Ordinarily, I'd be thrilled to take 3 out of 4 from the Red Sox at Fenway Park. Nothing like beating The Scum. However, with both the Yankees and the Red Sox well out of the Playoff race, the last time this rivalry had so little juice, so did Boston's hypodermic needles.
It was a weird series, too, with 2 postponements due to rain forcing 2 doubleheaders, 2 games on Tuesday and 2 on Thursday. Randy Vásquez started the Tuesday opener, but was limited to 60 pitches, so Jhony Brito ended up as the winning pitcher. The Yankees only got 5 hits, but Kyle Higashioka got 3 of them.
The key inning was the 6th: Rookie Everson Pereira led off by being hit by a pitch. It was the Red Sox, and it was Fenway, but doing this on stupid would have been stupid. Higashioka followed with a single, DJ LeMahieu with an RBI double, and after an Aaron Judge flyout, Gleyber Torres, who has been hot lately, singled home Higgy and DJLM. The Yankees won, 3-2. Carlos Rodón, disappointing as a Yankee thus far, started the Tuesday nightcap, and went the minimum 5 innings for the 4-1 win.
The 1st game on Thursday was a waste. We can't blame the pitchers, or Aaron Boone's choice thereof: Michael King allowed just 1 run in 4 2/3rds innings, and Greg Weissert just 1 in 2 1/3rd. But the Yankees only got 2 hits, so it didn't matter that Matt Bowman allowed 3 runs in the 9th to make it a 5-0 Sox win.
Clarke Schmidt started the series finale, and fell behind 2-0 in the 1st inning. It was Fenway, so it felt like the beginning of another off-to-the-races game. The Yankees did nothing to dismiss that idea in the top of the 2nd, scoring 5 runs, 4 on a grand slam by Judge.
But the Sox chipped away, and tied it against Wandy Peralta in the bottom of the 7th. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: A relief pitcher who blows a save should not be eligible to be named the winning pitcher, even if he's still the team's current pitcher when the winning run is scored.
Which is what happened. Anthony Volpe led off the 8th with a single. After Oswald Peraza flew out, Oswaldo Cabrera singled Volpe to 2nd, and LeMahieu doubled him home. In the 9th, Peraza hit a 2-run homer to give the Yankees some breathing room, and it ended 8-5.
So the Yankees go into this weekend at 74-73, 1 game above .500. With 15 games to go, the chance of finishing above .500 is pretty good. But to make the Playoffs, they will have to come close to running the table.
Meanwhile, because of his torn ulnar collateral ligament (UCL), it has been determined that rookie sensation Jasson Domínguez will be out for 9 to 10 months. In other words, it could be that we won't see him suit up again until after next season's All-Star Break.
Damn. You've heard of the Midas Touch, everything someone touches turns to gold? Well, Brian Cashman has the Reverse Midas Touch: No matter how good it starts out, everything he touches turns to shit.
Here's what the Yankees have left: 3 games away to Pittsburgh, 3 home to Toronto, 3 home to Arizona, 3 away to Toronto, and 3 away to Kansas City. At the rate the fans are getting mad, maybe playing the last week away from home is a good idea.
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