The Yankees take a 3 games to 1 lead in the World Series with a 7 – 4 win over Philadelphia. The Yankees score three runs off Brad Lidge with two outs in the 9th, after the Phillies had rallied to tie the game with homers by Chase Utley and Pedro Feliz.
In Game 1, Chase Utley, en route to a record-tying five World Series homers, becomes the first left-handed batter in 81 years to hit two round-trippers off a southpaw in a Fall Classic game. The Philadelphia second baseman, who also set a postseason record by reaching base in 26 straight games with his first-inning walk, goes deep twice off Yankee southpaw CC Sabathia in the Phillies’ 6-1 victory in New York, to match Babe Ruth’s performance in the fourth and final game of the 1928 series.
Jorge Posada hits his 20th homer and drives in 4 runs as New York defeats Toronto, 7 – 5. The Yankees now have 7 players with 20 or more homers on the year, matching a record set by three other teams. Derek Jetercurrently has 17 home runs but will finish the year with 18, leaving the Bronx Bombers just shy of a new record.
The Yankees complete a four-game sweep of the Red Sox with a 5 – 2 victory at New Yankee Stadium. Jon Lester and Andy Pettitte keep the game scoreless for six innings until Alex Rodriguez leads off the bottom of the 7th with a home run. Victor Martinez gives Boston the lead with a two-run shot off Phil Coke in the 8th, breaking a 31-inning scoring drought. In the bottom of the 8th, Johnny Damon and Mark Teixeira hit back-to-back long balls against Daniel Bard to put the Yanks ahead, and Nick Swisher hits a two-run single to seal the deal.
The Yankees and Red Sox are locked in a scoreless tie for 14 innings until Alex Rodriguez hits a game-winning home run in the 15th off Junichi Tazawa, making his major league debut, for a 2 – 0 Yankee win. Tazawa took the place of veteran John Smoltz, who was designated for assignment earlier in the day after being roughed up in yesterday’s 13 – 6 slugfest. Former Marlin teammates Josh Beckett and A.J. Burnett set the tone for the game by pitching 7 and 7 2/3 scoreless innings respectively.
The Yankees sign starting pitcher Andy Pettitte to a $5.5 million, one-year deal, less than half the club’s original $10 million offer. The 36 year-old southpaw, however, can make an additional $4.5 million based on innings pitched and another $2 million dependent on days spent on the active roster.
The New York Yankees reach an agreement with free agent hurler CC Sabathia for a seven-year, $161 million deal, a new record for a pitcher. Sabathia had gone 11-2 with a 1.65 ERA for the Brewers after starting the season with Cleveland where he won the 2007 American League Cy Young Award.
Mike Mussina, who has won 18 or 19 games five times, finally becomes a 20-game winner at age 39. The Yankee hurler tops the Red Sox, 6 – 2, as Daisuke Matsuzaka falls to 18-3 on the year. Mussina will announce his retirement after the season.
After a moving ceremony celebrating the history of the 85 year-old ballpark, New York beat the Orioles in the last game ever played at Yankee Stadium, 7-3. Julia Ruth Stevens, the Babe’s daughter, throws out the ceremonial first pitch, and at the end of game, team captain Derek Jeter, standing in front of the mound, surrounded by his teammates, bids farewell to ‘House Ruth Built’ in an address in front of the 54,610 fans who attended the Bronx finale.
On June 27, 2008, At Yankee Stadium, Carlos Delgado of the Mets sets a franchise record with nine RBI’s in a 15-6 rout of the Yankees at Yankee Stadium. Delgado is 3-for-5 with two homers and a double. The outburst occurs in the first game of a doubleheader split between Yankee Stadium and Shea Stadium….
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