Alex Rodriguez got a couple of base hits last night and was sitting on career hit 2,999. He got two final at bats. Lined out to right in the first one, and then, in the bottom of the 8th–when the Yanks broke open what had been a tight game–he walked on four pitches. The reliever, Sam Dyson, had already walked Chase Headley and didn’t have much control. Neither did the crowd, who leveled the reliever with boos. And they didn’t let up. (They were irked because they knew their chance at seeing Rodriguez get hit number 3,000 was lost.) It was poor form, I’d say, but also amusing. Nice to hear that the old obnoxious Bronx Cheer loud and clear.

Anyhow, it was Brett Gardner and Carlos Beltran with the big hits–each hitting a two-run homer. Gardner was fired up like a wrestler when he returned to the dugout after hitting his dinger. Don’t recall ever seeing him so animated. And Beltran took a 3-1 pitch for a called strike, didn’t like the call, stepped back in the box, and then hit his home run.

C.C. pitched pretty well–Mike Stanton hit a low line drive home run that brought back memories of Dave Winfield–and the Yanks won, 9-4.

[Photo Credit: Kathy Willens/AP]