Don't Hit, Don't Win

The 1989 film Major League ends with the Cleveland Indians -- the team now known in real life as the Cleveland Guardians -- beating the Yankees in a single-game Playoff for the American League Eastern Division title.

Earlier in the film, when the Indians are struggling, broadcaster Harry Doyle, played by Bob Uecker, looks over his scorecard, and says, "One hit? That's all we got, one goddamn hit?" The other broadcaster covers his microphone, and whispers, "You can't say, 'goddamn' on the air." Harry says, "Don't worry: Nobody is listening, anyway."

It's very difficult to get only 1 hit and still win a baseball game. The Yankees have already done it once this season, so the odds of doing it again are pretty long.

Here's what they did offensively in the 1st 8 innings against the Guardians yesterday afternoon:

* Go down 1-2-3 in each of the 1st 3 innings.

* Giancarlo Stanton broke up the perfect game with a walk with 1 out in the 4th.

* Josh Donaldson, in the next at-bat, broke up the no-hitter with a single.

* Waste the 2 previous at-bats on groundouts by Gleyber Torres and Jose Trevino.

* Marwin González got hit by a pitch to lead off the top of the 6th. He stole 2nd, but got stranded.

That's it: 3 baserunners, comprising a walk, a hit-by-pitch, and "one goddamn hit."

Jordan Montgomery gave up a home run to Franmil Reyes leading off the bottom of the 4th. It was the only run he allowed, and 1 of only 3 hits, along with 3 walks, in 5 innings of work. Once again, he was the victim of insufficient run support.

JP Sears pitched a scoreless 6th and a scoreless 7th, but probably shouldn't have been sent back out for the 8th, not that it made a difference. He allowed 2 singles before Aaron Boone brought Albert Abreu in, and he allowed an RBI single to Reyes to make it 2-0.

The Yankees did try in the 9th. Anthony Rizzo drew one of those leadoff walks that can save one team and "kill" another. Stanton reached on an error. But Donaldson flew out, and Torres struck out.

Now, you might be asking yourself, "What did Aaron Judge do in all of this?" Well, Boone gave Judge the day off. You can do that when you're leading your Division by 14 games. But Boone still wanted to win this game, so he sent Judge up to pinch-hit for Trevino. It worked, but not quite as well as we hoped: He drew a walk to load the bases. It was up to Aaron Hicks, and he weakly grounded to a deep 2nd baseman in a lefthanders' shift.

Guardians 2, Yankees 0. WP: Triston McKenzie (5-6, and he may never pitch a better game in his life). SV: Emmanuel Clase (19). LP: Montgomery (3-2).

The Yankees have now played 80 games, 1 short of the season's numerical (if not calendar) halfway mark. In the American League Eastern Division, they lead the Boston Red Sox by 13 1/2 games, the Toronto Blue Jays by 14, the Tampa Bay Rays by 14 1/2, and the Baltimore Orioles by 22. In the all-important loss column, they lead the Sox by 13, the Jays and Rays by 14 each, and the O's by 22. The Yankees' Magic Number to clinch the Division is 70.

In the race for postseason homefield advantage, they lead the AL West-leading Houston Astros by 6 games, 5 in the loss column; the AL Central-leading Minnesota Twins by 14, 15 in the loss column; and the team with the best record in the National League, the Los Angeles Dodgers, by 8 games, 7 in the loss column.

Today is the 4th of July. And instead of hosting a holiday doubleheader at Yankee Stadium, or at least playing a game today, the Yankees have the day off. I guess they're one of the teams that doesn't need a holiday matinee to bring in a big crowd. Tomorrow, they start a brief 2-game Interleague series away to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Then, on Thursday, off to Boston to face The Scum.