Bronx, N.Y., August 2, 2010 — August 2 is a poignant day in Yankee history, but sadly, it a bumbling day too. Returning from their road trip at 4-3, the Yanks spent much of Monday evening commemorating the tragic passing of Thurman Munson 31 years ago. They had a lesser team, perhaps, then, but they responded to tragedy by playing well. No such luck this night.

Four years to the day before Thurman died, Billy Martin was hired for the first of his five tours as Yankee manager. Although the direct result was the first two Championships under the recently deceased George Steinbrenner (even if Billy was at the helm for only one winning World Series), the hiring would lead to tragedy and comedy in the Yankee world too. And it was during Billy IV that the team had one of their worst ever nights on August 2, 1985. That was the night that Bobby Meacham and Dale Berra were both tagged out at home on the same play in a loss to the White Sox.

Yankee fans in 2010 face no such dilemmas. Sure, righthander A.J. Burnett had a particularly ugly fifth inning, putting his team in a six-run hole from which they would fail to recover. A.J. has had a checkered stay in Pinstripes, struggling for parts of last year too before throwing a pivotal win in the World Series. And he had a horrendous month of June this year. Still, he throws for the team with the best record in baseball — oops, make that “tied for” the best record in baseball, and for one of the best rotations. And it’s a team that has missed postseason play once in 15 years. (Perhaps the George and Billy show would have been a little less stressed under those conditions in 1985, but then again, maybe not.) Burnett quieted the visiting Blue Jays for four impressive innings this night, and his unraveling in the fifth had to come as something of a surprise even to those who have been most critical of his work.

Staked to a 2-0 lead in the first once he had retired Toronto in the top of the inning on eight pitches, he was tested in the second when Vernon Wells poked a fly ball the other way to right that cleared the fence to close the game to 2-1. A Lyle Overbay walk and Aaron Hill single put him in greater trouble, but he stiffened and escaped the frame on a strike out, a popup and a ground ball. He was dominant in the third and fourth despite a leadoff hit by pitch of Fred Lewis on which the Toronto DH almost swung.

Meanwhile the Yankee offense was doing something it does only too often. They seemed content with their narrowest of leads, and just stopped threatening. Catcher Jorge Posada did what he could, singling to lead off the home second, and blasting a grounds rule double with one down in the fourth. We’ll never know if Burnett would have thrown with just a bit more flare and confidence had the Yanks rallied for a run either time. In the second, Curtis Granderson did follow with a one-out walk, but that frame ended poorly as Blue Jays righty Brandon Morrow struck out the side, with Lance Berkman and Brett Gardner taking third strikes, the latter with a runner in scoring position.

Berkman failed after the double in the fourth as well, stroking a harmless popup to short before Granderson struck out to end the threat. And then the Jays struck for seven and the game was essentially over, even if the Yanks gamely tried to come back. Mark Teixeira homered for two in the fifth, and Berkman came through with an rbi single in the sixth. And in a case of too little too late, Nick Swisher hit his second home run of the night in the ninth to close the final edge to 8-6.

Nick did so in front of a very full house, surprising in a game where the home team trailed by six in the fifth. We’ll never know how many stuck around to see a hoped-for win and how many remained so as not to miss Alex Rodriguez’s last at bat. As all of baseball knows, Alex hit his 599th career home run a week and a half ago, and is trying to put the number 600 behind him. Although he has not hit one, Rodriguez has been contributing his rbi’s, but not on this night, when he went 0-for-5 with two strike outs, two of the twelve the home team suffered.

Both Alex Ks were of the swinging variety, but five of the seven were on taken third strikes, a frustrating night for the home team. They did actually get the tying run to the plate twice in this game, the last time in the eighth as new Yankee outfielder Austin Kearns hit for Gardner with two men on.

But Kearns did what Gardner had done two times earlier in the game. He took a third strike.

YANKEE BASEBALL!!!