Mickey Togs

Sixty-one years later, Roger Maris finally has company. 

On Wednesday night, New York Yankees star Aaron Judge finally notched home run No. 61, tying Maris for the American League single-season record.  

Judge launched the historic home run in the seventh inning off Toronto Blue Jays reliever Tim Mayza. With the game tied 3-3, and Judge facing a full count, he laced a two-run shot over the left field wall, putting the Yankees ahead and etching his name in the record books forever. 

It took eight games, but it was certainly worth the wait. 

Judge hit home run No. 60 over a week ago against the Pittsburgh Pirates. 

Between homer No. 60 and No. 61, Judge walked an astounding 27 times, including seven intentional passes. 

St. Louis Cardinals star Albert Pujols has entered baseball’s most exclusive club, slugging the 700th home run of his storied career to join Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron and Barry Bonds as the only players to reach that milestone.

Pujols, 42, playing the final season of his storied career, clobbered No. 699 and No. 700 in back-to-back innings against his former team, the Los Angeles Dodgers, triggering a warm celebration that swept teammates, opponents and fans to their feet in tribute.

“This is like the Mount Rushmore of sluggers, so to reach that 700-home run mark, it’s remarkable,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.

Pujols, a certain Hall of Famer, joins Aaron as the only two hitters in Major League Baseball to reach 3,000 hits and 700 homers.

He humbly accepted the showering of respect, sending a hug to the  fans in the stands but saying afterwards winning for his teammates has always been more important to him than reaching personal milestones. 

The New York Giants lost to the Dallas Cowboys on Monday night, 23-16.

New York (2-1) won its first two games off second-half scoring, but this week it was Dallas leaving the Giants in the dust in the fourth quarter.

Saquon Barkley’s 36-yard touchdown run in the third quarter broke a 6-6 tie, but the Cowboys (2-1) answered with two consecutive touchdown drives. Both of those scores were from the 1-yard line: a run from Ezekiel Elliott and a one-handed grab by CeeDee Lamb. 

The Giants got the ball back on their own 9-yard line with 1:45 to play, but Daniel Jones threw his only interception of the game to seal New York’s fate.

The Cowboys have now won 10 of their past 11 games against the Giants. 

Pass rush was the deciding factor. Daniel Jones was sacked six times — including three times by Demarcus Lawrence — and was pressured constantly. The Giants defense did not record any sacks.

The Giants will host the Chicago Bears in Week 4. The 2-1 Bears, like the Giants, have a record that exceeds preseason expectations of the team. Can New York stay above .500?

In the New York Jets third game of the 2022 season, on a cloudy early autumn afternoon in East Rutherford, New Jersey, the New York Jets lost to the Cincinnati Bengals 27 – 12.

In the first half it was all Bengals. The Jets pass rush put little pressure on Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow. With time to throw Burrow picked the Jets secondary apart, repeatedly hitting on deep passes to his star trio of wide receivers.

The Jets offense, on the other hand, was mostly stagnant. The Bengals pass rush kept Jets quarterback Joe Flacco under constant pressure, and Flacco did not respond well. He lost the ball on an interception and the Jets offense managed just a trio of field goals in a largely lifeless first half performance.

The second half consisted of more woe for the Jets. The only bright spot is that QB Zach Wilson should return next week. 

Luis Severino’s return was worth the wait. The Yankees right-hander, making his first start in more than two months, looked sharp across five innings Wednesday night in a 14-2 win over the Pirates.

Still building up his workload after making three rehab starts, Severino, who had been on the injured list with a strained right lat, threw an efficient 64 pitches while giving up one run on two hits and one walk, with six strikeouts.

“I was just happy to be back with the team, finally come back and help in any way that I can,” Severino said. “I feel really good. I feel confident and ready to get another start.”

The schedule will allow Severino to make two more starts in the regular season, against the Blue Jays and Orioles, after which he should be close to fully built up for the playoffs.

The Yankees need Severino to deliver more of what he flashed Wednesday night to give them a better shot of making a deep playoff run. The 28-year-old likely would serve as their Game 2 or 3 starter in a series.

New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge hit his 60th home run during his team’s 9-8 walk-off win against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday night, which was historic for several reasons.

Judge tied Babe Ruth for the second most home runs hit in American League history — which had previously stood as the MLB home run record for 34 years — and is now just three shy of Roger Maris‘ AL record of 63 home runs.

The 30-year-old also reached 60 home runs in fewer games than both Maris and Ruth, which has long been a debate over the validity of the record.

Ruth had initially set the record in 154 games, while Maris broke the  record in 162 games after the league had previously extended the total amount of games in a season.

Judge hit his 60th homer in 147 games and is poised to hit at least four more with the Yankees scheduled to play 15 games before the conclusion of the 2022 MLB regular season.

Max Scherzer’s perfection Monday night served as the ideal springboard for the Mets to celebrate a playoff berth and the right-hander’s 200th career win. 

In his return from the injured list, Scherzer retired all 18 batters he faced over six innings and struck out nine in helping the Mets clinch their first postseason appearance since 2016 with a 7-2 victory over the Brewers at American Family Field. 

The Mets, with their fifth straight victory, maintained their one-game lead on Atlanta in the NL East race, but are assured at least a wild-card berth. They joined the Dodgers and Astros (both of whom already clinched their respective divisions) among MLB teams officially in the postseason. 

Afterward, the team hoisted champagne glasses in a low-key celebration of the team’s success and Scherzer’s milestone win. Scherzer was presented with “Ace of Spades” champagne that he shared with teammates. 

“This team has been tenacious — it never gave up the whole year,” said team owner Steve Cohen, who addressed the players postgame. “This is a special group of guys. They love each other. They are a team that enjoys playing together and you can see it.” 

“This is just the first step,” Cohen said. “I have high expectations. If we can win the division that would be great — Atlanta is a great team and it will probably go down to the wire — and then we’ll see what happens in the playoffs. I think this is a team that can go really far.” 

The New York Giants won a back-and-forth game with the Carolina Panthers on Sunday, 19-16. The Giants are now 2-0 for the first time since 2016. 

Graham Gano provided the winning points with a 56-yard field goal to snap a 16-16 tie with 3:34 to play. The kick ended an 11-play, 37-yard, 7:12 drive. Gano went 4 of 4 on field goals, including 56 and 51-yard kicks.

“I’m happy for the guys,” said head coach Brian Daboll. “Graham made all his kicks, some big kicks there at the end for us. DJ led the team down to get some extra points there, is a huge difference.  Our defense played well, started out fast. Wish we could have gotten more points on the board early on after those two turnovers. But all in all, good team win.”

Carolina (0-2) had a chance to tie or go ahead, but a blitzing Julian Love sacked Carolina quarterback Baker Mayfield on third-and-5 to force a punt with 2:06 to play. The Giants were able to run out the clock, keyed by an 11-yard run by quarterback Daniel Jones on a third-and-2 that sealed the victory.

Daniel Jones completed 22 of 34 passes for 176 yards and one touchdown. Saquon Barkley ran 20 times for 68 yards.

The Jets pulled off a stunning 31-30 win over the Browns when Joe Flacco hit Garrett Wilson for a 15-yard touchdown with 22 seconds left in the game and Greg Zuerlein hit the extra-point attempt to give the Jets the one-point win.

The Jets were down 30-17 with 1:55 left in the game — and no timeouts — seemingly on their way to an 0-2 start. Instead, they got out of Cleveland with a dramatic win and are 1-1 for the first time since 2018.

It was an incredible sequence in the final two minutes that gave the Jets the win.

Nick Chubb scored his third touchdown of the game with 1:55 remaining, but Browns kicker Cade York missed the extra point.

The Jets got the ball back and the Browns somehow left Corey Davis wide open and Flacco found him for a 66-yard touchdown to cut it to 30-24 with 1:22 left. Braden Mann then delivered a perfect onside kick that was recovered by Justin Hardee. The Jets drove down the field in the final minute and Flacco found Wilson on third down for the 15-yard touchdown, the rookie’s second score of the game.