James Paxton started for the Yankees against the Toronto Blue Jays, and he got shelled. He allowed 5 runs in the 1st 2 innings, and we all thought the game was over. And you know what they say: A flight is a lot longer after a loss than it is after a win. And this would be the Yankees' longest flight ever, with the exception of their 2004 trip to Japan.
However, keeping with the British theme, as Lawrence Peter, 1st Baron Berra, taught us, 'Tis not over till 'tis over. The Yankees scored 3 runs in the bottom of the 2nd, 1 of them on a home run by Didi Gregorius. A 2-run homer by DJ LeMahieu tied the game 5-5 in the 4th. As they say in English soccer, "Five-nil, and they fucked it up!"
Aaron Boone kept Paxton in the game until the 5th, an inning in which the teams exchanged single runs. A Luke Voit single in the 6th gave the Yankees the lead, 7-6.
That score held until the top of the 9th, but that inning almost turned into one of the sloppiest in recent Yankee history. Zack Britton -- not spelled the same way as the country -- was sent in to pitch, and he allowed a leadoff single to Danny Jansen. Billy McKinney was sent in to pinch-run for him, and advance to 2nd on a passed ball by Gary Sanchez. Then Cavan Biggio, son of Hall-of-Famer Craig, singled him home.
After being down 5-0 and up 7-6, it was now a tie game in the 9th, and the Yankees were far from out of the woods.
Up came another son of a Hall-of-Famer, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. He grounded to 2nd, and Gleyber Torres had the right thought, starting a double play. But a bad throw meant that everybody was safe.
Lourdes Guerriel grounded to short, and Didi was able to start a double play, but Biggio got to 3rd with the tying run. Fortunately, Britton was able to get Randal Grichuk to ground to 2nd, and, this time, Torres made a good throw.
That set up the bottom of the 9th. Nick Kingham was pitching for the Jays. He got Edwin Encarnacion to pop up to 1st. But Didi hit a dribbler that Kingham couldn't get to in time, and beat out an infield single. Aaron Hicks worked Kingham for a walk. Torres had a chance to redeem himself, and he did, singling to right center, allowing Didi to score.
Yankees 8, Blue Jays 7. WP: Britton (not that he deserved it, 3-1). No save. LP: Kingham (2-1).
*
Yesterday afternoon, like the Yankees, the Boston Red Sox blew a 9th inning lead, in their case to the Chicago White Sox. Unlike the Yankees, they fell behind. Unlike the Yankees, they couldn't win the game in the bottom of the 9th, or tie it and send it to extra innings.
But the Tampa Bay Rays, the team actually in 2nd place in the American League Eastern Division, won. Today, while I was typing this, the Tampa Bay Rays and the Minnesota Twins were in deep extra innings, but the Rays finally won the game in the 18th inning.
This means that, going into the Yankees-Red Sox series in London, the Yankees are in 1st place in the AL East, 6 1/2 games ahead of the Rays, and 9 ahead of the Red Sox. In the all-important loss column, the Rays are 7 back, and The Scum 10 back.
The teams have arrived in London. The Saturday game will be broadcast on Fox, and first pitch is scheduled for 1:10 PM our time, with Masahiro Tanaka starting against Rick Porcello. On Sunday, on ESPN, at 10:10 AM, the Red Sox will start Eduardo Rodriguez, while the Yankees are currently undecided, and it's looking like they'll use the "opener" format, possibly with Chad Green.
With a re-aggravation of his injury, Giancarlo Stanton is probably out until August. That's fine with me, the Yankees have gotten this far almost entirely without him.
The MLB All-Star Game will be held at Progressive Field in Cleveland on Tuesday night, July 9. The starting infielders have been selected, including Yankees Sanchez and LeMahieu. The starting outfielders, reserves, and pitchers are yet to be announced.
Personally, I don't care how many Yankees are going to the All-Star Game. I only care about whether 25 Yankees are going to the World Series.
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