It’s Football Season!
GAME 119: The division title dream is over. Showalter will lead his boys to an AL East crown, and the rest of us will fight over the scraps. Which for right now looks like a fading shot the second Wild Card slot.
“Hey, Two Ton — ‘member the ’77 Yankees? They were something like 14 games back in the division in middle of July — and they ended up winning the World Series! How could you count this team out?”
Hey, hat-rack — that’s easy. Because this year’s version of The New York Yankees does not include Thurman Munson, Reggie Jackson, Mickey Rivers, Graig Nettles, Chris Chambliss, Ron Guidry, Roy White, Wille Randolph, Catfish Hunter, Lou Pinella … do I need to keep going?
The starting pitching and bullpen could only hold up their end of the bargain for so long. And they did it admirably for over 100 games. With incredibly unexpected results from a patchwork starting rotation, the arms kept the Yankees in the race beyond expectation. With the division title still a glint in the eye after the tremendous series against Detroit, the New York offense did what it did all year — under-perform.
And as the losses begin piling up, there is little margin for error nor defeat. And here’s where we are. On August 13th, no less.
Here’s the box score and recap.
MEMORY LANE: On August 13th, 1997 — in the last trade between the Yankees and the Boston Red Sox until the recent Kelly Johnson for Stephen Drew swap — the Yanks traded a player to be named later and Tony Armas to the Boston Red Sox for Randy Brown (minors) and Mike Stanley. New York sent Jim Mecir on September 29, 1997 to Boston to complete the trade.
On August 13th, 1984, the Yanks traded Roy Smalley to the Chicago White Sox for players to be named later. New York received Doug Drabek and Kevin Hickey later that day to complete the trade. (Source: Baseball-Reference.com)
On August 13th, 1922, Yankee infielder Everett Scott nears 1,000 consecutive games played, but it takes an extra effort to keep the streak alive. He spends $40 to hire a car to get to Chicago in time for the game after a train he is on is wrecked.
