Even the sky was clapping for A-Rod at his farewell ceremony

Alex Rodriguezsaid goodbye to the pinstripes on Friday night, and the Yankees honored him with a special ceremony before their game against the Rays. It looked like a pretty great time -- his family was there:

That includes his baseball family, of course (yes, that's Mariano Rivera):

And he got a lot of presents, including a framed jersey and a base signed by his teammates:

That is an actual base and not the world's most impressive theme cake. And it's probably a good thing that it came in a case, because shortly after the videoboard message from Lou Piniella, it started to rain:

Now, look, we're not saying that the heavens are going to miss A-Rod, but just try to tell us this thunder ­isn't a celestial round of applause:

Yeah, we're pretty sure the baseball gods are clapping for him. And as the game began, they brought out the good decorations:

And to top it all off, A-Rod started the game with a game-tying RBI double in the first inning. 

He also got the chance to play third base, where he spent so many of his seasons with the Yankees, one last time: 

That's a pretty nice way to say goodbye.

The Yankees ended up winning the game, 6-3.