But then Riccardi is the guy who announced that pitcher A.J. Burnett was sidelined by back problems only to later say Burnett had reconstructive elbow surgery. Accused of lying about that, Riccardi took exception and explained that it's not a lie when you say something that isn't true as long as you know what the truth is.

NUMBERS GAME

—23: Home runs for Florida second baseman Dan Uggla, only the second second baseman in major league history to hit 20 home runs or more in each of his first three seasons. Uggla had 27 in 2006 and 31 in 2007 and has hit 23 this season. Joe Gordon opened his career with four 20-plus home run seasons for the New York Yankees: 25 in 1938, 28 in 1939, 30 in 1940 and 24 in 1941.

MATCHUP FOR THE AGES

Randy Johnson, 44, started for Arizona on Wednesday against Boston's Tim Wakefield, 41.

It was the first matchup of 40-something starting pitchers since Boston's Curt Schilling, 40, faced the Yankees' Roger Clemens, 45, on Sept. 16, 2007.

Johnson and Wakefield had a combined age of 86 years, 252 days in the "oldest" matchup since last July 21, when Philadelphia's Jamie Moyer and San Diego's David Wells were a combined 88 years, 308 days.

HE SAID IT

"The kid gloves are off. And we expect him to go deep into games for us."

—Joe Girardi, Yankees manager, after Joba Chamberlain threw 114 pitches in his start Wednesday, the most by a Yankees pitcher younger than 23 since Andy Pettitte in 1995.