And to Think I Saw it on East 161st Street

AL BEast Notebook - April 19

Brook from Brooklyn throws the first pitch

Yankees lost to the Diamondback yesterday in a game so strange it would make Dr. Seuss proud.

- D-Back rookie shortstop Didi Gregorius hit a home run on the first pitch he ever saw in the major leagues

- In bottom of eighth inning down 2-1, bases loaded and one out and two strikes, Robinson Cano was hit by a pitch on the foot that forced in the tying run. But wait; the umpires say he didn't check his swing, and the strikeout overrules the hit-by-pitch. Two outs and runners stay. (Youkilis followed with another strikeout.)

- Arizona led off the 9th, 11th, and 12th innings with a double

- After the ninth inning double, the D-Backs were thrown out at the plate and reloaded the bases on a catcher's interference.

- Francisco Cervelli, who looked like he hurt his hand when it was struck by the bat in the CI mentioned above, hit a home run in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game. It was the third time in the series that the D-Backs blew a lead.

- Mariano Rivera was unavailable after finishing the previous two games.

- In Arizona 11th and 12th innings, Yankees' pitcher David Phelps (pitching instead of Rivera) allowed leadoff doubles (as mentioned above), a walk, hit batter and another catcher interference by Cervelli. With no outs and runners at first and third, A.J. Pollock tried bunting but Cody Ross was thrown out at third base.

Catcher interference is something you practically never see. You would think that manager Joe Girardi, a former catcher, would have said something to Cervelli after the first instance where he clearly reached his glove forward to get struck by the bat and may have injured his hand. But nope, Cervelli did the same thing a second time.

- Eric Chavez doubled to clear the loaded bases in the 12th. Chavez, who played in New York the last two years, never had a game with three RBI for the Yankees.

- And of course, New Yorker Zack Humple caught two home run balls in the bleachers. Humple is the author of the book, "How to Snag Major League Baseballs."

Just another day at the ballpark.