And finally, we can put a wrap on the Billy Crystal circus. He did manage to make contact against Paul Maholm, but struck out after dramatically running the count to 3-1, saving Maholm's career in the process. After his lone plate appearance, New York fans then showered Crystal in boos, saying he's not a "True Yankee". Crystal was replaced by Johnny Damon, who wowed the fans with an o-for-3, three men left on base performance.
As for the rest of the game, Mike Mussina threw five perfect innings and Mariano Rivera added a scoreless frame before giving way to Human Pitching Machine Jeff Karstens, who allowed seven hits and five runs in an inning and a third.
After those pesky first six innings, the Pirates really found a groove, racking up five runs over the final three. Doug Mientkiewicz led the way with two hits and surprisingly kept no souvenir balls from the day. For those of you wondering, free agent signee Chris Gomez topped the Buccos with five runners left on base. He's really finding his groove, and quicker than anticipated.
Another Pirate free agent pickup, pitcher Byung-Hyun Kim, threw one inning of two-home-run ball. Then again, Kim giving up home runs to the Yankees is not really a new phenomenon.
To steal a cliche that's been beaten to death, at the end of the day, everyone was happy. Billy Crystal got to pretend he was Johnny Damon, Paul Maholm got an autograph, Robin Williams saw his first and presumably last Pirate game, no one got spiked by Shelley Duncan, and the Buccos were victorious.
By the way, don't forget that tickets go on sale tomorrow for A-Rod's appearance next week at the Funny Bone.
Video: Billy Crystal's At-Bat For The Yankees [Awful Announcing]
Maholm strong against Crystal's Yanks [Pirates.com]
1 comment:
It's pretty hard for the Pirates to get on my good side these days.
But I tell you what, if Maholm would've beaned Crystal, I would've purchased season tickets for life.
The Devil Rays (or Rays, or whatever) may suck, but at least they had the balls to do something about it when the Yankees disrespected them!
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