Catcher Jorge Posada was in the midst of a slump: since a two-hit game in the Yankees’ 11-1 thumping of the Devil Rays on July 21st, he had posted a measly .154/.267/.282 slash line, a line inflated by a four-hit day on July 28th that was surrounded by a series of hitless games. But with typical leadoff hitter Chuck Knoblauch hitting the shelf and Derek Jeter pressed into duty atop the order, the Yankees needed somebody in the two hole. At Don Zimmer’s suggestion, that somebody was to be Posada — a move so out of left field that Posada initially did not see his name in the starting lineup and assumed he wasn’t playing.

By the game’s end, the move proved to be a stroke of genius.

August 4: Yankees 13, Mariners 6 (box score)

Record: 59-45 (1st in AL East, 3.5 games ahead)

The night began as a matchup of young lefties, as the 28-year-old Andy Pettitte matched up against the 37-year-old Jamie Moyer (hey, when you pitch until your age-49 season, 37 still counts as young!). By its end, it would be a veritable shootout, as the two starters would combine for 12 runs (11 earned) on 21 hits in 13.1 total innings.

The Seattle Mariners got on the board first. Rickey Henderson led off the game with a walk, although the baserunner would be erased when Mike Cameron bounced into a 5-4-3 double play three pitches later. That would prove to be significant, as Alex Rodriguez followed that up with a solo home run into the right field seats, giving the M’s a 1-0 lead. Edgar Martínez and Jay Buhner followed that up with a pair of singles, and John Olerud walked to load the bases with two away. A Joe Oliver double plated two, and while that would ultimately be the extent of the damage, the Yankees found themselves down three before coming to the plate.

Not that it mattered, ultimately. After Jeter flew out to center to lead off the bottom of the first, Posada lined a double to left, Paul O’Neill singled, and Bernie Williams deposited a 3-2 pitch over the wall in left-center, tying the game at three. The bottom of the second saw another rally. Tino Martinez led off with a single, and after Moyer retired both Scott Brosius and Clay Bellinger, he allowed three straight hits — singles to Jeter and Posada, a double to O’Neill — that scored two and gave the Yankees a 5-3 lead.

The Mariners got one of those runs back in the third. A-Rod led off with a single, then advanced to second on a balk; that put him in position to score on an Olerud double two batters later to make the game 5-4 in favor of New York.

There things would sit for a while, as both pitchers found their grooves in the middle innings. In the top of the seventh, however, Seattle’s offense once more got to Pettitte. Martínez singled with one away, advanced to second on a Buhner walk, and came around to score on an Olerud single to left. Just like that, the game was tied.

Fortunately for Pettitte, his offense once more had his back. Bellinger led off the bottom half of the frame by reaching on an E6, as A-Rod could not field a routine ground ball cleanly; two batters later, Posada drove him in with a double into the gap in left-center that knocked Moyer from the ballgame. The pitching change, however, did not improve Seattle’s fortunes. O’Neill singled in Posada, advanced to second when Williams grounded out to short, and came around to score on a Justice single up the middle. Then, after Seattle went to the bullpen again, Glenallen Hill deposited a 1-1 pitch into the right field seats for his third homer in seven games as a member of the Yankees.

The Yankees tacked on three more in the bottom of the eighth after loading the bases with nobody out on a walk, single, and a hit batter, as Posada singled for his fourth hit of the day and O’Neill doubled to tack on another. Seattle managed to scrape across one run off Jason Grimsley in the ninth, but it was far too little, far too late, as the Yankees ended the day with a win.

Read the full 2000 Yankees Diary series here.