On August 23, 2003, when Ron Guidry Day was celebrated in Yankee Stadium, the team played uninspired baseball in a 7-2 loss to the Orioles in the game that followed. No such problem occurred on August 29, 1964, when the Yanks held Elston Howard Day. The Yanks took two from the Red Sox, 10-2 and 6-1. Joe Pepitone went yard three times, including a grand slam, and Roger Maris hit six singles. It was highlights all around, as Mickey Mantle hit his 447th career homer in the first game, and tied Babe Ruth‘s career strike out record (1,330) in the second. Continue reading →
Giving the lie to all the claims floating around Yankee Stadium in 2009, Robbie Cano sent a soaked fanbase home happy on August 28, 2009, when his 10th-inning three-run walkoff bomb against Chicago lefty Randy Williams gave the Yankees a 5-2 win. Rumor had it that Cano could only hit in non-rbi situations, and the game only went into extras because Nick Swisher made a great throw to nail a runner at home in the top of the seventh. Brian Bruney pitched the top of the 10th and got the win. Continue reading →
Ask a number of Yankee fans with a sense of history individually about 1978, and two arcs will emerge. In light of the day held in his honor in Yankee Stadium in 2003, we’ll mention the incredible 25-3 Cy Young season of Louisiana Lightning, Ron Guidry first. And hand in hand with that, of course, was the stirring comeback from 14 games behind, with the Yanks finally wresting the pennant from their Boston rivals in the playoff game that has made “Bucky Dent” two thirds of a three-word epithet in much of Massachusetts and New England ever since. But what should be obvious to even the most casual fan is that you can’t mount a comeback drive like that on the strength of just one starting pitcher. Catfish Hunter beat the Oakland A’s, 6-2, on August 27, 1978, to complete a six-win/no-loss August that helped propel the Bombers on their way. Utilizing a spin windup he may have copied from the wily Luis Tiant (with the Sox at the time, but who would pitch for the Yanks too), Hunter brought to mind the old saw that has it that a flashlight burns brightest just before the light goes out. Guidry’s brilliance would have gone for naught without him. Continue reading →
Manny Machado homered twice off Luis Cessa for visiting Baltimore on August 26, 2016, but that is the last of the bad news, as a six-run second-inning onslaught against Yovani Gallardo drove the O’s righty from the mound after having recorded just four outs. Young Gary Sanchez singled, doubled, and homered in this one, scoring three times and driving in four, and Mark Teixeira also went yard; he drove in three in a 14-4 drubbing. Continue reading →
It would be accurate to say that the Yankees had their August 25, 2024, 10-3 decision over Colorado won once they scored twice in both the first and second innings. But that would eliminate adding the seventh inning fun thanks to back-to-back-to-back home runs from Juan Soto, Aaron Judge, and Giancarlo Stanton. Judge had hit a two-run bomb in the first, and Gleyber Torres crowned the scoring with a three-run eighth inning homer. Continue reading →
Still a rookie, and a quote promising one, in 2025, Yankee righthander Will Warren had a bad spot start against visiting Colorado on August 24, 2024. Surrendering single tallies in the first and second, he was reached for four runs in the third, a frame in which he allowed four hits, and the inning went bad on his own error. Still, he did manage six strike outs in that time in a game that the Rockies won 9-2. The Yankee runs scored on a Jazz Chisholm rbi double and an Alex Verdugo home run. Continue reading →
The day after the Yanks retired Jorge Posada‘s number 20 in 2015, they retired Andy Pettitte‘s number 46 on August 23. Unfortunately however, home runs by Cleveland’s Carlos Santana and Francisco Lindor keyed a 4-3 Indians victory. CC Sabathia left this one with an apparent injury in the third. The ceremonial first pitch was what you would figure, Andy throwing to Jorge. Continue reading →
The Yankees honored two of their core four, plus Bernie, on back-to-back August days in 2015, with catcher Jorge Posada getting his ceremony, and plaque, on the 22nd. Then the Bombers jumped on Cleveland’s Danny Salazar for five runs through two frames, featuring home runs from Brett Gardner and Brian McCann. Rookie Luis Severino went six innings to record the 6-2 win on the day No. 20 was retired in Monument Park. Continue reading →
Two-run homers by Juan Soto in the first and Aaron Judge in the third propelled the Yankees to an 8-1 victory over visiting Cleveland on August 21, 2024. The Bhutan Baseball/Softball Association players took the field in position for the pregame National Anthem. Continue reading →
Things looked bright in the Bronx on August 20, 2024, when Juan Soto and Aaron Judge went back to back with one down in the first, but eight innings later the Guardians took the Yanks to extras at 3-3. And a six-run 12th inning spelled the Yanks’ demise, despite the two-run Judge double in the bottom half, for a 9-5 defeat. Continue reading →
