Yankees With Dirty Records

In 1938, New York native and Yankee Fan James Cagney played a New York gangster named Rocky Sullivan in a film titled Angels with Dirty Faces. (A fantastic movie, one of the few with a 100 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Sullivan's girlfriend is played by Ann Sheridan. As they said at the time, "Hubba hubba.") The titular angels were a group of young men who, collectively, became known as the Dead End Kids, the East Side Kids, and the Bowery Boys.

Last night, against a team called the Angels, the New York Yankees became a team with a dirty record: In August 2022, the Yankees went 10-18. YES broadcaster Michael Kay said it was their worst month in terms of record since September 1991, when they were 7-19.

They closed the month last night, by closing the California part of their roadtrip, at Angel Stadium of Anaheim, against the Los Angeles Angels.

Gerrit Cole got the start, and went 7 innings. Over the 1st 5, he was fantastic, allowing just 2 hits and a walk. And the Yankees gave him a 2-0 lead, courtesy of back-to-back doubles by Josh Donaldson and Gleyber Torres and a sacrifice fly by Aaron Hicks, 3 players who needed to come through, as they had done so rarely over the course of this season.

Then came the 6th. With 1 out, David Fletcher singled. Up came Mike Trout, already compared to some of the greatest players of all time. (His career batting average is .303, and his OPS+ is an astonishing 175, although he, as yet, falls short in the compilable stats: 1,508 hits and 338 home runs.) He hit a ground ball to shortstop, and Isiah Kiner-Falefa booted it.

That brought the superstar Shohei Ohtani to the plate, because of course it did. And Cole served up a 3-run, go-ahead home run, because of course he did.

The Yankees went down 1-2-3 in the 7th, and wasted a 2-out walk by DJ LeMahieu in the 8th. They seemed to be mounting a comeback in the 9th. Regular readers of this blog know what a leadoff walk can do. Aaron Judge drew one. Then Giancarlo Stanton drew a walk. The Yankees were in excellent shape. But Donaldson and Torres, responsible for the Yankees' 1st run, both struck out. That let the air out of the balloon. And Oswaldo Cabrera grounded out to end it.

Angels 3, Yankees 2. WP: Patrick Sandoval (5-9). SV: Jimmy Herget (5). LP: Cole (10-7).

The Yankees have tonight off. Tomorrow night, they start September by starting a 3-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays, in St. Petersburg, Florida. They are 6 games ahead of the Rays in the American League Eastern Division, 5 in the all-important loss column. There are 31 games to go.