• Today’s news is powered by baseball bloopers . . . :

• The Phils have been scouting Chien-Ming Wang ^[1].

[My take: But what would the Yanks be able to get from the Phils, even if they wanted to deal Wang?]

• Jon Heyman ^[2] lists CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira as the 5th and 7th-best free agent signings respectively so far this season.
• Doubts about Austin Jackson ^[3]?:

At 22 years old, Jackson is among the International League leaders in hits, batting average and on-base percentage, but his season seems to have created as many doubters as believers.

His detractors say Jackson hasn’t hit for enough power, has struck out too often and has a batting average on balls in play that is too high, a statistic that suggests he’s been lucky as much as good. . . .

• Jose Molina ^[4] is on the road to recovery:

. . . The backup catcher, who strained his left quad on May 7, ran the bases before Sunday’s game against the Mets and said afterward he felt no pain. He will try to run the bases again on Tuesday and could be behind the plate for New York within a couple of weeks.

“I could play today,” Molina said. “I don’t know how it would be, but I feel like I could play.” . . .

Because of inclement weather expected in Florida this week, Molina will remain with the Yankees in New York for a few more days. If things go well on Tuesday when he again tries to run, there is a good chance he will begin playing Minor League rehab games later in the week. From there, it is only a matter of time before he is activated off the DL.

[My take: But . . . but . . . we like Cervelli!]

• Richard Sandomir talks with Marty Appel ^[5], who has a new biography on Thurman Munson coming out, decades after helping pen Munson’s autobiography:

The biography describes Munson’s love-starved family life in Canton with a difficult, sometimes cruel father, Darrell, and Thurman’s eager embrace by his teenage years of the family of his childhood sweetheart and future wife, Diana.

Munson only hinted in the memoir about the turmoil at home that helped form his grumpy adult persona. But Appel’s interviews with Munson’s brother, Duane, and sister Darla describe the dysfunctional family life that turned him so inward.

“I didn’t fully appreciate what was out there until I connected with his brother and sister,” Appel said. “They were the key to the book. They were the missing family.”

• On this date in 1950, Whitey Ford is called up by the Yankees from Kansas City (AA).
• On this date in 1966, at Fenway Park, Mickey Mantle opens the scoring in the first inning with a 3-run shot, then sandwiches a homer between round trippers by Bobby Richardson and Joe Pepitone in the 3rd inning in New York’s 6 – 5 win.  Mantle’s two homers today, his 37th and 38th at Fenway, will be his last in Boston, and ties him with Babe Ruth for most homers by a Sox opponent.
• On this date in 1987, eight homers are hit in Toronto as the Yankees outlast the Blue Jays, 15 – 14. Don Mattingly Dave Winfield leads the power outage with a pair (Mattingly adds a grand slam, one of his record six for the year) and Dave Righetti gets the win.
• On this date in 2000, after trying to get Juan Gonzalez and Sammy Sosa to bolster their failing offense, the Yankees acquire David Justice from the Indians for Ricky Ledee and two players to be named later.