8th Inning Magic Revisited

One of the hallmarks of those great Yankee teams of the late 90's was their propensity for late-inning heroics. It didn't matter if they were behind in the 7th, 8th or even the 9th-you always had the feeling they would come back, because time and again they would.

On Sunday afternoon in the Bronx, the Yankees borrowed some of that old magic when they overcame a 3 run deficit in the 8th by scoring 4 runs in the inning to defeat the Seattle Mariners 6-5.

Here's how that magical 8th inning rally unfolded:

The Yankees are down 5-2...

Derek Jeter leads off with a walk...

Change of pitchers...

Bobby Abreu is up...he fouls off pitch after pitch till he gets one he drives to deep right center for a double that brings home Jeter making the score 5-3...

Another pitching change...

A-Rod draws a walk...

Giambi strikes out...

Hideki Matsui pinch hits for Shelley Duncan...he smacks a ground ball...Putz, the pitcher for the Mariners, lunges after it...Matsui is running all out...Putz rushes the throw to first-it gets away and everybody's safe!

Abreu scores on the play, A-Rod goes to third...it's now 5-4 Mariners...

Robinson Cano hits a sacrifice fly scoring A-Rod and tying the game 5-5...

Jose Molina doubles to deep right center, scoring Matsui and giving the Yankees a 6-5 lead!

Mariano Rivera closes it out for his 12th save of the year...Comeback complete, Yankees Win!!!!!


Additional Notes:

Wang wasn't Wang today...5 earned runs in 6 1/3 innings...

Ramirez good in relief once again, continues to maintain a 0.00 ERA!

Yankees sweep the Mariners at home and extend their winning streak to 5 in a row!

Tomorrow Darrell Rasner goes for his 4th win in a row against The O's in Baltimore...


GO YANKS!