In the early spring, Seattle pitcher Steve Delabar was working as a substitute teacher back in Kentucky. On Wednesday night, he got the win against the New York Yankees. Amazing what can happen in the span of five months. Unheralded backup infielder Luis Rodriguez led off the bottom of the 12th inning with a solo homer off New York reliever Cory Wade, and the Seattle Mariners delayed Mariano...

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Unheralded Luis Rodriguez put Mariano Rivera's pursuit of the major league saves record on hold. And he kept the New York Yankees from expanding their lead on Boston in the AL East. Rodriguez led off the bottom of the 12th inning with a solo homer off New York reliever Cory Wade, and the Mariners delayed Rivera's chase for the saves record with a 2-1 win over the Yankees on Wednesday night.

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Julio Teheran earned his first big league win as the Atlanta Braves used a lineup with Chipper Jones as the No. 2 hitter for the first time in 15 years to beat the New York Mets 5-1 Thursday and complete a sweep of a doubleheader made necessary by the threat of Hurricane Irene. Jones had a sacrifice fly and RBI double in the nightcap and a solo homer and a double in the opener, a 6-5 victory for...

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Raul Ibanez hit a tiebreaking solo homer in the seventh, Vance Worley pitched seven strong innings and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Boston Red Sox 2-1 on Wednesday night. In a series billed as a World Series preview, the major league-leading Phillies (51-30) have taken two straight and go for a sweep Thursday.

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Six losses in the first six games were plenty for feisty Dustin Pedroia. So the Red Sox sparkplug hit a solo homer in the first inning, starting his team to a 9-6 win over the New York Yankees on Friday and ending Boston's longest season-opening losing streak since World War II. "I just came in here thinking, 'We need to find a way to win.

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Billy Butler hit a tiebreaking solo homer in the fifth inning and the Kansas City Royals beat the New York Yankees 4-3 on a rainy Friday night to snap a five-game losing streak. Joakim Soria worked out of a jam in the ninth to convert his 25th consecutive save opportunity, setting a franchise record.

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The New York Yankees are a season-best 20 games over .500 and manager Joe Girardi can still see the defending World Series champions doing so much more. Better at-bats and more consistency from the bullpen. It's been an impressive first half nonetheless. Mark Teixeira hit a solo homer, Curtis Granderson had an RBI triple and the Yankees beat the Oakland Athletics 3-1 on Monday night for their...

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This might be Brian Cashman’s greatest move ever…and no, I’m not talking about signing Hideki Matsui or Mike Mussina, or selling beer in plastic bottles instead of easy-to-spill cups — I’ll give Cash credit here.  I’m talking about the mid-season acquisition X-Man, Xavier Nady. The man has brass cajones.  In tonight’s 9-4 victory over the O’s, Nady singled in the go-ahead run and then tacked on a solo homer in the ninth for good measure.  When the Yanks win these days, it seems like Nady’s right in the middle of it.

In under a month as a Yankee, Nady is now hitting .319 with eight home runs and 21 RBIs.  Nice. And you know what’s nicer?  He shuts his mouth and does his job in a way that doesn’t command too much attention — of course he does get to hide behind the glowing lights that are A-Rod and Jeter.  If Cashman wants to make another good move here, he locks this 29-year-old up long-term.  Then again, Cashman may try to trade X-Man off to whatever team the Yankee GM winds up with next year…

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Derek Jeter got his 2,500 career hit tonight, putting him on pace to get to 3,000 sometime in 2011…assuming he doesn’t get injured or go into a major tailspin.  And every time I see Jeter move along on the all-time Yankee hit list, I can’t help think of Joe D and his service to Uncle Sam.  Yes, the Yankee Clipper spent three of his prime years playing ball for the U.S. Army during WWII.  Give DiMaggio 200 hits in each of those three years and he passes Lou Gehrig for first place on the list with around 2,800.

But I guess you can’t play the “what if?” game like so many Yankee fans do with Joe D or Mickey Mantle and his injuries…and his booze.  Personally, I’ll argue that the latter may have helped Mickey play better.

Check out the Yankee all-time list here.

Still, Joe D does not have the highest Yankee lifetime average.  That honor goes to Babe Ruth with a .349 lifetime mark…Jeter is currently fifth at .315 and DiMaggio was fourth at .325.

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