Pittsburgh Pirates
Jose Bautista, 3B
Freddy Sanchez, 2B
Jason Bay, LF
Xavier Nady, DH
Adam LaRoche, 1B
Ryan Doumit, RF
Ronny Paulino, C
Jack Wilson, SS
Chris Duffy, CF
Tom Gorzelanny, LHP (6-3, 2.53)
New York Yankees
Johnny Damon, DH
Derek Jeter, SS
Bobby Abreu, RF
Alex Rodriguez, 3B
Jorge Posada, C
Hideki Matsui, LF
Robinson Cano, 2B
Melky Cabrera, CF
Miguel Cairo, 1B
Andy Pettitte, LHP (3-4, 2.96)
Last night was an old school Yankee victory -- good starting pitching, bullpen slamming the door (except Farnsworth), solid defense, timely hits, and tacking on runs late to put the game out of reach.
Hopefully, all of this is a sign that the Yanks are finally coming around. The bats have awakened from their May snooze and several are getting really hot at the same time (A-Rod, Abreu, Cano, Damon, and even Melky to some extent). The starting pitching is also beginning to get on a roll with Clippard and Moose pitching well in their last starts and Clemens returning tomorrow.
But, first things first. This team needs to get to .500 before they start thinking about making a run at the postseason.
The featured graphic for tonight's game is the current cap logo for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
And finally, on this day in 1969, the Yankees celebrated "Mickey Mantle Day" and retired #7 in front of 70,000 fans at Yankee Stadium and given a bronze plaque that would hang next to all of the other immortalized Yankees. The presenter of the plaque was Joe DiMaggio and Mantle returned the favor by giving the Yankee Clipper a bronze plaque of his own to be hung "slightly higher" than his on that outfield wall.
At the time, The Mick was just the fourth Yankee in history to have his number retired (Gehrig, Ruth, and DiMaggio).
Most memorable quote:
"When I walked into this stadium 18 years ago, I felt much the same way I do right now. I don't have words to describe how I felt then or how I feel now, but I'll tell you one thing, baseball was real good to me and playing 18 years in Yankee Stadium is the best thing that could ever happen to a ballplayer."