The Yankees are off tonight so I thought I'd rev up the time machine and relive a game I attended on this date:

May 14, 1996.

The Yanks were beginning an eight game homestand in the Bronx.  Their record stood a 21-14 and their first opponent on that Tuesday evening was the Seattle Mariners.  It was the first meeting between the two clubs since the Mariners roared back from a 2-games-to-none deficit in the 1995 divisional series and defeated the Yanks in five games.

Dwight Gooden was on the mound for the Bombers against former Yankee Sterling Hitchcock.

My two friends and I weren't expecting anything special from Gooden.  In fact, we were still trying to determine if Joe Torre would still be the manager at the end of the year, if Tino Martinez would crumble under the weight of Mattingly's shadow and if the rookie Derek Jeter would last at shortstop for the entire year. 

It was a different time, people.

Gooden wasn't exactly impressing anyone with his performance at that point either.  He went into the May 14th game with a 1-3 record and an ERA of 5.67.  Gooden also had other things on his mind that night as his dad was preparing for heart surgery the very next day.  We thought it would just be a matter of time before George jettisoned him from the club.

So, we walked to our seats (sec. 19, row F) in the second inning (Bert was always running late) and settled in.  We were told we missed a great catch by Gerald Williams off the bat of Seattle shortstop Alex Rodriguez that turned into a double play in the first.  Meh, no biggie.

Both Gooden and Hitchcock pitched zeros for the first five innings.  Then Darren Bragg reached on an error by Tino Martinez to lead off the sixth.  The boo birds were out as Bragg went to second on the error.  But, Gooden battled and got out of the inning without giving up a run.

Or a hit.

The Yankees broke through in the bottom of the sixth for two runs.  Martinez drove in one run with a sac fly (fans in our section were still saying he was going to be a bust) and Jim Leyritz drove in a run with a single. 

Yanks 2, Mariners 0, heading into the seventh.

Gooden mowed through the seventh and eighth.  There were only 20,000 people in The Stadium that night, but the crowd began buzzing with excitement and anticipation.  Could he really do this?

The ninth was wild.  Gooden walked A-Rod to begin the inning.  After a groundout advanced A-Rod to second, Gooden walked Edgar Martinez.  Then he uncorked a wild pitch.  Runners on second and third with one out.

"He's not going to do it."

"Now, a base hit ties the game."

Former Yank Jay Buhner stepped up to the plate.  I have to be honest, I wasn't feeling positive about the matchup.  Gooden was wearing down and Buhner loved sticking it to the Yanks.  This had disaster written all over it, but Gooden struck out Buhner for the second out.

At this point, I started looking around our section.  There was a father and son sitting a few seats from us.  The kid was maybe eight or nine years old and his dad was explaining to him what they could be witnessing.  The kid was excited, but I'm not sure he knew how special this moment could be.  I looked at his dad.  He was excited about the possibility of seeing a no-hitter, but he seemed more excited for his son.  These things don't happen every day.

Paul Sorrento stepped up to the plate.  At that time, Sorrento was a lefty power hitter who reminded me a lot of Jim Thome.  He took a mighty cut, but popped a ball up to Jeter.

"Don't drop it, rook!"

"He's gonna do it!"

Jeter squeezed it home and pandemonium broke out.  Strangers were hugging one another, we were high-fiving and people were screaming at the top of their lungs.  I looked over and thought I saw a tear in that dad's eyes as he swung his boy around.

Gooden's historic line: 9 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 6 BB, 5 K. 

It was a feel good moment for Doc, but sadly, things haven't been great for him lately.  He continues to struggle with drugs and alcohol, but on May 14, 1996, he was on top of the world.

And he gave Yankee fans in attendance that night a performance they will never forget.