For your viewing pleasure

MLB.com has some pretty amazing video archives. They go quite a ways back, and, well, I've been hooked, looking up all of the moments I've enjoyed, this season and previous.

So I figured, why not share some of them?

Here are some of my favorites. I'll put a link to this post on the sidebar, so you can always come back and find it without needing to bookmark it.

I'll add more as I find them--still need A-Rod's bottom 15th inning HR, and all of the other walk offs, but I figure it's a start.

If there's something you'd like me to try to find, just leave it in a comment.

MLB.com doesn't provide an embedding option (yet), so for the moment, they are just links.


Yankee Moments, 1996-2003


Chris Chambliss 1976 ALCS walk off home run



Jim Leyritz home run ties Game 4 of 1996 World Series

Joe Buck with the call.




Final out, 1996 World Series


Final out, 5/17/98, David Wells' perfect game. Jim Kaat calls.


Final out, David Cone perfect game. Tim McCarver calls.


Tino Martinez grand slam, 1998 WS game 1. Joe Buck calls.


Tino Martinez bottom 9 two out game tying home run and Jeter's game winning HR, 2001 WS. Joe Buck calls.


Scott Brosius bottom 9 two out game tying home run, 2001, Joe Buck calls.


Aaron Boone game winning home run, 2003 ALCS. Joe Buck calls.


2009 Yankee moments


Melky Cabrera, walk off home run vs Oakland, April, Micheal Kay


Jorge Posada, walk off single vs Anaheim/LA, May, Michael Kay


Walk Off Weekend, May, various calls.


Swisher, Canó and Cabrera go back-to-back-to-back, May, Michael Kay.


Melky Cabrera, walk off single vs Phillies, May, Joe Buck


Luis Castillo drops pop up, June, TV and Radio calls


Mariano Rivera's RBI, June, ESPN, John Millar, Joe Morgan, Steve Phillips


Jorge Posada, walk off single vs Toronto, July 4th, Michael Kay


Hideki Matsui, walk off HR vs Baltimore, July, Michael Kay


Melky Cabrera hits for the cycle, August, CWS broadcast


Alex Rodriguez bottom of the 15th HR vs Red Sox, August, John Sterling


Damon and Teixeira hit back-to-back home runs to sweep Red Sox, August, ESPN and radio calls


Robinson Canó walk off hit, vs Toronto, August, Michael Kay


Robinson Canó walk off home run, vs Chicago White Sox, August, Michael Kay


Nick Swisher walk off home run, vs Tampa Bay, September, Michael Kay


Francisco Cervelli walk off single, vs Toronto, September, Michael Kay


Juan Miranda walk off single, vs Kansas City, September, Michael Kay


Alex Rodriguez game tying HR ALDS game 2, October, TV and radio calls


A-Rod ties it and Teixeira wins int, game 2 ALDS, October, TBS, Chip Caray


A-Rod ties it in the eleventh, game 2 ALCS, October, Fox, Buck and McCarver


Hairston scores winning run on error in 13th, game 2 ALCS, October, Fox, Buck and McCarver


TV/Radio calls of the ALCS game 2 winning play


TV/Radio calls of Alex Rodriguez game-tying HR


Final out, 2009 ALCS, Fox, Buck and McCarver


TV/radio calls of final out 2009 ALCS

Thanks to Replacement Level Yankees Weblog for the list of the 2009 walk offs!

Musings with a Broken Keyboard

So I have a confession to make.

Earlier today, during halftime of the Jets/Bengals game, I caught the ninth inning of game five of the 2001 World Series on TV.

For various reasons, it was the first time I'd actually seen the top of the ninth inning--and the chanting of Paul O'Neill's name.

The moment gives me chills, of course, but this was the first time I'd heard it without any embellishments, any retrospective announcing or music, and I realized that while there's a lot of the 2001 World Series that I remember, there's a lot that, at the time, I simply didn't understand.

I'd only started following the Yankees in 1996--when I was 10--and thus the significance of the dynasty teams was largely lost on me. The Yankees were good, I knew, and I'd thought it wasa right that we were in the World Series nearly every year.

I kind of took it all for granted. I know better now, of course, but that's not the point.

The point is, when Brosius hit his home run in the ninth inning of Game Five, I knew it was incredible, but I didn't realize how incredible.

When you consider that the entire thing happened only about six weeks removed from 9/11, it takes on an altogether added importance.

More than winning, New York needed the Yankees to play those few games in October and November. Play the game well, and you'd prove to the world that you cannot bring New York down.

The Yankees, in true Yankee fashion, just happened to make sure that those games were unforgettable.

Yankees' Classic Moments

So this week's classic moment is in recognition of the guest we will have on the SPORTSTALKNY webcast tomorrow, Mark Littell.


In 1976, the New York Yankees made it back to the postseason for the first time since the early 1960s, where they faced the Kansas City Royals in the ALCS.

Going into the deciding Game Five (the LCS was a five game set at the time), at Yankee Stadium, the Yanks started Ed Figueroa on three days' rest, and both teams scored quickly, the score tied at two at the end of the first.

The Yankees were able to build to a 6-3 lead in the eighth, but Kansas City struck back, and the game was tied at six going into the ninth.

In the ninth inning, Mark Littell was on the mound for KC and the Yankees had Chris Chambliss up at bat...

Yep, just as you might think, Chambliss sent the pitch high over the right-field wall, and the Yankees went on to their first World Series in 12 years. They lost the Series, but won the next two--including the '77 World Series, where Jackson blasted three home runs in one game.

Random Baseball Trivia and Yankees' Classic Moments

Random Trivia, courtesy of Uncle John's 20th Anniversary Bathroom Reader:

A Regulation baseball has exactly 108 stitches.


On a more serious note, I'm sitting here, trying to come up with a classic Yankees' moment, and all I can think about is Joe Kennedy and Sean Taylor, and how they were taken from life way too soon (Taylor was only 24. That's three years older than me. Scary thought).

Life is precious. There is tragedy when anyone is taken from us too soon, but there is more tragedy when someone is taken without warning and often without reason.

I have to say, though, while we might mourn the loss, it is far more important to celebrate the life.

For anyone such as Kennedy or Taylor or Lou Gehrig or Thurman Munson or any other athlete taken from us too soon, it is far more important to remember what they gave us than how they were taken from us.




Yes, I know it's far from my most cheerful entry, but it is on my mind, especially as I've just found out Indians' pitcher Lara is also in critical condition after a car accident...

Yankees' Classic Moments, Week Six

In honor of Thanksgiving, and the spirit of being thankful, I present, in entirety, Lou Gehrig's famed speech:

"Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about the bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth. I have been in ballparks for seventeen years and have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans.

"Look at these grand men. Which of you wouldn't consider it the highlight of his career just to associate with them for even one day? Sure, I'm lucky. Who wouldn't consider it an honor to have known Jacob Ruppert? Also, the builder of baseball's greatest empire, Ed Barrow? To have spent six years with that wonderful little fellow, Miller Huggins? Then to have spent the next nine years with that outstanding leader, that smart student of psychology, the best manager in baseball today, Joe McCarthy? Sure, I'm lucky.

"When the New York Giants, a team you would give your right arm to beat, and vice versa, sends you a gift - that's something. When everybody down to the groundskeepers and those boys in white coats remember you with trophies - that's something. When you have a wonderful mother-in-law who takes sides with you in squabbles with her own daughter - that's something. When you have a father and a mother who work all their lives so you can have an education and build your body - it's a blessing. When you have a wife who has been a tower of strength and shown more courage than you dreamed existed - that's the finest I know.

"So I close in saying that I may have had a tough break, but I have an awful lot to live for."

Taken from here



I don't need to say any more--any Yankee fan, hell, any baseball fan, will be familiar with the circumstances.

We all have something for which we are thankful.

Yankees' Classic Moments, Week Five

Sorry about this being so late today! It seems that there are mice in my building, so I've been spending the last hour or so talking with my co-inhabitants about an exterminator.

Anyway, out of respect for mice, today's classic moment involves Mickey Mantle, as the Mickey Mouse thing is just so waiting to be used.

So here we go, reaching more than the normal ten or twenty years back in Yankees' history:

In the 1964 World Series, the Yankees played the St. Louis Cardinals. Three years ago, in 1961, Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle had been involved in a race to break Babe Ruth's record of 60 home runs in a season. Maris won the chase, but Mantle was not far behind.

The '64 World Series is also notable as being the "last hurrah" for the Yankees of Berra (as manager), Mantle, Maris and Ford.

In Game Three of the World Series, with the Series tied at a game each, the Yankees came up to bat in the bottom of the ninth, with the game tied one-one. Mantle was up at bat, and he hit a home run on the first pitch he saw from Barney Schultz. The walk off home run was arguably the most dramatic of Mantle's career and occurred in the last World Series in which Mantle played.

Yankees' Classic Moments, Week Four

I was looking for something Pettitte-related for this week, and then I found out that he was the MVP of the 2001 ALCS, so today's Yankees' Classic Moment is concerning the 2001 ALCS.


Now, we all know how crazy the 2001 Postseason was: just a few weeks after 9/11, most of New York still in a catatonic state, the Yankees were a way for the Yankees to heal.

The ALDS was one for the ages--the Yankees lost the first two games at home to the Oakland A's, went on the road, won game three 1-0 behind a superb effort from Mike Mussina (yes, THAT Mike Mussina) and a play from Derek Jeter (yes, THAT play). The Yankees took games four and five, and were right back in the ALCS, like they belonged.

The Yankees' ALCS opponent, however, was not supposed to be any easier: The Seattle Mariners, in their first post-A-Rod year, had won 116 regular season games, beating the Yankees' 1998 mark.

The Yankees still managed to take the first two games, before losing game three at Yankee Stadium by the mauling score of 14-3, so when game four rolled around, the Yankees needed a win to keep their series lead.

The game was the epitome of a pitcher's duel--a scoreless affair until the eighth inning, when Bret Boone and Bernie Williams traded solo home runs.

In the top of the ninth, the Yanks' Mo Rivera sat Seattle down in order.

In the bottom of the ninth, Shane Spencer ('member him?) grounded out. Scott Brosius singled afterwards, and then Alfonso Soriano came up to bat. Remember how good he was as a kid when he wasn't striking out? Yeah, he was good here--hitting a home run that won the game.

The call: "Soriano into deep right, Ichiro back, at the wall...Yankees win!" Joe Buck, FOX.

Yankees took a three games to one lead, and clinched in game five.

Yankees' Classic Moments, Week Three

As the news is likely to come that Joe Girardi has been named Yankees' manager today, I offer this classic Girardi moment:

On July 18 1999, Girardi was the Yankees' starting catcher. The game was an interleague game against the Montreal Expos (the future Washington Nationals), and the starting pitcher was one David Cone. Remember here?

Anyway, Girardi pitches as Cone pitches a 1-2-3 first. And then a 1-2-3 second. And a 1-2-3 third. There's a rain delay (I'm not sure when in the game it comes, but it does), but Cone and Girardi go back out there, and continue to have these 1-2-3 innings...

Suddenly, it's the ninth inning, and no player from Montreal has reached base...C. Widger strikes out, R. McGuire flies out and O. Cabrera fouls out to third, and David Cone has pitched a perfect game.


And Joe Girardi has caught it.


(They never give catchers enough credit for catching these, do they?)



Letter to Joe G. coming when the news is made official.

Yankees' Classic Moments, Week Two

On this date in 1996, the Yankees won Game 3 of the World Series, but the better-known turning point occurred in game four:

The Atlanta Braves, who were up two games to one in the Series, had a 6-0 lead in the fifth inning, and the Yankees could only manage to chip it to 6-3 in the sixth.

In the eighth inning, Jim Leyritz came up with two men on and hit it to left field...

..."Back, at the wall, and we are TIED"...

The Yankees would eventually win the game on a walk in the 10th inning, and the Yankees would win the next two games of the Series, clinching at home. You might remember the part where John Wetteland rode on one of those horses.


Back later with full World Series preview. Nasty day out today. Back to what October's usually like around these parts!

Yankees' Classic Moments, Number One

Hey everyone, sorry this post is so late, and I don't have a lot of time right now, so I'm afraid it's going to be a quickie.

Today's entry, however, is fairly easy.

Four years ago today, our third baseman wasn't a guy named Alex Rodriguez, but a chap by the name of Aaron Boone. Like A-Rod, he wasn't hitting well in the postseason.

So that he came up to bat in the eleventh inning in game seven against Boston, Mo Rivera having just pitched his third inning of work, should have been a mystery, should have sparked some sort of comment...

...except that Boone crushed the very first pitch he saw, sending up and over the left field wall.

Derek Jeter's greeting at home plate, Charlie Steiner's call...even Joe Buck's call...

Playoff heroes are never who you expect, but the Yankees should know by now that playoff heroes, at least where the Red Sox are concerned, all have B names--Babe, Bucky, Boone...(hell, even throw in Buckner!)

Grady Little would lose his job as a result of that game, while Yankees fans everywhere would rejoice...(and a few of us thought 'ah, the Marlins in the World Series? No matter, we beat the Red Sox!)

For one more year, at least, Boston would be without a World Series title.



ALCS postgame notes at the appropriate time.

Playing Favorites

I'm reading through all these recaps of the 2007 MLB season. Some are really great--Stark's on ESPN is one of the funniest I've ever read. So that got me thinking: what's my favorite Yankee and non-Yankee moment from 2007?

It's so hard to pick just one, when there are so many...

Yankees:

I'm going to go with the re-appearance of Scooter the Squirrel. There are so many moments to chose from, but Scooter IS 2007.

When Phil Rizzuto died, it felt like something special was going to happen; like there was no way the Yankees would miss the playoffs. It's hard to explain, I guess, but the ghosts of Yankee Stadium aren't myth. How else do you explain Aaron Boone, games 4 and 5 of the 2001 series, Jeffrey Maier...everything, really?

When Scooter made his first appearance, it was a quirk, something perhaps to joke about as the Yankees got a very important win over the Red Sox.

However, when Scooter reappeared in the same, exact spot, and Alex Rodriguez hit the next pitch to no-man's-land in left...it became something more.

Scooter's not just a good luck charm, but the ghosts of Yankee Stadium out for a penultimate hoorah.


MLB as a whole:

Sorry Mets fans, but this goes to the never-say-die Phillies. Sure, the Mets collapse has something to do with it, but a collapse only works if the other team gives up.

The Phillies didn't.

Everything said they should have given up halfway through the season: way too many injuries, no real pitching staff, the Mets cruising...

...but they didn't.

Of all major cities with a sports team, Philadelphia has gone the longest without a championship. One would have thought that there would have been groans of 'oh no, not again'...but the Phillies embody the best of optimism, and the best of hope.

It's hard to root against them...(except for Mets fans, that is).





Now that I got mine out, what are your favorite moments? Feel free to pick just for the Yankees or for all of baseball, both or another team entirely. There are so many good moments to choose from, I think anyone that reads this could comment and we still wouldn't cover them all...

So have at it! I'm curious to see what people think!

Rocket Refueled, Captain Clutch, Mient Man delivers and Save(io)r Scare (Postgame notes 16 Sept 07)

Derek Jeter lives for moments like these, Roger Clemens proves that a bloody arm beats the heck out of a bloody sock, Doug Mientkiewicz shows that defense really is important, and Mo is apparently an undercover operative for cardiologists everywhere.

You knew a Yankees-Red Sox game, when the last meeting of the season, would be crazy, but, I don't actually think I've stopped shaking yet!

Anyway, better start at the beginning.

Ask anyone on the street what pitching match up they'd most want to see of the weekend, they would have probably said Wang/Beckett, but they should have chosen Clemens/Schilling.

Clemens was a bit wild in the first, but, had Johnny Damon caught that first ball, the Yankees would have gotten out of the inning without a run. He settled down after that, and at one point struck out four Red Sox hitters in a row.

Who says pitching with ligament damage in your arm is a bad idea?

Also in the first, Doug Mientkiewicz made a play that saved the game for the Yankees, by diving to stop a ground ball hit by Varitek (I think it was Varitek), and then getting up and diving again to get to the base before the runner. It saved two runs from scoring, and kept the game at 1-0.

Mientkiewicz also made other great plays, including a grab--and--shuffle to Clemens. Oh, and in case you forget, he was on base when Jeter had his BIG BLOW OF DOOM.

However, before I get to Jeter I should mention that Robinson Cano's solo HR to tie the game should not be without mention; it was an impressive shot and without it, well, we're still playing baseball right now!

Anyway, the fun stuff.

You knew when Jeter came up with two out in the eighth that he had to come through then, and he didn't disappoint. Jeter's made his career and his Stuff-Of-Legend by coming up big in important spots, and there aren't many spots more important than a 1-1 game with two on and two out. Of course, because it wouldn't be baseball otherwise, Jeter had to get to two strikes before he hit it....

Even still, it wasn't the most nerve-wracking part of the night!

That part came in the ninth, when Mo had what can best be described as not-his-best-performance. After all, you'd think that with Varitek, Hinske and Lugo up that it'd be a quick inning, but the lead off walk was telling, and then the HBP...

Deep down, however, you knew it had to come down to Mo and David Ortiz, and you know what? Despite the fact that I'm gonna die of a heart attack before this season's out, I'm glad it came down to that, because the last time I remember the two facing off it was October 2004, and we know what happened then. This time, you have to believe that certain demons were excised.

Anyway, could a Yankees/Red-Sox game end any other way?

You also might be interested in considering:

The Yankees just went 7-2 on their road trip. They just had a better road trip than homestand. We won THREE one run games on the road, too. That had been a major problem for us. Apparently, not so much any more. You have got to believe there are good vibes in the clubhouse tonight.

The division is once again at 4.5 games. It's not likely the Yankees will win it, but it's possible. After all, all it takes is to win your games when the other team loses theirs. Anything can happen.



I said back at the end of July, in my LiveJournal, that we were in for one hell of a finish.

I have not been disappointed.


SCORES AND STUFFS

Kansas City beat Cleveland 4-3. Get this: The winning pitcher's name? Billy Buckner. Yeah. I know.

Baltimore beat Toronto 8-6 in 12. I'm probably alone in thinking this, but if your team is officially just playing out the string, do you really want the game going to 12? Well, I guess since Toronto is still in the WC race they might have had a reason, but, even still...

The Chi Sox beat the Angels 9-7, winning it on a walk off HR from Jim Thome, the 500th of his career. I highly doubt that Jim Thome reads blogs, but in case someone knows someone that knows someone, I offer my congragulations.

Detroit beat Minnesota 6-4, as Detroit keeps pace with New York for the Wild Card. They've won five straight and thus offered the Yankees no help whatsoever.

Tampa Bay beat Seattle 9-2 as Seattle has done everything in its power to have that utter collapse everyone kept talking about back in July and August.

Texas beat Oakland 11-9 and the Yankees should be glad they don't have to play them, as they've been playing rather...uhhh...good baseball of late.

Philadelphia beat the Mets 10-6, completing a sweep and making the NL East just about as interesting as the AL East.

Atlanta beat Washington 3-0, as the team of the 90s refuses to die twelve years after it won the World Series.

Milwaukee beat Cincinnati 5-2. The Brew Crew has already topped it's season total for wins last year, though, in all honesty, if they go 0-12 the rest of the way, would it really surprise anyone?

Houston beat Pittsburgh 15-3 in a game that really does mean nothing.

The Cubs beat St. Louis 4-2 to stay atop the NL Central, as the Cardinals have completely collapsed since the Ankiel HGH story broke.

Colorado beat Florida 13-0. Todd Helton had his 300th career home run, so my congratulations to him as well.

San Diego beat San Francisco 5-1. Does Bonds even still play now?

Arizona beat LA 6-1, tightening their grip on the NL West.



Yankees return home tomorrow to play the Orioles. At least the Yankees will not be facing Guthrie or Bedard...

You Ain't Pretty, but You're All Right, and That's All Right With Me (Postgame notes 14 Sept 07)

Wow.


I mean, what else do you say after that?

That was not the type of game that most teams win.

Then again, the Yankees aren't most teams.

There is a reason you play 27 outs of baseball. There is a reason you never give up, a reason you never give in. There is a reason the Yankees have 26 rings.

Originally, I was going to title this post 'D'oh-fence', but then the eighth inning happened...

Andy Pettitte was ugly tonight...far from what most Yankees fans expected. It was probably just one of those games, he wasn't sharp early, and from the very first batter he got not help whatsoever from the defense (especially from Giambi, who had one of his worst games defensively this year)

Veras was okay, Henn was awful, and Bruney--yes, THAT Bruney--was the unsung hero. Viz had a great showing, despite playing hurt, and Mo was, well, Mo.

Offensively, I think everyone except Damon, Jorge and Matsui would like to forget the first seven innings. Posada's doubles and Matsui's triples were overshadowed by the inability to 'get the big hit', and when the bases were left loaded in the first, it wasn't a good sign.

Still, baseball, like history, turns on a dime.

All it takes is one good pitch or one good hit.

Jason Giambi, the one who really needed to redeem himself, was, of course, the one to start it with a lead-off solo shot to make the score 7-3.

Then Robby Cano followed with another.

Then Melky got on base, and until after A-Rod came up with the Game Winning RBI, the merry-go-round just kept on going. Jeter continued to define clutch, and Abreu continued to show that as he goes, so go the Yankees.


They don't have to be pretty, they just have to be wins.

All it takes is a little faith. There are twenty-seven outs in baseball.

You play all of them.



Scores and Stuffs

Detroit beat Minnesota 4-2, Timo Perez driving in three of Detroit's four. I cannot imagine anyone on the Tigers enjoyed watching tonight's game in Boston.

The White Sox beat the Angels, 5-3. That's weird. Weirder? The Angels have now lost two in a row, to the O's and ChiSox, arguably the two worst teams in baseball. Weirdest? Jose Contreras got the win. No, I am not making that up.

Baltimore beat Toronto 6-2, as Toronto seems to be chronically unable to understand the concept of 'offense'. No matter Toronto fans, hockey season is almost upon us...

Cleveland beat Kansas City 5-4 in the bottom of the ninth, creating their own baseball classic.

Tampa and Seattle are tied at one in the bottom of the ninth, but as Seattle's got runners on the corners and no one out, don't expect it to stay that way for long.

Texas and Oakland are tied at nine. Check the line on that one, it's kind of funny.

In the division No One Wants to Win, (NOWW for short), the Cubs beat the Cardinals 5-3, and Ankiel did not have a home run, as he seems to have stopped doing that. Zambrano got his win, for his 16th.

Cincinnati beat Milwaukee 6-5, so don't even ask me who's in first in the NOWW division. I really don't know. I'll just look at the calendar on October first.

Philadelphia beat the Mets 3-2 in the tenth, their faint playoff hopes not going anywhere quite yet.

Atlanta beat Washington 8-5. Washington was probably just glad to play in a park where people actually showed up.

Florida beat Colorado 7-6, but it's not likely anyone was there to see it.

Pittsburgh beat Houston 4-3, and would you believe it, but the Pirates have a better record than the Astros. The Astros and ChiSox, mind you, actually played in the World Series in 2005. (They say there's no parity in baseball...)

San Francisco leads San Diego 4-2 in the bottom of the ninth, but San Diego's got two on and no one out, so this could get interesting quick.

LA leads Arizona 6-4 in the bottom of the fifth, and they're looking for more.