When you're a soccer fan, and your team takes a 1-0 (said as "one-nil") lead into stoppage time, it can be nerve-wracking. But it's understandable, since the sport is more defense-oriented, and goals usually don't come easy. The great Italian sportswriter Gianni Brera, writing in the 1960s, the height of the defensive strategy known as catenaccio (Italian for "padlock"), said that the perfect soccer game would end 0-0.
When you're a baseball fan, and your team takes a 1-0 (said as "one-nothing") lead into the 9th inning, it can be even more nerve-wracking, since you expect higher scores. Yesterday, the Chicago White Sox beat the Minnesota Twins 13-8, and 3 other teams, including the Mets in a 7-1 win over the Baltimore Orioles, scored at least 7.
Yesterday, first my soccer team, then my baseball team, won their games 1-0, and each on the road, no less. Both were very nerve-wracking.
Arsenal, with only a slim chance at European qualification for next season to play for, went across London to play Chelsea, and received an early gift: A horrible backpass from Jorginho (a Brazilian but now a citizen of Italy) that goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga (a Basque from Spain) just barely kept from going over the goal line and into the net, but whose rebound Arsenal's English midfielder Emile Smith Rowe was able to put away.
Arsenal held on for the win, their 1st at Stamford Bridge in 8 years, the game ending with that most-storied -- or, at least, most-sung -- of scorelines, One-nil to The Arsenal.
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The Yankees wouldn't be able to rely on luck in the 2nd game of a 3-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg. They got into a pitcher's duel between their own Gerrit Cole and the Rays' staff. The Rays went with the "bullpen game"/"opener" strategy, with 5 guys (and no good burgers or fries), the longest-lasting of whom went 3 1/3rd innings.
Baserunners were at a premium. Aaron Judge led off the bottom of the 7th with a single. Gio Urshela doubled, but Judge had to stop at 3rd. Luke Voit grounded to 3rd, and Judge had to hold. But Aaron Hicks hit a fly ball to center field, and that was enough to score Judge.
Other than that, the only Yankee baserunners were a walk by Voit in the 2nd, singles by Judge and Urshela in the 4th, a single by Tyler Wade in the 8th, and a single by Judge in the 9th.
But Cole was up to the task. As they would sing if the Yankees were a soccer team, "One run! He only needs one run! He only needs one run! He only needs one run!" He pitched 8 innings. He allowed no runs, on 4 hits, no walks, 12 strikeouts.
In my viewing experience, I have seen only 2 previous seasons by a Yankee starting pitcher that can match this: Ron Guidry in 1978, 25-3, 27-3 counting the postseason, a 1.74 ERA, and 248 strikeouts, a single-season Yankee record that still stands, but Cole is putting himself in position to break this season; and Roger Clemens in 2001, when he started 20-1 before dropping to 20-3 (21-4 counting the postseason).
And instead of moaning that his hitters don't give him enough runs, like Met fans do with Jacob deGrom, we get to watch Cole be good enough to only need 1 run. One-nil to the Bronx Bombers. (I could have said "the Pinstripe Boys," but we're on the road.)
Yankees 1, Rays 0. WP: Cole (5-1). SV: Aroldis Chapman (9). LP: Ryan Thompson (2-2 -- no relation to the former Met and Yankee outfielder of the same name). So that's no worse than 2 out of 3 against the Strays.
And with the Boston Red Sox losing to the Oakland Athletics 4-1 at Fenway Park last night, the Yankees are now just half a game behind The Scum in the American League Eastern Division -- tied in the all-important loss column.
The series with the Rays concludes tonight. Jameson Taillon starts for us, Rich Hill for them.
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