With a count of 0 balls and 2 strikes, Hartnett connected on a Mace Brown pitch, launching the ball into the darkness, before it eventually landed in the left-center field bleachers.
With the count of 2 balls and 1 strike, Benson threw a belt-high fastball -- the type of pitch Raines once feasted on, as in 1986, when he led the National League in hitting with a.334 average.
There was one out to go in the ninth, no one on base, a count of 2 balls and 2 strikes on Byrnes, and Rivera pumped a fastball; Byrnes swung through it.
Clemens struck out the first two batters in the fifth, and with a count of no balls and two strikes to Jaha, Clemens fired a fastball well over Jaha's head, five feet or so -- "At least that," said Yankees Manager Joe Torre -- and the ball went to the backstop.
Mussina's control is usually exceptional -- a Seattle scout saw him throw to 120 batters over the last month and never saw a count of 3 balls and 0 strikes -- but he appeared to be struggling a bit with the mound, checking the landing area after following through.
With a count of two balls and one strike, he lost it all.
With a count of one ball and two strikes, Freese hit a two-run triple off Neftalí Feliz just out of the reach of Nelson Cruz to tie the game and send it to extra innings.
Nice try bud!" And I was ready for more "nice try bud!" and just like that with a count of 1 ball 2 strikes he bunted his way to first, brought two runs home and the game ended by mercy rule.
Twice, they had batters work counts of three balls and no strikes.
Only twice among the first 31 hitters did the Yankees reach favorable hitters' counts of 2 balls and 0 strikes, or 3-1.
In baseball, the count is the ratio of balls to strikes against the batter.
