Yankee Classics - Wednesday, May 21, 2003

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One of the Yes Network's most aired shows are their Yankee Classics. Generally, during the regular season on off days and mornings before a game when there was none the day before, you can catch the Yankees Classics. Then they fill up a lot of the schedule with them during the off-season. As a Yankee fan, I think it's a great idea, although the ranking of some games as "Classics" can sometimes be questions.

Well, this is an attempt to log as many of the Yankee Classics that have been shown including some commentary and rankings on whether they really are classics or...not so much.

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Regular Season vs. Boston Red Sox

Roger Clemens' 299th Win

Wednesday, May 21, 2003

Final Score: 4-2

Yankee Classic Rating (1 low to 10 high): 1

In an attempt to ride the wave of Roger Clemens' 300th win and farewell tour, YES decided to air his 299th win. I wish I could explain why. Maybe because it came against the Red Sox at a time when the rivalry was peaking, but aside from that and the manufactured milestone of a 299th win, there's really nothing special about this game at all.

Now that Clemens has left the Yankee family, it's unlikely this game will ever be aired on Yankee Classics again. In case you missed it, you didn't miss much. The Yankees and Red Sox came in tied for first place, but IT WAS MAY 21st! Jason Giambi got to Tim Wakefield in the top of the first with a solo home run. Clemens surrendered the lead in the bottom of the frame courtesy of a 2-run home run from Nomar Garciaparra which essentially capped the Boston scoring attack for the night.

The Yankees put together a "memorable" rally in the third to tie it when Raul Mondesi led off with a walk, then after a Todd Zeile fly out, advanced to second on a wild pitch. An Alfonso Soriano single then plated Mondesi with the tying run.

So, it stayed 2-2 with little action until the seventh. In fact, after the Soriano single, Wakefield went on to retire the next 13 batters. Then with two out in the seventh, Jorge Posada singled, Robin Ventura walked and Mondesi brought home Posada with an RBI single. That gave Clemens a lead and lined him up for the win.

Joe Torre then turned the game over to the stellar duo of Chris Hammond and Antonio Osuna, who surprisingly (in retrospect) faced the minimum when Osuna picked off pinch runner Damian Jackson with two out in the eighth. That allowed the Yankees to tack on an insurance run off Mike Timlin in the ninth when, with one out Posada walked and Ventura followed with an RBI double.

A two run lead in the ninth meant it was time for Mariano Rivera. After Bernie Williams made a 2-base error to open the inning, Rivera retired Bill Mueller, Jeremy Giambi and Johnny Damon to close the door.

That's it. Pretty boring and a pretty pathetic excuse for a Yankee Classic. Even if Clemens left in good standing with the Yankees, I'm pretty sure this tape would have a fairly thick layer of dust on top of it by now. Unless of course someone didn't already use the tape to record a TV Land Night Court marathon. I know which one I'd rather sit through.

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