The big bat behind the Yanks’ 9-3 win over Anaheim in Yankee Stadium on August 10, 2011, belonged to Curtis Granderson, who went yard for three runs in the first, and added a singleton shot and a walk later. Robinson Cano may have been denied a cycle by a fine Mark Trumbo play at first, because the Yankee second sacker had a double, triple, and homer in his other three at bats. Before the game, the release of a children’s album, “Believe,” organized and recorded by Nick Swisher, was announced on the scoreboard. Ex-Yank Bernie Williams and SF Giant Barry Zito played guitar on the record. Continue reading →
July 28, 2018, was a win-win in Yankee Stadium, as J.A. Happ, activated that day and making his Yankee debut, struck out nine Rangers in six strong innings in a 7-3 win. The offense was doubly delightful, with two-run homers from Aaron Hicks and Miguel Andujar, and two singleton shots off the bat of Neil Walker. Continue reading →
In the middle of a three-game sweep of the pinstripers on August 8, 2015, the Blue Jays trotted out their newest acquisition, southpaw David Price — the addition to the team that sparked their late surge to the Division title — to the mound, and he did not disappoint, allowing three hits and no runs through seven in a 6-0 win. Sadly, Ivan Nova gamely matched him into the sixth when, with one down, he allowed a walk, single, walk, and Justin Smoak grand slam home run. Continue reading →
That Didi Gregorius homered for the second run on Didi Bobblehead Night, and that Masahiro Tanaka pitched the Yankees to a 3-2 win over Carlos Carrasco and the visiting Indians, should have made for more than enough drama, excitement, and “buzz” in the Bronx on August 7, 2016. But those stories all became subplots to what took place earlier that day, when Alex Rodriguez announced his retirement from the team as a player, though he would continue to be paid through the 2017 season. Continue reading →
It was August 6, 1979, in a night game after the funeral for Yankee catcher Thurman Munson that his teammate and friend Bobby Murcer drove in all five runs of a Yankee win. Murcer had a three-run homer and then chipped in with a two-run ninth-inning single to beat the Orioles, 5-4. The loss of Murcer in 2008 to cancer served to make Thurman’s death a poignant experience all over again. Continue reading →
Although Nestor Cortes only went four innings, on his first day after being activated from the 60-day IL, the entire Yankee staff gets kudos for the 3-1 victory over visiting Houston on August 5, 2023. One of the only two hits the cheaters struck was Jose Altuve‘s third-inning home run, but on the flip side, the head cheat did account for two of the 16 strike outs Houston suffered in the game. Home runs from Jake Bauers and Gleyber Torres accounted for two of the runs, and Anthony Volpe got the Yankee scoring started with a second-inning sac fly. Continue reading →
Righthandser Jameson Taillon struck out 10 and pitched into the seventh in a 10-3 win over visiting Baltimore on August 4, 2021. DJ LeMahieu drove in four with three hits and Giancarlo Stanton had a three-run double. Newly acquired Anthony Rizzo paid off early dividends with a home run. Continue reading →
Back-to-back first-inning home runs from Giancarlo Stanton and Billy McKinney plated three and all but beat the visiting Astros, but Kyle Tucker tied it with a sixth-inning home run. Not to worry, though, as the Yankees took it 4-3 once Harrison Bader walked and stole second in that frame’s bottom half, and Anthony Volpe drove him in with a single. Continue reading →
There can only be one piece of Yankee history leading off this day’s column, and it is heart-rending. It was on August 2, 1979, that the beloved father, husband, and Yankee captain and catcher Thurman Munson perished in a crash of the plane he was piloting. The Yankees would host a huge crowd in the Stadium on the day after the tragic event. In recent years, it was an inspiring moment when a host of Thurman’s teammates gathered with his widow on the Yankee Stadium field at the 2004 Old Timers Game. The whole tragic event is doubly poignant now with the recent death of Thurman’s great friend, Bobby Murcer.Continue reading →
Third-inning home runs by Yandy Diaz and Randy Arozarena off Carlos Rodon on August 1, 2023, led to a 5-2 Tampa victory. Ninth-inning RBI hits from Gleyber Torres and DJ LeMahieu denied the Rays the shutout. Continue reading →
