Boone Trusts Cessa vs. Red Sox, Yankees Lose

After winning the 1st 2 games of their home weekend series with the Boston Red Sox, the finale did not go so well for the Yankees. Unlike in the 1st 2 games, they were unable to overcome an early 1-0 deficit, and it mattered.

CC Sabathia went for his 250th career win. He went 6 innings, allowing 3 runs (including 2 home runs) on 7 hits, but no walks, and 8 strikeouts. He threw only 83 pitches, but his bad knee was a justifiable reason to take him out.

Except manager Aaron Boone put Luis Cessa in to begin the 7th.

The ghost of Yogi Berra demands an explanation for this bullshit.

The disaster that followed wasn't all Cessa's fault. Nevertheless, Cliche Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. Cessa walked Christian Vazquez. He got Michael Chavis to ground into a force play.

Up came Eduardo Nunez, the perpetrator of many an error while a Yankee infielder. This time, he became the beneficiary of a Yankee error: He singled to right, and, as M*A*S*H's Colonel Sherman T. Potter (Harry Morgan) would say, Clint Frazier handle it with all the efficiency of a one-legged man at a butt-kicking contest. Chavis scored, and Nunez got all the way to 3rd base.

Brock Holt singled home Nunez. Cessa got Mookie Betts to pop up, but Andrew Benintendi drove Holt home, before Cessa got J.D. Martinez (who had homered earlier to ground out.

For reasons known only to Boone, and perhaps to someone with a Ph.D. in abnormal psychology, Boone sent Cessa back out to start the 8th. He gave up a double to Xander Bogaerts (who had homered earlier) and an RBI single to Rafael Devers, before Boone finally realized that enough was well past enough, and took Cessa out for David Hale. Hale got Vazquez to ground out, but allowed a triple by Chavis, scoring Devers with a run that was charged to Cessa.

Ordinarily, 5 runs would be enough to win. The Yankees scored twice in the 4th, including a home run by Luke Voit. And they got 3 runs in the 8th. Had Boone let CC start the 7th, would that big inning have happened? Maybe not, and that might have made the difference.

Instead, well, I don't blame Boone for going easy with CC. But why Cessa? He can't freakin' pitch at the major league level!

Red Sox 8, Yankees 5. WP: David Price (3-2), SV: Brandon Workman (2). LP: Sabathia (3-2).

*

So here's where things stand, 9 weeks into the 26-week Major League Baseball regular season:

* The Yankees are 38-20, putting them in 1st place in the American League Eastern Division, by 2 1/2 games ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays, 8 1/2 ahead of the Red Sox, 17 1/2 ahead of the Toronto Blue Jays, and 20 1/2 ahead of the Baltimore Orioles. In the all-important loss column, they're 2 ahead of the Rays, 9 ahead of the Sox, 18 ahead of the Jays, and 21 ahead of the O's.

* The Minnesota Twins have the biggest lead in the majors, 11 1/2 games ahead of both the Chicago White Sox and the Cleveland Indians in the AL Central.

* The Houston Astros lead the Texas Rangers by 8 1/2 in the AL West.

* The Philadelphia Phillies lead the National League East by 1 game over the Atlanta Braves, 5 ahead of the Mets (28-31), 7 ahead of the Washington Nationals, and 11 ahead of the Miami Marlins.

* In contrast to the other Divisions, the NL Central is tight: The Milwaukee Brewers lead the Chicago Cubs by a game and a half, the St. Louis Cardinals by 3, the Pittsburgh Pirates by 5, and the Cincinnati Reds by only 6 1/2.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers lead the NL West by 9 games over the Colorado Rockies.

* The Rays and the Rangers currently stand to be the AL's Wild Card teams; the NL's, the Cubs and the Braves.

* If the current standings hold until the end of the season, the Yankees would face the Astros in the AL Division Series, with the Astros having home-field advantage.

The Yankees have tonight off. Tomorrow, they begin a roadtrip, 3 games each in Toronto and Cleveland, before coming home for 2 Citi Series games against the Mets.

By that point, some of the guys on the Injured List may be back -- and, with today being the MLB Draft, the biggest stumbling block to general manager Brian Cashman (or anyone else, for that matter) signing free agent pitcher Dallas Keuchel will be gone. So if Cashman does sign Keuchel in the next few days, it's evidence that his stans are right, that he is a genius. If someone else signs Keuchel -- especially his most recent team, the Astros -- then he's what I suspect he is, an idiot.

Stay tuned.