Bronx, N.Y., July 17, 2010 — Day Two of the most emotional Yankee weekend in years unfolded under a hot sun in a largely cloudless sky Saturday afternoon. And following up on the right notes the team hit the night before, the Old Timers Day tribute to the 60th anniversary of the 1950 Championship team went off without a hitch, although the day was punctuated with mentions of the team’s recently fallen stars.

Roughly 30 of the 36 Old Timers not affiliated with the 1950 team played for George Steinbrenner and were generally effusive in their praise. And it was a particularly touching moment when the whole group of 1950 players and those who wore the pinstripes later gathered around Mary Sheppard, the last announced of six Yankee widows. It actually seemed to tie the day up in a nice bow that the Championship being feted took place the year before Bob Sheppard began his long, and unprecedented in sports history, tenure as the team’s public address announcer.

The most disturbing development of the day was that beloved Yogi Berra was unable to appear after a fall at home, but number 19 Eddie Ford did. If the number and name sound unfamiliar, consider that the year after the Bombers swept the Philadelphia Phillies in four straight in 1950, he switched his number to 16, and became known as Whitey Ford, and eventually the Chairman of the Board. Ten 1950 players were honored and seven of them were able to attend, though understandably none took part in the two-inning 3-2 game pitting the Bombers and the Clippers that followed all the player announcements. The most interesting moments, perhaps, were when Rick Cerone, aping the actions of Reggie Jackson in the 1978 World Series, stepped in front of a throw between first and second that prevented his being doubled off, and that hurler David Cone took a turn at third base. Joe Pepitone and Homer Bush drove in runs for the Clippers, but Mickey Rivers carried the day with a walkoff two-run double for the Bombers.

But in the game that followed, unlike Friday night when the Yankees fell behind the Tampa Rays early and won on a walkoff, there would be no happy comeback in the regular season game. The Yankees still seem out of sorts and not quite ready to get the season restarted as witnessed by the run the Rays clipped AJ Burnett for in the first. The Yankee righty plowed through the first two batters, but once Evan Longoria reached him for a single, Carlos Pena doubled to right center. Neither Curtis Granderson in center nor Nick Swisher in right took the correct route and the ball rolled to the wall. To make matters worse Swisher then missed the cutoff man as Longoria scored. It was just one run in a 10-5 loss, and Burnett left early after injuring his hand in frustration, but you have to hope the team is ready to play their A game right from inning one in the David Price/Andy Pettitte duel that awaits on Sunday afternoon.

Burnett hit two Saturday, the first after retiring the first two in the second, and then second baseman Reid Brignac made him pay with the first of two home runs to right. Longoria, the second hit-by-pitch victim when he was hit leading of the third, scored on a Pena single after a wild pitch, and Burnett’s day was over. The Yanks had gotten him back into the game with help from Tampa righty Jeff Niemann’s wildness. Two walks following a Robbie Cano double in the second set it up, and Brett Gardner delivered two runs with a single to left. But the struggling Derek Jeter struck out and Swisher rolled to second and the Yankee chance was over.

Dustin Moseley relieved in the third and escaped that frame and the fourth with help from a nifty 4-6-3 and a swinging strike out of Carl Crawford, but both his and the Yankee luck ran out in the fifth. A Justin Upton sac fly scored DH Matt Joyce, who had walked, and after two singles, Brignac cleared the fence in right for an 8-2 Rays lead. It was a game ender really, though the Yanks did respond with singleton home runs from Mark Teixeira in the fith and DH Jorge Posada in the sixth. Two one-run home runs sparked the comeback win the night before, but the Yanks were too far back this time. Credit needs to be given to Niemann, who struggled with his control early. Not only did the two walks set up runs in the second, but he failed to throw a first-pitch strike to any of the first nine Yankee batters. But suddenly he righted himself, finding the zone on eight of the next nine first pitches. He allowed just one walk after the second, reducing the chances Yankee long balls would plate multiple runs.

So two games into the key three-game series with the second-place Rays finds them two games back, just as they were at the break, with the Price/Pettitte duel deciding the series Sunday. No Yankee fan is ever OK with a loss, but the annual Old Timers Day festivities certainly took a lot of the pain out of the defeat. The 20-minute-long player introductions were punctuated with one long standing ovation after another. The team was celebrating a 60-year-old victory but the rosters were peopled with stars from winners 30-plus and 10-plus years ago. This made for a crowd more diverse than ever, with stars of all ages receiving rousing welcomes. That the 2009 Championship banner is in the Bronx, with good chances for 2010 campaign, bodes well that this elongated fan base will continue to grow.

We have one particularly apt Yankee history moment that happened on this day. The 1950 Yankee champions won 98 games, capturing the American League pennant by three, four, and six games, respectively, over the Tigers, the Red Sox, and the Indians. But the sixth-place White Sox finished 38 games back, and were helped to that mark on July 17, 1950 when young Eddie “Whitey” Ford cashed in the first of his 236 career wins with a 4-3 victory.

And on July 17, 1899, movie star Jimmy Cagney was born. The beloved “Yankee Doodle” star would have been celebrating his 111th birthday. He would have been doing great, just a little better than the 50,000 in the Bronx this day, who were enjoying just,

Half a Yankee Doodle Day.

YANKEE BASEBALL!!!