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August 8, 1996: Strawberry hits two home runs in Yankees win over White Sox

RELIVE 1996 Header

Darryl Strawberry and the Yankees powered their way to an 8-4 victory this afternoon at Yankee Stadium, earning a series win against the Chicago White Sox.

Strawberry, who clubbed three home runs in the opener on Tuesday, hit two more today. He received his second curtain call of the week, as 35,898 Yankee fans wouldn’t let him go into the dugout quietly. Before he could get a chance to hit his third long-ball of the day, he asked to leave the game early because of painful shinsplints. He expects to be in the lineup tomorrow.

”I feel, at this point, like I can get the job done,” Strawberry said. ”There’s no second-guessing in my mind stepping into the box. I know it’s not going to happen every time. But if I get a pitch I can hit, I can do something with it.’ (Via NY Times)

Strawberry’s first homer came in the third inning – a three run shot – which doubled the Yankees’ lead from 3-0 to 6-0 and essentially knocked out Chicago starter Luis Andujar. After the White Sox cut the lead to 6-3 off Yankees starter David Weathers, Strawberry hit a solo shot in the bottom of the fifth to collect his fourth RBI on the day.

Weathers only went three and two-thirds innings, allowing three runs on five hits while throwing 77 pitches. Bob Wickman came on in relief and qualified for the win by tossing two and two-thirds innings of shutout ball. Joe Torre then went to Jeff Nelson, Dale Polley and Mariano Rivera to finish it off.

For Torre, seeing Strawberry hitting ball after ball over the wall is starting to become the norm. ”They expect him to hit a home run every time up,” he said. ”I feel the same way.” (Via NY Times)

After making an adjustment with hitting coach Chris Chambliss, Strawberry has been locked in. His at-bats are becoming must-see tv – crazy for a guy whose career was derailed just a short time ago. ”It’s a great story,” Strawberry said. ”I learned from the hard times in life. Now I take baseball seriously. I had a lot of hangups. Now I have no hangups. I just want to be part of this team. I really like this team.” (Via NY Times)

If Strawberry keeps this up, the Yankees can ride his bat all the way to and through October.

The Yankees welcome in the Detroit Tigers tomorrow night. Andy Pettitte starts against A.J. Sager.

Notes:

  • Cecil Fielder will face his old team tomorrow night for the first time since being traded to New York. ”Once the game starts, I’m out to get them,” he said. (Via NY Times)
  • Pat Kelly, who injured his hamstring a few weeks ago, started a rehab assignment tonight with Double-A Norwich.

Box score and current stats

 

           1 2 3  4 5 6  7 8 9  R  H  E
           - - -  - - -  - - -  -  -  -
White Sox  0 0 0  3 0 0  0 1 0  4  8  0
Yankees    2 0 4  0 1 0  0 1 X  8 11  0


Batting      AB R H RBI BB SO  BA  OBP  SLG
                                                       
Jeter SS       4 1 1  0  1  2 .305 .367 .417
Boggs 3B       3 2 1  0  2  0 .314 .391 .403
ONeill RF      4 0 1  0  1  0 .302 .419 .459
Fielder DH     4 1 2  2  0  2 .249 .355 .480
Martinez 1B    3 1 3  2  2  0 .295 .358 .452
B.Williams CF  4 1 1  0  1  1 .300 .383 .523
Strawberry LF  3 2 2  4  0 0  .258 .371 .573
G.Williams LF  1 0 0  0  0  0 .283 .332 .453
Girardi C      3 0 0  0  1  0 .309 .363 .382
Fox 2B         4 0 0  0  0  0 .194 .277 .258


2B:Fielder (13);Martinez (22);Boggs (24)
HR:Strawberry 2 (8)
RBI:Strawberry 4 (21);Martinez 2 (80);Fielder 2 (85). 


Pitching         IP H R ER BB SO  ERA
                                            
Weathers        3.2 5 3  3  3  3 5.05
Wickman W (4-1) 2.2 1 0  0  1  2 4.39
Nelson H (8)    0.1 0 0  0  0  1 4.44
Polley H (3)      1 1 1  1  0  1 7.84
Rivera S (3)    1.1 1 0  0  0  2 2.16