Game 73: Tino’s Day

I was still pumped about Carlos Beltran’s walk-off homer when I woke up this morning. I doubt I was alone. That was so awesome, easily the Yankees’ best win of the season and probably their best since Raul Ibanez was doing his thing in late 2012. The Bombers have now won four straight games — all against division rivals in direct competition for the AL East crown — and eight of their last ten. Things are going well right now.

Before the Yankees try to extend the winning streak to five, they will honor Tino Martinez and unveil his plaque in Monument Park this afternoon. Goose Gossage and Paul O’Neill will be receiving plaques of their own later this season. Tino spent seven years in pinstripes and I always felt he was more of an excellent complementary player than a core piece, but he did have one MVP caliber year (1997) and a bunch of other enormous moments with the Yankees. He was clearly a key component of the late-1990s dynasty.

I’m not sure what time the ceremony begins, but I’m guessing sometime around 12:30-12:45pm ET. That’s usually when this stuff happens. Here is the Orioles lineup and here is the Yankees lineup for this afternoon’s game:

1. LF Brett Gardner
2. SS Derek Jeter
3. CF Jacoby Ellsbury
4. 1B Mark Teixeira
5. DH Carlos Beltran
6. 3B Kelly Johnson
7. 2B Brian Roberts
8. RF Ichiro Suzuki
9. C Frankie Cervelli
   LHP Vidal Nuno

It’s a perfect afternoon for baseball in New York. Blue skies, almost no clouds, and warm but not overwhelmingly hot. Great day to be out at the park. First pitch is scheduled for 1:05pm ET and you can watch on YES locally and MLB Network nationally. I’m not sure if MLBN will show the Tino ceremony. Enjoy the game.

Injury Updates: CC Sabathia (knee) threw a 36-pitch bullpen session today and will travel to Tampa to continue his rehab tomorrow. The plan is to throw live batting practice on Tuesday and pitch in a minor league rehab game next Saturday … David Huff (foot) had precautionary x-rays after being hit in the foot by a comebacker last night. Everything came back clean and he is available today.