By Gordon Edes, Boston Globe Staff, 9/12/2000.
NEW YORK - In the place where they once were considered on a par with the best who ever pitched, this game went mostly unseen.
But the fanaticos will know. They always do. Someone on the island will rig up a radio antenna, or pick up a signal on an illegal satellite dish fashioned from kitchen appliances and old carburetors.
A box score will be transcribed from the play by play, then passed from hand to hand, one village to the next. It may take a day or two, but in the end they will all know that Rolando Arrojo beat El Duque last night in Yankee Stadium, 4-0, in a game that kept Red Sox postseason hopes alive.
Even though Arrojo wore a Red Sox uniform last night, and Orlando ''El Duque'' Hernandez was decked out in pinstripes, they can never belong to Boston and New York. Not when there are so many back in Cuba who remember their epic duels from the life they left behind, when Arrojo pitched for
Viella Clara and El Duque was the ace for Los Industriales of Havana.
Between them, they won more than 300 games. ''When they pitched against each other in the playoffs,'' said journalist Steve Fainaru, the former Globe Staffer who is writing a book on Hernandez, ''it was like Seaver against Gibson.''
When Fainaru's comment was translated to him after the game, Arrojo did not disagree.
''Our teams met five times in the playoffs,'' he said, with teammate Rich Garces acting as translator. ''I think he won two and I won two. They were all great games. One game I pitched a two-hitter against him, and lost, 1-0.
''It was like being in the movies, the two best actors in the same movie. It was always a great show.''
Arrojo was the first to leave the island, stealing away in the dead of night from a hotel in Albany, Ga., where the Cuban national team was staying prior to the 1996 Olympics.
Hernandez, who had been teammates with Arrojo on the national team, followed later, navigating the straits of Florida to find refuge in Miami. Both found riches in their new homeland, Arrojo receiving $7 million to sign with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, El Duque $6.5 million to become a Yankee.
''But it's so complicated for all of these guys,'' said Milton Jamail, University of Texas professor of political science and author of ''Full Count: Inside Cuban Baseball.'' ''They're real patriots, even though they leave.''
Last night in Yankee Stadium, this went beyond countrymen pitching against each other.
''He is my best friend in baseball,'' Arrojo said of El Duque.
While warming up before the game, the friends met briefly in the bullpen.
''We wished each other good luck,'' said Arrojo. ''I said to him, `Let's both have a good game today.'''
Hernandez, who has had elbow problems and last month endured a four-game losing streak, pitched well. He gave up a leadoff walk to Trot Nixon and a home run to Jose Offerman to begin the game, then a single and two-run home run to Manny ''Friend of Sammy'' Alexander in the second.
He then retired 10 in a row until Offerman walked with two out in the fifth, and got out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth by striking out Jason Varitek and Alexander.
But this night, Arrojo was better. Nixon made a leaping grab at the wall to take away Tino Martinez's bid for extra bases with Paul O'Neill on first to end the first inning. The Yankees would not advance a runner to third all night, Arrojo finally leaving with two on and one out in the eighth,
when he walked David Justice and gave up a bloop single to Derek Jeter.
But closer Derek Lowe induced O'Neill to tap into an inning-ending double play, and the Red Sox avoided a two-city sweep against the Yanks, salvaging one here after losing three straight to the Bombers in Fenway Park.
Arrojo, who allowed just five hits while whiffing seven, is now 5-2 since being acquired by the Sox at the end of July. It helped, pitching coach Joe Kerrigan said, that Arrojo did not shake off catcher Varitek the way he did in his last start last Wednesday against the A's, one in which he
lasted just three innings and took a 6-4 loss.
''You know what was huge tonight?'' Kerrigan said. ''When we had the bases loaded with one out [in the sixth] and didn't score, you could feel the momentum shifting.
''But then Arrojo came out that inning and shut them down. He's comfortable in that situation. He's comfortable in the spotlight.''
They already knew that in Cuba.
El Duque knew, too.
''I would like to congratulate him on a great performance,'' he said last night in the Yankees' clubhouse. ''We have pitched against each other many times. How many? I'm not sure.''
This story ran on page C05 of the Boston Globe on 9/12/2000.
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