April 21, 1977 - Yankees 8, Blue Jays 6
- Sal Maiorana
- Apr 21, 2017
- 2 min read
NEW YORK - Clearly, Chris Chambliss wasn’t kidding when he said he didn’t mind batting eighth in the order, a result of Billy Martin picking his lineup out of a hat the day before. Martin went with the same sequence of hitters in the finale of this four-game series at the stadium, and Chambliss wrecked Toronto with two doubles, a home run, and five RBI as New York earned a split with the expansionists.
“I can’t get down because I’m hitting the ball and because it’s so early,” said Chambliss, who started the season 2-for-22 and was the poster child for the Yankees’ hitting woes. In this game, Chambliss extended a personal hitting streak to seven games and hiked his batting average to .244. “If I had to have a slump,” Chambliss continued, “I’m glad it’s coming early.”
The Blue Jays made the Yankees work as they opened a 3-0 lead, two runs coming on Otto Velez’s fifth-inning home run off winner Ken Holtzman. Velez wound up going 9-for-15 in this series, a bit of sweet redemption for him. Velez joined the Yankee organization in 1970, signed out of Puerto Rico as a 19-year-old. He earned promotions to the big club every year between 1973 and 1976, but he appeared in only 105 games and batted just .228 with a mere six home runs.
Velez simply couldn’t find his niche in New York, and he was perfectly happy when the Blue Jays picked him in the expansion draft in December 1976. It was the fresh start he needed, and he took advantage. He became one of the early pillars as the Blue Jays made their way in their infant years, and Velez went on to play six years in Toronto where he hit 72 homers, drove in 243, and had a slash line of .257/.372/.441.
With Chambliss driving in two runs with a single and a double, the Yankees were even at 3-3 through five, and then Chambliss’ three-run homer capped a four-run seventh that created a 7-3 advantage. Velez was in the middle of a two-run rally in the eighth, but Graig Nettles, still mired in a dreadful slump (he ended the day hitting .159), homered in the bottom half to put it away.
Comments