Prior to today’s game with the Oakland A’s, the Yankees honored the late Mickey Mantle with a monument in Monument Park. Only three other Yankees have been monumentalized – Miller Huggins, Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth.
“This is great day for us,” said David Mantle, one of Mantle’s three surviving sons, “and a sad one, too.” (Via NY Times). It’s been over one year since Mantle passed last summer.
Former teammates Whitey Ford and Joe DiMaggio joined Mantle’s family and friends for the ceremony.
In yesterday’s game, the Yankees were able to squeak by without Mariano Rivera, who was unavailable. Today, he was available, but Joe Torre was never able to use to him. Instead, Jeff Nelson surrendered a pinch-hit home run to Matt Stairs to leadoff the ninth which broke a 4-4 tie. Oakland ended up taking the game 6-4.
Nelson fell behind Stairs 2-1, and tried to sneak a sinker by him, but Stairs didn’t miss. “You can’t fall behind hitters and expect good things to happen,” Torre said. “When you fall behind, you eliminate all the guessing in hitting” (Via NY Times).
The Yankees had tied the game the inning before when Tino Martinez smacked a solo home run of his own. “When Tino ties it up, I want to go out there and get our guys in the dugout as fast as we can to try to win it,” Nelson said (Via NY Times).
The Yankees ended their homestand with a disappointing 4-6 record. Luckily, Baltimore got walloped 13-0 by the White Sox, so the Yankees’ division lead remains at six.
Andy Pettitte went seven innings and gave up four runs on eight hits. He had been a perfect 11-0 in day games this year entering today’s contest. He took the mound in the sixth with a 3-1 lead, thanks to an RBI single from Cecil Fielder, a Darryl Strawberry solo shot, and a Jim Leyritz RBI single.
However, Pettitte allowed back-to-back singles to open the sixth before allowing a two run double to Mark McGwire. Brian Lesher stepped up and collected his first major league hit and RBI, and the A’s were up 4-3. “As a starter, my main concern is staying out of a big inning,” Pettitte said. “I didn’t do a good job. I had the lead and I blew it.” (Via NY Times)
New York now heads on the road to the West Coast to begin a series with the Mariners. Jimmy Key starts against Sterling Hitchcock.
Notes:
- Joe Torre instructed Pat Kelly to go to Tampa and to forget about coming back this year. Kelly has had two shoulder operations since October, and has struggled staying healthy this season.
- Torre said he could insert Mariano Rivera into the closer’s role until John Wetteland is fully recovered from his groin injury.
Box score and current stats
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Athletics 0 1 0 0 0 3 0 0 2 6 10 0
Yankees 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 4 10 0
Batting AB R H RBI BB SO PA BA OBP SLG
Jeter SS 5 1 1 0 0 0 5 .307 .368 .423
Boggs 3B 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 .317 .390 .398
Strawberry LF 4 1 1 1 0 1 4 .275 .371 .528
Fielder 1B 4 0 2 1 0 0 4 .256 .356 .490
Martinez DH 4 1 1 1 0 1 4 .305 .370 .480
B.Williams CF 4 1 1 0 0 1 4 .306 .387 .529
ONeill RF 4 0 1 0 0 0 4 .304 .415 .470
Leyritz C 2 0 2 1 0 0 3 .262 .352 .378
Girardi PR-C 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 .298 .351 .376
Sojo 2B 2 0 0 0 0 0 3 .210 .243 .266
Raines PH 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .275 .369 .382
2B:O'Neill (29)
HR:Strawberry (9);Martinez (20)
RBI:Leyritz (35);Strawberry (29);Martinez (97);
Fielder (97).
Pitching IP H R ER BB SO ERA
Pettitte 7 8 4 4 2 5 4.32
Nelson L (4-4) 1.1 1 2 2 3 4 4.75
Polley 0.1 0 0 0 0 1 8.82
Pavlas 0.1 1 0 0 0 0 2.53
