Yanks Get Lame Split in Miami

The Yankees went down to Miami for 2 Interleague games against the Marlins, now "run" by Derek Jeter. Without Giancarlo Stanton (now with the Yankees) and Christian Yelich (Milwaukee Brewers), they are not a good team. Actually, they weren't a good team with those guys, but now, they're worse.

So the Yankees should have taken both games without trying very hard.

But these are Brian Cashman's Gutless Wonders, so they didn't.

Masahiro Tanaka started the Tuesday night game, and did very well, going 6 innings, allowing 1 run on 4 hits and 1 walk. He should have been allowed to pitch longer by manager Aaron Boone. After all, he'd only thrown 82 pitches.

But Boone is under the Cashman Pitch Count, so he took Tanaka out, and put in Zach Britton for the 7th inning, Dellin Betances for the 8th, and Chad Green for the 9th. That worked: Between them, in 3 innings, they allowed no runs on 2 hits and 2 walks.

But you gotta score runs to win. Neil Walker singled home a run in the 4th, but that was it for regulation, and then some: The Yankees grounded into a double play in the 1st, left 2 men on in the 2nd, left a man on in the 3rd, left the bases loaded in the 4th, squandered a leadoff double by Stanton in the 5th, went down 1-2-3 in the 6th, left a man on in the 7th, went down 1-2-3 in the 8th, and wasted a leadoff walk by Walker in the 9th. Cliche alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. Except the Yankees didn't close in for the kill.

The game went to extra innings. The Yankees went down 1-2-3 in the 10th, and Jonathan Holder struck out the side. The Yankees left a man on in the 11th, and A.J. Cole loaded the bases with nobody out, but got out of the jam.

Finally, in the top of the 12th, Kyle Higashioka led off with a single to left. Brett Gardner drew a walk. 2 men on, nobody out, his former home park, perfect time for Stanton to come through. No, he struck out. But Aaron Hicks got hit by a pitch to loaded the bases, and Miguel Andujar's sacrifice fly to left scored Higgy to make it 2-1 Yanks. The Yankees got no more runs, and you could feel that those non-runs might have meant something.

They almost did. Aroldis Chapman triggered the cliche alert by walking the leadoff man. Boone immediately took out his closer for Tommy Kahnle, and Yankee Fans all over the world had the same thought: "Are you nuts?" As it turned out, the answer was, "No." Kahnle got out of it.

Yankees 2, Marlins 1. WP: Cole (4-1). SV: Kahnle (1). LP: Javy Guerra (1-1).

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The Yankees weren't so lucky on Wednesday night. A double by Walker opened the scoring in the 4th, and Walker struck again with a sac fly in the 6th. Thus far, Lance Lynn had a shutout going. But he fell apart in the bottom of the 6th, allowing 4 runs, and setting Kahnle up to allow another.

And, wouldn't you know it, a later Marlin run scored on a single by former Yankee All-Star 2nd baseman Starlin Castro, whom we traded to the Fish to get Stanton.

Marlins 9, Yankees 3. WP: Jarlin Garcia (2-2). No save. LP: Lynn (8-9).

It was the lamest of splits against a lame team. Series like this are why the Yankees aren't winning the Division this season.

The South Did Not Rise Again

I suppose it was appropriate that on July 2, 3 and 4, the anniversaries of the American Civil War's Battles of Gettysburg and Vicksburg, the "Yankees" were playing "the sons of the South."

The South did not "rise again," except in the series opener at Yankee Stadium. Jonathan Loaisiga did not allow any runs in the 1st or 2nd innings, but allowed 1 in the 3rd and 2 in the 4th, making the score 3-2 Braves. Aaron Judge had hit a home run. Manager Aaron Boone saw that Loaisiga had thrown 92 pitches, and he panicked, and went to bullpen-by-committee.

It worked, all the way through the 10th inning: Between them, Jonathan Holder, Chad Green, Aroldis Chapman and Dellin Betances went 6 innings, allowing just 3 hits and 1 walk. In the meantime, the Yankees tied the game in the 5th.

But Boone brought David Robertson in for the top of the 11th. The inning began with an error by rookie sensation Gleyber Torres, undoing a 3-for-4 day for him. Robertson got the next batter out, but Ronald Acuna, the youngest player in the major leagues, born at the end of 1997 -- time flies -- took him deep.

Let the record show that, after Didi Gregorius' RBI sacrifice fly in the 5th, the Yankees got 10 baserunners -- of them on intentional walks -- and got none of them home. Braves 5, Yankees 3. WP: Jesse Biddle (2-0). SV: A.J. Minter (4). LP: Robertson (5-3).

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The pitching wasn't much better in the Tuesday game -- on either side. Domingo German once again showed that he's not ready to be a major league starting pitcher, as he allowed 3 runs and didn't get out of the 5th inning. Adam Warren allowed 2 more.

But the Yankee bats snapped out of it. Aaron Hicks, Kyle Higashioka and Giancarlo Stanton hit home runs. Stanton and Aaron Judge each had 2 hits, while Stanton, Hicks and Higashioka each had 2 RBIs.

Yankees 8, Braves 5. WP: A.J. Cole (3-1). SV: Aroldis Chapman (24). LP: Sean Newcomb (8-3).

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A day game after a night game is not fun. Especially when the temperature at first pitch is 89 degrees. But it was the 4th of July, and a matinee on that day is traditional.

CC Sabathia did not pitch on the 4th of July for the 1st time under a 48-star flag. He's old, but he's not that old. He's still young enough to go 6 innings, allowing 2 runs on 5 hits and 3 walks, striking out 5.

Stanton hit a 3-run homer in the 3rd inning, Higashioka a solo shot in the 4th, and Judge a solo job in the 7th. Chad Green, Dellin Betances and Jonathan Holder each pitched a scoreless inning.

Yankees 6, Braves 2. WP: Sabathia (6-3). No save. LP: Julio Teheran (6-6).

Yankees Sweep Angels in Anaheim

Note: Due to my new job eating a lot of time, I fell 7 games behind. I've fixed the dates on these posts to make them look a bit more timely.

After an extra-inning thriller on Friday night, the Yankees decided to have a little fun. As yo ucan see by the photo of Gary Sanchez and Didi Gregorius above, they succeeded.

Jacob Ruppert, who owned the Yankees from 1915 until his death in 1939, bought Babe Ruth, and built the 1st Yankee Stadium and the 1st Yankee Dynasty, said his idea of a perfect day was when the Yankees scored 9 runs in the 1st inning, and slowly pulled away.

This game, against "the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim" at "Angel Stadium of Anaheim," wasn't quite that, but still rather satisfying.

Brett Gardner struck out to start the game, but Aaron Judge singled to center. Didi drew a walk. Giancarlo Stanton reached on an error. Sanchez doubled to left. Aaron Hicks got an RBI groundout to 2nd. Neil Walker struck out, but, Tommy Henrich and Mickey Owen 1941-style, the ball got away from Angels catcher Martin Maldonado, Walker got to 1st base, and Sanchez scored. Miguel Andujar doubled to left. The Yankees scored 5 runs before the Angels even came to bat for the 1st time.

2nd inning: Again, Gardner led off, and this time, he drew a walk. The cliche of "Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety" doesn't really apply here, since the Angels were already "mortally wounded." Judge doubled to left. Didi and GCS (are we allowed to call Giancarlo Stanton "GCS"?) both grounded out, but Sanchez drew a walk, and Hicks tripled to right. Walker singled up the middle. Andujar singled to right. Gleyber Torres, who ended the previous inning with a groundout, singled to left.

Gardner grounded to 2nd to end the inning, but think about this: By this point, the Yankees had sent as many batters named Brett Gardner to the plate as the Angels had sent batters of any name: 3.

Given that support, Masahiro Tanaka didn't have to be particularly good, but he went 6 innings, allowing 1 run on 2 hits and 2 walks, striking out 9. Typical for him, even on a good night, the run was a home run, but Zack Cozart in the 5th inning.

Chasen Shreve pitched a scoreless 7th inning, and A.J. Cole, a former Washington National making his Yankee debut, pitched a scoreless 8th and 9th. The Yankees added a run on a Walker single in the 8th. Yankees 11, Angels 1. WP: Tanaka (4-2). No save. LP: Garrett Richards (3-1).

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The Sunday game was a lot more like the Friday game. Same result, though, which is good for me, because I'm a Yankee Fan. Hopefully, you're also a Yankee Fan, meaning it's good for you, too.

CC Sabathia took the mound, and turned back the years: 7 innings, 1 run, 5 hits, 1 walk. Chad Green pitched a scoreless 8th, Aroldis Chapman a scoreless 9th.

So CC needed 2 runs. He got them. Stanton doubled in the 4th, and Sanchez followed this with a home run, his 7th of the season.

Yankees 2, Angels 1. That's 9 wins in a row. WP: Sabathia (2-0). SV Chapman (6). LP: Tyler Skaggs (3-2).

With this 7-game roadtrip to Anaheim and Houston, 2 places where the Yankees have had problems in the past, I was hoping they would be able to take 5 out of 7. Well, now, they would only need a split in Houston to do that.

Bring on the defending World Champions.