Marcus Thames Enjoys His Belated Yankees Moment

It was the type of moment that Marcus Thames probably thought he’d enjoy many times during his career when he was coming up in the New York Yankees farm system: tie score, two outs, bottom of the ninth against the hated Boston Red Sox.  Thames, a former Yankees prospect who is back with the Yankees this season after seven years with Texas and Detroit, became the latest hero in the Yankees-Red Sox saga when he hit a walk-off two-run homerun last night to cap off a wild game in the House That Jeter Built. 

The Yanks led 6-1 after two innings and 6-2 as late as the fourth before the Red Sox came all the way back to take a 9-7 lead into the ninth inning.  But Alex Rodriguez tied the score with a one-out two-run homerun, and three batters later Thames delivered the game-winning blast to give the Yankees the come-from-ahead victory.

Thames, of course, made his major league debut with the Yankees in 2003 and hit the first pitch he ever saw – a fastball from Randy Johnson – for a homerun at the old Yankees Stadium.  So, just for today, Marcus Thames can say that the first pitch he ever saw in the majors was a homerun, and the last pitch he saw in the majors was a homerun.  Of course, I knew Marcus Thames was special the first time he ever saw him play.