The Fear Is Gone

All the signs were there for a Yankee loss to the Toronto Blue Jays yesterday afternoon: A walkoff win sometimes leads to a letdown for the next game, and it was a day game after a night game.

The Yankees seem to be taking the signs with a grain of salt. Or a pinch of salt. Or an entire salt mine.

Jameson Taillon started for the Yankees, and pitched into the 6th inning, allowing 2 runs on 6 hits, only 1 walk, and 4 strikeouts. Between them, Michael King and Clay Holmes got through the 8th inning with no further damage.

But a good pitching performance deserves runs. Gleyber Torres drove in all of them, with a 3-run home run in the 4th inning, and a 2-run single in the 6th. Aroldis Chapman once again "made it interesting" in the 9th, allowing 3 baserunners and a run, but got the necessary 3 outs. Yankees 5, Blue Jays 3. WP: Taillon (3-1). SV: Chapman (8). LP: Jose Berrios (2-2).

The Yankees now head out on a roadtrip, to Chicago and Baltimore, with the best record in baseball, 22-8. They lead the Tampa Bay Rays by 4 games, the Blue Jays by 6, the Baltimore Orioles by 9 1/2, and the Boston Red Sox by 11 1/2. In the loss column, respectively: 5, 7, 10 and 12.

They are on a pace to win 119 games. That's 5 out of the last 6 against the Blue Jays; overall, 15 of the last 17. And that's after starting the season a mediocre 7-6.

All along, the Yankees had reason to fear one team: Not the Jays, not the Rays, not the Red Sox, but themselves, their own mistakes, their own insecurities. That fear is now gone: This team is united, it is clicking, and it is enjoying itself.

So now, it's time to go back on the road: 4 in Chicago against the White Sox, and 4 in Baltimore against the Orioles, before coming home to face the same teams. Then another showdown series in Tampa Bay. It starts tonight, with an 8:10 PM (our time) first pitch, Luis Gil making his 1st start of the season, against Dylan Cease. (Sounds like what Pete Seeger told Bob at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival.)