"Bern baby Bern!"

A moment's hiatus from despair to fondly recall that yesterday at this time I was sitting with Madame Cura in the stands just to the left of the left field foul (fair?) pole at The Yankee Stadium for the final game of the serious with the Rockies. Once again, the Yanks dismantled an NL opponent in a non-World Series game, winning 10-4 with an improbable grand slam from replacement level catcher, John Flaherty, and a strong performance from oft-troubled Jose Contreras.

But what made the day special was the performace of Bernie Williams, who went 3 for 3, including a first inning triple down the line in left field and off the wall just below my seat, making the Colorado left fielder looking silly as he chased it around the Stadium's odd angles.

Williams' last hit of the day (he drew 2 walks as well) marked his 2000th, a real milestone for a player that has been a worthy successor to a long line of great Yankee center fielders, including guys like DiMaggio and Mantle.

In fact, it puts Bernie in some pretty rarified Yankee air. Here's how his current hit total stacks up:

Lou Gehrig ('23-39)....................2,721
Babe Ruth ('20-34).....................2,518
Mickey Mantle ('51-68).................2,415
Joe DiMaggio ('36-51)..................2,214
Don Mattingly ('82-95).................2,153
Yogi Berra ('46-65)....................2,148
Bernie Williams ('91-04)...............2,000

Derek Jeter ('95-04) is catching up, with 1,601.

Larry Menken discusses to make the Hall.