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In an August 31, 1995, game that I believe served as the template for a hilarious episode of the TV sit-com Seinfeld, Paul O’Neill homered in his first three at bats to drive in eight runs in an 11-6 win over the Angels in Yankee Stadium. Continue reading August 31 in Yankee History
The Yankees completed a three-game sweep over the Red Sox in Yankee Stadium with a 5-0 win on August 30, 2007, in a game where hometown starter Chien-Ming Wang threw no-hit ball until Mike Lowell singled with one out in the seventh inning. On offense, Robbie Cano homered off Curt Schilling his first two times up, Derek Jeter had four singles, and Bobby Abreu stroked his 400th career double. It was in this game that young Yankee reliever Joba Chamberlain earned an ejection and a suspension after throwing two straight balls over Kevin Youkilis’s head in the ninth inning. Continue reading August 30 in Yankee History
On August 23, 2003, when Ron Guidry Day was celebrated in Yankee Stadium, the team played uninspired baseball in a 7-2 loss to the Orioles in the game that followed. No such problem occurred on August 29, 1964, when the Yanks held Elston Howard Day. The Yanks took two from the Red Sox, 10-2 and 6-1. Joe Pepitone went yard three times, including a grand slam, and Roger Maris hit six singles. It was highlights all around, as Mickey Mantle hit his 447th career homer in the first game, and tied Babe Ruth’s career strike out record (1,330) in the second. Continue reading August 29 in Yankee History
Giving the lie to all the claims floating around Yankee Stadium in 2009, Robbie Cano sent a soaked fanbase home happy on August 28, 2009, when his 10th-inning three-run walkoff bomb against Chicago lefty Randy Williams gave the Yankees a 5-2 win. Rumor had it that Cano could only hit in non-rbi situations, and the game only went into extras because Nick Swisher made a great throw to nail a runner at home in the top of the seventh. Brian Bruney pitched the top of the 10th and got the win. Continue reading August 28 in Yankee History
Ask a number of Yankee fans with a sense of history individually about 1978, and two arcs will emerge. In light of the day held in his honor in Yankee Stadium in 2003, we’ll mention the incredible 25-3 Cy Young season of Louisiana Lightning, Ron Guidry first. And hand in hand with that, of course, was the stirring comeback from 14 games behind, with the Yanks finally wresting the pennant from their Boston rivals in the playoff game that has made “Bucky Dent” two thirds of a three-word epithet in much of Massachusetts and New England ever since. But what should be obvious to even the most casual fan is that you can’t mount a comeback drive like that on the strength of just one starting pitcher. Catfish Hunter beat the Oakland A’s, 6-2, on August 27, 1978, to complete a six-win/no-loss August that helped propel the Bombers on their way. Utilizing a spin windup he may have copied from the wily Luis Tiant (with the Sox at the time, but who would pitch for the Yanks too), Hunter brought to mind the old saw that has it that a flashlight burns brightest just before the light goes out. Guidry’s brilliance would have gone for naught without him. Continue reading August 27 in Yankee History
Bronx, N.Y., August 25, 2011 – It was a day of extremes at Yankee Stadium Thursday afternoon. The skies opened in the morning, making the legions of fans traveling to the park wonder if they were wasting their time. Despite discouraging weather repors, however, the rain slowed, then stopped, although intermittent showers continued through the early hours of the game. Continue reading The Longest Day
One of the most veteran Yankees and a journeyman with them briefly led the way when the Bombers bashed Derek Holland and the Texas Rangers 9-2 in Yankee Stadium on August 26, 2009. Jorge Posada got the rout going with a three-run bomb in the second, and Jerry Hairston, Jr. upped the lead with a fourth-inning homer. Derek Jeter, Nick Swisher, and Mark Teixeira drove in all the runs in a five-run home seventh inning, and Andy Pettitte went seven for the win. Continue reading August 26 in Yankee History
Bronx, N.Y., August 24, 2011 – Perhaps the most convincing, and simultaneously bizarre, argument supporting Curtis Granderson as the 2011 American League Most Valuable Player is emerging in Yankee Stadium this week. If Curtis doesn’t hit, the Yankees don’t win. Team captain Derek Jeter has gone 6-for-8 over two nights, teammate Nick Swisher has homered three times for five runs, and Robinson Cano has extended the Yankees’ longest 2011 hitting streak to 15 games. Still the team has dropped back-to-back home games to the lowly A’s. Continue reading Bronx Quake
Having just feted the career of Ron Guidry in 2003 and after commemorating Red Ruffing’s work the season after, we know that Yankee Stadium’s Monument Park holds many honors. On August 25, 1996, Mickey Mantle was elevated from plaque status, as he received a monument every bit as big as the ones dedicated to Babe Ruth, Miller Huggins, Lou Gehrig, and Joe DiMaggio. Continue reading August 25 in Yankee History
Bronx, N.Y., August 23, 2011 – The oft-injured A’s righty Brandon McCarthy put on such a mesmerising clinic on throwing strikes in the A’s 6-5 win in Yankee Stadium Monday night that for all intents and purposes it appeared the Yankee offense took the first seven innings off. Of course they did not. In fact, as my scorecard incredulously tells me, McCarthy had just one solitary one-two-three inning through seven-plus (although a base hit, double play grounder also got him through the home fourth facing just three batters as well). Continue reading The Thrill or the Agony
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