Baby's First Scorecard

So I attempted my first scoresheet last night!  Tragic, it tracked the progression of a ridiculous loss by which the Yankees blew a 5-0 lead (whoa, deja vu) and eventually lost 7-6.  Click on them to check them out below.

5/18 Yankees vs. Red Sux Tailgate

Preview of tonight's game and conclusion of the 2-game series at Yankees Stadium:

Start time:  7:05 p.m. EST
TV:  MY9
Game #37 / Home Game #17

Weather:  Rain, becoming more intermittent around 8pm, before ending by mid evening. Cloudy. Windy early. Temperatures reaching the mid 50s. Winds NE at 15 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 95%.

LHP CC Sabathia (4-2, 3.71 ERA) vs RHP Josh Beckett (1-1, 7.46 ERA)

Yankees Lineup
Jeter, SS
Gardner, CF
Teixeira, 1B
Rodriguez, 3B
Cano, 2B
Cervelli, C
Thames, RF
Miranda, DH
Winn, LF

Red Sox Lineup
Marco Scutaro, SS
Dustin Pedroia, 2B
J.D. Drew, RF
Kevin Youkilis, 1B
Victor Martinez, C
David Ortiz, DH
Adrian Beltre, 3B
Bill Hall, LF
Darnell McDonald, CF

Keep your Eyes Peeled!
Jorge Posada has 249 career home runs and needs 1 HR to tie Craig Nettles for seventh place on the Yankees' all-time franchise home run list
Mark Teixeira has 249 career home runes and needs 1 HR to reach the 250 career home run plateau.

Today in Yankees History
May 18, 1946 - Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson was born.  Jackson played five seasons with the Yankees from 1977-81, batting .281 with 144 HR in 653 games and winning two World Series (1977-78).  His number, 44, was retired by the Yankees in 1993.  Happy birthday, Mr. October!

Mr. Clutch

For most people, they'll remember last night's victory over the Red Sux by the scene of Marcus Thames' two-run walk-off home run in the bottom of the night as the iconic image of the evening.  And kudos to Marcus for his first second* ever career walk-off home run.  However, for me, the moment of the night was A-Rod's two-run homer to left center field just moments before.  With the Yankees suddenly down and trailing for the first time all game long, blowing a 5-0 lead, Alex Rodriguez stepped up to the plate, put the team on his back, and took us to the straightaway.  Thankfully, Thames got us over the finish line.

A-Rod got off to a bad start with the Yankees.  His relationship with the press was tenuous.  The juicing confession did nothing to help that.  He seemed a little gripey about playing 3B instead of SS.  And what was worse, he wasn't producing in clutch situations, especially in the post-season.  But miraculously, all that changed last year, bad hip and all.  Over the last two seasons (2009-10), Rodriguez has been involved in scoring or driving in the game-winning or tying run in seven of the Yankees 16 walk-off innings (two game-ending home runs, two game-tying home runs, two game-winning runs scored and hit the pop-up resulting in a two-run walk-off error vs. the Mets).  A-Rod tied up more postseason games with the Yankees trailing than any other player.  And last night was not the first time this season he brought the team within striking distance of a win.  He has consistently come up big this season, and one could only hope it continues.  Girardi has done a good job of keeping his slugger well rested, giving him the day off from time to time, or keeping him in as DH.  If he can stay healthy (and keep out of the tabloids) then maybe this is the year for the New York love affair to truly begin with Alex Rodriguez....

* Thanks for the correction on Thames and his walk-off HR stats NYY Game Notes!