Six games, three at Fenway Park against the Boston Red Sox, the old enemy, the cheating bastards; and three at Daikin Park (formerly Minute Maid Park, formerly Enron Field) against the Houston Astros, the new enemy, the Chicken Fried Cheats.
A Yankee Fan having watched the team from 2004 onward, and especially from 2015 onward, could be forgiven for expecting a bad run, even if the Yankees did go into this trip with a 3-game winning streak.
Giancarlo Stanton was the star on Tuesday night, leading off the top of the 2nd inning with a tremendous drive over the Green Monster, and across Lansdowne Street. It was his 456th career home run.
Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, especially
the leadoff variety. Amed Rosario and Aaron Judge walked to start the top of the 6th, and after Ben Rice struck out, Stanton doubled off the wall to get them home. A Randal Grichuk double in the 8th made it 4-0.
Luis Gil started for the Yankees, and put together a good start after coming off the Injured List with 2 bad ones. He went 6 1/3rd shutout innings, allowing 2 hits and 3 walks. Brent Headrick, Tim Hill and David Bednar completed the 4-hit shutout.
I enjoyed that game.
*
The Wednesday night game began with Paul Goldschmidt grounding out. After Judge walked, Cody Bellinger struck out. But Stanton hit another double off the wall. This being the Green Monster, it was too close for Judge to score all the way from 1st base. No matter: Rosario hit one over the Monster for a home run, and it was 3-0 Bronx Bombers. Rosario made it 4-0 with a sacrifice fly in the 3rd.
That was plenty for Max Fried, who pitched 8 shutout innings, allowing 3 hits and 2 walks, striking out 9. Headrick allowed a run in the 9th, but it ended Yankees 4, Red Sox 1.
I enjoyed that game, too.
*
On Thursday night, the Sox actually took a lead, 1-0 in the bottom of the 2nd. But in the top of the 5th, the seriously struggling Jazz Chisholm finally hit his 1st home run of the season. The Sox took the lead back in the bottom of the 5th, 2-1, and it was beginning to look like a nice performance by Cam Schlittler was going to go to waste.
But with 1 out in the top of the 7th, Trent Grisham, Chisholm and José Caballero all singled, loading the bases. Austin Wells struck out. Then, Red Sox manager Alex Cora brought in former Yankee reliever Greg Weissert. There's a reason Weissert isn't with the Yankees anymore: He can't pitch at the major league level. Bellinger singled home Gresham and Chisholm, and Judge singled home Caballero. It was 4-2 Yankees.
And it stayed 4-2 Yankees, because Schlitt was it. Schlitt was too legit to quit. He went 8 innings, allowing 2 runs, 1 earned, 4 hits and 1 walk, striking out 5. Bednar pitched a perfect 9th.
I enjoyed this game. I enjoyed this entire series. The Yankees didn't turn Fenway into a little green pinball machine, which is not that hard to do. But they held the Red Sox 3 runs in their own house, and swept them, extending their winning streak to 6 games.
The Sox fired Cora, and his entire coaching staff -- except for Jason Varitek, who had been the captain of, and the catcher on, their World Championship teams of 2004* and 2007*. Him, they reassigned to another role in the organization. Couldn't fire him.
*
On to Houston, and the Asterisks' copycat of Fenway, with the retractable roof and the train atop the left field wall.
On Friday night, the Yankees got 3 runs from "small ball" in the 1st inning, a home run from Ryan McMahon to lead off the top of the 2nd, and another Chisholm homer in the 4th. More small ball produced 3 more runs in the 6th. In the 7th, they used small ball and the long ball, getting home runs from Rice and Caballero.
Will Warren sure didn't pitch like he was merely filling an injury-caused hole in the Yankee rotation: He went 6 innings, allowing 2 runs on 7 hits, but only 1 walk, striking out 6. Fernando Cruz ran into trouble in the 7th, but Ryan Yarbrough pitched the 8th and the 9th. Yankees 12, Astros 4.
Given the recent histories with both teams, I enjoyed this game more than I did the sweep of the Sox.
*
The Astros struck first on Saturday, leading 1-0 after the 1st and 2nd innings. Grisham homered in the 3rd to tie the game. Caballero homered in the 5th to give the Yankees the lead. The Astros tied it in the 6th, meaning that Ryan Weathers, who had pitched well until then, wouldn't be the winning pitcher.
Fernando Cruz would: He finished the 6th, while Jake Bird pitched a perfect 7th, Camilo Doval pitched a hitless 8th, and Tim Hill allowed a run in the 9th. Austin Wells homered in the 7th, and, again, as Hall of Fame Giant 2nd baseman and later broadcaster Frankie Frisch would have said, "Oh, those bases on balls!" With 1 out, Caballero singled, Grisham walked, Rice singled, and then 3 straight walks, to Judge, Bellinger and Chisholm, the last 2 each forcing in a run.
Rice added a sac fly in the 8th. Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. Bellinger led off the 9th with a walk. After Chisholm flew out, Rosario, Wells and McMahon all singled, producing 2 more runs. Yankees 8, Astros 3. An 8-game winning streak: 3 at home to Kansas City, 3 away to Boston, and 2 away to Houston. All teams that have pissed me off over the years.
I enjoyed that game. A lot.
*
I did not enjoy yesterday's game. Gil did not have it, allowing 6 runs in the 1st 4 innings. Having had 3 of his 4 starts be bad ones, he was sent down to Scranton after the game. Paul Blackburn allowed only 1 run over the next 3 innings, and Yarbrough pitched a perfect 9th.
But the Yankees couldn't get going until it was too late. Judge hit a home run, on his 34th birthday. It was the 378th of his career, surpassing Norm Cash and Jeff Kent, and tying Matt Williams. Next up, at 379: Orlando Cepeda and Tony Pérez.
The Yanks scored 3 in the top of the 9th, but it was nowhere near enough: Astros 7, Yankees 4. End of streak.
*
We are 17 percent of the way through the season, 1/6th. The Yankees are 18-10. They have the best record in the American League. They lead the Eastern Division by a game and a half over the Tampa Bay Rays, 5 over the Baltimore Orioles, 5 1/2 over the Toronto Blue Jays, and 7 over the Red Sox. In the all-important loss column: 1 over the Rays, 5 over the O's and the Jays, and 7 over The Scum.
They have achieved this without Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodón or Clarke Schmidt being available. They have achieved this despite 4 regulars -- Wells, Chisholm, Grisham and McMahon -- having OPS+'s of 85 or lower. They have done this despite Judge batting just .230, although he has 10 home runs and 18 RBIs.
I'll take those problems, if I can also take those results.
As for the Mets and their fans, well, in the immortal words of Bono, "Well, tonight, thank God it's them, instead of you!"
The Yankees are still in Texas, albeit in the Dallas area. Tonight, they start a 3-game series away to the Texas Rangers. Then, after a travel day on Thursday, they start a 3-game home weekend series against the Baltimore Orioles.
No comments:
Post a Comment