GAME 155: For the first time since July 8th, Masahiro Tanaka took the mound on a muggy, overcast afternoon in The Bronx. Outside of a less-than sharp first inning, the ace looked good over the next four plus, while the Yankees offense answered the bell. Home runs by Brian McCann and Brett Gardner allowed Tanaka a 2-1 at the time he lifted in the 6th inning. Derek Jeter continued his hot hitting with his fourth consecutive multi-hit game. Here’s the box score and recap.
Tanaka… If Only…
Tanaka, whose splitter looked sharp, improved to 13-4 while lowering his ERA to 2.45. It’s hard not to think where the team would be in the standings if he was in the rotation all year. Granted, the pitching was not the problem overall, but the argument can be made that his presence would have made a 4 or 5 game difference.
GAMEDAY NOTES: Tanaka, who came off the 60 Day DL with a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right arm, entered the game with a 12-4 record, and a 2.51 ERA … David Robertson pitched a scoreless ninth inning for his 38th save of the season … Gardner’s fifth inning home run (his 17th) was the 15,000th in franchise history.
Today in Yankees Baseball History
MEMORY LANE: On September 21, 1923, Babe Ruth is the unanimous choice of the American League committee of baseball writers for the Most Valuable Player Award.
On today’s date in 1918, the Yankees drafted Lefty O’Doul from Salt Lake City (PCL) in the 1918 Rule 5 draft. Yes — there was a Rule 5 draft in those days. Francis Joseph O’Doul had an interesting career than spanned from the teens until the 1950s as a player, manager and international ambassador for the game. While managing the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League, O’Doul is credited with developing the hitting prowess of a young Joe DiMaggio. Lefty downplayed the accolades, quoted as saying “I was just smart enough to leave him alone”.
O’Doul is widely acclaimed for promoting the popularity of baseball in Japan, both before and after World War II, being inducted to the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 20o2. Here’s a few great pieces on O’Doul: ‘The Legend of Left O’Doul“, Career Stats, Biography from The Baseball Page. And when you’re in San Francisco, be sure to stop by this legendary joint.
And a Happy 51st Birthday to Cecil Fielder, a key member of the 1996 Yankees World Championship club.
SOURCES: TodayInBaseballHistory.com, Baseball-Reference.com
