Jameson Taillon started the Saturday afternoon game, and he was insanely bad. He pitched to 7 batters, allowing single, single, bases-loading single, 2-RBI single, bases-loading walk, RBI sacrifice fly, RBI single.
It was 4-0 when Aaron Boone put him out of his misery, and replaced him with Nestor Cortes, who allowed another single, but then got 2 strikeouts to stop the bleeding.
The Yankees took 2 runs back in the top of the 2nd, on a home run by Gary Sanchez, a single by Miguel Andujar and a triple by Brett Gardner.
Given that CBP is as much of a homer haven as Yankee Stadium II is, there was now plenty of reason to hope -- if, that is, Cortes could give the Yankees the "start" that Taillon couldn't.
He almost did. He got through the 2nd and the 3rd without allowing a run, and gave up just 1 in the 4th. A 5-2 deficit shouldn't have seemed hard to overcome.
But Boone brought Luis Cessa in to pitch the 5th inning. Never bring Luis Cessa in to pitch the 5th inning.
Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. Cessa allowed walk, single, RBI single, RBI double, and, just like that, it was 7-2 Philadelphia, and it looked like game over.
A homer by Rougned Odor in the top of the 6th seemed like a pointless tease. But an RBI single by Sanchez in the 8th made the game interesting again.
And then, in the top of the 9th, Gardner and Tyler Wade drew walks, and DJ LeMahieu hit one out to tie the ballgame! 7-7!
But Aaron Judge and Gleyber Torres then struck out. This failure to get an 8th run meant that the Yankees would have to hold the Phillies off in the bottom of the 9th, and then go with extra innings and the ridiculous ghost runner rule. Chad Green had kept the Phils from scoring in the 8th, and did so again in the 9th.
The "Aristophanes Rule" (I've named it that because it's ridiculous) almost requires you to start an extra inning by trying to bunt the runner on 2nd over, and Gio Urshela couldn't do that in the top of the 10th, as he was thrown out by the Phillies' catcher, J.T. Realmuto, and Torres couldn't advance.
Then Sanchez struck out. And, since this was an Interleague game in a National League park, there was no designated hitter, and the pitcher's spot in the batting order was up. Boone sent Kyle Higashioka up to bat for Green, and he struck out, too.
Boone brought Aroldis Chapman in. Having been near-perfect over the season's 1st 2 months, he has been awful lately, and this game was no exception: Error on the bunt, foul popup, RBI single.
Phillies 8, Yankees 7. WP: Archie Bradley (2-1). No save. LP: Chapman (4-2).
After the LeMahieu homer, somebody tweeted, asking where were all the Yankee Fans who had turned off their TV sets. Just half an hour later,, I wrote back, "On Twitter," telling you they told you so.
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There would be no drama in the Sunday afternoon game. Domingo German saw to that, allowing 1 run in the 1st inning and 3 in the 3rd, and set up the allowing of 3 more in the 5th.
And Aaron Nola saw to it as well. He pitched 7 2/3rds innings, allowing only a walk to Clint Frazier in the 3rd, a single by LeMahieu to end the no-hit bid in the 6th, a double by Odor in the 7th, and a fielder's choice by Urshela right afterward (on which Odor violated one of those "unwritten rules of baseball," that you never make the 1st out of an inning at 3rd base). A Torres double in the 9th turned out to be meaningless.
Phillies 7, Yankees 0. WP: Nola (5-4). No save. LP: German (4-4).
Joe Girardi, who managed the Yankees from 2008 to 2017, is now the Phillies' manager. After a loss a few years back, he famously said, "It's not what you want." That's become a catchphrase among Yankee Fans. So has what Boone sometimes says: "It is what it is."
This time, with the Yankees 33-32, on pace to go 82-80, having lost 11 of their 1st 17 and now 11 of their last 15, Boone says he is "very concerned... but we've got to find a way to get better."
Very concerned. Like he's the Susan Collins of baseball. Well, Brian Cashman hasn't learned his lesson.
The Yankees now head to Buffalo, COVID-restrictions-induced temporary home of those pesky Toronto Blue Jays.
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