SEATTLE – Ten years ago, cancer took his mother. Now, the insidious disease has his father on the ropes. And through it all, Scott Brosius remains the quintessential professional.
When the Yankees flew here from New York on Wednesday, Brosius went to Oregon to visit his dad, Maury, who is battling colon cancer. Brosius arrivedat Safeco Field hours before the game Thursday. Last night, while the Yankees were flying to San Francisco, Brosius was on his back to see Maury.
In between visits with Maury, Brosius played a major part in the Yankees sweeping four games from the Mariners. In yesterday’s 9-3 victory Brosius went 3-for-5 with a homer and five RBIs. For the four games, Brosius went 6-for-16 (.375) with two homers and nine RBIs.
“It’s been a frazzling trip, no question,” Brosius said. “I tell myself for three hours to get my concentration in one place here and let the other stuff take care of itself when it comes. It’s definitely been a series where I had to bear down a little harder.”
Brosius wasn’t the only Yankee with tunnel vision. Chad Curtis homered and Chuck Knoblauch went 3-for-5 with two doubles. Then there was David Cone’s brilliant six innings of pitching that resulted in his first win since throwing a perfect game against the Expos on July 18.
“I didn’t like hearing I hadn’t won since the perfect game,” said Cone, who allowed two runs, three hits, walked two and fanned nine to improve to 11-6. “It’s nice to get that off my back.”
The victory was the Yankees’ fifth straight and gave them their first four-game sweep of the Mariners in Seattlle since they bagged four straight at the Kingdome on July 14-17, 1994. In the four games, the Yankees outscored the Mariners, 28-12.
Cone didn’t allow a hit until Alex Rodriguez’ hard one-hopper glanced off Brosius’ glove and hit his chest with one out in the fourth.
“I would have been apologetic if that was the only hit,” Brosius said. “That would have been a tough way to lose a no-hitter.”
Rodriguez singled cleanly to left leading off the seventh against Cone and when Edgar Martinez followed with a single, Joe Torre decided 118 pitches was enough for Cone, who had to wait through a long top of the seventh when the Yankees broke the game open with four runs.
“I thought it was going to be a tough day because I knew they weren’t going to be happy having lost three straight,” Cone said of the Mariners. “I knew I had to be sharp early.”
For the first three innings Cone matched zeroes with Brooklyn native John Halama, a rookie lefty who was acquired from the Astros in the Randy Johnson trade last year. But in the fourth, Halama (9-3) walked Bernie Williams and gave up a single to Chili Davis starting the inning.
After Tino Martinez fanned, Brosius jumped all over a first-pitch changeup and hit over the left-field fence for his 13th homer.
“If you ask him, he would tell you it was a mistake,” said Brosius, who added a two-run single in the seventh.
Looking at Brosius, you don’t think toughness immediately. And knowing his ability to keep teammates loose with a sense of humor, you don’t see the fire. However, Cone sees the flip side.
“He is tougher than he gets credit for,” Cone said. “He is a gamer with fire. He fits right in on this team.”
Cone left two runners on for Jason Grimsley and the reliever’s struggles continued after he fanned Jay Buhner. Grimsley gave up singles to Raul Ibanez and Dan Wilson and walked Russ Davis to force home a run. When Grimsley went 2-0 on Brian Hunter, Torre replaced Grimsley with Dan Naulty, who needed Mike Stanton to get the final out with the bases loaded in the ninth.
“Anytime you go on the road and win a series, much less sweep, it’s a great ego booster,” Torre said. “To [do it in] Seattle, where the Yankees’ history isn’t good, is pretty good.”
The three-hour window for Brosius to escape through was now closed. As he dressed quickly for the flight to see Maury, you could almost see his thought process change. For the rest of the evening there wouldn’t be any Halama changeups to worry about. All that was left was getting home to see the man who taught him how to play baseball.