Lucky > Good

On Monday night, the Yankees began a roadtrip by blowing 4 saves against the Kansas City Royals, and still managed to win. Surely, such a defiance of luck would come back to haunt them in the next game.

It did. Nestor Cortes allowed 2 runs in the 1st inning. The Yankees scored a run in the 3rd, and 2 more on a home run by Kyle Higashioka to takes a 3-2 lead in the 4th. But Cortes and the bullpen couldn't hold it, and the game fell apart.

Royals 8, Yankees 4. WP: Josh Staumont (2-2). No save. LP: Cortes (0-1).

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So the rubber match of the series was played yesterday afternoon. With their starting rotation depleted by injuries and COVID restrictions, and closer Aroldis Chapman also on the Injured List, Aaron Boone chose the bullpen-all-day route, with Lucas Luetge as the starter, and 99 percent of Yankee Fans were thinking....

But a funny thing happened on the way to falling behind 8-1 after 3 innings on the way to a 12-3 loss: We didn't. Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. DJ LeMahieu led off the game with a walk. Brett Gardner struck out, but Aaron Judge singled, Joey Gallo added a walk, and this was followed by back-to-back RBI singles by Luke Voit and Rougned Odor. It was 3-0 Yankees before Luetge even took the mound.

He allowed a run in the 1st, and we were all, "Ah, shit... " But he settled doendown, and got to the end of the 2nd without further damage. Albert Abreu pitched the 3rd and the 4th, allowing another run. But the rest of the way, the bullpen was brilliant: Joely Rodriguez, Chad Green (who, somehow, got credit for the win), Jonathan Loáisiga and Zack Britton got through the last 5 innings, allowing no runs on 1 hit and 1 walk.

The Yankees didn't need any more runs, but they got them. Tyler Wade -- usually completely useless at the plate, so this is one for Ripley's Believe It Or Not! -- hit 2 doubles in the game, 1 of them leading off the 4th. After Rob Brantley (the emergency catcher with Gary Sanchez having had the weak J&J vaccine) flew out, there followed 3 straight singles, by LeMahieu, Gardner and Judge, driving home 2 runs.

Yankees 5, Royals 2. WP: Green (6-5). SV: Britton (1). LP: Brady Singer (3-8). The Yankees took 2 out of 3 in the series, and while they were lucky, they also got the job done when they needed to. As their Hall of Fame pitcher of the 1930s, Vernon "Lefty" Gomez, used to say, "I'd rather be lucky than good." He was both. Maybe, so is this Yankee team, which was hardly imaginable a month ago.

The Yankees closed the series 6 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League Eastern Division, and 2 games (only 1 in the loss column) behind the Boston Red Sox for the AL's 2nd Wild Card slot.

Tonight, they begin a series away to the Chicago White Sox -- but not in Chicago. It will be at the Field of Dreams complex in Dyersville, Iowa, a game that was planned for last season, but postponed due to the COVID shutdown. Assuming no further injuries or virus afflictions -- and, as that great fictional New Yorker Felix Unger taught us, you should never assume -- Andrew Heaney will start for the Yankees, against Lance Lynn for the Pale Hose.