Yet Again, Pitching Doesn't Win When Hitters Don't Hit

Supposedly, Connie Mack is the man who gave us the classic line, "Pitching is 75 percent of baseball."

Somebody once asked Billy Martin about this, and he said, "Connie Mack lied."

Cliché Alert: "Pitching wins championships." Or, "Defense wins championships." Truth: It does not. You win championships by winning games. You win games by scoring more than the other team. Whatever the sport, your defense -- and, in baseball, that includes your pitching -- gives your offense the chance to win. But your offense has to take that chance, and make the most of it, or you will lose. Pitching doesn't win when hitters don't hit.

And how many times have we seen it? The Yankees score a bunch of runs one game, considerably more than they need; then, the next night, they score 1 run less than they need, and lose.

If you had told me before the game that Clarke Schmidt would start, and would be followed by Wandy Peralta and Clay Holmes, and that, between them, they'd allow no runs on 4 hits and 1 walk, would I have taken it? Oh, hell, yes, I would have taken it! I wouldn't have believed you, given the way each man has started the season. But I would have taken it. And that's what I got.

All the Yankees needed was 1 lousy little run. But they didn't even get a baserunner until Gleyber Torres led off the 4th inning with a single, and he was caught stealing 2nd base. Kyle Higashioka singled in the 6th, and was bunted over to 2nd, but he was stranded. DJ LeMahieu singled in the 7th, but there were already 2 outs, and he was stranded.

With 2 outs in the top of the 9th, and nobody on base, and the score still 0-0, Aaron Judge, representing the potential winning run, was intentionally walked. I don't blame the Mariners. It almost didn't work: Willie Calhoun hit a long drive to deep left-center field. But it was caught.

On to extra innings, and the damn "ghost runner" rule. Oswaldo Cabrera began the inning at 2nd base. LeMahieu reached on an error that got Cabrera to 3rd. Isiah Kiner-Falefa popped up for the 1t out. Jake Bauers drew a walk. Bases loaded. Man on 3rd with less than 2 out. But Anthony Volpe grounded to 3rd, and Cabrera was thrown out at home.

Bases still loaded, with 2 out. Manager Aaron Boone said that he held Anthony Rizzo out of the lineup due to a sore neck. Well, this was the time to use him as a pinch-hitter, for Higashioka, with Jose Trevino to take the catching duties for the bottom of the 10th. Or, Boone simply could have sent Trevino up there. Instead, Boone brought Franchy Cordero and his .182 on-base percentage on, for his 1st plate appearance since going on the Injured List after the game of April 28. He struck out.

Ron Marinaccio faced 1 batter in the bottom of the 10th, Cal Raleigh, and he singled home ghost runner José Caballero. Mariners 1, Yankees 0. WP: Justin Topa (1-2). No save. LP: Marinaccio (2-2), though it was hardly his fault.

The Yankees lost 1-0 in 10 innings. Not because of the "ghost runner," but because they couldn't score 1 run in 10 innings. They had the bases loaded with 1 out in the 10th, and couldn't do it.

They scored 10 the previous night. If they had scored 9, and gotten 1 of those runs last night, they would have had a sweep of this series at T-Mobile Park.

The Yankees have today off. Tomorrow, baseball's greatest Interleague rivalry resumes in Chavez Ravine, as the Yankees begin a series with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Giancarlo Stanton, Josh Donaldson and Tommy Kahnle have all rejoined the team, and have been reinstated from the Injured List. Cabrera, Cordero and Matt Krook -- a lefthanded reliever that I didn't even know was on the roster, and has yet to appear in a major league game -- were sent down to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Here's the schedule and the pitching matchups, for the moment, for the series with the team that was known while they were in Brooklyn, first with anger, then with love, as Dem Bums:

* Tomorrow, 10:10 PM Eastern Time (7:10 Pacific/local), on the YES Network: Luis Severino vs. Clayton Kershaw.

* Saturday, 7:15 (4:15), on Fox: Gerrit Cole vs. Michael Grove. The rotations are off by 1 day, so we won't get to see Cole vs. Kershaw -- unless, for the 12th time, but for the 1st time in 42 years, these teams face each other in the World Series.

* Sunday, 7:00 (4:00), on ESPN: Domingo Germán vs. Bobby Miller. This would have been my grandmother's 99th birthday. She rooted for the Dodgers while they were in Brooklyn. Not while they were in Los Angeles, though. She could hold a grudge like you wouldn't believe.