It was the lowest point of Mickey Mantle’s career.

Mantle and his good friend Tom Molito were in the Yankee Stadium locker room prior to the shooting of the classic video, The 500 Home Run Club. Mickey was feeling great, especially since sportscaster Bob Costas, whom Mantle trusted implicitly, would be hosting the video.

The conversation turned to some of Mantle’s most satisfying home runs. The two of them thought for a second or two, and Tom knew immediately that he had made a bad move the instant he blurted out,

“How about the two home runs you hit off Walker and Wilhelm to beat the Baltimore Orioles, 4-3 in 1960? I was at that game.”

Tom realized that there was too much baggage that went along with those two home runs that Mantle hit on Aug. 15, 1960, driving in all four New York Yankees runs to win a game the Yankees had to win.

Mantle’s mood changed, but only for a second. Tom could see his face projected regret, but it quickly was transformed into a look of vindication.

“The day before I hit those home runs was the low point of my career. Casey pulled me from the game after I hit into a double play. People think it was because I didn’t hustle running to first, but it was worse than that, if anything can be worse.”

It was at that moment that Mickey told Tom something that he had said before but that everyone seemed to ignore.

“I thought that there were two outs.”

What is worse, not hustling or not having your head in the game? Maybe its the same thing.

The Yankees had lost the first game of doubleheader to the Washington Senators and were tied 1-1 in the sixth inning of the night cap.

Mantle came to the plate with Hector Lopez on first and one out. He hit a sharp ground ball to third base. Reno Bertoia fielded it cleanly and fired to second to force Lopez.

Shortstop Jose Valdivielso made a good throw to first base that everyone in Yankee Stadium knew would be in vain until Mantle was called out.

Casey Stengel sent Bob Cerv in to replace Mantle in center field in the seventh inning. The Senators won 6-3 in 15 innings.

The next day, Mantle started in center field. Young Jerry Walker started for the Baltimore Orioles against right-hander Art Ditmar.

Mantle hit a two-run home run, his first round-tripper in 16 games, in the fourth inning off Walker to tie the game at 2-2, but the Birds took the lead with a run in the eighth inning on a Jackie Brandt home run.

In the Yankees half of the eighth inning, Hector Lopez drew a walk off Hoyt Wilhelm, bringing up Mantle. The crowd pleaded for another home run, but all Mantle could do against the knuckle baller was hit a high four pop fly behind home plate.

Catcher Clint Courtney dropped it.

Wilhelm checked Lopez at first, and delivered. Mickey took strike two.

Courtney fired the ball back to the pitcher. Lopez took his lead off first, Wilhelm delivered and the crowd went wild.

The ball landed in the lower deck in right field. Mantle actually tipped his cap after he touched home plate with the winning run.

The two games defined Mantle for the rest of his career. He never forgot how many outs there were.

References:

Holbrook, B. (1960, Aug 17). Stengel magic: How it works. Boston Globe (1960-1979), pp. 17. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/250945274?accountid=46260

Pair of two-run homers by mantle shades O’s, 4-3. (1960, Aug 16). Boston Globe (1960-1979), pp. 25. Retrieved from

UPDATE: Justin Smoak left the game with a mild right groin strain. He’s day-to-day.

We’re now midway through the 10th after another sharp relief performance by Tom Wilhelmsen.

The Mariners had their chances in the eighth, but Kyle Seager popped out with a runner on third and Dustin Ackley took a called third strike at the knees.

Eight more strikeouts for the M’s so far.

9:12 p.m.: Nick Swisher tied the game with a solo home run in the top of the seventh inning, chasing Jason Vargas with two out.

Jamey Wright finished the inning tied 1-1, then pitched the M’s through the top of the eighth after pinch-runner Brett Garner made it to third base with two out.

8:21 p.m.: The Mariners grabbed a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth after there were two out and none on. Mike Carp walked, then headed to third on a single to right by Adam Kennedy.

Carp then scored when Ivan Nova uncorked a wild pitch.

8:05 p.m.: Three and a half innings in and we’re still scoreless, thanks to a good play in the left field corner by Mike Carp. Andruw Jones was on first base when Eduardo Nunez doubled to left. Jones was waved around third, but Carp made a nice relay to shortstop Luis Rodriguez, who gunned the runner down at home.

Justin Smoak left the game in the top of the fourth, replaced by Adam Kennedy. We’ll have the info on why as soon as the team makes it available.

7:04 p.m.: Seattle tries to salvage the series finale tonight without striking out in double figures. That’s been a problem of late, as we’ve all discussed at great length.

This is the kind of matchup that never looks very good for Jason Vargas on paper. Let’s see whether he can surprise us, as he’s done a couple of times this year versus Philadelphia and Texas.

The lineups:

Mariners (61-87)
——————————-
51 Ichiro Suzuki (L) RF
15 Kyle Seager (L) 3B
13 Dustin Ackley (L) 2B
20 Mike Carp (L) LF
17 Justin Smoak (S) 1B
30 Miguel Olivo C
29 Wily Mo Pena DH
1 Luis Rodriguez (S) SS
12 Trayvon Robinson (S) CF
——————————-
38 Jason Vargas LHP

Yankees (90-57)
——————————-
2 Derek Jeter SS
14 Curtis Granderson (L) CF
25 Mark Teixeira (S) 1B
24 Robinson Cano (L) 2B
33 Nick Swisher (S) RF
63 Jesus Montero DH
18 Andruw Jones LF
55 Russell Martin C
26 Eduardo Nunez 3B
——————————-
47 Ivan Nova RHP

NEW YORK (AP)—Robinson Cano’s(notes) grand slam gave the New York Yankees a
chance. Russell Martin’s(notes) slam gave them the lead. Curtis Granderson’s(notes) slam gave
them the record.

The Yankees became the first team in major league history to hit three slams
in a game, rallying from an early six-run deficit to mash the Oakland Athletics
22-9 on a wet, wild Thursday.

“You’re not going to see it again, probably,” Yankees captain Derek Jeter(notes)
said. “You can’t explain it.”

Funny thing: The Yankees could’ve hit even more grand slams, given all the
chances the A’s presented them. Helped by 13 walks, New York batters went to the
plate a whopping 16 times with the bases loaded.

Jeter alone came up four times with the bags juiced. He grounded out twice,
struck and walked in those spots. Overall, the Yankees went 6 for 13 with two
walks a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded.

In nearly a century of storied slugging, the Bronx Bombers had never put on
a show quite like this. Nobody had, in fact.

“I’m surprised it hadn’t been done before with all the great teams and
great individual hitters that have come throughout the course of the game,”
Granderson said.

With MLB in its 136th year and approaching its 200,000th regular-season game
next month, the Yankees knew it was a slammin’ day. Not until they saw a note
posted on the video board about the three slams, however, did they realize
exactly what they’d achieved.

“This game has been played for a long time. Pretty much everything has
already happened,” Martin said.

Except this.

“Definitely cool. It was fun to be part of it,” Martin said. “When
there’s nowhere to put them, they have to throw strikes.”

Martin homered twice and doubled, setting career highs with five hits and
six RBIs. Cano and Granderson each drove in five runs as the Yankees pulled off
their biggest comeback win since 2006 and avoided a three-game sweep.

On a dreary afternoon, some fans headed home with the Yankees trailing 7-1
after three innings and rain still falling in a game that began after an
89-minute delay.

Turns out they missed the Yankees coming home—over and over and over.

Cano began the barrage with his slam in the fifth, a clean shot into the
lower deck in right field off starter Rich Harden(notes) that made it 7-6.

Martin connected in the sixth off Fautino De Los Santos(notes) (2-1), a fly that
barely made it over the auxiliary scoreboard in right for a 10-7 lead.

Granderson took his turn in the eighth, launching a no-doubt drive into New
York’s right-center field bullpen with two outs off Bruce Billings(notes).

“I was looking at it, hoping that it was not going to go out,” Billings
said. “I’m not thinking about trying to give up another grand slam.”

It was the Yankees’ highest-scoring game since they got 22 runs at Boston in
2000, and it tied the team record set in 1931 for most runs in a home game.

The 22 runs marked the most allowed by the Athletics since 1955, when they
were based in Kansas City and lost 29-6 to the Chicago White Sox.

“It only counts as one, but it was definitely embarrassing,” Oakland
interim manager Bob Melvin said.

The Yankees also did something special with their gloves.

Five-time All-Star catcher Jorge Posada(notes) made his first big league appearance
at second base, going in for the ninth inning. He made the final play, fielding
a grounder by Anthony Recker(notes) and firing a one-hop throw that knocked over first
baseman Nick Swisher(notes) and left him laughing as he caught it.

“I threw it too hard. I got super excited,” said Posada, long ago a second
baseman in the minors. “That tells you right there why they moved me behind the
plate.”

Yankees manager Joe Girardi said Posada began hounding him in the eighth
inning.

“I think at this point it was 16-8 and I was going to put Russell at
second. Jorge went and got his mitt and started telling me, ‘I’ll go to second,
I’ll go to second,”’ Girardi said.

“Everything that Jorge has done for this organization, the numbers he’s put
up and the year that he’s been through this year, it was just hard to say no,”
he said.

The Yankees had hit two slams in a game three previous times, but never at
home. They lead the majors with eight slams this year.

The Yankees scored six times in the seventh, helped by seven walks in the
inning. They added six more runs in the eighth, with Andruw Jones(notes) homering after
Granderson’s slam.

Cliff Pennington(notes) homered, doubled and drove in four runs for the A’s. Scott
Sizemore(notes) also homered.

“The fact that we as a team have done something that all the teams have
ever played this game have never done before, especially all the offenses,”
Granderson said, “it kind of speaks to what this offense is.”

NOTES: The A’s franchise gave up at least two slams in a game for the
seventh time, STATS LLC said. Detroit’s Ryan Raburn(notes) and Brandon Inge(notes) did it last
in 2009 and the first came in 1936, when Tony Lazzeri of the Yankees hit a pair
at Philadelphia. … Boone Logan(notes) (4-2) got the win. … Alex Rodriguez(notes) returned
to the Yankees’ lineup after missing two games with a sprained left thumb. He
had two hits and scored three runs. … Jeter passed Rickey Henderson for 21st
place on the career hits list and edged past Jimmie Foxx for 20th on the runs
chart.

NEW YORK – The New Yankees became the first major league team to hit three grand slams in one game, with Robinson Cano, Russell Martin and Curtis Granderson connecting Thursday against the Oakland Athletics.

Cano hit a slam in fifth inning against starter Rich Harden, pulling the Yankees to 7-6, and Martin hit his slam in the sixth off Fautino De Los Santos for a 10-7 lead.

Granderson hit a grand slam in the eighth against Bruce Billings.

Garcia (10-7) struck out six in six innings and allowed two runs on five hits to send the Yankees 22 games over .500, their highest point of the season.

He was signed by the Yankees as a free-agent, and expectations were that he would fill in for a while, while youngsters Phil Hughes and Ivan Nova got their feet under them.

Instead, he and Bartolo Colon have become mainstays in the Yankees’ rotation. Their strong seasons made it easy for general manager Brian Cashman to stand pat at the trade deadline.

“I think the positions that were presented to me were easy to say no on,” Cashman said. “It’s not like I’m blowing smoke, trying to promote our guys. No, I believe in our guys.”

Derek Jeter left after getting hit by a pitch, but X-rays only showed a bruised right middle finger. Girardi said he didn’t expect to be without the Yankees captain for too long.

“I’m not expecting it to be a week,” Girardi said. “Could it be a day, or two? I think it could be.”

New York improved its major league best record in day games to 31-7 and finished a 10-game homestand with a 7-3 record.

Yankees reliever David Robertson struck out the side in the eighth and pitched 1 1-3 innings of perfect relief overall before Mariano Rivera pitched the ninth for his 27th save in 31 chances.

Garcia won his third straight start and is 8-3 in 12 starts since late May. Now that the Yankees won’t be adding a big-name starter such as Ubaldo Jimenez or Wandy Rodriguez, Garcia will be a key to their rotation for the next two months as they try to win the AL East, as well as games in October.

“You got to be really happy. This division is really tough,” Garcia said. “Hopefully I can pitch the way I’ve been pitching.”

Baltimore’s Jake Arrieta (10-8) walked six batters in five innings, giving up five hits along with four runs. Only two of the runs were earned.

“Six walks, hit by pitch, and the runs he gave up weren’t usually enough to get you beat,” Orioles manager Buck Showalter. “Not a lot offensively, but if he could cut down on the walks, he could get a lot deeper in games and be a lot more valuable pitcher for us.”

The Orioles have lost six of their last seven and 18 times in 24 games. They won the first game of the series on Friday night, then were outscored 29-8 in three games since then.

Adam Jones put the Orioles up early with an RBI single on a hit-and-run in the third inning. Jeter went far to his left at shortstop to reach Jones’ hopper up the middle, but his throw to second was errant and late.

In the fourth, Gardner came to bat after Eric Chavez walked to lead off the inning, Russell Martin reached on shortstop J.J. Hardy’s fielding error and Eduardo Nunez singled. Gardner slowed almost imperceptibly as he rounded second to see where the play would be, then motored straight into third to give the Yankees the lead with his sixth triple this season.

“I couldn’t really bounce back from it,” Arrieta said. “It’s frustrating, putting those guys on base for free and having to face a guy with multiple guys on base with less than two outs. That being said, it doesn’t mean you can’t pitch out of those jams.”

Baltimore’s Chris Davis, acquired the day before in a trade for Koji Uehara, arrived Sunday morning and played first base. He went 0 for 4, striking out in his first at-bat. The Orioles, who struck out 10 times overall, also acquired right-hander Tommy Hunter in the deal, and he will join the team in Kansas City.

Jeter was hit by a pitch from Arrieta on his right knuckles in the third inning and lifted for pinch-hitter Francisco Cervelli in the fourth.

Vladimir Guerrero hit an RBI single in the sixth inning and Robert Andino stole three bases for the Orioles.

Notes: Hardy went 0 for 17 in the series and made two errors. “J.J. spoiled us with a great level of play,” Showalter said. … Baltimore, swept in a day-night doubleheader on Saturday, hasn’t won a series since June 24-26 against the Cincinnati Reds. The O’s last AL series win was a three-game sweep of Oakland from June 6-8. … Cervelli, normally the Yankees’ backup catcher, had to take over at second in the fifth inning after batting for Jeter. The Yankees’ usual 2B, Robinson Cano, was the DH Sunday. Cano later moved to second and reliever Hector Noesi had to go into the lineup in the second spot. When the No. 2 place came up again in the order, Robertson was lifted for pinch-hitter Andruw Jones with two outs in the eighth. … When Baltimore LF Felix Pie batted in the fourth inning, the scoreboard showed the Greek letter pi, along with 15 decimal places of the constant: 3.141592653589793.

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