Finally!

In his comment on the June 11 posting, BGW pointed out how Torre's refusal to retaliate had in effect made human pinadas out of his batters. Even Johnson, BGW remarked, who has always relied on intimidation, had fallen under the spell of Torre's exorbitant conscientiousness. Well no more. After a buzzing of Jeter and a plunking of Jorge, Johnson sent one high and hard at Perez and while I would have preferred that the Indians first baseman spent the rest of his evening getting his cracked ribs taped--especially since Johnson got ejected anyway--I think the message was sent. I won't say BGW exerted influence over the Yankees practices, but he was certainly proven right in his assessment. HArold Reynolds had commented how rare it was for the Yankees to retaliate--if he knows it, so do opposing pitchers. The fans in the stands went crazy cheering for Johnson after the chin music, proving that they understand the consequences of failing to honor the code better than Torre himself. Finally thier players expressed appreciation, noting that they were getting beat up out there and an unmeasured respon se was accordingly necessary. They didn't say so, but their message to the staff and the manager was clear--what took you so long? Which goes to show that BGW was also correct in his sense that the Yankees' excessive restraint in this regard had come at the price of team solidarity.

The win puts the Yankees back in first, and various players, along with Torre hinself, were talking afterwards as if some corner had been turned. If this piece of frontier justice proves as decisive for the Yankees fortunes as the buzz would indicate, BGW would have earned a promotion from fan/analyst to prophet.