Yankees have had their own Animal House

Nothing in the Yankees' memory compared with the live-chicken stunt that Mets teammates played on Frank Francisco on Friday, although Joe Girardi did recall one venture into fowl territory.

"When I was with the Yankees, Jimmy Key took Wade Boggs wild turkey hunting and they didn't get anything. Boggsie was complaining the next day," he said. "So the following day, Jimmy Key brought in a frozen turkey and put it in his locker and screamed at him, 'Here's your turkey!' "

Before Girardi's tenure, there was the time in 1990 when Mel Hall brought his German shepherd into the clubhouse, not as a gag but just for the heck of it. Aside from lunging at sandwich meat intended for the postgame spread, the dog was well-behaved. Three weeks later, Hall brought in a cougar cub.

Of course, there also was Yankees infielder Fred "Chicken'' Stanley, who hit a grand slam in a win over the Red Sox 34 years ago this week.

One-dimensional

One game did not give Girardi much of a chance to evaluate the changes in Citi Field's dimensions, but he did say before Saturday night's game, "I'm not so sure that ball is a home run last night, in a sense, if the fences aren't moved in."

Technically, that was not a "new Citi" homer. The wall in the rightfield corner had not been moved in.

Extra bases

The five runs Andy Pettitte gave up in the first inning Friday made the Yankees the last team in the majors this season to have given up more than four runs in an inning this season, the Elias Sports Bureau said . . . Sunday marks the 50th anniversary of the longest game in Yankees history, a 22-inning, 9-7 win over the Tigers . . . In a sign of what a different world it was for relievers, 33 years ago today, the Yankees got a 31/3-inning save from Ron Davis, Ike's dad.