Damon out as Yanks open series

PITTSBURGH -- Greetings from PNC Park, which has to have the nicest vista in the bigs. From my perch in the press box atop the upper deck, you see the people streaming over the Roberto Clemente Bridge (which is closed to traffic in the three hours before the game) and have a great look at the gleaming buildings of downtown. I brought the digital camera with me but forgot it at the hotel (great). Gotta give you folks a look at this view tomorrow.

The Yankees are here to open a sold-out three-game series with the Pirates and it's their first trip to the Burgh since Bill Mazeroski's famous home run in Game Seven of the 1960 World Series at Forbes Field. That's so long ago that it's two Pittsburgh parks ago and, as the Pirates' PR staff points out, stamps were just 4 cents, a gallon of gas was only 31 cents and the average salary for a MLB rookie of $7,000 paled to today's $390,000.

(Speaking of gas, I filled up in Erie, Pa. and "only" paid $3.95 a gallon. Those NY taxes are a killer!)

The big news today is that Yankees outfielder Johnny Damon is not in tonight's lineup -- and might not play in this series -- because of a sore left arch. With Hideki Matsui (knee) still unable to play the outfield, the Yankees have called up Justin Christian from Scranton to make his major-league debut. He's starting tonight in left and batting eighth. Christian, 28, was batting .309 overall and .412 in June for the Baby Yanks. But that's a big step down from Damon, who is fifth in the AL in batting at .323 and leads the majors at .413 since May 20 (the day Alex Rodriguez returned from the DL).

Darrell Rasner (4-4, 3.64) is pitching for New York against Pittsburgh's Tom Gorzelanny (5-6, 6.59).

---Mike Harrington