Get to Know Didi Gregorius

According to Andrew Marchand of ESPN New York:

The Yankees on Friday announced that they have acquired Gregorius from the Diamondbacks in a three-team trade that also involves the Tigers. Right-handed pitcher Shane Greene was traded from the Yankees to Detroit, while Arizona received left-handed pitcher Robbie Ray and minor league infielder Domingo Leyba from the Tigers.

Gregorius hit .226 with six homers and 27 RBIs in 80 games with the Diamondbacks in 2014. Greene was 5-4 with a 3.78 ERA as a rookie last season.

The Yankees would have Gregorius and Brendan Ryan as shortstops on their roster.

Gregorius, who is from the Netherlands, is known as a good defender, but there are questions if he will be able to hit consistently enough in the big leagues. In 191 games, he is a .243 career hitter.

Those are the basics. I've already seen people rave about this new shortstop. Given that starting pitching, if healthy, is actually a strength for the Yankees, I'm not going to miss Greene much.

But who is our new acquisition?

*

Mariekson Julius Gregorius was born on February 18, 1990 -- which will make him 25 years old next Opening Day -- in Amsterdam, the capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. (Note: Contrary to popular misconception, "Holland" is not interchangeable with "the Netherlands." Holland is only part of the country, just as England is only part of Great Britain.)

The Kingdom of the Netherlands includes territories in the Caribbean, including "the Country of Curaçao," which has a population of about 150,000. This is where Gregorius' parents are from, and where he maintains his residence, probably due to its proximity to North America. Although it is a very mixed society in terms of ethnicities, the overwhelming majority of residents, including the Gregorius family, identifies as "black." I mention this only for descriptive purposes, not to make a judgment, positive or negative.

Notable natives of Curaçao include former Yankees Andruw Jones and Hensley "Bam Bam" Meulens, Randall Simon, and Jurickson Profar, who played on their team that won the 2004 Little League World Series. They also include Gregory van der Wiel, a star player at soccer team Paris Saint-Germain. Curaçaoans play for the Netherlands in international competitions, including the Olympic Games, the World Cup soccer tournament, and the World Baseball Classic -- and, in the latter, the Dutch team relies heavily on their Caribbean players due to their ability to play in all seasons due to the climate.

Gregorius -- I can't find any reference to where the nickname "Didi" came from, but it clearly didn't come from "Mariekson," "Julius" or "Gregorius" -- is listed as being 6-foot-2 and 205 pounds, so he's in the modern "big shortstop" mode of Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Nomar Garciaparra, and the pioneers of this role, Cal Ripken and Robin Yount.

He was signed by the Cincinnati Reds in 2007, and made his major league debut with him on September 5, 2012, at Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati. Batting 8th, playing shortstop, and wearing Number 25, he went 0-for-4, as Roy Halladay pitched very well for the Philadelphia Phillies, who beat the Reds, 6-2.

The Reds traded him to the Arizona Diamondbacks after the 2012 season, and he spent 2013 and 2014 with the Phoenix club, as their main shortstop. He wore Number 1 there, but that number is retired by the Yankees for Billy Martin; and 25 is worn by Mark Teixeira. So he'll need a new number as a Yankee.

He hit decently in 2013, but missed the 1st 2 months of the 2014 season due to injury, and never really got untracked with the bat. He's a lefthanded hitter, so Yankee Stadium should help him, but he hasn't shown much power. Granted, Chase Field is a pitcher's park, so it's not clear how much power he really has. So his hitting is a question mark.

He's a solid fielder, though, and versatile: In what amounts to 2 full seasons in the majors, he's played 173 games at shortstop, 11 at 2nd base and 2 at 3rd base.

I can't find much about his personal interests, although he appears to be something of an artist, and showed some respect for Jeter in a sketch he made public.

I can find no information as to whether he's married or has children. However, I also can't find any information about him being a disciplinary problem. Apparently, the reason the D-backs made the trade has nothing to do with him, and everything to do with needing pitching, as Greene had a good (though hardly great) rookie season for the Yankees and, at age 26, won't be a kid in their rotation.

So this sounds like a trade the Yankees could afford to make. Perhaps the line to use on Gregorius is the one Joe Torre used when Scott Brosius became the new 3rd baseman in 1998: Just field your position well, and I won't care if you hit .200. Which is about what Brosius hit the season before in Oakland. But he hit .300 for the Yanks, had nearly 20 homers and 100 RBIs, fielded like a genius, and was the MVP of the World Series.

Now, no one's expecting Didi to do anything like that in his first season in Pinstripes. But if he fields well, and hits, say, .250, and drives in 40 to 60 runs from the 8th or 9th spot in the order, I would take that, and I think Joe Girardi would take that, too.

Two things are certain: The New York-area tabloids are going to love his nice, short nickname, and we're going to see "DIDI" in headlines, especially on the back page; and Yankee broadcaster John Sterling is going to come up with someone catchy. It might be based on his nickname: "Didi-licious!" Or it might be based on his last name: "Gorgeous Gregorius!"

At the very least, he looks like an interesting player, and a better one than the man who looked until today like he'd be the Yankees' starting shortstop in 2015, Brendan Ryan.

Once More Unto the Breach for Jeter

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;
Or close the wall up with our English dead.
In peace there's nothing so becomes a man
As modest stillness and humility:
But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger;
Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,
Disguise fair nature with hard-favour'd rage;
Then lend the eye a terrible aspect;
Let pry through the portage of the head
Like the brass cannon; let the brow o'erwhelm it
As fearfully as doth a galled rock
O'erhang and jutty his confounded base,
Swill'd with the wild and wasteful ocean.
Now set the teeth and stretch the nostril wide,
Hold hard the breath and bend up every spirit
To his full height. On, on, you noblest English.
Whose blood is fet from fathers of war-proof!
-- William Shakespeare, opening lines, Henry V

Tonight, weather permitting, the New York Yankees shall play Derek Jeter's last home game.

It would be a terrible pity if the game gets rained out (and, at this writing, it still might), and last night's debacle was his last.

*

I'm 2 games behind in my blogging. On Tuesday night, the Yankees fell behind the Baltimore Orioles 4-0, and looked pathetic. Brandon McCarthy didn't have it, and the bats gave him little backup.

The Yankees clawed back, thanks in part to Brian McCann. He got 2 hits, including his 23rd home run of the season, to raise his batting average to... .235. Still pathetic, for the money the Yankees are paying him.

The Yankees could get no closer than 5-4. WP: Ubaldo Jimenez (6-9). SV: Zach Britton (36). LP: McCarthy (10-15).

*

Then, yesterday afternoon -- I don't know why it was an afternoon game when it wasn't a weekend day or a getaway day -- the Yankees were even worse. They gave Shane Greene a 3-0 lead after 3 innings, but, in the 4th, he completely imploded, allowing 6 runs.

Homers by Stephen Drew (his 7th, raising his average to .165), Chase Headley (his 13th, rasing his average to .242) and Mark Teixeira (his 22nd, raising his average to .219) were not enough. Orioles 9, Yankees 5. WP: Bud Norris (15-8). SV: Darren O'Day (4). LP: Greene (5-4).

With the loss, the Yankees were eliminated from postseason eligibility with 4 games to go. This is only the 3rd time since the Strike year of 1994 that the Yankees haven't made the Playoffs, and the 1st time since 1992-93 that we haven't made it in back-to-back full seasons.

*

The Orioles have clinched the American League Eastern Division, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim the AL West, the Washington Nationals the National League East, and the Los Angeles Dodgers the NL West, by virtue of beating their arch-rivals, the San Francisco Giants, last night.

The St. Louis Cardinals are likely to win the NL Central, while the AL Central remains up for grabs between the Detroit Tigers and Kansas City Royals. The Tigers have clinched at least a Wild Card berth. The Royals are likely to win at least the other Wild Card, making the Playoffs for the 1st time since 1985 -- 29 years. This would leave the Toronto Blue Jays, who haven't made it since winning the 1993 World Series, as the only current Major League Baseball team that has not made the Playoffs in the 21st Century. The Oakland Athletics are likely to win the other AL Wild Card, while the Seattle Mariners and Cleveland Indians still have remote chances. The Giants and the Pittsburgh Pirates have clinched the NL Wild Cards.

The Yankees? 51 postseason berths (not counting 1994, when they were in 1st place when the Strike ended the season), 48 1st-place finishes, 40 Pennants, and 27 World Championships.

The teams that are likely to play in this year's postseason? The Cardinals have won 11 titles, the A's 9 (if you count the 5 they won in Philadelphia), the Giants 7 (if you count the 5 they won in New York), the Dodgers 6 (if you count the 1 they won in Brooklyn), the Pirates 5, the Tigers 4, the Orioles 3, the Angels and Royals 1 each, the Nationals none (not even as the Montreal Expos).

If you only count what they've won in their current cities, between them, those 10 teams have won 36 World Series -- the Yankees have won 75 percent of that total all by themselves.

None of which helps the Yankees this season.

And so, the only pressure on the Yankees tonight -- presuming the game is played, and, at the moment, is still scheduled -- is to get a win in Derek Jeter's last home game.

Hiroki Kuroda is scheduled to start for the Yankees, Kevin Gausman for the Orioles.

Come on you Pinstripes. The only thing left to do it for is the Captain.

Because, after tonight, the next time we see Derek Jeter in a Yankee home uniform, it will be on Old-Timers' Day.

Yanks Beat Those Pesky Blue Jays On Jeter HR & Error

Last night, the Yankees opened Derek Jeter's final homestand, in the 1st of a 4-game series against those pesky Toronto Blue Jays.

Shane Greene started against R.A. Dickey, the knuckleballer that the Mets, in one of their periodic boneheaded trades, let go right after he won the National League Cy Young Award.

Greene took a 3-hit shutout into the 7th inning. He has been a big reason why the Yankees still have, however slight, a shot at the postseason.

In the bottom of the 5th, Stephen Drew defied his .163 batting average and .241 on-base percentage, and doubled home Chase Headley to put the Yankees on the board. In the 6th, Jeter hit a solo home run to left field -- possibly his last homer. He now has 3,453 career hits, 260 of them home runs.

It was 2-0 Yankees in the top of the 8th. But Joe Girardi, again operating the Yankee bullpen with all the efficiency of a one-legged man at a butt-kicking contest, didn't send Dellin Betances, who finished the 7th, out for the 8th. He sent Shawn Kelley out there.

After getting the 1st 2 outs, Kelley gave up a single to that other ex-Met on the Jays, Jose Reyes. And then he gave up a home run to Joey Bautista, who always hits the Yankees hard. (When are they going to test him for steroids?) As they say in English soccer, "Two-nil, and you fucked it up!"

David Robertson got the Jays out 1-2-3 in the top of the 9th. This was beginning to feel like another game the Yankees would lose in extra innings because they don't hit enough.

But Chris Young led off the bottom of the 9th with a single. Antoan Richardson pinch-ran for him and stole 2nd, putting the winning run in scoring position with nobody out. Brett Gardner bunted him over. Winning run on 3rd with less than 2 out. The batter was Chase Headley, who's hit very well for the Yanks since he came over. Surely, the Yankees weren't going to blow this?

As it turned out, the Jays took the matter out of the Yanks' hands -- and their own hands were not equal to the task. Headley grounded to Adam Lind at 1st, and the ball went through his hands and legs, not unlike Bill Buckner in the 1986 World Series. Yankees 3, Blue Jays 2.

WP: David Robertson (3-5). No save. LP: Aaron Sanchez (2-2).

*

The win, and the Oakland Athletics' loss, puts the Yankees 5 games behind the 2nd American League Wild Card slot.

There are 10 games left. If the Yankees can win 7 of the 10, the following would have to happen for them to make the Playoffs:

* The A's would have to drop 8 of their last 10.

* The Seattle Mariners, 7 of 10.

* And the Cleveland Indians, at least 4 of their last 10. As in, all 4 occurrences would have to happen.

The series continues tonight at The Stadium. Hiroki Kuroda starts for the Yanks, Mark Buehrle for the Jays.

Yankees Embarrass Themselves On Derek Jeter Day

On Saturday, the Yankees bounced back, getting some runs against the Kansas City Royals. Martin Prado went 3-for-4, including 2 doubles. Ichiro Suzuki had 2 hits. So did John Ryan Murphy, returning to the team as a September callup. Five different Yankees had RBIs: Ichiro, Mark Teixeira, Jacoby Ellsbury, Carlos Beltran, and Derek Jeter.

Brandon McCarthy took the hint, and pitched well into the 7th inning. He's now 6-4 as a Yankee. The bullpen of Shawn Kelley, Dellin Betances and David Robertson pitched 2 2/3 perfect innings (no save).

Danny Duffy started for the Royals, but had to leave the game after throwing only 1 pitch, due to pain in his shoulder. Last year, he had surgery on his throwing elbow, so the Royals have reason to be concerned for his future as a pitcher. He was relieved by Liam Hendriks, and he only went 4 innings on virtually no notice (1-1).

Yankees 6, Royals 2.

*

Yesterday was Derek Jeter Day. On hand were his parents, his grandmother, his sister, his nephew, Reggie Jackson, Dave Winfield, Joe Torre, best friend Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera, Bernie Williams, Paul O'Neill, David Cone, Tino Martinez, Tim Raines, Hideki Matsui, Commissioner-elect Rob Manfred (I guess Bud Selig had to attend a luncheon in Cleveland, a la Bowie Kuhn blowing off Hank Aaron for his 715th home run), former trainer Gene Monahan, Gerald Williams and Harold Reynolds (the last 2 as friends of Derek's, since Gerald didn't win anything as a Yankee and Reynolds never played for us) -- but, strangely, not Andy Pettitte. Only 3 of the Core Four were there.

Also on hand was Cal Ripken, the only man besides Jeter who could, legitimately, be called the greatest shortstop in American League history. And Michael Jordan was a guest. Presumably, he wanted to remind Jeter that, even if he's no longer working for the Yankees come November 1 -- or, more likely, come September 29 -- he still works for Nike and Gatorade.

Let the record show that the NBA made things easier for Jordan, and he won 6 titles; MLB made things harder for Jeter's team (by enabling their opponents to headhunt and use steroids, but not letting the Yankees do the same thing), and he still won 5 titles.

Obviously, since Derek's career statistics are not yet finalized, they couldn't give him his Monument Park Plaque. But neither did they officially retire his Number 2. Just as they didn't retire O'Neill's 21, even though no one (with a very brief, dubious exception) has worn it since he retired. They did retire Mariano's 42 while he was still active (albeit for 1 more week). It's clear that no future Yankee will ever have the guts to ask for Number 2; if any does, he might get released on the spot. So why not retire it now?

Derek's speech was short. He thanked his family, and his teammates collectively, mentioning only Torre and the Steinbrenner family by name. He added:

Lastly and most importantly, I want to thank you, the fans. Anyone who is here today, anyone who is at home watching, anyone who has ever been over the course, over the last 20 seasons, thank you very much. You guys have watched me grow up over the last 20 years. I've watched you, too. Some of you guys are getting older, too. I want to thank you for helping me feel like a kid the last 20 years.

In my opinion, I’ve had the greatest job in the world: I’ve had the chance to be the shortstop for the New York Yankees, and there’s only one of those.

I always felt as though my job was to try to provide joy and entertainment for you guys. But it can’t compare to what you’ve brought me, so for that, thank you very much.

He began to walk off, and hand off the microphone, then stepped back, and said, "And, hey, we've got a game to play!"

Always focused on the task at hand. That is Derek Jeter.

Unfortunately, his teammates didn't seem to get the message. As they so often do on celebration days, such as Old-Timers' Day and Monument Park dedications, they embarrassed their assembled greats.

Jeter got a hit -- Number 3,450 -- and so did Ellsbury, Beltran and Teixeira. But that was it. Yankee starter Shane Greene made a throwing error to allow a run in the 2nd, and he allowed another run on a single in the 3rd. The Yankees should have been able to overcome that, but they didn't. As on Friday night, they went out meekly.

Royals 2, Yankees 0.  WP: Yordano Ventura (12-9). SV: Wade Davis (2 -- both in this series). LP: Greene (4-3).

*

So, with 3 weeks left, just 21 games, the Yankees are 9 1/2 games behind the Baltimore Orioles in the American League Eastern Division, 9 in the loss column. Forget it: The O's have it wrapped up.

The Yankees are 4 1/2 games, 4 in the loss column, behind the Seattle Mariners for the 2nd AL Wild Card berth.

It looks bad. How bad? ESPN says that the Yankees currently have a 1.7 percent chance of making the Playoffs.

Missing the Playoffs in his last 2 seasons is bad by Derek Jeter's standards, but at least he's not as far out of it as Mickey Mantle was in his last 4.

If the current standings turn out to be the final ones, here's the Playoff picture:

AL: Seattle at Oakland, winner to face Anaheim; Kansas City vs. Baltimore.

NL: Pittsburgh at San Francisco, winner to face Washington; Los Angeles vs. St. Louis.

Yankees "Frustrated" In Bad Loss to Bad Sox

Last night, the Yankees opened a home series against the Boston Red Sox. The Yankees have had a difficult season. The Red Sox? If they had only the Yankees' problems, and no more, it would be an improvement.

Shane Greene started for the Yankees, and had his first truly bad game in Pinstripes (or road grays). He got shelled, and didn't get out of the 3rd inning. This game was over pretty quickly.

In the bottom of the 5th, with the Sox leading 7-3, but with the bases loaded (with 2 out), meaning a home run would have tied it and a hit of any kind would at least have gotten the Yankees back in the game, Brett Gardner struck out for the 3rd time in as many at-bats. This was a called 3rd strike, with the instant replay showing it was well out of the strike zone. Home plate umpire Tim Timmons got it wrong. Gardner got frustrated, and threw his bat down. Before he even said a word, Timmons tossed him.

"I saw the replay of it," Gardner said after the game. "Obviously, it was outside, right where I thought it was. Obviously, I got frustrated, after my first two at-bats, and then I felt like I got the bat taken out of my hands in a big situation, pitcher’s on the ropes, and I just let my emotions get the best of me.”

If it wasn't against the Sox, it would probably be forgotten quickly. But the Sox get so much help from the umpires and the MLB officials. I probably would have stayed on the field long enough to tell that umpire what I thought of him and his colleagues. (And likely gotten suspended. But it would have been worth it.)

Anyway, the Yankees did hit 2 home runs: One by Martin Prado, his 5th (but he got hurt later, and is now day-to-day); and one by Brian McCann, his 16th (but he's still batting .237 with a .289 on-base percentage, so you tell me if the balance is in the Yankees' favor). But it was hardly enough: The game ended 9-4 to The Scum.

WP: Joe Kelly (1-1). No save. LP: Greene (4-2).

The series continues tonight. Hiroki Kuroda starts against Anthony Ranaudo.

That's All We Got?

My home computer's difficulties have made updating this blog incredibly difficult. It's been 6 days since I could last do so.

So I start with the first game that I wasn't able to post: Last Wednesday, August 27, the 2nd game of a 3-game series in Detroit against the Tigers.

This was a good game. In fact, it contained the biggest inning the Yankees had in years, the 3rd inning, against David Price, the former Tampa Bay Rays ace that the Tigers thought would solidify their chance at the American League Pennant. Now, they're not even in 1st place in the AL Central. If the current standings hold, they'll be one of the AL Wild Cards.

The Yankees should have such problems, and no more.

Here's that 3rd inning:

Jacoby Ellsbury led off with a single. He stole 2nd.

Derek Jeter doubled him home. 1-0 Yankees.

Martin Prado singled Jeter over to 3rd.

Mark Teixeira doubled off the wall. Jeter scored. 2-0 Yankees.

Carlos Beltran singled. Prado scored. 3-0 Yankees.

Brian McCain singled. Teix scored. 4-0 Yankees.

Chase Headley singled, loading the bases with nobody out.

Brett Gardner grounded to short, too deep for a double play, and beat it out. Beltran scored. 5-0 Yankees. Five runs in, bases still loaded, still nobody out.

Francisco Cervelli singled. McCann scored. 6-0 Yankees. Six runs in, bases still loaded, still nobody out.

Price was relieved. His team wasn't. The Yankees had now batted around, all 9 men reaching base.

Ellsbury flew to left, a sacrifice fly. Finally, the 1st out. Headley scored. 7-0 Yankees.

Jeter flew to center. Gardner scored. 8-0 Yankees.

Prado grounded to 3rd, the Tigers finally stopping the bleeding.

For a fan who's spent the better part of 3 seasons wondering why the Bronx Bombers haven't been doing enough bombing, it was truly something to behold. And to wonder we can't do half that (4-run innings) more often.

The Tigers scored single runs in the 4th, 6th, 8th and 9th innings, but didn't get close. Yankees 8, Tigers 4.

WP: Shane Greene (4-1). No save. LP: Price (12-10).

*

The Yankees and Tigers played the rubber game of the series the next afternoon, and the Yankees went back into RISPfail mode. An Ellsbury single in the 3rd and a McCann single in the 4th drove in runs, but that was it. There were only 3 other hits. Hiroki Kuroda pitched well in vain, and Shawn Kelley blew a 2-2 tie in the bottom of the 9th, thanks to an RBI single by Alex Avila.

To make matters worse, 2 former Yankee pitchers benefited from the Yankees' ineptitude: Joba Chamberlain (in full mountain-man mode with that beard that he wasn't allowed to grow as a Yankee) and Phil Coke (the 2008-09 edition of the lefty reliever who the Yankees should never, ever bring in, although they won the 2009 World Series in spite of him).

Tigers 3, Yankees 2. WP: Coke (2-2). LP: Kelley (2-5). So we dropped 2 of 3 to the contending Tigers.

*

The Yankees then went to Toronto to play those pesky Blue Jays. On Friday night, they trailed 1-0 going into the 7th, and there was a feeling that the single Toronto run was going to hold up.

It didn't. It wasn't quite the 8-run outburst of 2 days earlier, but the Yankees got a nice rally going against Mark Buehrle, who'd pitched pretty well thus far. McCann doubled to deep right. Beltran walked. Brett Gardner hit a drive to deep right for another double, scoring McCann and Beltran. 2-1 Yankees. Ichiro Suzuki beat out an infield single. Buerhle was removed for Aaron Loup. Headley struck out. Then Joe Girardi ordered a double steal, and the Jays' catcher, former Yankee Dioner Navarro, threw it away. Gardner scored. 3-1. Then Ellsbury cranked one to right, his 14th home run of the season. 5-1.

Chris Capuano, pitching one of his best games all season, took that lead into the bottom of the 7th, but ran out of gas. Adam Warren finished the 7th, but couldn't finish the 8th.

Neither could Josh Outman, making his 1st Yankee appearance, a lefthander about to turn 30, and mediocre in the majors thus far, whom the Yankees just got in a waiver deal with the Cleveland Indians. "Outman." Great name for a pitcher! But bad uniform number: 48, the same number as was worn on the Yankees as Coke, "Kerosene Kyle" Farnsworth and Boone "Fucking" Logan!

Robertson had to get a 4-out save. But, get it he did. Yankees 6, Blue Jays 3. WP: Capuano (2-3). SV: Robertson (35). LP: Buehrle (11-9).

*

Saturday, August 30, is the anniversary of the birth of my grandfather, George Golden, born George Goldberg in 1906, grew up in The Bronx, and became a Yankee Fan, and made me one. If he had watched this game, he would have said, "Oh, woe is me, woe is me, and a gevalt!"

In the top of the 4th, after Gardner and Jeter struck out, Beltran was hit with a pitch, and Teix doubled him over to 3rd. But he couldn't score. Then McCann was hit with a pitch to load the bases. It was only 2-0 Toronto at this point, so if Prado could get a hit, who knows? But he popped up to 3rd.

Beltran walked in the 6th. Stephen Drew walked in the 7th. That was it. That was all the baserunners for the Yankees in the game: One hit, 2 walks, 2 hit batsmen.

I'm reminded of the line that Bob Uecker used when playing Harry Doyle, the hard-drinking Cleveland broadcaster in the Major League films. He looked at his scoresheet at the end of the game, and said, on the air, "That's all we got? One goddamned hit?" His partner covered the microphone and said, "You can't say 'goddamned' on the air!" And Doyle said, "That's okay, no one's listening anyway."

In a case like that, you can't even credit the opposing pitcher -- in this case, Drew Hutchinson. He's not that good. The Yankees simply didn't hit.

And so, that 2-0 Jays lead held up. (9-11). SV: Sanchez (1). LP: Pineda (3-3).

*

On Sunday, Brandon McCarthy was fine for 5 innings. Thereafter, he gave up  3 Toronto homers: To Jose "Joey Bats" Bautista (Isn't it about time somebody tested this guy for steroids?), Edwin Encarnacion (one of those guys who always seems to do well against the Yankees), and to former Yankee hero, now known steroid cheat, Melky Cabrera (his 16th of the season, his 4th against his former team).

Blue Jays 4, Yankees 3. WP: J.A. Happ (9-8). SV: Casey Janssen (20). LP: McCarthy (5-4 since joining the Yankees).

*

And so, with less than 4 weeks remaining in the regular season, with 27 games to go, the Yankees are 8 1/2 games (8 in the loss column) behind the Baltimore Orioles for the AL Eastern Division title. We are 4 games (3 in the loss column) behind the Tigers for the 2nd AL Wild Card slot.

And now, in the middle of a slump, the Yankees come home... to face the Boston Red Sox. True, The Scum are well out of the race, but they will do anything to beat the Yankees. Not "anything within the rules," but "anything."

These next 3 games could be very long -- not just officially.

Yanks Sweep ChiSox, Including On Joe Torre Day

My apologies for the delay in posting again. The computers at my residence are running on a modem that isn't working right, making using them an incredibly annoying experience.

I'll cover the Yankees' weekend home series with the Chicago White Sox in this post, and the subsequent games in the next one.

On Friday night, the opposing starters were Shane Greene for the Pinstripes, and John Danks for the Pale House. Neither pitched especially well, neither got an out in the 6th inning, and neither figured in the decision.

Martin Prado hit a home run for the Yankees, his 8th of the season. But, going to the bottom of the 9th, this game was all tied up.

Ichiro Suzuki led off with a hit. Brett Gardner bunted him over to 2nd base. Up to bat, Captain Clutch, Derek Jeter.

Except he hit a very unclutch soft liner to the center fielder, the starter's brother, Jordan Danks. And Jacoby Ellsbury was intentionally walked to set up the double play.

But Mark Teixeira drew a most unintentional walk, loading the bases. And Prado came up again, and singled Ichiro home.

Yankees 4, White Sox 3. WP: David Robertson (2-4). No save. LP: Daniel Webb (5-4).

Yankee broadcaster John Sterling called the night's hero "The Prado the Yankees," a play on one of Lou Gehrig's nickname, the one that became the title of the movie about him, The Pride of the Yankees.

As his broadcast partner, Suzyn Waldman, would say, "Oh my goodness, goodness gracious."

*

Saturday afternoon was Joe Torre Day. The former manager got his Number 6 retired, and his Plaque for Monument Park. It reads as follows:

JOSEPH PAUL TORRE

NEW YORK YANKEES MANAGER, 1996-2007

WORLD CHAMPIONS, 1996, 1998-2000

A.L. PENNANTS, 1996, 1998-2000, 2001, 2003

HIS CALM APPROACH AND DIGNIFIED MANNER

PROVIDED THE FOUNDATION OF ONE OF THE

MOST SUCCESSFUL ERAS IN FRANCHISE HISTORY.

MANAGED THE YANKEES TO A

1,173-767-2 REGULAR SEASON RECORD

AND 76-47 POSTSEASON MARK,

LEADING THE CLUB TO THE PLAYOFFS

IN EACH OF HIS 12 SEASONS AT THE HELM.

IN 1998, GUIDED THE TEAM TO 125 TOTAL

VICTORIES, THE MOST SINGLE-SEASON WINS

BY ANY TEAM ALL TIME.

DEDICATED BY THE

NEW YORK YANKEES

AUGUST 23, 2014

On hand were Yogi Berra, Gene Michael, Reggie Jackson, Ron Guidry, and many of Torre's players: Paul O'Neill, Bernie Williams, David Cone, Tino Martinez, Jorge Posada, Hideki Matsui, and, of course, current manager Joe Girardi and Derek Jeter. Oddly, Mariano Rivera was not there; without him, as Yogi would say, Joe couldn't have thanked everyone for making this day necessary.

Also on hand were Joe's wife Allie, his children (most from his first marriage, but a daughter from his second), his grandchildren, and Soot Zimmer, Don's widow. Mel Stottlemyre sent a video message. (I'm a little concerned that he wasn't there: He didn't look ill, but he has battled cancer before.)

Joe's speech was long, but thoughtful, and hit all the right notes. Among the things he said was gratitude to George Steinbrenner for hiring him. Among the things he didn't say was that George need him as much as he needed George: Without each other, each man's legacy would be very different. George might still be the guy who built a Dynasty and let it fall apart, and the Yankees might still be without a title since 1978. Joe might still be a really good, but not quite Hall of Fame level, player, and a good but not great manager whose uniformed career ended a while ago, without ever winning a Pennant. Instead, together, along with Stick Michael, they built a new Dynasty.

Oh yes, there was a game. Hiroki Kuroda started for the Yankees, and he had good stuff. Carlos Beltran hit his 15th homer of the season in the 6th inning. No late heroics necessary this time.

Yankees 5, White Sox 3. WP: Kuroda (9-8). SV: Robertson (34). LP: Scott Carroll (5-8).

*

On Sunday afternoon, late heroics would be necessary. Chris Capuano started against ChiSox ace Chris Sale, so I was convinced a defeat was coming.

Instead, Capuano pitched decently, and Sale didn't have his best stuff. It was 4-3 Yanks going into the 9th, and it looked like we had the sweep. But Robertson decided he wanted a Tony Award, and gave us some drama. He blew the save.

So the game went to extra innings. David Huff pitched a scoreless 10th. The Yankees got 2 men on, and Girardi sent Brian McCann up to pinch-hit for Francisco Cervelli. (Had the game continued, McCann would also have taken Cervelli's place behind the plate.) Replacing a .278 hitter with a .235 hitter, albeit one with power. McCann had 14 home runs on the season.

Make it 15. McCann did, sending a screaming liner to the right-field corner. A true short-porcher. Sterling didn't even have time to go into, "It is high! It is far!" before realizing it was gone. Game-winning home run.

Yankees 7, White Sox 4. WP: Huff (4-1). No save. LP: Jake Petricka (0-3).

So the Yankees had now won 4 straight, and headed off on a roadtrip. I'll discuss that in my next post.

Jeter a Hero, Maddon a Zero (Which Is Not Much Less Than the Rays' Attendance)

Yesterday's game against your 2018 Montreal Expos (known, for the moment, as the Tampa Bay Rays) looked like it was going to be one of those games. Where the Yankees got good pitching and it didn't matter because they didn't score enough runs.

Shane Greene pitched 6 innings, allowing just 2 runs on 7 hits and 1 walk, striking out 10. And Shawn Kelley actually pitched a scoreless 7th inning.

But Drew Smyly, whom the Rays got in the David Price deal, was equal to the task, as the only runs he allowed came on a Martin Prado home run in the 2nd inning (his 2nd as a Yankee).

Dellin Betances pitched a scoreless 8th, but the game went to the 9th tied.

Brett Gardner led off the top of the 9th by beating out a grounder that Rays 2nd baseman Logan Forsythe -- a soap opera character's name if I ever heard one -- threw away, allowing Gardner to get to 2nd.

Then some guy named Derek Jeter singled Gardner home. 3-2 Yankees.

I like this Jeter guy. He could be a big star for the Yankees. Maybe even a Hall-of-Famer.

David Robertson closed the Rays down in the bottom of the 9th. WP: Betances (5-0). SV: Robertson (32). LP: Jack McGee (3-1).

For those of you old enough to remember the late 1970s and early 1980s, as I am: Jack McGee was also the name of the reporter, played by Jack Colvin, who chased The Incredible Hulk, the Lieutenant Girard to Bill Bixby's/Lou Ferrigno's Dr. Kimble: "Mr. McGee, don't make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry."

The attendance was 31,042. According to Tropicana Field's official regular-season capacity, that's
91 percent.

The problem is, most of them were Yankee Fans. And Rays manager Joe Maddon didn't like that:

Yeah it's great. It's great that it's sold out. And I understand that the people like Derek Jeter. But you've got to come out and root for the Rays, too, you understand. I mean, I totally understand what's going on. But I'm not going to sit here and defend all of that noise in the Yankees' favor in our ballpark. I'm not going to defend that. So we're going to come out and root for the Rays. We'd appreciate that.

The greatest per-home-game attendance the Rays have ever had was 23,147, in 2009, the year after they won their one and only Pennant. They are now averaging less than 18,000, and that's counting games against the Yankees.

The locals will not support a winning team, never mind the mediocre one they have now. Having a bad stadium in downtown St. Petersburg, instead of in or near downtown Tampa, is no excuse.

The San Diego Padres have won 2 Pennants in over 40 years, and used to play in a football stadium out in the suburbs, and they did better at the box office.

The Kansas City Royals have done the same (at least they've won 1 World Series), and still play in a ballpark out in the suburbs, and they've nearly always done better.

The Texas Rangers took almost 40 years to win their 1st Pennant, and their stadium is in the middle of nowhere (halfway between Dallas and Fort Worth, with poor public transportation), and they did better even before they started winning.

The Miami Marlins have a new stadium, fairly close to downtown, and while their attendance is bad, it's not as bad as their cross-State "rivals"; indeed, they did better than the Rays when they were playing in the Dolphins' stadium out in the suburbs.

Even when the San Francisco Giants were playing at Candlestick Park, the most hated stadium in baseball history, in the 1990s, they had better attendance.

The excuses that the few Rays fans use to explain their pathetic attendance do not hold up to scrutiny. They need to stop telling me their excuses, and start telling their friends to come to a game with them. Make me look like the idiot, not themselves.

If not for people coming to The Trop and rooting for the Yankees, the Rays would almost have to move. (They should, anyway. The Montreal Olympic Stadium is a less ridiculous ballpark -- and that's saying something.)

The series concludes this afternoon. Hiroki Kuroda starts for the Yankees, Jeremy Hellickson for the Expos -- I mean, the Rays.

It Wasn't Easy Being Greene, But It Was Successful

Shane Greene started the finale of the 4-game home series with the Detroit Tigers, against Rick Porcello.

Coming into the 2nd half of this season, if Rick Porcello was your 4th starter, you were in pretty good shape; if Shane Greene was your 4th starter, you were in trouble.

Or so it appeared. The 25-year-old righthanded Floridian has now made 7 appearances for the Yankees, and while 3 weren't so good, 4 have been very good.

Yesterday, Greene was fantastic. He pitched 8 innings, allowing no runs on just 4 hits and 3 walks. Joe Girardi actually let him start the 9th, but he allowed a leadoff hit, and that was it. Greene walked off the mound to a standing ovation from the Yankee crowd of 47,013.

No, it wasn't easy being Greene -- he left leading only 1-0 with the tying run on 1st and the potential winning run at the plate -- but he was successful.

The Yankees scored a run in the bottom of the 4th inning, on a ground-rule double by recent acquisition Stephen Drew. I watched the game with my twin nieces, who are now 7, the same age I was when I started watching baseball on TV regularly. I had to explain to them what a "ground-rule double" is: It's when the ball hits the ground in fair territory, and then it bounces into the stands. (It could also be when a fan interferes with a ball in play, but that subject didn't come up.)

What I did not explain to them was the term "the pitcher's friend." This is another name for a double play, and the Yankees turned 2 key double plays in the 1st 8 innings.

Porcello was nearly as good as Greene. To see both starting pitchers go at least 7 innings is increasingly rare.

Girardi brought in David Robertson, and he walked the 1st batter he faced. So, tying run on 2nd, potential winning run on 1st, and nobody out.

But the Yankees turned yet another double play, leaving the tying run on 3rd and the potential winning run at the plate, but with 2 outs.

Robertson finished it off. Yankees 1, Tigers 0. WP: Greene (3-1). SV: Robertson (31). LP: Porcello (13-6).

If you had told me before this series started that the Yankees would take 3 out of 4 from the AL Central-leading Tigers, I would have gladly taken it. With just 1 more key hit in the first 11 innings of the 2nd game, we would have swept.

The Yankees now begin a 3-game home series with the Cleveland Indians, with tomorrow being Paul O'Neill Day. The Warrior gets his Monument Park Plaque. Presumably, he also gets his Number 21 retired, since it's only been worn once since he retired after the 2001 season: Pitcher LaTroy Hawkins wore it in 2008, and was roundly booed, and wisely switched to 22. (Believe it or not, he's still pitching in the major leagues, and very well: At age 41, he's saved 17 games for the Colorado Rockies.)

Here are the projected pitching matchups:

Tonight, 7:05 PM: Esmil Rogers vs. Trevor Bauer.

Tomorrow, 1:05 PM: Brandon McCarthy vs. Corey Kluber.

Sunday, 1:05 PM: Hiroki Kuroda vs. Hector Carrasco.

The Indians are managed by former Red Sox manager Terry Francona, and include former Yankees Nick Swisher, Chris Dickerson and Jason Giambi. However, the Giambino is on the 60-Day Disabled List, and, at age 43 and with 440 career home runs, may never play again.

If he does, it won't be in his familiar Number 25: Jim Thome signed a 1-day contract with the Indians, so he could officially retire with the organization, and, as their all-time home run leader, they've retired the number for him. Giambi signed the last Number 25 jersey to be worn by an Indians player in a game: "Jim, It was an honor to be the last person to wear your uniform number in Cleveland Indians history! - Jason Giambi"

Despite his unfortunate steroid episode, Giambi has learned, and has become a class act. He'll never get into the Hall of Fame (I don't think he has the numbers, anyway), but I suspect he'll get a nice hand at his first Yankee Old-Timers' Day, whether that's next year or thereafter.

Yanks Win Series at Fenway, But No Rest for Weary as Tigers Come to Town

After 2 1/2 innings, Saturday's game was already Yankees 4, Red Sox 3, and it looked like it was going to be one of those Yankees-Red Sox games at Fenway Park.

But, running against type, there wasn't a lot of action after that.

Shane Greene started for New York, and he didn't get out of the 5th inning. Allen Webster started for Boston, and he didn't get out of the 3rd.

Considering how many pitchers normally get used in Yanks-Sox games, especially in the little green pinball machine off Kenmore Square, pulling your starter that early might have been a very bad idea. At the very least, you would want to bring in your "long reliever," the kind of guy who can make an emergency start (which, in effect, this became).

But Joe Girardi brought in Shawn Kelley, and Sox manager John Farrell brought in Burke Badenhop. (No, I'd never heard of him before, either.)

Two of the 3 early Sox runs came on a home run by Mike Napoli. No word on whether he called Greene what he called Masahiro Tanaka a few weeks back: "What an idiot!"

Webster walked the 1st 3 batters in the top of the 3rd: New Yankee Martin Prado, Francisco Cervelli and Brett Gardner. Cliche Alert: Walks'll kill ya, especially the leadoff variety. Or, as 2nd baseman-turned-manager-turned broadcaster, Hall-of-Famer Frankie Frisch, used to put it, "Oh, those bases on balls!"

Derek Jeter -- you may have heard of him -- doubled home Prado and Cervelli. Jacoby Ellsbury, back in his old stomping grounds, grounded out, but the ground ball got Gardner home to tie the game. Mark Teixeira grounded out, but Carlos Beltran singled Jeter home. Just like that, 3-0 Sox became 4-3 Yanks.

Teix added a home run in the 5th, his 19th "Teix Message" of the season. That turned out to be pretty important. The Yankees added another run in the 7th. That same inning, the Sox closed to within 6-4, thanks to a sacrifice fly by David Ortiz. Yes, he's still allowed to play professional baseball.

Dellin Betances pitched a perfect 8th. As he so often does, David Robertson made the 9th more interesting than was necessary. He got the 1st 2 outs, but allowed a single to Brock Holt. (Sounds like the name of a soap opera character.) Holt got to 2nd on defensive indifference -- his run meant nothing. The run that meant everything was at the plate: The dangerous Dustin Pedroia.

D-Rob got him to ground out to 3rd.

6-4! We beat The Scum, 6-4! We beat The Scum, 6-4! We beat The Scum, 6-4!

WP: Kelley (2-3). SV: Robertson (28). LP: Webster (1-1).

*

Then came a Sunday night ESPN game. Against the Boston Red Sox. At Fenway Park. The starting pitchers were David Phelps and Clay Buchholz.

All those who went into this game thinking the Yankees were going to win, don't raise your hands, because you're lying bastards.

In fact, Phelps had to leave the game after 2 innings. Joe Girardi said he'd been dealing with elbow inflammation for "three or four weeks."

That's how long Phelps has been pitching better! What the hell?

Well, he didn't pitch well yesterday. After 2 innings, it was 5-3 Boston.

Two of those Yankee runs scored on a double by Brett Gardner. Lately, as Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger would say, "He has a little bit the quality, and the mental strength."

The Yankees closed to within 5-4 on a double by former Scummer, new Yankee Stephen Drew. Then David Ortiz hit a home run to make it 7-4 after 4.

Just in case you're keeping track, that's 457 career home runs for Ortiz -- 58 with the Minnesota Twins, and 399 since he discovered that steroids, and lying about them, can be fun!

But the Yankees tied the game in the 5th, thanks to a double by new boy Chase Headley and a single by Drew. That was it for Buchholz, who didn't have his good stuff. And then, in the 6th, Gardner hit a home run, his 15th of the season -- his 5th of the week.

According to ESPN, it went 420 feet. How is Brett Gardner hitting home runs with that frequency, and that distance? At this rate, Sox fans will soon start calling for Gardner to be tested for steroids! Ignoring, of course, Ortiz and his established transgression.

That made it 8-7 Yankees, and the bullpen made it stand up: Esmil Rogers in the 5th, 6th and 7th; Dellin Betances in the 8th; and David Robertson in the 9th.

8-7! We beat The Scum, 8-7! Took 2 out of 3 at Scumway Park!

WP: Rogers (1-0). SV: Robertson (29). LP: Craig Breslow (2-3).

*

So, with 8 weeks to go in the regular season, here's how the American League Eastern Division stands:

TEAM	W	L	MN	GB
Baltimore	62	48	53	0.0
Toronto	60	53	47	3.5
NEW YORK	57	53	48	5.0
Tampa Bay	54	57	44	8.5
Boston	49	62	39	13.5

Things don't get any easier for the Yankees: They come home to face possibly the best team in baseball, the Detroit Tigers, with MVPs Miguel Cabrera and Justin Verlander, and Cy Young Award winners Verlander, Max Scherzer and David Price.

Here are the projected pitching matchups:

Tonight, 7:05 PM: Brandon McCarthy vs. Scherzer.

Tomorrow, 7:05 PM: Hiroki Kuroda vs. Price.

Wednesday, 7:05 PM: Chris Capuano vs. Verlander.

Thursday, 1:05 PM: Shane Greene vs. Rick Porcello -- and when Rick Porcello is your 4th starter, you'd got a very strong rotation.

Come on you Pinstripes... It'll be difficult, but not impossible!

Yanks Cooled Off, But Teix Could Soon Return

Maybe, sometime this week, I'll do a report of Arsenal Day at Red Bull Arena. Not today.

When last I posted the result of a Yankee game, the Yanks had won 7 of 8 since the All-Star Break. Things were looking very good, with lots of nice momentum.

Aaaaaaaand it's gone. They've now lost 2 straight, at home, to those pesky Toronto Blue Jays.

On Saturday, while I was preparing for Arsenal Day, Chris Capuano made his Yankee debut. I certainly can't blame him for the Yankees losing: He went 6 innings, allowing just 2 runs on 5 hits, although he did walk 4. He left with the game tied 2-2, so if the team's job wasn't done, it was much more the offense's fault than the pitcher's.

Brian McCann hit a home run in the 4th inning (his 11th of the season), with Carlos Beltran aboard, to give the Yanks a 2-0 lead. But, yet again, Melky Cabrera hurt the Yankees, this time with a 5th-inning double that scored some guy who Met fans used to think was a better shortstop than Derek Jeter. (Jose Reyes. And he still isn't better.)

Shawn Kelley allowed a run in the 7th, before Matt Thornton settled things down. But Chase Whitley, who really should have been kept in the rotation, allowed 2 runs in the 9th, and Jeff Francis allowed another to make it 6-2.

The Yankees came back in the 9th, but it wasn't enough. Jacoby Ellsbury singled with one out, and Beltran knocked one out (his 12th homer) to make it 6-4, but that was it.

WP: Drew Hutchison (7-9). No save. LP: Kelley (1-3).

Blame the hitters. They blew it with men on 1st & 2nd in the 1st, the 5th and the 8th; and they blew it with man on 1st in the 3rd, again after the homer in the 4th, in the 6th and the 7th.

*

Shane Greene started yesterday, and didn't have good stuff. In less than 6 innings, he allowed 3 runs on 8 hits and 2 walks. Not bad, but the way the Yankees have hit most of the year, not good enough.

In the bottom of the 5th, with the Yankees down 2-0, Chase Headley and Francisco Cervelli, 2 guys the Yankees couldn't count on in the 1st half (because Headley was elsewhere and Cervelli was hurt), hit back-to-back home runs to tie it. It was Headley's 1st as a Yankee, and Cervelli's 1st of the season. The teams traded runs in the 6th, making it 3-3.

David Huff finished the 6th without further trouble for the Yankees. Dellin Betances got through the 7th, but allowed a run in the 8th before Adam Warren got out of it. But Beltran singled home Brett Gardner to forge yet another tie. It was 4-4 going to the 9th.

David Robertson got Reyes to ground out to open the inning. But Melky singled. (Look, the guy embarrassed the Giants with his PED use. He would have embarrassed us, and we didn't need that then, and we don't need that now. I am not saying we never should have gotten rid of Melky. I'm just saying that I don't like that he's hurt us with the Jays.)

D-Rob got the dangerous Jose Bautista to ground into a fielders choice. But he stole 2nd, and another ex-Yankee prospect, Dioner Navarro, singled him home. The Yanks meekly went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 9th.

(Navarro's never quite turned into a great player, but he did make the All-Star Team with the 2008 Rays, and he's done better, thus far, than that other recent catching prospect, Jesus Montero, who's been hurt most of this season.)

Jays 5, Yanks 4. WP: Aaron Sanchez (1-0). SV: Cam Janssen (16). LP: Robertson (1-3).

*

So, with 9 weeks left in the regular season, the Yankees are 4 games behind the 1st-place Baltimore Orioles. This is not a big deal -- certainly not so big a deal that we need to start paying more attention to the Wild Card race. But we must start scoring more runs.

Good news: Mark Teixeira has taken batting and fielding practice, and it is rumored that he will be in the lineup tomorrow night. Bad news: Until he does, whenever that is, the Yankees will still be, essentially, operating with a 24-man roster. And with 13 pitchers and 9 starting hitters, that means only 2 hitters on the bench.

Joe Girardi and Brian Cashman, please take note: This is not a recommended way to run your ballclub. You should have put Teix on the Disabled List, since he'll end up having been out at least 15 days anyway; and you don't need 13 pitchers. Joe: I repeat, you do not need 13 pitchers! Put down the damn binder and let a righthanded pitcher pitch to a lefthanded hitter! If he's good enough to pitch for the New York Yankees, he's good enough to pitch to anyone!

*

Tonight, the Yankees start a weeklong roadtrip. First, 3 games in Arlington against the Texas Rangers, then Thursday is a travel day, and then a weekend series against The Scum at Scumway Park in Scumtown.

All the Texas games are scheduled to start at 8:05 PM our time (7:05 theirs). Here are the projected pitching matchups:

* Tonight: David Phelps vs. Yu Darvish.
* Tomorrow: Brandon McCarthy vs. Nick Martinez.
* Wednesday: Hiroki Kuroda vs. Colby Lewis.

Come on you... uh, Bombers? Let's do some bombing! Like the YES Network promos are saying: Go deep, in the heart of Texas!

Girardi Throws Away Game, Cashman Throws Away Solarte for WHO?!?

I was supposed to go to last night's Yankee game. A friend won 4 tickets, but has no interest in baseball, and was willing to let me have them, provided I could give the other 3 away.

Would you believe, no takers? My brother-in-law was going to be one of them, and it would have been fairly easy for him to give the other 2. But he had to work late, so he couldn't go, and I couldn't find takers for the tickets.

And then he found out his meeting was canceled. So he, and thus I, could have gone after all.

It's just as well that we didn't go. I would have wanted Joe Girardi fired. I still might.

*

The Yankees opened a 4-game home series with the Texas Rangers last night. The Rangers have gone into an unbelievable tailspin, while the Houston Astros seem to have found their footing. Not only do the Astros no longer have the worst record in baseball, they're ahead of the Rangers in the AL West. Worst team in baseball? The Astros aren't even the worst team in Texas anymore.

Carlos Beltran opened the scoring with a sacrifice fly in the 1st inning. The Rangers tied it up in the 3rd, but Jacoby Ellsbury made it 2-1 in the 4th with a home run, his 8th of the season.

Going into the 6th inning, Shane Greene was doing well in his 1st Yankee Stadium start. And he got the 1st 2 outs. Things were looking good.

Then he allowed a single, and then a walk, and then an RBI single.

At this moment, the right thing to do would have been to get somebody warmed up in the bullpen.

The problem was, Girardi had already done that, and he pulled Greene. And brought in Matt Thornton.

Why Girardi pulled Greene, I understand. He might have been tiring. I didn't agree with the decision, but I understand it.

But Thornton? Thornton has not gotten the job done all year. Yes, the next batter up was a lefthanded hitter, but how many times did the lefty-on-lefty matchup burn Girardi when it was Boone Logan who was the lefty out of the pen?

And that next batter? Rougned Odor. No, that's not a misprint: It's pronounced "ROOG-ned OH-dore" -- not "OH-der" like a smell. He's 20 years old, a 2nd baseman from Venezuela, who until last night had 195 major league plate appearances. Any righthanded pitcher should have been able to get himself out.

But Girardi's Binder told him, "Bring in Logan Thornton, or I let general manager Brian Cashman release those embarrassing pictures of you."

Girardi brought in Thornton. Odor singled to left, bringing home the go-ahead run. Thornton allowed another RBI single to Shin-Soo Choo, before Girardi realized, "Holy cow, bringing in Thornton was a mistake. What does my Binder say now?" It said, "Bring in Adam Warren," and Warren stopped the bleeding by striking out Elvis Andrus.

But, speaking of guys named Elvis, we can't go on together with either suspicious minds or Girardi's Binder. Joe, don't be cruel. Mariano Rivera, you were always on my mind.

Rangers 4, Yankees 2. WP: Miles Mikolas (1-2 -- no, I'd never heard of him before, either.) SV: Joakim Soria (17). LP: Greene (2-1, and this loss was very much undeserved, but you can't charge a loss to the manager).

*

But as the old saying goes, it can always get worse. You know what damn fool thing Cashman did today?

He traded Yangervis Solarte! Solarte had gotten off to a great start this season, but stopped hitting, went down to the minors, and was called back up, but then Girardi traded him to the San Diego Padres before he could re-prove himself.

Who did the Yankees get from the Padres for Solarte? Chase Headley.

Who? Chase Headley? Isn't that the actress who plays Cersei Lannister on Game of Thrones? No, that's Lena Headey. Isn't Chase Headley a pitcher we already have? No, that's Chase Whitley. I know, he's the villain from Blazing Saddles! No, that's Hedy Lamarr. "That's Hedley!"

Headley is 30 years old, from Colorado, a switch-hitting 3rd baseman who can also play the outfield. Until now, he's played his entire career in San Diego, since 2007. In 2012, he won a Gold Glove, and led the National League with 112 RBIs -- but talk about an outlier, his next-highest total is 64. He hit 31 home runs that year, otherwise his peak year is 13. And he strikes out more than Mickey Mantle or Reggie Jackson ever did: 73 times already this season, 142 last year.

Seriously: Cashman thought this was a good trade.

His reasoning is that Headley is a defensive upgrade on Solarte. Funny, but he wasn't all that interested in defensive upgrades when he had Eduardo NunE5!

Now, Headley is supposed to be the everyday 3rd baseman -- even though the recently-arrived Zelous Wheeler is doing the business both at bat and in the field.

What the hell is wrong with Cashman? At least with Girardi, we know what the hell is wrong with him: He's too "by the book"!

These guys may both have to go.

Anyway, good luck in San Diego, Yangervis. Chase Headley, I hope you can win games for us, but the way the manager and the GM are going, who knows.

UPDATE: It turned out to be a decent trade. Solarte didn't do much for the Padres, while Headley was rather inconsistent for the Yankees, looking good one game and terrible the next.

Being Greene Is Easier With Runs; Alfredo Di Stéfano, 1926-2014

I hate losing. I especially hate losing in extra innings. The Yankees did both on Friday night, against the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards.

Yet again, the Yankees wasted a nice start by Hiroki Kuroda. He went 7 innings, allowing just 2 runs on 3 hits and (I love these words in connection with a Yankee pitcher) no walks. And Dellin Betances pitched 2 perfect innings. Should have been good enough to win. (And, in Betances' case, to save.)

But the Yankees got only 2 runs. Ex-Oriole Brian Roberts (who was heavily booed) hit a home run in the 2nd inning, his 5th of the season. Kelly Johnson added a home run in the 3rd, his 6th. (Robinson Cano? He has 7.)

But both were solo home runs. Hall of Fame manager Earl Weaver said, "The Oriole Way is pitching, defense, and three-run homers." As in, not just home runs, but with men on base. It must have ticked him off to have Gary Roenicke in his outfield: In 1979, Roenicke's first full season, he hit 25 home runs (quite a feat for someone playing his home games at Baltimore's Memorial Stadium), but only had 64 RBIs. Only 6 of the 25 homers had a man on base, and only 2 had as many as 2 on. Roenicke was nicknamed "Solo." He lasted in the major leagues until 1988, hitting 121 homers, including 3 with the Yankees in 1986.

Miguel Gonzalez otherwise shut the Yankees down. The Bronx "Bombers" were 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position. Yankee RISPfail again.

Joe Girardi sent Adam Warren out to pitch the 10th inning, when he had a choice of who to send in: Either A, leave Betances in, or B, bring in anybody but Warren. Warren pitched to 3 batters: Manny Machado doubled, Ryan Flaherty struck out, and Nick Hundley -- no relation to ex-big league catchers Randy and Todd -- singled Machado home.

Orioles 3, Yankees 2. WP: T.J. McFarland (3-2). No save. LP: Warren (1-5).

*

So the Yankees fell back to .500, at 46-46. They needed a win yesterday. Actually, they need a lot of wins the rest of the way.

Girardi sent rookie Shane Greene to the mound, and while I won't say it was easy being Greene, the kid had very good stuff. He pitched into the 8th inning, allowing no runs on 4 hits and just 2 walks, adding 9 strikeouts.

But, again, you need to give your pitchers some runs. A Mark Teixeira double in the 3rd drove home a run. In the 7th, Derek Jeter singled to drive in Johnson, and advanced to 2nd on the play at the plate. Then Jacoby Ellsbury singled Jeter home.

Given this cushion, the bullpen did the job. Yankees 3, Orioles 0. WP: Greene (2-0). SV: David Robertson (23). LP: Chris Tillman (7-5).

The Yankees close out the symbolic, though not numerical, first half of the season tonight, the Sunday night ESPN game. Chase Whitley starts for the Yankees, Kevin Gausman for the O's.

Then begins the All-Star Break. The All-Star Game will be on Tuesday night, at Target Field in Minneapolis. Derek Jeter will start at shortstop for the American League. Dellin Betances will be available for the bullpen, and Masahiro Tanaka would likely have been the AL's starting pitcher had he not gotten hurt; it's as yet unknown if he will make the trip anyway.

This will be the 3rd time the Minnesota Twins have hosted the game, and in their 3rd different ballpark: Metropolitan Stadium in 1965, and the Metrodome in 1985.

The regular schedule resumes on Friday, with an Interleague series against the Cincinnati Reds.

*

Today is the World Cup Final, between Germany and Argentina. Argentina will be playing in the shadow of perhaps their greatest all-time player having been lost.

Alfredo Stéfano Di Stéfano Laulhé was born on July 4, 1926 in Buenos Aires. Despite being a Spanish-speaking nation, Argentina's largest ethnic group, especially in the largest city and capital of Buenos Aires, is Italian, and Alfredo was in the 2nd generation of Di Stéfanos born there.

In most countries, there are 2 dominant soccer teams. It's usually either teams from the 2 largest cities, or the largest city and the capital (if it's not the same city), or the same dominant city. Although there are many clubs in Argentina with large followings, the 2 biggest are the big Buenos Aires rivals, River Plate and Boca Juniors. In 1943, just 17, Di Stéfano played his 1st senior match, as a forward for River. He won the league title with them in 1945 and 1947, as the leading scorer in 1947. That year, he also helped Argentina with the Copa América, South America's continental trophy for national sides.

In 1949, with Argentina's footballers on strike, he was loaned to Millonarios of Bogotá, Colombia. When the strike ended, he remained with Millonarios, who may have been keeping him illegally, and he remained with them through 1953. They won national championships in 1949, 1951 and 1952, and he was the country's leading scorer in the latter 2 years. Di Stéfano was 27, and the best footballer on his continent.

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Naturally, the 2 biggest Spanish-speaking clubs on the planet -- not yet the 2 biggest clubs of any language -- both wanted him. The way things worked out, both Real Madrid and Barcelona had to deal with both Millionarios and River Plate, the latter claiming that Di Stéfano was legally still their player.

Barça appeared to have the initial edge, because they negotiated with both Millionarios and River. But they hired a Catalan living in Colombia, Joan Busquets, who worked for Millionarios' rivals, Santa Fe, and Millionarios began to balk. Then Barça tried to lowball Millonarios, and they turned down the initial offer. So Barça decided to work only with River, made a deal with them, and flew the Di Stéfano family to Barcelona, where he settled in, and even played a preseason friendly -- illegal by any measure. (And you thought Barça being corrupt was a recent development?)

The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) refused to allow the transfer based on Millonarios' refusal to go along with it. Then Santiago Bernabéu, Real Madrid's president, for whom their stadium would later be named, made a deal with Millonarios. Just before the 1953-54 season began, the RFEF -- which Barça and their fans always claimed in those days was controlled by the fascist allies of Spain's Real fan dictator, Francisco Franco, who hated Catalonia and everything that stood for it, including Barça -- ruled a compromise: Over the next 4 seasons, Di Stéfano would alternate between the teams: Real in 1953-54 and 1955-56, Barça in 1954-55 and 1956-57.

Barça president Marti Carreto resigned in disgrace, and the interim board made a deal with Real, giving them a sum equal to the one they'd given River, in exchange for dropping out. Di Stéfano made his Real debut on September 23, 1953, and the next month, scored 4 in a 5-0 win over Barça.

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The rest is history. Alfredo Di Stéfano, nicknamed El Saeta Rubia -- the Blond Arrow -- became the greatest player for the greatest team in the history of the world's most popular sport. The Number 9 was Spain's leading scorer 5 times. He led them to 8 League titles in 11 seasons. When the European Cup, the tournament now known as the UEFA Champions League (the trophy kept the name "European Cup"), was started in 1955-56, he led them to wins in the 1st 5 tournaments, alongside his fellow Argentine Héctor Rial, France's Raymond Kopa, Hungary's Ferenc Puskás, and Spanish winger Francisco Gento -- now the last survivor of the 1st European Cup winners of 1956, and who would go on to captain Real's 1966 win, making him he only man to win 6 European Cups.

For his efforts, Di Stéfano was awarded the Ballon d'Or, the Golden Ball, as World Player of the Year in 1957 and 1959.

With Real Madrid's 1st 5 European Cups.

The trophy would later be redesigned.

In addition, Real's influence with FIFA, the governing body of world soccer, enabled him to get Spanish citizenship and, even though he'd already played for the national team of Argentina, become eligible for that of Spain. (Under today's rules, that wouldn't happen: No matter how many countries you start out being eligible to play for, once you play a senior match for one, you can play for no other.) Despite the presence of Di Stéfano, Spain did not qualify for the 1958 World Cup. They did qualify in 1962, and that was the only one for which he was selected, but an injury prevented him from ever playing in a World Cup match. By the 1964 European Championships (today, we would call it "Euro 64"), he was nearly 38, and not selected, but Spain won -- their last major tournament win for 44 years.

On a tour of South America in the Summer of 1963, Real Madrid went to Venezuela, and a revolutionary group kidnapped Di Stéfano at gunpoint from the Potomac Hotel in Caracas, in response to Franco's regime having executed Spanish Communist Julián Grimau 4 months earlier. Di Stéfano was released 2 days later, unharmed, and he said he was not mistreated. The next day, he was able to rejoin his teammates in Brazil, and got a standing ovation from the home fans in the match against São Paulo FC.

In 1964, he was sold to Espanyol, the "other club" in Barcelona, more of a slap to Barça than to him. He played 2 more seasons for them, and retired, although he would occasionally play in a charity match.

Alfredo Di Stefano and Bobby Charlton at a charity match

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He went into management, starting with Spanish club Elche CF in 1967. In 1969, he took the helm of River Plate's arch-rivals, Boca Juniors, which must have been a shocking development (though not as shocking as it would have been if he'd been hired by Barcelona). He won the league title with them. 

That led Spanish club Valencia to take him back across the Atlantic, winning La Liga in 1971, but he wasn't nearly as successful with them. He bounced around Spain, plus a stop in Lisbon with Sporting Clube de Portugal, before going back to Valencia, winning the 1980 European Cup Winners' Cup, defeating North London's Arsenal on penalties. Then he went back to to where it all began, winning the 1981 Torneao Nacional with River Plate.

He managed Real Madrid from 1982 to 1984, went back to Boca in 1985, had a 3rd run with Valencia starting in 1986, and managed Real again in the 1990-91 season, before leaving management.

He married Sara Freites in 1950, and they had 6 children; Alfredo, Ignacio, Sofia, Silvana, Helena and Nanette. He remained a consultant with Real Madrid, often being brought back to welcome new superstars, "Galácticos" as the club calls them, such as Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo, David Beckham, Kaká, Ronaldo the Brazilian and Cristiano Ronaldo the Portuguese.

On May 9, 2006, the 12,000-seat  Estadio Alfredo di Stéfano was dedicated in Madrid, with a friendly between Real Madrid and Stade de Reims, a rematch of the 1st European Cup Final in 1956. Real won, 6-1. The stadium now serves as the home of their reserve team, Real Madrid Castilla, and as the big club's main training facility.

Alfredo di Stéfano died of a heart attack in Madrid on July 7, 2014. He was just past his 88th birthday. As is sometimes down with legendary athletes, his coffin was displayed in the team's venue, and thousands viewed him at Estadio Santiago Bernabéu the day after his death. The following day, when Argentina played the Netherlands in the World Cup Semifinal, a minute of silence was held, and the Argentine team wore black armbands.

A friendly is scheduled for next Wednesday, in Bogotá, between Millionarios and River Plate. Apparently, 66 years later, all is forgiven.

UEFA President and Juventus legend Michel Platini said that Di Stéfano "embodied all that is magical about football." Manchester United's icon Bobby Charlton said, "I think Alfredo Di Stéfano was one of the best players I ever came across and an extremely intelligent footballer. He was somebody I really respected, having watched him from the stands at the Bernabéu and then played against him. I have many fond memories of my time with Alfredo and feel privileged to be able to call him a good friend. The footballing world has lost a great player and a great man."

Former Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson, in attendance as a young player at the 1960 European Cup Final at Hampden Park in Glasgow, said, "He had fantastic balance and poise... He had a fantastic life, and I'm proud to have been associated with him in a small way."

Cristiano Ronaldo, the current icon of Real Madrid: "Don Alfredo leaves us, but his memory will last forever in our hearts. Legends never die."

Cristiano and Don Alfredo

Johan Cruijff, who did for Dutch club Ajax what Di Stéfano did for Madrid: "We have lost a good man and a great footballer. RIP, my friend."

Pelé, along with Di Stéfano a contender for the title of greatest player who ever lived, and who once -- perhaps as a swipe at another, Diego Maradona -- called him the greatest player ever from Argentina: "He was a trailblazer, and most of all, he was a legend of the game. God rest his soul."

Whatever an individual fan thinks of Real Madrid, Alfredo Di Stéfano was a man who elevated an entire sport, on 2 continents, and yet never acted like a superstar. He earned the world's admiration, on and off the pitch. It is sad that he has passed just as his country is about to play the World Cup Final.

Or maybe its fitting, as the world, which has already come together for the great tournament, can join as one in tribute.

UPDATE: He was laid to rest in Cementerio de la Almudena in Madrid.

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Hours until the World Cup Final: 1, a 3:00 Eastern Time, between Germany and Argentina, at the Estadio Maracana in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Days until the Red Bulls play again: 3, this Wednesday night, at 7:00 PM, away to the Philadelphia Union, at PPL Park in Chester, Pennsylvania. This will be a "local" rivalry, known in soccer as a "derby" (and that's pronounced DAR-bee, not DUR-bee). Last night, at home at Red Bull Arena, the Red Bulls beat the Columbus Crew, 4-1.

Days until the Red Bulls next play a "derby": See the previous answer.

Days until Arsenal play again: Officially, not until the new season starts in August. Unofficially, it's this, and I'm just busting about it:

Days until the Arsenal-Red Bulls match at Red Bull Arena: 13, on Saturday, July 26. Under 2 weeks. Just 5 days after that, Red Bull Arena will also host Bayern Munich, perennially and again Champions of Germany, vs. C.D. Chivas of Guadalajara, perhaps the most legendary club of Mexico.

Days until the next Yankees-Red Sox series begins: 19, on Friday night, August 1, at 7:00 PM, at Fenway Park. Under 3 weeks.
Days until the 2014-15 Premier League season begins: 34, on Saturday, August 16, with Arsenal at home to Southeast London club Crystal Palace. Just 5 weeks.

Days until Rutgers plays football again: 46, on Thursday, August 28, away to Washington State, at CenturyLink Field, home of the NFL Champion Seattle Seahawks. (It had been listed as August 30, but was moved up.) Under 7 weeks.

Days until the U.S. national soccer team plays again: 52, on Wednesday, September 3, a friendly, away to the Czech Republic in Prague. The Czechs have given the U.S. trouble before, including a 3-0 humiliation at the 2006 World Cup. But things are different now. There's also discussions about playing Ireland away later in the year.

Days until East Brunswick High School plays football again: 53, on Thursday, September 4, home to Woodbridge. Under 8 weeks. It's on a Thursday night, rather than a Friday night, because of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.
Days until Rutgers makes its Big Ten Conference debut: 62, on Saturday, September 13, at 8:00 PM, against old enemy Penn State. Exactly 2 months.

Days until Derek Jeter's last regular-season home game (barring injury): 74, on Thursday, September 25, against the Baltimore Orioles. A little over 10 weeks.

Days until the next North London Derby between Arsenal and Tottenham: 76, on Saturday, September 27, at the Emirates Stadium.

Days until Derek Jeter's last regular-season game (barring injury): 77, on Sunday, September 28, against the Red Sox at Fenway Park. Exactly 11 weeks.

Days until the Devils play again: 88. They open on Thursday, October 9, away to the Philadelphia Flyers. Under 13 weeks. They once again get screwed by Commissioner Gary Bettman and his schedulemakers, this time having to play 4 road games before their home opener, on Saturday, October 18, at 7:00 PM, vs. the San Jose Sharks.

Days until the Devils play another local rival: See the previous answer. The first game against The Scum is Tuesday night, October 21, at the Prudential Center. The first game against the Islanders is Saturday night, November 29, at the Nassau Coliseum. The Devils' last trip to Uniondale, before the Isles move to Brooklyn, is Monday night, December 15.

Days until Game 7 of the 2014 World Series -- the absolute latest you can ever again see Derek Jeter in a competitive game: 108, on Wednesday, October 29. A little over 3 months, and no more Jeter -- not as an active player, anyway.

Days until the next East Brunswick vs. Old Bridge Thanksgiving game: 137, on Thursday morning, November 27, at 10:00 AM. A little over 4 months.

Days until New York City FC make their Major League Soccer debut: Unknown, but a new MLS season usually begins on the 2nd Saturday in March, which would be March 14, 2015. That's 244 days. Just 8 months. Whether it will be a home game, and thus at the new Yankee Stadium, is yet to be determined.

Days until Alex Rodriguez is eligible to play for the Yankees again: 262 -- presuming, that is, that 2015's Opening Day is on April 1, and wouldn't it just work out that way, that A-Rod is again allowed to play a regular-season game for the Yankees on April Fool's Day? Anyway, that's a little over 8 months.

Days until the New York Islanders' last game at the Nassau Coliseum: 272, on April 11, 2015, at 7:00 PM, against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Under 9 months.

Days until the Islanders' first home game at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn: Unknown, but an NHL regular season usually begins on the 1st Friday in October, which would be October 2, 2015. That's 447 days. That's under 15 months. Or, to put it another way, "447 Sleeps Till Brooklyn." Until then, even with their 4 straight long-ago Stanley Cups, they're just a Small Club In Hempstead.

Days until Euro 2016 begins in France: 699, on Friday, June 10. Under 2 years.

Days until the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: 756, on Friday, August 5. A little over 2 years.

Days until the next World Cup begins in Russia: 1,429, on Friday June 8, 2018. Under 4 years.