Mo’s 600 > Wakefield’s 200 + Damon’s 400

Last night was a night of milestones in baseball, but one stood out from the rest. Tim Wakefield earned his 200th win, albeit on his ninth try. One hundred ten pitchers have won 200 games. Johnny Damon stole his 400th base against the Orioles. Seventy players have stole 400 bases.

Mariano Rivera saved his 600th game against the Mariners, becoming the second player to eclipse that milestone. There’s no doubt about it; Mo’s milestone is superior.

In-game update

In Derek Jeter's second at bat, he blooped a down-and-away knuckler from Tim Wakefield to short right-field, but Teixeira followed him grounding into a 5-4-3 DP.

As I watch the game tonight on YES, I am loving Paul O'Neil's insight.  He was talking about the difficulty of throwing Tim Wakefield's knuckle ball.  He said that when everybody's out throwing and messing with a knuckle ball, one might throw three or four good ones out of ten.  And if one did that in the game, one would get "hammered."

He said this as Wakefield and A.J. Burnett were putting on pitching clinics.  Wakefield has only allowed three hits through five innings, while striking out five in the process.  Burnett matched Wake's five scoreless, but was tagged in the sixth for one run on a blooper to right off David Ortiz's bat.

Burnett just walked the bases loaded with two outs in the sixth forcing Girardi to call Jonathan Albaladejo from the pen.  He was up to 81 pitches on the night, but was only expected to throw 75.  Albaladejo escaped the two-out jam by forcing Chris Carter to ground out to Jeter.

Expect a full game recap later on tonight.

Rivalry game preview

It's Chien-Ming Wang vs Tim Wakefield tonight at 7:05 p.m.  This will not be nearly as heated as it will be during the season.  The Yankees lineup:

 

Gardner CF

Ransom 3B

Miranda 1B

Nady RF

J. Rodriguez DH

Molina C

Duncan LF

Berroa 2B

Pena SS

Derek Jeter is still with team USA, Damaso Marte and Robinson Cano are both hurting and nearly all other everyday players are getting the day off.  Although, I love to see Shelley Duncan in the lineup.  He will provide some enthusiasm and fire people up.  

I'm just excited that I get to watch my beloved Yankees.

Stay posted tonight for in-game updates!