For those of us who are Yankee Fans, and are old enough to remember the Playoff meetings of 1976, 1977, 1978 and 1980, we hate the Kansas City Royals, and have treated every win over them in a seemingly meaningless game as a great win.
So having beaten them in last season's Playoffs felt great. So did a sweep of them this week.
Carlos Carrasco started on Monday night, and he was terrific, going 5 innings, and allowing 1 run on 1 hit and 2 walks, striking out 4. Had it not been so early in the season, Aaron Boone -- or Brian Cashman -- probably would have let him go beyond 79 pitches, 49 of which were strikes.
The Yankees got solo home runs from Jazz Chisholm in the 4th inning, and 3 in the 5th inning: From Trent Grisham, Ben Rice and Austin Wells. Between them, Fernando Cruz, Tim Hill, Luke Weaver and Devin Williams pitched 4 shutout relief innings. It should not take 5 Yankee pitchers to hold the Royals to 1 run on 2 hits and 4 walks, but I can't argue with the results. Yankees 4, Royals 1.
Max Fried started on Tuesday night. So far, it's been the best start by a Yankee pitcher this season: 6 2/3rds innings, 2 runs on 5 hits and 2 walks, striking out 7. Weaver and Williams were perfect the rest of the way.
The Yankees only got 6 hits themselves. But 3 of them were from Jasson Domínguez. And, Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you. Aaron Judge led off the bottom of the 6th with a single. After Cody Bellinger and Paul Goldschmidt struck out, Chisholm and Anthony Volpe drew walks to load the bases, and Wells drew another to force a run home. Then Domínguez cleared the bases with a 3-run double. Yankees 4, Royals 2.
Clarke Schmidt came off the Injured List -- and Marcus Stroman went on, but it's still a net gain, because Stroman is awful -- and was a bit shaky last night. He went 5 2/3rds, allowing 3 runs on 4 hits and 2 walks. But Leiter finished the 6th and pitdhed the 7th, allowing no baserunners. Cruz pitched a scoreless 8th and 9th.
It was 1-0 K.C. in the bottom of the 3rd, when Volpe doubled home 2 runs. Bellinger doubled home a run in the 4th. The Royals tied it 3-3 in the 5th, but Judge led off the 7th with a homer. It was still only 4-3 Yankees in the top of the 9th, when Bellinger made a great catch of M.J. Melendez to win it.
After this sweep, the Yankees are in 1st place in the American League Eastern Division, half a game ahead of the Toronto Blue Jays, 2 ahead of the Boston Red Sox, 3 ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays, and 3 1/2 ahead of the Baltimore Orioles. Cliché Alert: In the all-important loss column, they are 1 ahead of the Jays, and 3 ahead of each of the other teams.
The Yankees now go on the road, to a weird situation: Because a hurricane tore the roof off Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg last Fall, the Rays are renting Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, the Yankees' Spring Training home, for at least this season.
For the 1st time, the Rays are playing home games not just in Tampa, but on the Tampa side of Tampa Bay. For the 1st time, they are playing home games under God's own sky, instead of that stupid roof. And, for the 1st time, they are playing home games on real grass. It seats just 11,026 people, but that's okay, because, last season, they averaged only 16,515.
It will be weird for the Yankees to be wearing their road grays at their own Spring Training home. But they will still be using their home clubhouse.
1 comment:
I really hope Devin Williams settles in soon as the only benefit of doubt is that it's still early but with how he blew what should have been a sure win just now, he's not exactly helping his case.
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