Judge Not, Lest Jay Be Judged

Those pesky Toronto Blue Jays still think they should be the favorites in the American League Eastern Division, not the New York Yankees. So they came to Yankee Stadium last night, for a quick 2-game series, to try to make the point they couldn't make at The Stadium earlier (a split 4-game series), and certainly couldn't make last week (when the Yankees went up to Toronto and took the 1st 2 games, and the Jays needed a walkoff to salvage the 3rd, and their fans celebrated like they'd won the Pennant, something they haven't done in nearly 30 years).

And, for most of last night, they thought they had the Yankees right where they wanted them. They scored a run in the 1st inning, and 2 in the 2nd. It was 3-0 Toronto. Luis Severino did not make it past the 5th inning. For a while it looked like the worst-case scenario under Brian Cashman: The pitching just not quite good enough, the "bomb the opposition out of the yard" philosophy failing.

Then, in the bottom of the 6th, came the best-case scenario. DJ LeMahieu led off with a double. Aaron Judge hit a weak grounder, and while he beat it out for a single, it couldn't advance LeMahieu. Anthony Rizzo advanced the runners with a flyout. And Giancarlo Stanton went the opposite way, with a short-porch home run. It was 3-3.

Two pitches later, Jays pitcher Yimi Garcia hit Josh Donaldson with a pitch. Home plate umpire Lance Barrett ruled it was intentional, and threw him out of the game. Jays manager Charlie Montoyo objected, and he got tossed as well. The home crowd loved that.

But in the top of the 8th, one of those leadoff walks happened, and it looked like the Yankees might get clichéd to death. Aaron Boone took Jonathan Loáisiga out, and replaced him with Chad Green, who got a strikeout, then allowed a double and a sacrifice fly, and it was 5-3 Jays.

The Yankees got men on 1st and 2nd in the bottom of the 8th, but couldn't get either of them around. Wandy Peralta pitched a scoreless top of the 9th. Now, the Yankees needed baserunners. As Earl Weaver used to say when he was managing the Baltimore Orioles to 6 Division titles, 4 Pennants and a World Championship in 12 years, his philosophy was "pitching, defense and three-run homers": Not just hitting it out, but doing it with men on base.

Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, even if they're not of the leadoff variety. Isiah Kiner-Falefa led off the bottom of the 9th by striking out. But Jordan Romano walked Jose Trevino. Then he walked LeMahieu. Up to bat came Judge, who had never hit a walkoff home run in a major league game.

Broadcaster Michael Kay said, "This place would be up for grabs if he hit the long ball." And then he invoked "The Curse of Kay": It seems as though, every time Kay cited an overwhelming statistic, the opposite thing happens. And he cited the fact that Judge had 167 career home runs, the 5th-most of any player who didn't yet have a walkoff.

It worked: Kay yelled, "Drilled deep to left field! There it gooooooooes... see ya!" The ball hung in the air seemingly forever, just as those of Reggie Jackson seemed to do, except this was to left field, not right. It fell into the 2nd deck. The crowd of 41,522 went bananas. B-A-N-A-N-A-S. Yankees 6, Toronto Blue Jays 5. WP: Peralta (1-0). No save. LP: Romano (1-2).

So, Blue Jays, and their fans: You think you are the favorites? You think you scare the Yankees? Judge not, lest ye be Judged.

The Yankees now lead the AL East as follows: By 4 games over the Tampa Bay Rays, 5 over the Jays, 8 1/2 over the Baltimore Orioles, and 10 1/2 over the Boston Red Sox. Cliché Alert: In the all-important loss column, it's by 5 over the Rays, 6 over the Jays, 9 over the O's, and 11 over the Sox.

The short series concludes this afternoon, a 12:35 start. Jameson Taillon starts against Jose Berrios. Then the Yankees start a roadtrip tomorrow night: 4 in Chicago, 4 in Baltimore, before coming back home to face the White Sox.