This Is How

Over the 3 games the Yankees played at Camden Yards, the Yankees outscored the Baltimore Orioles, 22-12. But this is baseball: We don't assign series wins based on aggregate scoring. It doesn't work that way.

Will Warren started on Monday night, and didn't get out of the 4th inning. The Yankees were down, 4-0 after 3 innings. They closed to within 4-3 in the 8th, but got no closer.

Tuesday night was when the Yankees unloaded the lumber. Trent Grisham led off the game with a home run. Aaron Judge hit one. Ben Rice hit one. Paul Goldschmidt grounded out, then Cody Bellinger hit one. Jazz Chisholm doubled, but he had to leave the game due to an injury. Oswald Peraza pinch-ran for him, and Anthony Volpe doubled him home. It was 5-0 Yankees before Carlos Rodón threw a pitch.

And when he did start throwing pitches, he was dealing. He had a perfect game going for 5 innings. He started the 6th by walking Emmanuel Rivera, then allowed a double to Jorge Mateo, and then an RBI groundout to Dylan Carlson. Rice hit another homer in the 2nd inning, and Austin Wells hit one in the 9th. The Yankees won, 15-3.

Carlos Carrasco started on Wednesday night, but he allowed 4 runs in the bottom of the 2nd, and that was pretty much it. Judge and Goldschmidt hit home runs, but the Yankees lost, 5-4.

The Yankees go into tonight's home series with the Tampa Bay Rays at 18-13, 2 games ahead of the hated Boston Red Sox in the American League Eastern Division. But Chisholm was put on the Injured List, and Giancarlo Stanton was just moved to the 60-Day version of it. How is it hard to be optimistic about a 1st-place team? This is how.

Yankees in 1st Place After 1st Month

The Yankees faced the team now known as the Cleveland Guardians in the Playoffs last season, and have faced them in 4 of the last 8 postseasons -- winning all of them. But they knew that beating them in the regular season wouldn't be easy.

Last Monday night, Clarke Schmidt allowed 4 runs in the bottom of the 3rd inning, and that was basically it. The Yankees lost, 6-4, despite getting home runs from Jasson Domínguez and Jazz Chisholm Jr.

But getting a good start doesn't guarantee a win. On Tuesday night, Will Warren allowed 2 runs in 5 innings, and was backed by a Ben Rice home run in the 1st inning and a Chisholm sacrifice fly in the 6th. But Aaron Boone left Warren in for the 6th, and he allowed 2 singles before Boone replaced him with Mark Leiter Jr. A wild pitch, a walk, 2 singles and a double later, and it was 3-2 Cleveland. That was the final score.

Carlos Rodón started on Wednesday night, and after allowing an unearned run in the 1st inning, he was fine, allowing no more runs until the 7th. Paul Goldschmidt got 3 hits, Domínguez and Aaron Judge each got 2, and the Yankees won, 5-1, to salvage the series finale.

*

The Yankees came home to play those pesky Toronto Blue Jays. Carlos Carrasco started with 5 shutout innings, throwing 67 pitches. Boone should have left him in for the 6th. He didn't, burning Tim Hill, Ian Hamilton and Fernando Cruz over the 6th, the 7th and the 8th. Hill allowed a home run by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to start the top of the 6th.

In the bottom of the 7th, Anthony Volpe led off with a double, and Oswaldo Cabrera singled him home. In the bottom of the 8th, Cody Bellinger doubled, Chisholm drew a walk, Volpe was hit with a pitch, and Austin Wells brought Bellinger home with a sacrifice fly. The Yankees led, 2-1, going into the top of the 9th inning.

Boone brought Devin Williams in to close. I realize that all Yankee relievers after Mariano Rivera will fall short of him, but do they have to fall this far short? He pitched to the now-mandated minimum of 3 batters: He gave up a single to George Springer, he hit Andrés Giménez with a pitch, and he gave up a double to Alejandro Kirk. Boone brought Leiter in, and he gave up a double to Addison Barger.

Rice doubled with 2 out, but that was all the Yankees would get in the bottom of the 9th. Jays 4, Yanks 2. Boone announced that the much-hyped Williams, with 36 saves in 2023, and a 1.83 ERA and a 1.023WHIP in what amounted to 4 full seasons as a Milwaukee Brewer, but an 11.25 ERA and a 2.375 WHIP as a Yankee, would no longer be the closer.

After that horrible Friday night meltdown, Saturday's game was rained out, setting up an old-fashioned single-admission doubleheader for yesterday. And when Max Fried allowed a run in the 1st inning of the 1st game, it looked bleak for the Pinstripes.

Fried was fantastic the rest of the way, getting through the 6th inning with no further runs. The Yankees exploded for 6 runs in the bottom of the 3rd. Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you. With 1 out, Cabrera and Rice drew walks, Judge singled, Bellinger hit a sacrifice fly; then 3 straight walks by Goldschmidt, Chisholm and Volpe; the Wells doubled.

The Yankees got 3 more runs in the 7th, including a homer by Volpe, and another in the 8th, to win, 11-2. Fried is now 5-0.

Schmidt bounced back with a good start in the 2nd game, allowing 1 run over 5 innings. The Yankees got home runs from Trent Grisham in the 1st, Judge in the 6th, and J.C. Escarra in the 8th, and the Yankees won, 5-1. Tim Hill was the winning pitcher.

*

So, after a full month of play, the Yankees lead the American League Eastern Division by 2 games over the Boston Red Sox, 3 over the Tampa Bay Rays, 4 over the Toronto Blue Jays, and 6 1/2 over the Baltimore Orioles. Cliché Alert: In the all-important loss column, they lead the Sox and Rays by 3 each, the Jays by 4, and the O's by 6.

Tonight, they start a new series in Baltimore. Since Gleyber Torres is no longer a Yankee, where the Orioles put the left-field fence will no longer be an issue.

Schrödinger's No-Hitter and the Pope

Date unknown, but it appears to be at the Vatican.

He's smiling as if he knew he had the perfect picture for his job.

On August 6, 1978, the Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles, 3-0 at Yankee Stadium. Jim "Catfish" Hunter pitched a 5-hit shutout. While WPIX-Channel 11 was broadcasting the postgame show, the news arrived that Pope Paul VI had just died. And Yankee broadcaster Phil Rizzuto, Italian and very much Catholic, said, "Well, that kind of puts the damper on even a Yankee win."

On August 26, a new Pope was elected. He took the name John Paul I, after the last 2 Popes: John XXIII and Paul VI. But on September 28, on just his 33rd day on the Papal throne, he had a heart attack, and died.

The American League Eastern Division race between the Yankees and the Boston Red Sox was coming down to the wire. The Yankees beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 3-1 at Yankee Stadium, while the Red Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 1-0 at Fenway Park in Boston. The teams were separated by only 1 game and the conclusion of the games.

That night, on radio station WBCN, 98.5 FM (now WWBX, 104.1), in Boston, perhaps the most Catholic city in America, disc jockey Charles Laquidara earned himself a lot of hate mail by beginning his broadcast with this teaser: "Pope dies, Sox still alive."

Four days later, the Yankees beat the Red Sox in a 1-game Playoff for the Division title, known as the Bucky Dent Game or the Boston Tie Party. Two weeks later, on October 16, a new Pope was elected, who honored his 3 predecessors by taking the name John Paul II. The following night, the Yankees won the World Series.

*

Over this past weekend, the Yankees took 3 out of 4 against the Tampa Rays, for the 1st time playing them at their own Spring Training home, George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, due to the hurricane-caused damage to the Rays' usual home, Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg. It should have been a 4-game sweep, but, unlike the way the Pope is said to be in matters of faith, the Yankees proved they were fallible.

Will Warren started on Thursday night, because 3 of the Yankees' starting pitchers -- Gerrit Cole, Luis Gil and Marcus Stroman -- were all injured, and somebody had to be the 5th starter. In the bottom of the 2nd inning, with him having gotten 5 outs, but allowed a run on 4 hits and 2 walks, manager Aaron Boone decided not to take any chances, and took him out. Ryan Yarbrough got out of the inning, then allowed a 2-run homer in the next inning.

After that, though, the Yankee bullpen -- Yarbrough, Tim Hill, Ian Hamilton and Devin Williams -- allowed 6 hits and a walk, but no runs. Ben Rice went 4-for-5 with 2 RBIs, Oswaldo Cabrera hit a home run, and the Yankees won, 6-3. Hill was named the winning pitcher.

*

Carlos Rodón started on Friday night. He needed a good one, after 3 straight bad, losing starts. He came up with one, going 6 innings, allowing 2 hits and 4 walks, striking out 9. Mark Leiter Jr., Fernando Cruz and Luke Weaver were nearly perfect the rest  of the way, allowing just 1 hit and no walks between them, completing a 3-hit shutout.

The Yankees themselves only got 5 hits, but Paul Goldschmidt got 3 of them. He led off the top of the 2nd with a single. J.C. Escarra drew a walk, and Trent Grisham singled Goldschmidt home. A 1-0 lead is nerve-wracking enough in soccer, but in baseball? At least it wasn't at Fenway Park. The Yankees hung on to win.

*

The Saturday game was good in the middle. Not at the beginning, and not at the end. Carlos Carrasco, also starting to fill a hole in the rotation, allowed 4 run in 4 innings. But the bullpen did well: Hamilton pitched a scoreless 5th and 6th, Leiter a perfect 7, and Weaver a perfect 8th. Grisham hit a home run, and it was 8-4 Yankees going to the bottom of the 9th.

Based on his statistics through last season, Devin Williams looked like a great pickup for the Yankees. But he went into Aroldis Chapman mode on Saturday afternoon, and not for the 1st time. In the bottom of the 9th, he started with a groundout, then allowed single, walk, ground-rule double, single stolen base and single, for 4 runs and a tie ballgame, 8-8.

Come extra innings, and the "ghost runner" reared its head. But the Yankees could only get theirs, Anthony Volpe, to 3rd base. In the bottom of the 10th, with Christopher Morel on 2nd base, Jonathan Aranda hit one out to win the game for the Rays, 10-8.

Don't blame the pitcher, Yoendrys Gómez. It was Williams that the game didn't end after 9 innings.

*

The Sunday game was weird. How weird was it? It was Schrödinger's no-hitter: Max Fried was pitching a no-hitter, and yet, at the same time, he wasn't. Huh?

In the bottom of the 1st inning, Fried got Yandy Díaz to fly out. Then Junior Caminero grounded to 3rd base, and Oswaldo Cabrera made a bad throw. At first, he was ruled out at 1st base. Rays manager Kevin Cash appealed for instant replay, and the call was overturned: Caminero was safe. At the time, the play was ruled an error. Then, Fried walked Aranda, before getting Morel to ground into a double play to get out of the jam.

Fried then cruised. In the 4th, Cabrera made another error, allowing Morel to reach 1st, but Fried stranded him. In the 5th, he walked Danny Jansen, but got a double play. In the 7th, he hit Danny Jansen with a pitch. The no-hitter was on, with 6 outs to go.

And then, in the middle of the game, the official scorer, Bill Mathews, changed the 1st-inning error to a hit. He said he'd looked at the replay a few times, and decided that Caminero would have made it to 1st base even if Cabrera had made a good throw. In hindsight, he was probably right.

If he had ruled the play a hit immediately, no one would have cared. If he had waiting until Fried actually allowed a hit -- if he had -- and turned a one-hitter into a two-hitter, I wouldn't have had a problem with it. But he changed a game from a no-hitter to a one-hitter, without the pitcher having thrown a pitch. That's wrong, and he should be ashamed of himself.

And then, to begin the top of the 8th, Aaron Judge hit a long drive down the left-field line. It was ruled a foul ball. Boone appealed for instant replay. The replay clearly showed that the ball was fair, and it should have been ruled a home run. The umpires flat-out lied, and said it was foul. And Judge went on to strike out. They robbed him of a home run. 

And it was only 3-0: The Yankees had gotten solo home runs from Grisham, Cody Bellinger, and an RBI groundout by Bellinger. The game was still very much in doubt. And the umpires blatantly robbed the Yankees of a run.

To start the bottom of the 8th, Fried allowed a single to Jake Mangum. Then he got 2 outs. And then, Boone took him out. That made no sense, especially since reliever Fernando Cruz walked the next batter. But he got the last out. He walked the 1st 2 batters in the 9th, but got out of it. Austin Wells added a solo homer, and the Yankees won the game, 4-0.

*

So the Yankees had won on Easter Sunday, to complete a 3-out-of-4 series, and have now won 6 of their last 7. They are 14-8, and lead the Toronto Blue Jays and the Red Sox by 2 games each in the American League Eastern Division. They lead the Orioles by 4 1/2, and the Rays by 5. In the loss column, the Yanks lead the Jays by 2, the BoSox by 3, the O's but 4, and the Rays by 5. They move on to Cleveland to face the Guardians.

And Pope Francis, formerly Jorge Mario Bergoglio, died this morning, at the age of 88. He had been Pope since 2013. A son of Italian immigrants to Argentina, he grew up as a fan of San Lorenzo, a soccer team in his hometown, the capital of Bueno Aires.

He is also the 1st Pope in 60 years -- aside from the brief, tragic John Paul I -- who did not deliver a Papal Mass at Yankee Stadium. Paul VI did so in 1965, John Paul II in 1979, and Benedict XVI in 2008. Each time, the New York branch of the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal organization in America, donated a plaque commemorating the event, to hang in Monument Park. Each of these plaques was moved from the old Stadium to the new one in 2009. While Francis did visit America, he did not deliver a Mass at the new Yankee Stadium.

He acted as if a Pope wasn't just supposed to speak about Christian ideals, he was supposed to carry them out, as best he can. He had been ill lately, hospitalized with bronchitis and pneumonia. He was released in time for Easter, the holiest day on the Christian calendar. I love the way he went out: Spending one last Easter with his people, and, through the surrogate JD Vance, telling Donald Trump off.

Yankees Sweep Royals, Will "Host" Rays

For those of us who are Yankee Fans, and are old enough to remember the Playoff meetings of 1976, 1977, 1978 and 1980, we hate the Kansas City Royals, and have treated every win over them in a seemingly meaningless game as a great win.

So having beaten them in last season's Playoffs felt great. So did a sweep of them this week.

Carlos Carrasco started on Monday night, and he was terrific, going 5 innings, and allowing 1 run on 1 hit and 2 walks, striking out 4. Had it not been so early in the season, Aaron Boone -- or Brian Cashman -- probably would have let him go beyond 79 pitches, 49 of which were strikes.

The Yankees got solo home runs from Jazz Chisholm in the 4th inning, and 3 in the 5th inning: From Trent Grisham, Ben Rice and Austin Wells. Between them, Fernando Cruz, Tim Hill, Luke Weaver and Devin Williams pitched 4 shutout relief innings. It should not take 5 Yankee pitchers to hold the Royals to 1 run on 2 hits and 4 walks, but I can't argue with the results. Yankees 4, Royals 1.

Max Fried started on Tuesday night. So far, it's been the best start by a Yankee pitcher this season: 6 2/3rds innings, 2 runs on 5 hits and 2 walks, striking out 7. Weaver and Williams were perfect the rest of the way.

The Yankees only got 6 hits themselves. But 3 of them were from Jasson Domínguez. And, Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you. Aaron Judge led off the bottom of the 6th with a single. After Cody Bellinger and Paul Goldschmidt struck out, Chisholm and Anthony Volpe drew walks to load the bases, and Wells drew another to force a run home. Then Domínguez cleared the bases with a 3-run double. Yankees 4, Royals 2.

Clarke Schmidt came off the Injured List -- and Marcus Stroman went on, but it's still a net gain, because Stroman is awful -- and was a bit shaky last night. He went 5 2/3rds, allowing 3 runs on 4 hits and 2 walks. But Leiter finished the 6th and pitdhed the 7th, allowing no baserunners. Cruz pitched a scoreless 8th and 9th.

It was 1-0 K.C. in the bottom of the 3rd, when Volpe doubled home 2 runs. Bellinger doubled home a run in the 4th. The Royals tied it 3-3 in the 5th, but Judge led off the 7th with a homer. It was still only 4-3 Yankees in the top of the 9th, when Bellinger made a great catch of M.J. Melendez to win it.

After this sweep, the Yankees are in 1st place in the American League Eastern Division, half a game ahead of the Toronto Blue Jays, 2 ahead of the Boston Red Sox, 3 ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays, and 3 1/2 ahead of the Baltimore Orioles. Cliché Alert: In the all-important loss column, they are 1 ahead of the Jays, and 3 ahead of each of the other teams.

The Yankees now go on the road, to a weird situation: Because a hurricane tore the roof off Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg last Fall, the Rays are renting Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, the Yankees' Spring Training home, for at least this season.

For the 1st time, the Rays are playing home games not just in Tampa, but on the Tampa side of Tampa Bay. For the 1st time, they are playing home games under God's own sky, instead of that stupid roof. And, for the 1st time, they are playing home games on real grass. It seats just 11,026 people, but that's okay, because, last season, they averaged only 16,515.

It will be weird for the Yankees to be wearing their road grays at their own Spring Training home. But they will still be using their home clubhouse.

Yanks Salvage Finale of Cold Series In Detroit

After winning the 1st 2 games of a roadtrip in Pittsburgh, the Yankees lost the last game of the series. They went on to Detroit, for 3 games against the Tigers at Comerica Park. All 3 games were played in the afternoon, the 1st of them the Tigers' home opener, and all 3 were cold: 38, 34 and 42 degrees. The  Yankees' bats went cold, too.

Carlos Rodón started on Monday, but he allowed 6 runs in 6 innings. Aaron Judge singled home a run in the top of the 5th inning, and the Yankees got another run on an error in the 8th, but that was it. The Tigers won, 6-2.

Carlos Carrasco started on Tuesday, but allowed 4 runs in 4 1/3rd innings. Tarik Skubal, who won the Triple Crown of Pitching and the American League's Cy Young Award last year, pitched 6 innings, followed by 3 from Brant Hurter, combining on a 6-hit shutout: 3 by Paul Goldschmidt, 2 by Judge, 1 by Ben Rice. The Tigers won, 5-0.

But yesterday, it was Max Fried's turn to pitch superbly. He went 7 innings, allowing 5 hits and no walks, and struck out 11. Luke Weaver pitched a scoreless 8th. The Yankees got 2 runs on a home run by Rice in the 7th, and another 2 on a single by Judge in the 9th. New closer Devin Williams was sent out to protect a 4-0 lead -- and, unlike its predecessor, Tiger Stadium, Comerica Park is a pitcher's park, and it was cold. Circumstances seemed to make for an easy inning.

It wasn't. Williams brought back memories of Clay Holmes, Aroldis Chapman, Boone Logan, Scott Proctor and Kyle Farnsworth. Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. Williams allowed a leadoff walk. He struck out the next 2 batters, then allowed a single and a walk. He threw a wild pitch that scored a run, and allowed a single that scored 2 more.

Aaron Boone saw enough: He pulled Williams, and brought in Mark Leiter Jr. He got a pop-up to end it. Yankees 4, Tigers 3.

*

The Yankees are 7-5, half a game behind the Toronto Blue Jays in the AL Eastern Division. The Boston Red Sox and the Tampa Bay Rays are 2 back, and the Baltimore Orioles 3 back.

It's not a bad place to be in, given that 3 starting pitchers are injured, Gerrit Cole for the season, Luis Gil for probably another month, and Clarke Schmidt might be back a little sooner than that; and that Giancarlo Stanton is also still out with an injury; and that there still isn't a closer, because Boone trusts Williams too much and Weaver not enough.

They are off today. Tomorrow night, they begin an Interleague series with the San Francisco Giants. At 10-3, they have the best record in baseball.

Yankees Salvage Series Finale vs. Arizona

The Yankees began the season by sweeping the Milwaukee Brewers, outscoring them 36-14 over 3 games. Things were looking good.

Then the Arizona Diamondbacks came into Yankee Stadium II for 3 games. Suffice it to say, they got better pitching.

Will Warren pitched 5 innings for the Yankees on Tuesday night, allowing 2 runs on 1 hit and 4 walks. Former Baltimore Orioles pitcher Corbin Burnes did not pitch well, and gave up home runs to Jasson Domínguez and Anthony Volpe. The Yankees led 4-2 after 7 innings.

But Tim Hill and Mark Leiter Jr. flopped in the 8th, allowing 5 runs between them. A homer by Ben Rice in the 9th made no difference, and the Diamondbacks won, 7-5.

Between them, Carlos Rodón over 6 innings and Yoendrys Gómez over 3 allowed only 3 hits on Wednesday night. But, Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you. And, between them, they walked 7 batters. The Yankees trailed 4-0 going to the bottom of the 9th. Volpe hit another homer, but it wasn't enough, and the Diamondbacks won, 4-3.

The Yankees were now 3-2 on the season, and people were beginning to wonder if their success in the Milwaukee series was a fluke, or because the Brewers are simply a bad team, despite having made the Playoffs in the last 2 seasons, and 6 of the last 7.

Carlos Carrasco, a former Cleveland Indians (now Guardians) ace, now 38 years old, started last night, and allowed 3 runs in 5 1/3rd innings. Add Adam Ottavino to the list of failed Yankee pitchers that general manager Brian Cashman has brought back. I guess Cashman didn't notice that Ottavino had been released by the Red Sox after a bad Spring Training. Or that he'd been awful with the Mets the last 2 seasons. Or that he was 39. But he wasn't part of the problem last night, pitching to 3 batters and getting 2 of them out.

Ryan Yarbrough was part of the problem, allowing a grand slam to Geraldo Perdomo in the 7th. Suddenly, a 9-3 Yankee lead, aided by home runs by Aaron Judge, Trent Grisham and Jazz Chisholm, was 9-7. Luke Weaver was needed for a 4-out save, and the Diamondbacks did not score again. Carrasco had his 1st win as a Yankee, the 111th of his career.

The Yankees are now 4-2, half a game behind the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League Eastern Division. They hit the road, going to Pittsburgh and Detroit. They'll be lucky in one respect: The rotation means that they won't face the Pirates' Paul Skenes, the most exciting young pitcher in baseball.