"Triple-A" Yankees Reclaim Their Throne: 1st Place

Clint Frazier on the Iron Throne,

wearing the T-shirt given away at last night's game

The Yankees began another showdown with the 1st place Tampa Bay Rays last night. It was Game of Thrones Night, in honor of the pop-culture phenomenon whose last first-run episode airs on HBO this Sunday night. A replica of the show's Iron Throne was placed on the Yankee Stadium concourse, and commemorative T-shirts were given away to all adult fans.

The irony is, series creator George R.R. Martin is a Mets fan. Which explains why so many of his characters die horribly, get disfigured, or go mad -- or some combination thereof. Forget "You gotta believe": Happy endings are not his style.

They are the Yankees' style. At least, they're supposed to be. Valar Defeatus. High Valyrian for "All men must lose." Well, what do we say to the God of Defeat? "Not today."

Carsten of House Sabathia, second of his name (CC's full name is Carsten Charles Sabathia Jr.), the Well-Fed, Paw of the South, Fanner of the Three Thousand, started for the Yankees. He went 6 innings, allowing 1 run on 6 hits and 2 walks. Ordinarily, that would be enough to win, especially against the Rays, with their "no starter" philosophy.

Kendrys Morales gave CC a 1-0 lead with a home run in the 2nd inning, but the Rays tied it in the 4th. It was still 1-1 going into the 7th, when Aaron Boone brought Adam Ottavino in to pitch. He got the 1st 2 outs, but then walked a batter, and Boone brought in Tommy Kahnle. He allowed a hit, before getting a strikeout to end the threat.

There was no need to relieve CC: He had thrown only 84 pitches. And when Boone sent Chad Green out to pitch the top of the 8th, he allowed 2 runs, on 2 doubles, a single and an error by Gleyber Torres. "The night is dark, and full of errors." It was 3-1 Rays, and then came a rain delay. If the game were called, the score would revert to what it was at the end of the last inning: 1-1.

The game was resumed, and the Yankees went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 8th. Jonathan Holder pitched a perfect 9th, and Jose Alvarado came out to close down the win for the Rays.

But the 1st batter he faced was Luke Voit, and he hung a slider to him. Voit hung it over the fence. 3-2. Gary Sanchez singled. Thairo Estrada was brought in to pinch-run for him: Boone was either going for the win, or trusting Austin Romine to both bat and catch from the 10th inning onward. (Gulp.)

Morales struck out. But Torres made up for his earlier error with a double, getting Estrada to 3rd. Now, I ask you: What was the point of bringing in a pinch-runner, if he wasn't going to be able to score on a double? Clint Frazier was intentionally walked, to set up a play at any base.

Cameron Maybin was the batter, and Alvarado threw a wild pitch that got Estrada home. Tie ballgame. Maybin grounded to 3rd, and the force play was made at home plate. The Yankees now had the tying run, Frazier, on 3rd, and the winning run, Maybin, on 1st, but were down to their last out, and a sacrifice fly would no longer be sufficient.

The batter was 3rd base find Gio Urshela. Following Maybin, whose run meant nothing, stealing 2nd on defensive indifference, maybe the right call would have been another intentional walk, setting up a play at any base, and pitching to DJ LeMahieu, who was already 0-for-4.

The Rays didn't do that. They pitched to Urshela. Big mistake: He ripped a drive to right-center. Frazier scored easily. Ballgame. Yankees 4, Rays 3. WP: Holder (3-1). No save. LP: Jose Alvarado (0-3).

With the win, the Yankees are now 27-16, in 1st place in the American League Eastern Division, half a game ahead of the Rays, even in the all-important loss column.

This bunch of "Triple-A" Yankees are a lot like Arya Stark (played by Maisie Williams on the show): They may not be big, and they may not be the hero we expected -- "the princes that were promised" -- but they are getting the job done, slaying the enemies, exacting the revenge. And, like Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) did last Sunday, we have taken what is ours -- not with fire and blood, but with leather and wood.

The South Bronx remembers. So bend the knee, Tampa Bay.

The series continues this afternoon. Masahiro Tanaka starts against Blake Snell. Hopefully, Winning is coming. Brace yourselves!