There Was One Germán "Bomber" On the Mound

"Pitching is 75 percent of baseball." -- Connie Mack
"Connie Mack lied." -- Billy Martin

I don't know for sure that Mack originated that saying. I do know that Billy was told Mack had originated it, and that he was told this in 1985, when the Yankees were challenging those pesky Toronto Blue Jays for the American League Eastern Division title, and the Yankees were one good starting pitcher short, producing Billy's response. The Yankees ended up losing to the Jays by 2 games.

From 1985 to 1993, the Jays won 5 American League Eastern Division titles (and probably should have won at least 1, possibly 3, more), and the 1992 and 1993 World Series; while the Yankees had close calls for the AL East title in 1985, '86, '87, '88 and '93, but won nothing, including losing the Division to the Jays in '85 and '93.

Since then, though, the Yankees have reached the postseason 20 times, winning the Division 14 times, the Pennant 7 times, and the World Series 5 times; while the Jays have reached the postseason twice, in 2015 and 2016; won the Division once, in 2016; and are still looking for their 1st Pennant since Joe Carter touched 'em all in 1993.

The secret to each team's success -- and failure? Having enough pitching -- or not.

With the Yankees' rotation this season struck by several injuries, the emergence of Domingo Germán has been huge. Last night, in the 2nd-half lid-lifter and the opening of a 3-game Yanks-Jays series at Yankee Stadium II, he went 6 innings, allowing no runs on 3 hits and no walks, striking out 7 -- right in the "You can't ask for much more than this" file.

To the tune of "She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain," English soccer fans, when England plays Germany, sing a song referencing World War II:

There were 10 German Bombers in the air.
There were 10 German Bombers in the air.
There were 10 German Bombers
10 German Bombers
10 German Bombers in the air.

And the RAF of England shot one down.
And the RAF of England shot one down.
And the RAF of England
RAF of England
RAF of England shot one down.

There were 9 German Bombers in the air...

And so on, until there's no German Bombers. Forgetting, of course, that it was the Royal Air Force of the United Kingdom, not just England, which has about 82 percent of the population of the country. The RAF had Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish pilots in it, too -- not to mention exiles from Nazi-occupied nations such as France and Poland, and even a few Americans who volunteered to enter the war, even when their country wouldn't, as yet. They wouldn't have survived as a nation long enough for the U.S. to get in without those other pilots, including those other British pilots and the foreign pilots.

Well, there was one Germán Bomber on the mound -- a Bronx Bomber, albeit a pitcher, and that's pronounced Hair-MON, the Spanish way, not JER-man. And he "shot the Blue Jays down."

He only threw 78 pitches, and Tommy Kahnle only threw 10 pitches in getting through the 7th inning without a run, so Germán probably could have done that, too. It's due to his recent injury that Aaron Boone didn't risk him any further, and the bullpen did get the job done, so, this time, taking a cruising starter out so soon wasn't a big problem.

Perhaps even more encouraging was Chad Green, who pitched the 8th and the 9th, throwing just 29 pitches, and allowing only 1 baserunner. He'd been fine pitching the 1st 2 innings of games, but shaky as a reliever. The fact that he could come into this game without a large lead, and give none of it up, was a good sign.

For the 1st 4 innings, Aaron Sanchez was equal to the task, holding the Yankees scoreless. In fact, the 5th inning was the only one in which the Yankees scored. But, as occasionally happens to the Yankees, the Jays were struck by "onebadinningitis." Brett Gardner led off with a triple. DJ LeMahieu got him home with a groundout. Aaron Judge singled, Aaron Hicks doubled, Gary Sanchez was hit by a pitch to load the bases with just 1 out, and Edwin Encarnacion hit one to the wall in left-center, a double that cleared the bases.

That was it, but it was enough. Yankees 4, Blue Jays 0. WP: Germán (11-2). No save. LP: Sanchez (3-13).

The Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox also won last night, so the Yankees remain 6 1/2 games ahead of the former and 9 ahead of the latter.

The series continues this afternoon, which happens to be LeMahieu's 31st birthday. (It's easy to forget he's not one of the "Baby Bombers": He's been in the majors since 2011, and was a 2-time All-Star, a 3-time Gold Glove, and a 2016 National League batting champion for the Colorado Rockies.) It will also be Luke Voit's return from the Injured List. As Phoebe Buffay (Lisa Kudrow on Friends) would say, "Which means yay!" J.A. Happ will start against his former team, against Clayton Richard.