The Yankees just wrapped up the toughest part of their schedule: A 12-game stretch that included 3 games away to the then-American League Western Division-leading Houston Astros, then 3 games at home to the AL Eastern Division-leading Toronto Blue Jays, then 3 games at home to the AL Central Division-leading Detroit Tigers, then 3 games away to the Playoff-contending Boston Red Sox.
Going into that stretch, I believed that, in order to have a good chance to win the AL East title, the Yankees had to take 2 out of 3 of each series. They did against the Astros, the Jays and the Sox -- but only 1 of 3 against the Tigers. A 7-5 record in that stretch is hardly bad, but it feels insufficient.
On Friday night, the Yankees went into Boston's Fenway Park, the wretched hive of scum and villainy. Luis Gil had a no-hitter after 6 innings. (He had walked 4 batters, so it wasn't a perfect game.) He threw 93 pitches. Aaron Boone took him out. My fears were realized: Fernando Cruz lost the no-hitter and the shutout in the 7th, on a home run by Sox right fielder Nat Eaton. And Boone brought Devin Williams in to pitch the 8th. But my worst fears were not realized: Cruz only allowed that 1 run, and Williams and David Bednar each pitched a scoreless inning.
In the 1st inning, Aaron Judge hit his 47th home run of the season, the 362nd of his career, surpassing Joe DiMaggio on the all-time list. The Yankees also got an RBI double from José Caballero, and RBI singles from Ben Rice and Ryan McMahon. Yankees 4, Red Sox 1.
Max Fried started on Saturday afternoon. He wasn't brilliant, only going 5 1/3rd innings, allowing 2 runs on 9 hits and 2 walks, striking out 6, and being taken out after 105 pitches. Fortunately, he had been staked to a lead, including a home run by Jazz Chisholm.
Luke Weaver finished the 6th by striking out both batters he faced, Williams pitched a perfect 7th, Cruz allowed a run in the 8th, and Bednar pitched a perfect 9. Unfortunately, this made it unlikely that any of them, except maybe Weaver, would be available for the ESPN Sunday Night Baseball game.
Yankees 5, Red Sox 3. The Yankees had no worse than 2 out of 3 against The Scum. Fried advanced to 17-5 on the season. He will likely start on September 18 against Baltimore and September 23 against the White Sox, and could pitch on September 28 against the Orioles. He has a chance to become the 1st Yankee pitcher to win 20 games in a season since CC Sabathia in 2010. More likely, though, the September 23 game will be his last regular-season start, and he will be held back for Game 1 of the Playoffs.
I've mentioned "Onebadinningitis" before. Will Warren started last night, and the 1st inning couldn't have gone much worse: Triple, RBI single, single, RBI single, RBI double, RBI sacrifice fly, RBI groundout to empty the bases, solo home run. 6 runs on 6 hits -- no walks, no errors. He wasn't wild, he just plain got smoked.
But because the bullpen was so depleted from the 2 previous games, Boone left him in -- and he was fine after that, going 5 more innings, allowing no further runs, 4 hits and a walk. Camilo Doval pitched a perfect 7th, Mark Leiter Jr. a scoreless 8th, and Paul Blackburn a scoreless 9th.
The Yankees clawed back. Amed Rosario hit a 2-run homer in the 4th. Judge hit Number 48/363 in the 5th, a solo shot. Suddenly, it was 6-3 at Fenway, with 4 innings to go. Anything was possible. Caballero hit a solo homer in the 7th. 6-4.
But the Yankees wasted a leadoff single by Judge in the 8th. Part of that was due to home plate umpire Ryan Wills calling a too-low 3rd strike on Trent Grisham for the 3rd out. In the 9th, Paul Goldschmidt grounded to short, and Chisholm grounded to 2nd. And Wills called Caballero out on a 3rd strike that was too low.
Red Sox 6, Yankees 4. I'm not saying Wills cost the Yankees the game. Or even Warren: If he had spread those 6 runs over his 5 innings, we wouldn't think much of it. I am saying that, at Fenway, a team trying to beat the Red Sox needs all the runs it can get, and they don't need the umpires helping the Sox, which Wills clearly did.
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Here's where things stand on this Monday afternoon, with 2 weeks left in the regular season: The Yankees are 83-66. They trail the Jays in the AL East by 4 games, with 13 to play. The Jays' Magic Number is 10: Any number of Jays wins and Yanks losses the rest of the way that adds up to 10, and the Jays win the Division. The number to eliminate the Red Sox, 5 1/2 back, is 8.
The Seattle Mariners have overtaken the Astros in the AL West. Currently, the seedings in the AL Playoffs are: 1st, Toronto; 2nd, Detroit; 3rd, Seattle; 4th, the Yankees; 5th, Boston; and 6th, Houston. The Texas Rangers and the Cleveland Guardians still have decent shots to get in, 2 and 2 1/2 games, respectively, behind the Astros for the last AL Playoff spot. The Kansas City Royals are 6 back, the Tampa Bay Rays 7 1/2, the Sacramento Athletics 11, and the Baltimore Orioles 11 1/2. They're not going to make it. The Chicago White Sox and the Minnesota Twins have already been outright eliminated.
If those standings hold to the end of the regular season, the Yankees will have home-field advantage over the Red Sox in the Wild Card round, while the Mariners will have it over the Astros, and the Jays and Tigers will each have a bye into the Division Series.
The Yankees' remaining schedule is as follows:
* September 15, 16 and 17, away to the already-eliminated Twins.
* September 18, 19, 20 and 21, away to the Orioles, who will likely be eliminated before the Yankees can get there.
* September 22, a day off.
* September 23, 24 and 25, home to the already-eliminated White Sox.
* September 26, 27 and 28, home to the Orioles.
Just as the schedule for the last 12 games couldn't have been much harder, that for the last 13 couldn't be much easier.
The Jays' schedule isn't much harder: They have 7 games against the Rays, 4 in Tampa and 3 in Toronto; 3 away to the Royals, and, the hardest part for them, 3 in Toronto against the Red Sox. The Sox will certainly be trying to win those games, but to help themselves. They don't care about helping us.
The AL East can still be won, and a better Playoff position can still be achieved. The Yankees still have to get it done. Time to get it done.
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