Yesterday, we borrowed a line from 30 Rock and made a joke about how many All-Stars the Yankees would have right now if only it were 2002. (If you’re wondering, counting guys on the disabled list, they have seven members of the 2002 All-Star teams.) Anyway, here are a few things that happened in last night’s game against Texas: Derek Lowe (third in the Cy Young voting in 2002) threw four shutout innings in relief in his first appearance as a Yankee. Eric Chavez (who wasn’t an All-Star in 2002, but hit 34 home runs and finished fourteenth in MVP voting) hit a sixth-inning homer to give the Yankees a 6-2 lead. Ichiro Suzuki (a .321 average in 2002) tripled an inning later, and was driven in on a double by Derek Jeter (who, in a down year in 2002, hit .297 and made the All-Star team in an American League loaded with quality shortstops). And speaking of stars from 2002, the injured Alex Rodriguez (second in the MVP voting that year) “had a football catch” before the game, according to the AP. With the 8-2 victory, the Yankees now have the best record in the American League, a half-game better than Texas.
