for second place on the Yankees' career list. Lou Gehrig is the leader, with 2,721 hits. … Andy Pettitte, who starts on Wednesday, said he does not know if he will pitch next season but has no interest in playing for any team but the Yankees. "Obviously anyone else would say, 'I'll go wherever I want to,' because people want to try to get the most money," Pettitte said. "But, I mean, I'm not going anywhere, you know what I'm saying? The Yankees know me enough, it's not like I'm going to hold out. I guess if I had spent all my money or whatever, it might be different. But it's not about that, really, anymore." Pettitte said he would talk with his wife and oldest son in hopes of making a decision sooner than he did last winter, when he waited until December to tell the Yankees he would return.

News source：http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/10/sports/baseball/10yankees.html?ref=sports