Wednesday, May 3, 2017

Lest Ye Be Judged

Those pesky Toronto Blue Jays embarrassed the Yankees in the opener of their 3-game series at Yankee Stadium on Monday night. They paid dearly for it, as the Bronx Bombers once again lived up to their nickname.

They struck early and often. In the bottom of the 1st, Brett Gardner doubled, Chase Headley beat out an infield single, and Matt Holliday doubled Gardy home.

Aaron Judge ended up playing a big role, again, starting with drawing a leadoff walk against Mat Latos in the 2nd. Cliche alert: A leadoff walk can kill you. The next batter was Aaron Hicks, and he hit a home run, his 5th of the season. Chris Carter followed with a single. After Austin Romine struck out, as John Sterling would say, Gardy went Yardy. 5-0 Yankees.

Judge homered in the 3rd, to make it 6-0. Gardner hit another homer in the 4th, his 4th of the season, to "kick the extra point," 7-0. The Jays reached Masahiro Tanaka for 2 runs in the top of the 5th, but in the bottom of the 6th, Carter drew a leadoff walk. Here we went again. Romine singled. After Gardner struck out, a wild pitch moved the runners over. Headley singled home Carter, making it 8-2.

Toronto scored 2 more runs in the top of the 7th, but 8-4 was as close as they would get. In their half of the inning, Starlin Castro doubled, Didi Gregorius walked, and Judge jacked one, giving him 2 for the game and 12 for the season (over 25 games). The Jays tallied again in the 8th, but that was it. Yankees 11, Blue Jays 5. WP: Tanaka (4-1). No save. LP: Latos (0-1).

The Jays came into this series with the worst record in the major leagues; the Yankees, tied with the Baltimore Orioles for the best. The Jays thought they could be as pesky as usual. Well, as the 7th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew says, "Judge not, lest ye be judged." And Aaron Judge judged the Jays last night.

The series concludes tonight, with CC Sabathia starting against Marcus Strohman. That also concludes the homestand, and the Yankees go on the road for Interleague play, visiting the Chicago Cubs and the Cincinnati Reds, before returnig home to face the Houston Astros.

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