It looked like the American League Eastern Division race, if not yet decided in favor of the Boston Red Sox -- the Tampa Bay Rays are still hot on their heels -- was certainly over for the Yankees. And as the official 2nd half of the regular season got underway, the impression only deepened, as the Sox won the 1st game of the series, and took the lead in the 2nd.
But then, as Yankee Hall-of-Famer Yogi Berra taught us, "It ain't over 'til it's over." And, as John Belushi taught us in the movie Animal House...
What? Over? Did you say, "over"? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell, no! And it ain't over now! 'Cause when the goin' gets tough, the tough get goin'. Who's with me? Let's go! Come on!
The movie was set in 1962, a year in which the Yankees won the World Series. It was released on July 27, 1978, just as the Yankees began a massive Divisional comeback against the Red Sox that resulted in another World Series win.
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So, the series was supposed to start on Thursday night, at the new Yankee Stadium. It didn't, because it rained. The opener was postponed, and will be played as the 1st half of a separate-admissions doubleheader on Tuesday afternoon, August 17.
Which may be lucky for the Yankees: Aaron Judge, Gio Urshela, Jonathan Loaisiga, Kyle Higashioka, Nestor Cortes and Wandy Peralta were all placed on the COVID edition of the Injured List. And all would be missed, even Peralta, who hasn't exactly been great, but we need everybody available for the bullpen. Those guys will be back for the series beginning at Yankee Stadium on August 17, if not for the series starting at Fenway Park this coming Thursday.
So the 2nd game of this series, the Friday night game, became the 1st game, and Jordan Montgomery pitched decently. He allowed 3 runs in 6 innings. That should have been enough for the Yankees' hitters to score enough runs win the game. Instead, this stat came up on the YES Network's broadcast:
He's gotten so little support, he should sue in family court. The Yankee bats just didn't show up, only getting 4 hits all game. Red Sox 4, Yankees 0. WP: Eduardo Rodriguez (7-5). SV: Tanner Houck (1). LP: Montgomery (3-5).
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The Saturday night game wasn't looking too good, either. It started late due to rain. The Yankees had Rougned Odor batting 3rd, a slumping Gary Sanchez 4th, an even-worse-slumping Gleyber Torres 5th, Brett Gardner 6th, rookie Chris Gittens (who hadn't impressed in his earlier callup) 7th, the ordinary Tim LoCastro 8th, and rookie Greg Allen 9th.
Someone wrote on Twitter that LoCastro, Gardner and Allen might have been the worst outfield ever fielded by a Yankee team not trying to "tank."
Gerrit Cole allowed a run in the top of the 2nd. Nathan Eovaldi once again showed how stupid Brian Cashman was to get rid of him, as he pitched shutout ball through 4 innings.
At this moment, effectively, the Yankees were 9 games out of the Division lead, and 5 games out of the 2nd AL Wild Card slot. Getting into the Playoffs was still very possible, but winning the Division was increasingly unlikely, and 12 years without a Pennant a virtual certainty.
And then, with 2 out in the bottom of the 5th, the series, if not (yet) the entire season, turned around. Allen hit a drive to deep right-center, and ended up on 2nd base with a double. DJ LeMahieu singled him home, and the game was tied. In the 6th, the 2 slumpers around whom Cashman once seemed to want to build the next dynasty around, Sanchez and Torres, hit back-to-back home runs.
And then the rains came back, and the umpires called it. Since more than 5 innings were completed, it was an official game: Yankees 3, Red Sox 1. WP: Cole (10-4). No save. LP: Hirokazu Sawamura (4-1).
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What was supposed to be a Sunday afternoon game got moved back to Sunday night, because ESPN loves 2 things: Airing prime-time Red Sox wins, and airing prime-time Yankee losses.
But Jameson Taillon ripped up the script, pitching shutout ball into the 6th inning. Torres hit another home run leading off the bottom of the 2nd. The Yankees picked up another run in the 3rd, and another in the 5th.
In the 7th, Odor hit one out, and then the Boston bullpen issued 5 walks, including 2 with the bases loaded. In the 8th, Ryan Lamarre hit his 1st major league home run.
Aroldis Chapman was brought in to protect a 9-1 lead. Aaron Boone later said that, if it was a save situation, he would have been brought in anyway. With hardly any pressure on him, Chapman got flyout, strikeout, groundout. Yankees 9, Red Sox 1. WP: Taillon (5-4). No save. LP: Martin Perez (7-6).
There was some bad news: The recently-acquired LoCastro, whose big thing is speed (he stole 17 bases for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2019), tore an anterior cruciate ligament. He had just barely gotten here, having played just 9 games for the Yankees. Now, he's out for the season.
But the Yankees now have hope. They are 48-44, 7 games behind the Red Sox for the Division lead, 6 games in the all-important loss column. They are 3 1/2 out of the 2nd AL Wild Card slot. And while the All-Star Break and the rain played havoc with our perceptions of what had been happening, they have just taken 2 out of 3 from both the Houston Astros and the Red Sox -- both known cheaters.
Maybe these new acquisitions are the new blood, the new energy the Yankees needed. The season is far from over.
Wherever they are now, Yogi Berra is smiling, and John Belushi, a Chicago Cubs fan in life, may be enjoying the show as well.
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