Yanks Can Only Split, Rays Clinch

The Yankees needed to sweep all 4 of these games with the Tampa Bay Rays at Yankee Stadium II, just to have a chance at the American League Eastern Division title going into the regular-season-ending series at home to the Baltimore Orioles. If the Rays won even 1 of the 4, it was over.

It didn't look good.

Yesterday, because of an earlier rainout, there were 2 games. The opener went well. Ben Rice led off the bottom of the 4th inning with a double, and Cody Bellinger hit a home run. That was all that Carlos Rodón needed, as he pitched 8 innings, and was brilliant: No runs, 3 hits, no walks, 8 strikeouts. David Bednar pitched a perfect 9th. Yankees 2, Rays 0, in front of 41,421 in the big ballyard in The Bronx.

So there was still a chance.

The nightcap ended that chance. A crowd of 38,656 saw Max Fried give up a run in the 3rd. It was still only 1-0 Rays after 6, but Aaron Boone made the opposite of his usual mistake: He left the starter in too long, and Fried allowed single, single, flyout, RBI single to start the 7th. Reliever John Schreiber allowed 2 more runs, and the game was effectively over, even before Ryan Yarbrough and Michael Fulmer allowed 2 more runs in the 8th.

The Yankees scored a run in the 7th, and 1 in the 9th -- how doesn't really matter -- but it was far from enough. Rays 6, Yankees 2. The Rays clinched the AL East title, on our field. It is their 5th AL East title, as they previously won it in 2008, 2010, 2020 and 2021.

To put that in perspective: This is the Rays' 29th season, and they have 5 Division titles, plus 2 Pennants. In contrast, the Mets are in their 65th season -- yes, the organization is now eligible for Social Security and Medicare -- and they only have 6 Division titles, having won the National League East in 1969, 1973, 1986, 1988, 2006 and 2015. Of course, they have 5 Pennants to the Rays' 2, and 2 World Series wins to the Rays' none. The Yankees have won 21 Division titles, and that doesn't count their 1st-place finishes in the single-division American League of 1903 to 1968, or being in 1st place at the time of the Strike of '94.

So the Division title is out. And we found out yesterday that Aaron Judge, due to his calf strain, is not expected back for the length of the AL Wild Card Series.

That series will be a best-2-out-of-3, and will be played on September 29 and 30, and, if necessary, October 1, all at Yankee Stadium, because the Yankees have the 4th seed. They will play the 5th seed, which is yet to be determined, but currently stands to be... the Boston Red Sox. The Chicago White Sox currently hold the 6th seed, but they're 3 games behind the Red Sox, so it's probably going to be The Scum coming in for 2, maybe 3 games.

And we won't have Judge, or Giancarlo Stanton. We will, however, have Cam Schlittler and Gerrit Cole, but we have to give them runs.

Title 28 still seems a long way off.

September 23, 2001: The 9/11 Memorial Service at Yankee Stadium -- and the Jets Make Tom Brady Possible

September 23, 2001, 25 years ago: New York City holds a memorial service to the victims of the terrorist attack that destroyed the World Trade Center, 12 days earlier. It is held at the largest outdoor seating area within the City's Five Boroughs: Yankee Stadium.

In spite of the Stadium's capacity of 57,545, it is believed that just 20,000 people attended. Most likely, it was because only relatives and colleagues of those lost were permitted to attend, rather than that people were still afraid to gather in big crowds.

All 4 major U.S. TV networks broadcast it live. Prayers were offered by Edward Cardinal Egan, the Archbishop of New York, and also from leaders of Protestant, Greek Orthodox, Jewish, Hindu, Sikh, and even Muslim congregations, showing that they were all New Yorkers, that they were all Americans, and that they had all felt the losses of that awful Tuesday morning.

Also speaking were Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Governor George Pataki, U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton, and her husband, former President Bill Clinton. The current President, George W. Bush, did not attend. Former Mayors David Dinkins and Ed Koch, and former Governors Mario Cuomo and Hugh Carey, attended, but did not speak.

On September 11, 2002, the Yankees dedicated a Monument to the victims and rescue workers in the Stadium's Monument Park. As with the other Monuments and Plaques, it was moved to the new Yankee Stadium in 2009.

September 23, 2001 was a Sunday. Major League Baseball had restarted on Monday, September 17, with the week's worth of postponed games moved to the week after the originally-intended end of the regular season.

The Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles, 5-4 at Camden Yards in Baltimore. The Yankees scored 2 runs in the 8th inning, 1 in the 9th to send the game to extra innings, and 1 in the top of the 10th, when John Parrish walked Bernie Williams with the bases loaded, forcing Nick Johnson home. This made a winning pitcher out of Nick Johnson, in relief of Orlando "El Duque" Hernández.

Cal Ripken, in his last few days as an active player, hit what turned out to be the last home run of his career, his 407th. Johnson homered for the Yankees, going 3-for-5 with 3 RBIs. Derek Jeter got the day off, with Enrique Wilson playing shortstop.

The Mets lost to the Atlanta Braves, 5-4 at Shea Stadium. Brian Jordan led off the top of the 11th inning with a home run, his 2nd homer of the game, making John Smoltz a winning pitcher in relief of Tom Glavine. Joe McEwing hit a home run for the Mets.

*

The NFL also returned to action, after postponing the previous weekend's games. The Giants beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 13-3 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.

Both of the planes that hit the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York took off from Logan International Airport in Boston. As it worked out, the next game for the New York Jets and the Boston-area team, the New England Patriots, was against each other, at Foxboro Stadium in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts. (The stadium and the town, officially, had different spellings.)

Jets vs. Patriots was a rivalry that began in the American Football League in 1960. But, unlike such other New York vs. Boston matchups as Yankees vs. Red Sox, Knicks vs. Celtics and Rangers vs. Bruins, it wasn't that much of a rivalry until 1993, when the Patriots hired former Giants coach Bill Parcells, who then took his team back into the Meadowlands once a year to face the Jets. This included the 1996 season, when, with Drew Bledsoe at quarterback, the Patriots went on to win the AFC title, before losing the Super Bowl.

Then, in 1997, the Jets hired Parcells away, and that raised the rivalry more. He left, and in 2000, the Jets thought they'd hired former Parcells assistant Bill Belichick as head coach. He lasted one day, then quit to take the Patriots' job, infuriating Jet fans.

In this game, the Jets led, 10-3, with 3 minutes left in regulation, when Jet linebacker Mo Lewis knocked Bledsoe out of the game. At first, it was believed that Bledsoe had a concussion, serious enough to take him out, but nothing more. But he didn't seem right, and was sent to the hospital, where he was treated for internal bleeding. He almost died.

Bledsoe was replaced at quarterback by Tom Brady. Cliché Alert: The rest is history. The 10-3 score held, the Jets won, and the Pats fell to 0-2. Brady, a 6th-round draft choice out of the University of Michigan, became the starter, and went 5-3. Then he led the Pats to victory in their last 6 regular-season games, including a 17-16 win over the Jets at the Meadowlands, and overtime wins over San Diego ad Buffalo.

Then came the postseason. The Patriots beat the Oakland Raiders in the Divisional Round, in a snowstorm in what became known as "The Tuck Rule Game," in what turned out to be the last game in the 31-season history of Schaefer/Sullivan/Foxboro Stadium. What became Gillette Stadium, and the Patriot Place mall, were being built next-door.

Then came a win over the Steelers in Pittsburgh in the AFC Championship Game, when Brady got hurt, and Bledsoe was able to come back and be a part of the championship run. Then came Brady, and Adam Vinatieri's field goal, giving them an inspirational win over the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI. The Patriots were a bunch of plucky underdogs that had captured the nation's admiration.

But, like most teams that unexpectedly start winning and keep going -- the 1970s Dallas Cowboys, and in the 1990s, the Atlanta Braves, the New York Yankees, the Duke basketball team, and English soccer team Manchester United -- people got sick of them once they were no longer plucky underdogs.

It led to Brady and the Patriots absolutely dominating the AFC Eastern Division, and the Jets in particular, ever since.

And it all started with Mo Lewis hitting Drew Bledsoe too hard. What if Lewis had missed that tackle? Bledsoe would have remained the starter. Maybe the Patriots win fewer games. Maybe it's the Steelers who play the Rams in that Super Bowl. Maybe, instead of 6 Super Bowls, the Patriots win none. Or maybe Bledsoe only lasts another couple of years, and Brady takes over from there, and the Patriots' dynasty is merely delayed, instead of prevented.

We'll never know.

September 23, 1926: Tunney Defeats Dempsey

September 23, 1926, 100 years ago: Jack Dempsey, Heavyweight Champion of the World, defends his title against Gene Tunney at Sesquicentennial Stadium, the centerpiece of Philadelphia's World's Fair celebrating the 150th Anniversary of American independence. The huge horseshoe was packed with 120,557 fans, the largest crowd in boxing history to that point.

Dempsey hadn't fought in 3 years, and it showed. Once the most fearsome puncher ever, the Manassa Mauler couldn't handle the quickness of Tunney, who learned what he called "scientific pugilism" while serving in the U.S. Marine Corps in World War I.

It didn't help that this fight was outdoors, and it rained. By the 10th and final round, it was pouring, and Dempsey could do little to hurt Tunney.

For the 1st time ever, the Heavyweight Championship changed hands on a decision, rather than a knockout. Previously, decisions were considered unsatisfying, and judges were reluctant to take the title away from the Champion unless the challenger had knocked him out.

But this decision was an obvious one, and nobody objected at the time. Dempsey knew he had been fairly beaten: When his wife, actress Estelle Taylor, asked him what happened, he said, "Honey, I forgot to duck." A 15-year-old Illinois kid named Ronald Reagan read this in the newspaper, and, 55 years later, said it to his wife Nancy after he was shot.

Ironically, being dethroned made Dempsey more popular, as he had previously been called a "slacker" and a "draft dodger" for his avoidance of service in World War I. And Tunney, though the more skilled boxer, never developed the same kind of popularity as Dempsey.

Even after Tunney won by decision again a year later, in what became known as "The Long Count Fight," Dempsey's popularity grew, as some people thought he was robbed, not that they considered it Tunney's fault. Tunney, who retired as Champion rather than lose his title in the ring, was respected, but he was never truly loved.

In 1931, the 105,000-seat Sesquicentennial Stadium was renamed Municipal Stadium, and became famous as the neutral site of the Army-Navy Game. It hosted the 1952 fight where Rocky Marciano knocked out Jersey Joe Walcott to take the title.

In 1964, it was renamed John F. Kennedy Stadium. In 1966, it hosted the Beatles. In 1967, The Spectrum was built across the street; in 1971, Veterans Stadium to the north of the Spectrum, creating the South Philly sports complex. In 1985, it hosted the U.S. half of Live Aid. It was demolished in 1992, and the 76ers & Flyers arena now named the Xfinity Mobile Arena was built on the site.

September 23, 1926 was a Thursday. Jazz icon John Coltrane was born that day, and would later establish his home in Philadelphia, the city where Dempsey-Tunney I was held.

September 22, 1966: Red Barber Gets Himself Fired

September 22, 1966, 60 years ago: The New York Yankees lose to the Chicago White Sox, 4-1 at Yankee Stadium. Joe Horlen is the winning pitcher, Hoyt Wilhelm gets the save, and Stan Bahnsen is the losing pitcher. Tommie Agee and Tommy McCraw hit home runs for the South Siders. Mickey Mantle does not play for the Pinstripes. Backup catcher Billy Bryan does, and goes 3-for-4.

It is a Thursday afternoon, when many people who might have gone to the game are at work, and it was rescheduled from the game that was rained out the preceding Tuesday night. Many fans hadn't heard of the rescheduling. This was, after all, the age before social media, and even before 24-hour sports TV would be able to let people know that the game would be played, and when. And the weather still wasn't great: It was cloudy throughout the game, and rain drizzled during it.

Also, the game was available on television, on WPIX, New York's Channel 11. As you can see by the photo, the station was then owned by the New York Daily News, which advertised itself as "New York's Picture Newspaper." Hence, the call letters, WPIX. Although the newspaper has since moved to new locations, the station still broadcasts out of the Daily News Building at 220 East 42nd Street, as it has since it first went on the air in 1948.

And the Yankees were wrapping up an awful season: They would finish 70-89, in 10th place, last in the American League. It was their fewest wins in 41 years, and their lowest winning percentage and their 1st last-place finish in 54 years.

Put it all together, and the attendance was predictably low. But no one could have predicted how low: 413. That is not a typographical error: Only four hundred and thirteen fans paid to attend this Major League Baseball game. Aside from the games played behind closed doors during the COVID-19 epidemic in 2020, this is the smallest recorded crowd in Yankee history, home or away.

Walter "Red" Barber had broadcast for the Cincinnati Reds from 1934 to 1938, the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1939 to 1953, and the Yankees from 1954 onward. He had also done national broadcasts, first on radio and then on television, for both NBC and CBS.

But, on this day, Barber asked the TV cameras to pan the empty stands, as he commented on the low attendance. WPIX refused to do so, on orders from the Yankees' head of media relations. Undeterred, Barber said, "I don't know what the paid attendance is today, but whatever it is, it is the smallest crowd in the history of Yankee Stadium, and this crowd is the story, not the game."

A week later, Barber was invited to breakfast with Yankees team president Mike Burke, who told him that his contract would not be renewed at the end of the season. In his memoir, Rhubarb in the Catbird Seat, Barber admitted that he was tired of broadcasting the Yankees, and, with Mel Allen having been fired after the 1964, he did not like his new broadcast partner, Joe Garagiola. He admitted that he did it on purpose, so that he would be fired. Essentially, the greatest broadcaster in baseball history "committed suicide by cop."

He was 58 years old, and was never paid to broadcast another sporting event. He wrote a few books, occasionally participated in radio broadcasts, and sat for an interview for Ken Burns' documentary Baseball. Burns did not mention this incident. Barber died in 1992, before the documentary could be finished and broadcast.

For the record: The lowest known attendance for a New York Mets home game is 1,752, in the last competitive baseball game ever played at the Polo Grounds, on September 18, 1963, a 5-1 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies.

Also on this day, the Baltimore Orioles beat the Kansas City Athletics, 6-1 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium. This game clinched the American League Pennant for the Orioles. It was the 1st Pennant for a major league team from Baltimore since the National League version of the Orioles in 1896 -- 70 years. Brooks Robinson went 1-for-5 with 2 RBIs. Frank Robinson went 3-for-5 with 2 RBIs.

September 21, 2001: Baseball Returns to New York After 9/11

September 21, 2001, 25 years ago: The New York Mets host the Atlanta Braves in the 1st professional sporting event in New York City since the 9/11 attacks.

A crowd of 41,235 files into Shea Stadium to watch this matchup, and the nastiness of the teams' rivalry over the last 3 years is put away. Bruce Chen started with the Mets, while Jason Marquis, a Staten Island native, started for the Braves.

Each team scored in the 4th inning. For the Braves, Chipper Jones, always giving the Mets trouble, singled, and Ken Caminiti doubled him home. For the Mets, Mike Piazza doubled; Robin Ventura singled, but Piazza, being slow, couldn't score; and Tsuyoshi Shinjo hit a sacrifice fly to bring Piazza home.

The Braves took a 2-1 lead in the top of the 8th, Julio Franco drew a walk against John Franco. (They were not related: Julio is Dominican, while John is Italian and from Brooklyn.) Chipper singled him over. Met manager Bobby Valentine brought in Armando Benitez, who had succeeded Franco as the Mets' closer. Brian Jordan doubled Julio home.

But with 1 out in the bottom of the 8th, Steve Karsay walked Edgardo Alfonzo. Desi Relaford was sent in to pinch-run. And Mike Piazza hit a home run to center field, electrifying the Flushing Meadow amphitheater. The Mets won, 3-2.

Ever since, Met fans have acted like this was the moment when New York was saved, as if that one Piazza home run meant more to the City than everything the Yankees did the rest of the way.

Fugeddaboutit: The Mets went into the game 5 1/2 games behind the Braves for the National League Eastern Division lead, and 11 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals for the only Wild Card spot then available in the NL; they went 8-7 the rest of the way, and finished 6 games behind the Braves (the Philadelphia Phillies finished 2 back), and were still 11 games behind the Cards.

*

September 21, 2001 was a Friday. This was also the day that "America: A Tribute to Heroes," an all-star fundraiser for the relief, aired on all TV networks.

Among the songs sun that night was Céline Dion's version of "God Bless America." I realize English isn't her first language, and America isn't her first (and arguably isn't her second) country, so I can't fault her much, but it was the worst version of that song I've ever heard. In contrast, the closing, with Willie Nelson, technically nowhere near as good a singer, leading everyone in singing "America the Beautiful," was just right.

Bruce Springsteen opened with "My City In Ruins." Billy Joel sang "New York State of Mind." Tom Petty sang "I Won't Back Down." Neil Young sang John Lennon's "Imagine." There were also brief spoken interludes by various celebrities, including Billy Crystal, Robert De Niro, Sylvester Stallone, and one with Will Smith, whose film Ali would soon be released, and the real Ali, making a rare public statement during his battle with Parkinson's disease, asking for tolerance, because real Muslims opposed the attacks.

And Mariah Carey sang "Hero." She was fine. But this was also the day the film Glitter premiered. It was supposed to be Mariah's big entry into movies. Instead, this movie was so bad (How bad was it?), it was nicknamed "Flashdunce." It took 4 years for her personal and professional lives to recover.

 

September 21, 1901: The 1st American League Pennant

Clark Griffith

September 21, 1901, 125 years ago: The Chicago White Stockings lose to the Philadelphia Athletics, 10-4 at Columbia Park in Philadelphia. Bill Bernhard outpitches Roy Patterson, who falls to 20-15.

However, the Boston Americans lose to the Detroit Tigers, 3-1 at the Huntington Avenue Grounds in Boston. This means that Chicago clinch the Pennant of the American League, in its 1st season.

The White Stockings were owned by Charles A. Comiskey, a former 1st baseman for the St. Louis Browns of the American Association, who joined the National League and later became the Cardinals. Comiskey had founded the AL with sportswriter Byron Bancroft "Ban" Johnson, who served as the League's 1st President.

The White Stockings were managed by Clark Griffith, who was also their ace pitcher. He had previously pitched in the city for the National League team, formerly named the White Stockings. Their outfielders included Fielder Jones (his actual birth name), who would manage them to win the 1906 World Series; and William "Dummy" Hoy, a sensational fielder and baserunner, who was deaf, but not mute, or "dumb" in the parlance of the time, yet didn't mind, as many deaf men were, being called "Dummy." They finished 83-53, and won the Pennant by 4 games.

In 1903, Griffith became the 1st manager and the 1st pitcher of the New York Highlanders, forerunners of the Yankees. In 1904, the White Stockings officially shortened their name to the "White Sox," presaging the 1908 decision by Boston to become the "Red Sox," rather than adopt the former National League name of "Red Stockings."

In 1910, Comiskey built the ballpark that would bear his name, where the White Sox would play until 1990. In 1912, Griffith bought the Washington Senators, and named their ballpark for himself. In 1955, the Athletics moved to Kansas City; in 1968, to Oakland; and in 2025, to Sacramento, with the intent of, in 2028, to Las Vegas. 

The Yankees Aren't Helping Themselves

The Yankees can never expect help from the teams playing the team they're chasing, or pure blind luck, or the umpires, or, God forbid, the Commissioner's office. They should at least help themselves.

This weekend, playing the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field in Phoenix, they did not help themselves.

The Friday night game went very well. Gerrit Cole started, and did well: 6 innings, 2 runs, 4 hits, no walks, 6 strikeouts. The bullpen kept the D-backs off the board. Ben Rice and George Lombard Jr. hit home runs, and the Yankees won, 9-2. And the Boston Red Sox actually did the Yankees a favor, beating the Tampa Bay Rays, 4-3.

The Saturday game was unacceptable. You do not waste a good start by Cam Schlittler. The Yankees did. Cam went 6 innings, allowing 3 runs, only 1 earned, on 3 hits and 3 walks, striking out 6. Heliot Ramos and Austin Wells hit home runs.

Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. Michael Fulmer started the bottom of the 9th by walking Ildemaro Vargas, and gave up a game-winning home run to Pavin Smith. Never heard of either of them? Me neither.

Anyway, Diamondbacks 5, Yankees 3. And since the Rays beat the Red Sox, 2-1, the Yankees dropped a game in the standings.

Schlittler is 14-6. In games he's started, the Yankees are 20-12. They should support him better.

They should not support Fulmer any further. Put him in the "Should Never Play for the Yankees Again" File.

The Sunday game was worse statistically, if not emotionally. Will Warren had nothing, going just 4 1/3rd innings, allowing 4 runs on 6 hits and 3 walks. And yet, he wasn't the losing pitcher. The Yankees led 4-1 going into the bottom of the 5th. Brent Headrick was brought in, and while the runs that scored then were charged to Warren, Headrick allowed them, and gave up a home run to Nolan Arenado.

Ramos, Lombard and Spencer Jones homered to the Yankees, but it wasn't enough: The Diamondbacks won, 8-4. And the Rays beat the Red Sox, 5-1.

*

The Rays now lead the Yankees in the American League Eastern Division, by 6 games with 7 games to go. In other words, the Rays' Magic Number to clinch the Division is 2. The Yankees have clinched no worse than the 4th seed, but it will probably no better than that.

Both teams have tonight off. Then, tomorrow, 4 games against each other in 3 days, at Yankee Stadium. If the Rays win any of them, they win the Division. Here are the projected pitching matchups:

* Tomorrow, 1:05 PM, a rescheduled rainout, on YES: Carlos Rodón vs. Nick Martinez.

* Tomorrow, 7:05, on YES and TBS: Max Fried vs. Drew Rasmussen.

* Wednesday, 7:05, on Amazon Prime:: Gerrit Cole vs. a pitcher to be determined.

* Thursday, 7:05, on YES: Cam Schlittler vs. TBD.

In these next 4 games, and in the 3 games to follow, at home to the Baltimore Orioles, while the Rays are away to the Philadelphia Phillies, the Yankees are going to have to help themselves. A lot.