It’s probably clueless to start a post about the May 21, 2021, 2-1 Yankee victory over the White Sox “Gleyber Day,” in light of what transpired in the ninth inning, but Gleyber Torres did drive in both runs, with a seventh-inning home run, and the third of three consecutive singles in the bottom of the ninth. It may have been Jordan Montgomery‘s best start, as he struck out 11 while allowing four hits over seven innings, but Nick Madrigal‘s eighth-inning rbi single off Jonathan Loiasiga cost him the win. The final was almost anticlimactic and felt preordained, once the Yanks finished off the top of the ninth behind Aroldis Chapman with a 5-4-3 triple play off the bat of Andrew Vaughn. Continue reading →
Filling in for the ineffective and injured Chien-Ming Wang, young righthander Phil Hughes got the win when the team battered Baltimore in the Bronx 11-4 on May 20, 2009. Another tradition survived the trip across 161st Street as all the predominantly white uniforms in the stands confirmed it was Fleet Week in New York. The big bat belonged to Robinson Cano, who had three hits with a homer, knocked in three runs, and scored two himself. Continue reading →
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, some 40 years ago. It was an astounding performance. Continue reading →
On May 18, 2013, the Yanks hosted their second annual “photo day” for season ticket holders before the 1 pm tilt vs. Toronto. Ringing the outfield warning track, a few thousand fans were able to greet, shake hands with, and have pictures taken with a host of Yankee players, and this one was made most special because Mariano Rivera was allowed to make his way around long beyond the expected time frame, greeting every fan who wanted to in his goodbye season. In the game that followed, David Phelps held the visitors to one run on six hits over seven innings in a 7-2 win. The source of the Yankee offense was no surprise, as Robinson Cano reached hard-throwing Brandon Morrow for two, two-run home runs; Travis Hafner added a two-run shot in the eighth. Continue reading →
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 Hawkins manned the mound for the visiting Twins, and Boomer threw only 11 of 27 first-pitch strikes. Continue reading →
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. Continue reading →
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. Continue reading →
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. Continue reading →
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. Continue reading →
Visiting Oakland jumped young Yankee righty Domingo German for five runs in the fourth, and six through five, largely on Khrys Davis‘s three-run bomb, but the Yanks tied it in the fifth behind Gary Sanchez and Aaron Hicks home runs, on May 12, 2018. But five scoreless frames later, it was Neil Walker‘s base hit (his second rbi of the day) that won it, 7-6 Yanks in 11. Continue reading →
