More New York Yankees M&M 1961 fun, as Roger Maris hit no. 49 and Mickey Mantle chipped in with no. 46 in the first game of a doubleheader sweep of the Indians, 6-0 and 5-2, on August 20.
The only Yankee homer of the second game was no. 21 by Moose Skowron, but Mickey notched his 101st rbi when he walked to force in a run after Roger was hit by a pitch in the sixth.
Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth had a similar long-ball rivalry over several seasons, and when Lou hit no. 33 in the fourth inning of an August 20, 1931, 7-3 win in St. Louis, he tied the total amassed by the Babe. But Ruth hit a grand slam over the right field roof in the ninth inning to retake the lead. Lefty Gomez got the win, despite weakening and allowing three runs in the bottom of the ninth.
The two-pronged theme of the Yankee doubleheader sweep of the visiting Blue Jays on August 20, 2013, was come from behind, and offense both from the usual places and the unexpected. So when Ivan Nova, pitching the first game, fell behind the Jays 4-0 in the second in a rally keyed by a Rajai Davis two-run double, the three-run Robinson Cano home run in the third was not a surprise. But the three runs delivered when light-hitting catcher Chris Stewart cleared the left field fence in the home sixth was.
Cano knocked in another run with a double in the 8-4 win, then he reached Mark Buehrle for a third-inning, game-tying single in the nightcap. But the next two Yankee tallies, including the walkoff rbi single following an Ichiro Suzuki pinch-running stolen base in the ninth, were delivered by Jayson Nix, who also homered in the home seventh in the 3-2 win.
Happy Birthday to third base and World Series hero and lefty power hitter Graig Nettles (1944). Consider that along with his superb glove work on the “hot corner†in a 22-year career, he also compiled a lifetime total of 390 home runs, 250 of them with the Yanks. Graig also contributed 834 rbi’s in his 1973-1983 stint in the Bronx.