It's probably too late for the
Toronto Blue Jays to make a significant mark on the 2008 season.
Likewise, whatever legacy the club will have as a visitor to Yankee Stadium was cemented long ago.
But on Saturday, in their penultimate visit to the grand old ballpark, a few Jays seized the moment anyway, helping to dent the Bronx Bombers' fading playoff hopes while staking their claim to the ballclub for the next year, a campaign fans and management are already looking ahead to.
Chief among those was Jose Bautista, who joined the Jays a little over a week earlier and after a notably slow start came through huge in Saturday's 7-6 win, slapping two hits, driving in a key run and perhaps most importantly flashing some impressive leather at third base.
In the bottom half of the ninth the former Pirates prospect stabbed at a ball stung by Alex Rodriguez, turning a potential Jays implosion into a double play that sucked the wind from a sell-out crowd of more than 50,000.
In the clubhouse after the fact, his sense of relief was palpable.
"I feel fortunate that I could make that play," he said, exhaling as though he were replaying it in his mind. "I just happened to barely get him (Rodriguez at first)."
Jays manager Cito Gaston was certainly impressed, at least by his soft-spoken standards.
"We needed both (offence and defence) from him," the skip admitted, hinting at his club's extensive woes at the plate.
First baseman Lyle Overbay (above) also made a certain statement in the South Bronx Saturday sun. Despite a pedestrian afternoon he laid down just the second sacrifice bunt of his career, and effectively so since it set up the eventual winning run.
"I had a feeling I was going to get it (the bunt sign)," Overbay said with a smile. "We need to win some games and spoil some people and all that good stuff."
But while Saturday marked Overbay's unlikely emergence as a bunt specialist and Bautista's hopeful claim to at least a future utility role, it also spelled a possible going away party. Sunday will be the last time any Blue Jay takes the field at this particular edition of Yankee Stadium but for little-used shortstop David Eckstein - an unlikely starter at shortstop Saturday and Sunday - it may be a double finale of sorts.
Both former club the Los Angeles Angels as well as the Arizona Diamondbacks are eagerly pursuing Eckstein, and Gaston did little to quell the rumours suggesting he'll be truly missed. One couldn't help but feel as though he meant it.
"David is one of my favourite guys on the team," he admitted. "I haven't been able to play him here as much as I'd like to ... but whatever you ask him to do he will go and do it for you.
"You hope that your daughter would marry someone like him."
In fact the veteran shortstop is already hitched, but plenty of Jays are still waiting for the opportunity to wed themselves to an invaluable spot on Toronto's future roster during a September and into a fall and winter which promise at least a little upheaval.
In the meantime, 18 of the team's 25 active players entered action Saturday, meaning at the very least almost every Jay has gotten to take away a nice little memory of the last days of Yankee Stadium - one of baseball's holiest alters.
aaron.miller@citynews.ca
10 Classic Yankee Stadium Moments
Settling on the 10 greatest moments to unfold in a building that's seen more than 80 years, dozens of Hall of Famers and 26 World Series is nearly impossible. Even the
New York Post couldn't whittle it down to less than 25 and their coverage stretched over months leading up to the final outing at 161st and River.
In truth many of the most memorable moments didn't even have to do with baseball. From Knute Rockne's 'Win One For The Gipper' speech in 1928 to Joe Louis' knockout of Max Schmeling 10 years later.
But for our purposes, here are 10 legendary flickers in the enduring consciousness of America's pastime that will forever be linked to the Cathedral of Baseball, Yankee Stadium.
1) July 15, 2008. The last all-star game at the House That Ruth Built was a 15-inning affair and the longest (4 hours, 50 minutes) in all-star game history. The AL prevailed 4-3.
2) Oct. 8, 1956. Perfect Don. The Brooklyn Dodgers couldn't touch the Yanks' Game 5 starter Don Larsen, who did something nobody else did before or has since.
3) Oct. 1, 1961. 61. Roger Maris hits the dinger that puts him by Babe Ruth on the single-season home run list during the fourth inning of the last game of the season.
4) Oct. 20, 2004. The Curse Reversed. It was sheer agony for Yankees fans everywhere, but Boston's 10-3 win - a victory that marked the final step in the improbable comeback from a 3-0 series deficit - was the first time baseball had ever seen such perseverance.
5) Oct. 18, 1977. Reggie! Reggie! Reggie! Three home runs from Reggie Jackson in Game 6 of the World Series gives the Yankees their first title since 1962 and caps one of the most tumultuous seasons in team history, the second in the revamped Yankee Stadium.
6) April 18, 1923.
Baby Ruth. In a stadium that would bear his nickname, Ruth slugged the first home run there, sending a ball into the right field stands against the Boston Red Sox.
7) May 22, 1963.
Mantle's Massive Mash. The Mick comes inches from sending a Bill Fischer offering out of the stadium in what's still considered one of the longest home runs ever.
8) Oct. 16, 2003. Boone's Bomb. Aaron Boone hits a Tim Wakefield pitch into the left field seats in the bottom of the 11th to give the Yankees Game 7 of the ALCS over the Boston Red Sox.
9) Oct. 3-4, 1995.
All Night Long. The longest game in post-season history ended with the Yankees on top thanks to Jim Leyritz's two-run shot at the five-hour, 13-minute mark.
10) July 4, 1939.
Gehrig's Speech. "Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth," he said. Those words still echo today.
aaron.miller@citynews.ca
Check out our other exclusives from Yankee Stadium:
CityNews In New York: Series Photo Gallery
CityNews In New York: Blue Jays Out On A High In Yankee Stadium Finale
CityNews In New York: Jays Fans Make Historic Pilgrimage For Club's Last Stand At Yankee Stadium
CityNews In New York: The Classic Characters Of Yankee Stadium
CityNews In New York: David Eckstein Waves Goodbye To Jays, Yankee Stadium On Same Day
CityNews In New York: A Closer Look At The New Yankee Stadium
CityNews In New York: Jays Gem Travis Snider Has Dream Debut At Yankee Stadium