COVID 19, Yankees 1

Ordinarily, taking 2 out of 3 on the road is considered a good thing, especially against a contemptible organization like the Tampa Bay Rays. Especially when you take the 1st 2 games, as the Yankees did this time. It takes a lot of the pressure off the 3rd game, which sometimes works against you.

But yesterday was not a good day for the Yankees. We already knew that 7 people traveling with the team, including 2 coaches, had tested positive for COVID-19. Then, yesterday, we found out that Gleyber Torres had also tested positive.

He already got it in the off-season. And pretty much everybody in the Yankee organization has been vaccinated. So, in these cases, the vaccine failed.

The Yankees were given the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, the one for which you only need one administration. For the Pfizer and the Moderna, you need two. The J&J vaccine has, thus far, proven about 66 percent (2/3rds) effective, while the other 2 are around 95 percent effective. I'm glad I got the Moderna. (The 1st one, anyway. I will have the 2nd in 2 weeks.)

For those of you who look to sports for omens, good and bad, let the record show that the Johnson family that owns and operates J&J also owns and operates the New York Jets.

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So the Yankees went into the series finale at Tropicana Field with  lineup of DJ LeMahieu at 2nd base, Giancarlo Stanton as DH, Aaron Judge in right field, Gio Urshela at shortstop, Gary Sanchez catching, Mike Ford at 1st base, Clint Frazier in left field, Miguel Andujar at 3rd base, and Brett Gardner in center field, with Jameson Taillon pitching.

5th in the order: Sanchez is batting .197, on-base percentage .351, slugging percentage .382. 6th: Ford, .095/.240/.238. 7th: Frazier, .141/.282/.283.

How did Sanchez and Ford respond to this confidence? How did Frazier respond to this insult? Each of the 3 drew a walk, and Sanchez got 2 hits, 1 of them a double. Other than that, the only Yankee baserunners were Judge with a double, Stanton and Urshela with singles, and Gardner with a walk. The team scored just 1 run, in the top of the 9th, when, with the bases loaded and nobody out, Frazier grounded into a double play. You don't get credit for a run batted in when you ground into a double play and a runner scores anyway.

The pitching didn't get the job done, either: Taillon allowed 4 runs, and didn't get out of the 5th inning. Michael King allowed 3 runs, Justin Wilson 2. The Yankees did strike out 16 batters, thought: Taillon 9, King 6, Wilson 1.

That doesn't matter. Getting outs matters, how doesn't. The Yankees didn't get outs quickly enough, and made them in the wrong places. Rays 9, Yankees 1. WP: Rich Hill (2-1). No save. LP: Taillon (1-3).

One bit of humor: I discovered that Rays fans like to call Rich Hill "Dick Mountain." Some mountain: His career record is 69-45, with a 3.81 ERA. At the age of 41, a starting pitcher should have more than 69 wins. (This is his 17th season: He's been mostly or entirely a starter in 9, a reliever in 8. He has more career shutouts, 2, than saves, 0.) He's also a former Yankee, pitching 14 times, all in relief, in 2014, with no decisions and a 1.69 ERA.

The Yankees now move on to Baltimore, a good place to get your hitting groove back. Here are the projected starting pitchers:

* Tonight, 7:05: Corey Kluber for the Yankees, Dean Kremer for the Orioles.

* Tomorrow, 7:05: Domingo German vs. Jorge Lopez.

* Sunday, 1:05: Jordan Montgomery vs. recent no-hitter tosser John Means.