Vladimir Guerrero Jr.‘s third homer of the day carried the visiting Jays to a 6-4 victory over the Yankees in the Stadium on April 13, 2022. Back-to-back Anthony Rizzo and Aaron Judge home runs in the fifth were not enough to overcome Vlad’s big day. Continue reading →
The Yankees turned the tables on Toronto in the Stadium on April 12, 2022, shutting them out 4-0 after having fallen 3-0 the day before. Aaron Hicks‘s two-run second-inning homer was all the scoring they would need, and Giancarlo Stanton capped matters with a sac fly in eighth. Nestor Cortes pitched well, but left before five innings were complete, so Clay Holmes garnered the win. Continue reading →
On April 11, 1907, Roger Bresnahan became the first player to wear shin guards playing for the Giants in the Polo Grounds.
On April 11, 1912, the Yankees wore the pinstripes for the first time in the opener against the Red Sox at Hilltop Park. The locals (playing on the “Hilltop,” they were the “Highlanders”) took a 2-1 lead in the first against Smoky Joe Wood, but two of the four tallies Boston pushed across in the ninth scored on Wood’s single in the 5-3 New York loss. Continue reading →
Nothing like a home opener, and April 10, 2017, was no different. It was warm and sunny, and the Yanks beat the Rays 8-1. Michael Pineda could hardly have pitched better: 20 of 25 first-pitch strikes through 7.67 dominant frames, 11 K’s and no walks, and just two hits, the latter a Logan Morrison home run on Mike’s 93rd — and last — pitch. By then the home team led 3-0 on a Jacoby Ellsbury rbi double, an Aaron Judge home run (the buzz began!), and a Chase Headley bomb as well. The Bombers put it away with a five-run eighth featuring a Matt Holliday double, Chris Carter triple, and Starlin Castro home run. Willie Randolph, Tino Martinez, and Joe Torre tossed out ceremonial first pitches in front of 47,000 delirious fans. Baseball was back! Continue reading →
There are plenty of Yankee- and baseball-related events to talk about that happened on April 9, including the death of a Hall of Famer. But the most significant item in this Yankee fan’s experience on that day occurred on 1996 Opening Day at Yankee Stadium. The Opener is an event that is longingly awaited every year, but the uplifting and exciting, then excruciating, five-game loss to the Seattle Mariners in the 1995 ALDS had left Yankee fans hungry for big-time winning baseball. So 50,000-plus suffered and froze their way to a 7-3 victory over Kansas City behind the gritty Andy Pettitte through a nonstop snowstorm that day. None realized that the day would have a second highlight with the almost offhand Yankee offer of a free ticket to one of three upcoming games to all who had suffered through the conditions. Continue reading →
April 8, 2022, served as a quite late Opening Day due to a players/owners labor disagreement with the ownership lockout, and it began poorly for the Yankees. Ace Gerrit Cole, forced to be idle after warming up with the pregame ceremonies slowly unfolding, surrendered three first-inning runs to the Red Sox, and the Yankees battled from behind the whole game. Anthony Rizzo‘s two-run homer in the first got them close, and home runs from Giancarlo Stanton (in the fourth) and DJ LeMahieu (in the eighth) tied the game heading into extras. Boston’s ghost runner scored in the 10th on a Xander Bogaerts single off Michael King, but Gleyber Torres, on the bench for this opener, tied it with a pinch hit sac fly. Finally, a Josh Donaldson single won it in the 11th, 3:56 from the 1:08 first pitch, 6-5 Yankees. Continue reading →
The Yankees failed to sweep the Orioles in the third game of a set in dramatic fashion on April 7, 2021, as the O’s prevailed 4-3 in 11 innings. James Taillon surrendered but three hits to the visitors in five innings, but two of them were singleton home runs by Cedric Mullins and Anthony Santander in the fourth, eclipsing a 1-0 Yankee lead on an Aaron Hicks rbi single. Few, I imagine, recall that Gary Sanchez had a strong start to the season, and the Yanks tied it in the eighth following his leadoff single. Both teams scored a “ghost runner” in the 10th, but just Baltimore in the 11th, as Gio Urshela was gunned out at the plate in a double play to close the game after a DJ LeMahieu liner to right. Brett Gardner actually did bunt Urshela to third in that 11th frame. Continue reading →
Coming off having stroked a two-run single that gave the Yanks a lead they would not relinquish in his second Pinstriped game just two days previous, Jay Bruce gave the Bombers an early lead with a home run in a 7-2 win over visiting Baltimore on April 6, 2021. Alas, it was to be his lone roundtripper and the third of Jay’s three Yankee rbi’s, as he would retire after playing six more games. Aaron Judge would carry the action following Bruce’s blast, with a home run and four rbi’s. Gerrit Cole would strike out 13 over seven innings for the win. Continue reading →
The home-standing Yankees powered their way to a 7-0 shutout of Baltimore on April 5, 2021, on the strength of a strong six-inning start from Jordan Montgomery. Playing right field, Aaron Judge gave the Bombers an early lead with a leadoff home run in the fourth. But it was DH Giancarlo Stanton who put this one away with a grand slam home run in the fifth. Continue reading →
