The Yankees always seem to rise to the occasion when they’re playing the Twins and the past four games were no exception, not counting yesterday’s loss. (Three out of four was damn good for this team.) In today’s marathon, which should have been a laugher but was made way too close by the bullpen, Jeter and Ellsbury strutted their offensive prowess. But overall in this series, we got just enough pitching and hitting to get the job done.

And what an eventful day it was off the field. The Yankees said goodbye to Soriano, which was necessary but got me choked up nonetheless. I always liked him and he was a big help last season. I’ll remember him fondly as a Yankee through and through and hope he comes to Old Timer’s Day once he officially retires. Bye, Sori. Keep smiling.

While Sori was going, Brandon McCarthy was coming.

(Yes, ESPN has already photo shopped his Diamondbacks pic.)

His stats with Arizona weren’t exactly spectacular, but he’s an upgrade over Vidal Nuno and he should give us innings. And he’s proven that he’s nothing if not gutsy. He was with Oakland when he was hit in the head by a comebacker off the bat of the Angels’ Erick Aybar and suffered a fractured skull. The fact that he’s pitching at all is pretty heroic.

I would hope Cashman still plans to make a deal for another starter (Cliff Lee?).

Meanwhile, I was excited to see that Betances and Tanaka will join Jeter at the All-Star Game. Congratulations to them.