The Yankees managed to salvage the finale of their series away to the Toronto Blue Jays last night. The bottom of the 2nd inning was key. After 2 nights of "taketh away" with his bat, reminding us of his Hall of Fame father, Toronto 3rd baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. managed to "giveth" back. With 2 outs in the inning, and the Yankees not looking like they would get anything going against winless starter Edwin Jackson, Guerrero made a throwing error that allowed Thairo Estrada to reach 1st base.
This was a huge break, and the Yankees took advantage of it. Cameron Maybin singled. DJ LeMahieu doubled Estrada home. And Aaron Hicks hit a 3-run home run, to make it 4-0 to the Bronx Bombers.
Gio Urshela led off the top of the 5th with a home run. The Yankees got another run on a single by Maybin and another double by LeMahieu.
They got the pitching they needed, mostly from starter J.A. Happ, who went 7 innings, allowed 1 run on 4 hits and no walks, striking out 4. Chad Green allowed a run in the 8th, turning the 9th into a save situation for Aroldis Chapman, but he pitched a perfect inning to nail it down.
Yankees 6, Blue Jays 2. WP: Happ (6-3). SV: Chapman (18). LP: Jackson (0-4).
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So, 61 games into the 162-game season, despite injuries whose quantity and level of players stricken would render most teams already out of the Playoff hunt, the Yankees are in 1st place in the American League Eastern Division, a game and a half ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays, with the Boston Red Sox 6 1/2 back. In the loss column, it's Tampa 1, Boston 7.
If the current standings turned out to be the final standings, the Yankees would have their 1st Division title in 7 years, and avoid the treacherous Wild Card Game, but would not have home field advantage in the AL Division Series: The seeds would be:
1. Houston Astros
2. Minnesota Twins
3. New York Yankees
4. Tampa Bay Rays
5. Texas Rangers
And, in the National League:
1. Los Angeles Dodgers
2. Philadelphia Phillies
3. Chicago Cubs
4. Milwaukee Brewers
5. Atlanta Braves.
Of course, things change. Players get hurt. Players drop off. Players who aren't doing well start to do well. And acquisitions get made.
The Cubs have bolstered their bullpen by signing former Braves and Red Sox closer Craig Kimbrel. With the NL Central being probably the best division in the majors this season, this could be a huge pickup for them.
And the Braves may have made an even bigger pickup, by signing Dallas Keuchel, the former Astros pitcher who won the 2015 AL Wild Card game by shutting the Yankees out, and was also a major factor in their beating the Yankees for the 2017 Pennant before winning the World Series.
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman could have signed Keuchel anytime he wanted once the free agency period began, but chose not to, first because he was unwilling to give up a draft pick; then, after this week's MLB draft, apparently because he was not willing to offer $1 million more, and the Braves were.
This is so fucking stupid. If you're the New York Yankees, you have $1 million to spare. The fact that Cashman was not willing to give Keuchel that much more money shows that he is more concerned about money than about winning.
The old George Steinbrenner would have fired him for this dithering. Then again, the old George would have fired Cashman years ago, for continual incompetence.
At any rate, the Yankees move on to Cleveland, and have activated Didi Gregorius from the injured list. He is expected to be in the starting lineup tonight. Here are the projected starting pitchers:
* Tonight, 7:10: Domingo German vs. Zach Plesac. He's a rookie, and the nephew of Dan Plesac, former All-Star reliever for the Brewers, now an analyst on MLB Network.
* Tomorrow, 4:10 (on Fox Sports 1): CC Sabathia vs. Adam Plutko. The Big Fella makes his 3rd attempt at his 250th career win against his 1st major league team.
* Sunday, 1:10: Masahiro Tanaka vs. Shane Bieber. No, that's not Justin's brother.
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