At the risk of sounding like Vic DiBitetto, the "Gotta get the bread and milk" comedian -- who is a Yankee Fan, and does live in Central Jersey, 3 towns away from me, although he's originally from Brooklyn...
You know what ticks me off? The Yankee hitters not hitting, the Yankee bullpen blowing a great starting pitching performance, and losing to the Boston Red Sox. Last night, all 3 of those things happened. So, yeah, I'm pretty ticked off.
Sometimes, when the Yankees or the football Giants lose, Vic stages a "postgame press conference" for his YouTube Channel. It's usually prime "Ticked Off Vic."
I didn't expect Domingo Germán to have a good start, especially at Fenway Park, but he did: 6 innings, 1 run on 5 hits and 2 walks. I didn't expect Scott Effross to pitch well, but he did: A perfect 7th inning. I didn't expect Aroldis Chapman to pitch well, especially with a 1-run lead at Fenway, but he did: Strikeout, flyout, strikeout.
I did expect the Yankees to score some runs at that ballpark, which I've often likened to a pinball machine. But when they bat against former Yankee Nathan Eovaldi, whom general manager Brian Cashman let go for nothing, they just don't hit.
They started out all right: With 1 out in the 1st, Aaron Judge drew a walk, Anthony Rizzo got him home with a double, and Josh Donaldson singled. But Rizzo couldn't score on the single. Given the dimensions of Fenway, that would have been understandable if he'd singled to left, but he'd singled to right. And then Gleyber Torres, Brian Cashman's very lazy golden boy, grounded into a double play. And that run that Donaldson couldn't score loomed large.
Jose Trevino and Isiah Kiner-Falefa singled with 1 out in the 2nd. But Aaron Hicks struck out, and DJ LeMahieu grounded out. Judge hit a home run to lead off the 3rd, his 46th of the season. (Current pace: 66.) Donaldson drew a walk, but then he made his 2nd baserunning mistake: He tried to steal 2nd, and got caught, and no more runs were scored by the Yankees in the inning -- or in the game.
Trevino and Hicks both singled in the 4th, but neither scored. Andrew Benintendi singled in the 6th, but was stranded. With 1 out in the 7th, LeMahieu singled, and Judge was hit with a pitch. Now, we know the Red Sox have a history of hitting the Yankees on purpose, but to do that at this point would have been stupid: If they didn't want to pitch to Judge, they could have intentionally walked him. Given this great opportunity, Rizzo and Donaldson both struck out. The Yankees really could have used Giancarlo Stanton here, and there was a rumor that he would be activated in time for the game, but he wasn't.
As strong as Chapman was in the 8th inning, given his history, I wouldn't have risked him in the bottom of the 9th. Nor did Aaron Boone. He sent out the new closer, Clay Holmes, who's been shaky lately. He was shaky again, getting Rafael Devers to ground out, then walking Xander Bogaerts and Alex Verdugo. Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you. Then he gave up a game-tying single to J.D. Martinez.
Boone brought Wandy Peralta in, and he got out of the inning without further damage. But, as our old friend Phil Rizzuto would have said, "But the damage is done. I tell ya, Bill White, this is unbelievable, I'm gettin' agita over this. Holy cow."
With Tim Locastro as the ghost runner for the top of the 10th, the Sox gave Judge what they should have given him in the 7th: "The old unintentional intentional walk." It worked: Rizzo lined to 1st, and Donaldson and Torres struck out. In the bottom of the 10th, Trivino allowed back-to-back singles to end it.
Red Sox 3, Yankees 2. WP: Garrett Whitlock (3-2). No save. LP: Trivino (1-7, but it was really Holmes who deserved the goat horns).
Yeah, I'm pretty damn ticked off.
The series continues tonight. Frankie Montas starts against Kutter Crawford. It's Montas' 2nd start since coming to the Yankees, and he'd better pitch a hell of a lot better than he did in his 1st. They say Montas wasn't really with it in his start, because he'd just come off the bereavement list, as his mother-in-law had died. That's no excuse: Paul O'Neill found out his father had died on the morning of Game 4 of the World Series, and he played. And while he didn't get a hit, he did draw a walk and play an errorless game in the field. Anyway, we are counting on Montas to have his head in the game this time.
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