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It’s a Wonderful Game

Dan McCourt — Sat, 19 May 2012 05:15:00 +0000

May 18, 2012, Bronx, N.Y. – You had to wonder if Andy Pettitte’s approach to Friday night’s start vs. Cincinnati in Yankee Stadium was altered four pitches in. Following a swinging strike out, error and sac bunt, he faced a go-ahead Reds run 90 feet from home plate. While it’s true that Pettitte left the team to rest and prep for this game before last night’s 4-1 loss in Toronto, he has to be aware

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May 19 in Yankee History

Dan McCourt — Sat, 19 May 2012 04:05:17 +0000

This is a baseball history column, and more specifically one focused on Yankee history. But being a Yankee is about excelling, so I need to start the May 19 installment with an acknowledgement of the record-smashing Belmont Stakes run by the thoroughbred Secretariat on this day in 1973, more than 30 years ago. It was an astounding performance. An ugly event occurred in the Bronx on May 19, 1998, as (at the time) Orioles reliever

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May 18 in Yankee History

Dan McCourt — Fri, 18 May 2012 04:05:44 +0000

The Yanks lost another tough home game early in the 2010 season when they fell to the Red Sox 7-6 on May 18. CC Sabathia handed a 5-1 lead to his bullpen after seven innings, but pen cogs Joba Chamberlain (a four-run eighth) and Mariano Rivera (two-run ninth) failed. In the third inning, DH Juan Miranda homered, and Robinson Cano, who earlier had a two-run double, drove in another run in the bottom of the

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May 17 in Yankee History

Dan McCourt — Thu, 17 May 2012 04:05:56 +0000

It’s another day where a great candidate for top highlight is surpassed by an even better one. Does it help if I share that numero uno happened on Beanie Baby Day in the Bronx? It doesn’t seem possible, but the word “several” no longer applies in describing the multi-year anniversary of David Wells’s Perfect Game, a 4-0 win over the Twins on May 17, 1998. Bernie Williams had a homer among his three hits, Latroy

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May 16 in Yankee History

Dan McCourt — Wed, 16 May 2012 04:05:59 +0000

Rookie Mickey Mantle hit his first Stadium home run, knocked in four runs and scored three in an 11-3 thumping of the Indians on May 16, 1951. The Mick’s first Stadium victim was Cleveland’s Dick Rozek. With a 100-plus-year-old history and more Championships than anyone, it can be difficult for the current team to come up with highlights that rank with some of the best from yesteryear. But the victory the Yanks pulled out over

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May 15 in Yankee History

Dan McCourt — Tue, 15 May 2012 04:05:42 +0000

The greatest of events sometimes start off in the quietest ways. In a 13-1 hammering at the hands of the White Sox on May 15, 1941, Joe DiMaggio got a single in four trips against Ed Smith, but it was the first hit (and game) in Joe’s unprecedented (and unmatched) 56-game hitting streak. Looking to capture the last of three vs. the visiting Red Sox after two losses, the Yanks reached ace John Lester for

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May 14 in Yankee History

Dan McCourt — Mon, 14 May 2012 04:06:26 +0000

It has to be a special highlight to top what happened on May 14, 1996, in this Yankee fan’s report, and it is, as today’s lead item is that Mickey Mantle hit his 500th home run off Baltimore’s Stu Miller on this day in 1967 in a 6-5 Yankee win. With that shot, The Mick became the sixth member of the 500-home run club. Onto 1996. Still smarting from the playoff loss to Seattle in

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May 13 in Yankee History

Dan McCourt — Sun, 13 May 2012 04:05:53 +0000

What is it about mid-May, the Yankees, and nine-run comebacks? Yesterday’s column included the Yanks’ rally from an 0-8 deficit to the White Sox, from which they recovered to win 9-8 on May 12, 1996. On May 13, 1985, the Yanks’ rally from 0-8 to the Minnesota Twins was crowned by Don Mattingly’s three-run, two-out, bottom-of-the-ninth homer off former Yank Ron Davis that propelled the home team to a 9-8 victory. In second place behind

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Bronx Airlift

Dan McCourt — Sun, 13 May 2012 03:16:19 +0000

May 12, 2012, Bronx, N.Y. – I had the strange experience when recording the starting pitcher numbers in the eighth inning Saturday afternoon that I was confusing the teams. It was a gorgeous day in the Bronx, with every one of almost 44,000 present primed to celebrate both Yogi Berra’s 87th birthday, and a Yankee win. There was cake at home, where Ron Guidry drove Yogi, and Jennifer Steinbrenner and Derek Jeter joined them

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Kuroda Instills Order

Dan McCourt — Sat, 12 May 2012 05:48:19 +0000

May 11, 2012, Bronx, N.Y. – The only two uncomfortable moments for a Yankee fan during the Bombers/Seattle Friday night contest in Yankee Stadium under surprisingly super-pleasant conditions are easy to identify. They were the two singleton home runs against pinstriped hurler Hiroki Kuroda for all the Mariners runs in the 6-2 Yankee win.

At first, nervously settling in to watch titular No. 2 starter Kuroda take on the guy often referred to as the

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