Gerrit Cole was his usual 2023 self when he beat the visiting Royals 5-2 on July 22, 2023. With eleven strike outs over seven dominant innings, Cole was not threatened due to a home run and three rbi’s from Giancarlo Stanton, and a singleton shot from DJ LeMahieu. Continue reading →
I wish I had a good reason to offer why the July 21, 2014, game deserves to be atop that calendar day’s Yankee highlights, but there was nothing good about the bedlam that befell the Stadium and its environs when an apparent broken-down truck (they had the nerve to blame my long-time adopted state New Jersey for this!) resulted in tens of thousands of fans waiting just outside the turnstiles being barred entrance because the night’s giveaway — a Derek Jeter figurine — was not present and could not be handed out to entering ticket holders, as had been promised. The immense popularity of the soon-to-be-retired captain brought forth unprecedented numbers of early arrivals, further adding to the crush outside the gates. The Yankees eventually allowed the fans in, and then to line up inside the Stadium to get a figurine, or to accept a voucher, in about the fifth or sixth inning of the night’s game. Ironically, the game turned in the top of the sixth as young Shane Greene, who had allowed the visiting Rangers a run on three hits through five, surrendered two hits and a walk with two down in the sixth, and southpaw Matt Thornton saw to it that all three scored, resulting in a 4-2 loss to Texas. Jeter walked and scored and Jacoby Ellsbury homered for the two Yankee runs. Continue reading →
The Yankees made it a sweep over the visiting Reds on Sunday, July 20, 2014, but it wasn’t easy. Hiroki Kuroda outdueled Johnny Cueto 2-1 into the seventh on fifth-inning rbi singles from Derek Jeter and Jacoby Ellsbury, and also got lucky that a 1-3-4-1-6 pickoff started by reliever Dellin Betances of Scott Schumaker in the eighth preceded Todd Frazier‘s game-tying home run. Then a one-out Brian McCann single plated Ellsbury with the 3-2 game winner once closer Aroldis Chapman had wild-pitched the Yankee center fielder to second, and then again to third after Jacoby’s leadoff single in the bottom of the ninth. Continue reading →
The Yankees invited the Colorado Rockies to the Stadium on July 19, 2019, and walloped them 8-2, largely on DH Edwin Encarnacio‘s third-inning grand slam. J.A. Happ went five, and Aaron Judge added a two-run bomb in the three-run home sixth. Continue reading →
It’s hard to believe that the July 18 is more than double digit years removed already. We all know the almost spooky series of events that day, what with Don Larsen throwing out the first pitch to Yogi Berra, followed by David Cone‘s “Perfect” day against the Expos, in a 6-0 win. And he beat 2004 Yankee Javier Vazquez that day. Almost exactly 14 months after David Wells got his against the Twins on Beanie Baby Day, I’m here to tell you that, although Boomer’s was so startlingly fresh and new, from the standpoint of the diehard fan in the stands, Cone’s was better. There were perhaps 10,000 less people there, but they were all there because they loved Yogi and the Yanks on Yogi Berra Day in the Bronx, not for a free doll. And as we stood and screamed in the eighth inning of both games, no one did the Wave during Coney’s. Continue reading →
Perhaps the most interesting thing about the 13-2 destruction of the Red Sox in the Stadium on July 17, 2022, is that the pinstripers scored eight in the fourth with no home runs until Tim Locastrto capped it with a two-run jolt, one of just two fence clearers he would hit on the year. Gerrit Cole was dominant, striking out 11 through seven frames, and Aaron Judge (of course) homered later in the contest too. Continue reading →
If you could get past exactly why July 16, 2010, was such a special game, and even if you couldn’t, it may have been the most scintillating regular-season game in the new baseball palace in the Bronx; it was certainly one of the most emotional. Following Taps at 6:45, the Yanks hosted a short service to honor both Bob Sheppard and George Steinbrenner, both of whom had passed away within the previous five days. Tampa’s James Shields and CC Sabathia battled to a 3-3 tie through six including back-to-back home runs from Robinson Cano and Jorge Posada, but CC surrendered run No. 4 in the seventh. Still, Nick Swisher to the rescue, via a game-tying home run off Joaquin Benoit in the eighth, and then a walkoff rbi single in the ninth to drive in Curtis Granderson, who had reached on a single off one-time Yankee southpaw Randy Choate. Continue reading →
Derek Jeter went 1-for-3 and Alex Rodriguez 0-for-2 as Mariano Rivera got five outs while being unscored upon in the All Star Game that took place in old Yankee Stadium on July 15, 2008. The American League finally won the 15-inning affair 4-3 on a Michael Young sac fly, but the Yankee fans in the crowd had their most enjoyable moment when Boston’s Jonathan Papelbon, who alienated fans every time he opened his mouth during the three-day extravaganza, blew a potential save in regulation. You read correctly. Yankee fans rooted for the AL, except when the hated Red Sox closer was on the mound. Continue reading →
It was Moose Skowron‘s big day on July 14, 1957. The Yanks had already lost the first game to the White Sox, 3-1, and things were bleak as they entered the ninth inning of Game Two trailing 4-0. But Moose supplied the highlight of the Yankee rally as his pinch-hit grand slam home run keyed the winning rally and the 6-4 victory. It was his second pinch-hit grand slam of the season, a record at the time. Yankee fans were suitably distraught when Moose passed away in April 2011. Continue reading →
Nine days after his 80th birthday, New York Yankee owner George Steinbrenner passed away on July 13, 2010. The uber-owner and “Boss” purchased the team in 1973 and owned them until his death, a time during which the Yanks won seven crowns and 11 AL pennants. Coming just two days after Yankee fans were devastated by the death of Bob Sheppard, it was making for a bad year in the Bronx. Continue reading →
