Yankees Gain Soggy Split vs. Rays

The Tampa Bay Rays, in 1st place in the American League Eastern Division, came into Yankee Stadium II for a Memorial Day Weekend series. Depending on how it went, the Yankees could have recovered nicely, and resumed a legitimate challenge for Title 28; or fallen out of the race for the Division title, and be left to seek a Wild Card berth.

In the end, little was settled.

Gerrit Cole made his long-awaited 2026 major league debut on Friday night. He went 6 innings, was allowed to throw 72 pitches, and 50 of them were strikes. He allowed 2 hits and 3 walks, and no runs. We couldn't have asked for a better return for the man who might be the best pitcher in baseball, and I don't what to hear about no Paul Skenes or no Tarik Skubal, and certainly about no Shohei Ohtani.

And, between them, relievers Brent Headrick, Fernando Cruz, Camilo Doval and David Bendar pitched 3 innings, and allowed no runs on 3 hits and no walks. Trent Grisham got 3 hits; while Cody Bellinger, Jazz Chisholm and José Caballero each had 2.

That's the good news. The bad news is, Caballero began the top of the 8th with an error, and Tim Hill then gave up single, RBI double, intentional walk, and 2-RBI single. Doval gave up a sacrifice fly that let in another run, but it was charged to Hill.

The Yankees got a home run from Austin Wells, leading off the 5th, and a double by Bellinger and a triple by Chisholm in the 8th. Otherwise, they had runners on 1st & 2nd with nobody out in the 1st, a leadoff single in the 2nd, a double and a single before the 2nd out in the 3rd, a single in the 4th, 2 singles in the 5th, a single with 1 out in the 6th, a runner on 3rd in the 8th (Chisholm), and a runner on 1st with 1 out in the 9th. Of all those runners mentioned after the word "otherwise," none scored.

Rays 4, Yankees 2. Cole was great, but came away with a no-decision.

On Saturday, it rained all day. Rather than collect a full night's worth of revenue from parking, food and souvenirs, the Yankees called it off quickly. The game will be made up later in the season. Yesterday would not feature a doubleheader.

Yesterday's game was a good one for purists. Ryan Weathers allowed 4 hits and 3 walks to the Rays, Drew Rasmussen allowed 5 hits and 1 walk to the Yankees, and both starting pitchers threw 7 shutout innings. For the Yankees, Fernando Cruz got into and out of trouble in the 8th, and Hill did so in the 9th, an an apparent attempt to redeem himself for his Friday night debacle.

Still, it was 0-0 going to the bottom of the 9th. The Yankees wasted a 1-out single by Aaron Judge in the 1st, and single and a steal by Chisholm in the 2nd, a 2-out single by Grisham in the 3rd, a single by Bellinger and a walk by Paul Goldschmidt in the 4th, a leadoff single by Grisham in the 6th, and a 1-out single by Ryan McMahon in the 8th.

Then came the bottom of the 9th. Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. Although the Yankees had been killing nothing but their chances for most of the 1st 17 innings of this series -- 26, if you count the Saturday game not played at all. But Grisham led off the bottom of the 9th with a walk. Max Schuemann was sent in to pinch-run for him. It didn't matter, because he wouldn't have to run. Aaron Judge hit an opposite-field walkoff home run. Yankees 2, Rays 0.

For Judge, it broke a career-long 11-game streak without an RBI. It was his 17th home run of the season -- before Memorial Day. It was the 385th of his career, surpassing Harold Baines on the all-time list, and tying Dwight Evans. Next up: Aramis Ramírez at 386.

The Yankees go into Memorial Day at 31-22, a .585 winning percentage, a pace to go 95-67. That's usually good enough to finish 1st in the AL East. But they're still 4 1/2 games behind the Rays, 6 games in, Cliché Alert, the All-Important Loss Column.

I suppose it could be worse: On this Memorial Day, the Mets are in last place in the National League Eastern Division, 13 1/2 games out of 1st, 7 games out of the last NL Wild Card berth. Cliché Alert: Well, tonight, thank God it's them, instead of you.

While Memorial Day doubleheaders have gone the way of tailfins and the Brooklyn Dodgers, there are still Memorial Day matinées. This afternoon, at 3:40 Eastern Time (2:40 Central, and thus local), the Yankees begin a series away to the Kansas City Royals. The Royals are 22-31, the same record as the Mets. The Yankees need to win these games.

Huge Win for Yankees In Tampa Bay

Yesterday's game, the finale of a dreadful roadtrip, may have been the most important of the Yankees' season -- and might have been true either way. Because, either way, it was a statement game:

* If the Yankees would win, the statement would be, "That's it: You had your fun, and now, it's over. We still (Cliché Alert) control our own destiny, and we are going to continue to control it."

* If the Yankees would lose, the statement would be, "This is a monumental collapse, and it is ongoing, and the American League Eastern Division title will be a fight to the finish, and you Yankees are not sufficiently equipped for this fight."

The Yankees faced the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. Despite their success since 2008, and especially since 2019, the Rays are not the new Boston Red Sox. As far as I can tell, they haven't been cheating. Nevertheless, they are a rotten organization, and they are in the Yankees' heads. As the late, great college football announcer Keith Jackson would have said, "These two teams just don't like each other."

Manager Aaron Boone -- or, perhaps general manager Brian Cashman -- again responded to the logical demand that Aaron Judge not be placed in the 2nd slot in the batting order by placing him in the leadoff position, which is even dumber. The best slugger in the game should come up in the 4th position, when there is most likely to be men on base, in case he hits a home run.

Which he did, to the opposite field. It was his 53rd home run of the season. This is a career high for him, and puts him on a pace for 64 home runs, which would break the official Yankee and American League record, and the untainted American League record, of 61, set in 1961 by Yankee Roger Maris. It also puts him just 5 behind the record for AL righthanders, of 58, set by Jimmie Foxx of the 1932 Philadelphia Athletics, and tied by Hank Greenberg of the 1938 Detroit Tigers.

Most importantly, it gave the Yankees a 1-0 lead at the beginning of the game. So, this time, Boone -- or, perhaps, Cashman -- knew what he was doing.

Then came the top of the 2nd. Josh Donaldson led off, and he worked Rays starter Shawn Armstrong for a 3-0 count. Armstrong then threw up and in, face-high. It didn't hit Donaldson, but it did knock him down.

This is an old strategy. In the early 1950s, Yankee fireballer Allie Reynolds once hit a batter who was 3-0 up on him. He later told the press, "If I'm going to put you on base, I might as well hurt you."

This time, Donaldson got up, and yelled and pointed at Armstrong. Paul O'Neill, calling the game on the YES Network with Michael Kay, read the combatants' lips, and thought Rays catcher Christian Betancourt was saying, "It wasn't intentional," and Donaldson was saying, "I don't care!" The benches, and even the bullpens, emptied, and the situation was quickly defused. The Yankees ended up stranding Donaldson.

Frankie Montas put up easily the best start of his young Yankee tenure, tossing 5 shutout innings, striking out 7. The only baserunners came as the result of an error in the 1st inning, a single in the 3rd, and a dubious call of catcher's interference in the 5th. (Boone argued the call, and got thrown out of the game.) Lou Trivino allowed a single to start the 6th, but didn't let him score.

The 7th turned out to be a key inning. Judge led off with a double. DJ LeMahieu hit a tough grounder back to the mound, and Rays pitcher JT Chargois tried to get Judge to 3rd. One of the Unwritten Rules of Baseball is, "Never make the first or last out of the inning at third base." A corollary should be, "Never fail in an attempt to get the first or last out of the inning at third base." Chargois failed. The Yankees had men on 1st and 3rd with nobody out. It should have been a "Put this game away" inning.

It wasn't: Rookie Oswaldo Cabrera got Judge home with a sacrifice fly, but Giancarlo Stanton popped up, and Donaldson, having taken Joey Gallo's place as the strikeout-prone absorber of Yankee Fans' frustration, struck out. It was 2-0 Yankees, and it should have been more than that.

Then pitching coach Matt Blake, filling in as manager for the tossed Boone -- or also following Cashman's orders -- made a stupid move, bringing Ron Marinaccio in to pitch. And the recent rule is that a new pitcher must face at least 3 batters. Marinaccio allowed double, walk, and tough lineout to center. So Jonathan Loáisiga was brought in: Strikeout, bases-loading walk, strikeout. Still 2-0 Yankees.

The Yankees had another chance to break the game open in the 8th. Isiah Kiner-Falefa led off with a single. Aaron Hicks reached on an error. Again, 1st and 3rd, nobody out. But rookie Oswald Peraza struck out, Jose Trevino flew out, and Judge hit one deep to straightaway center, but it didn't quite have the distance to become Number 54, and that was it. Loáisiga pitched a perfect bottom of the 8th, and the Yankees went down 1-2-3 in the top of the 9th, to keep it 2-0 New York.

The bottom of the 9th could have been the season in a nutshell. (Should I have preceded the expression "the season in a nutshell" with "Cliché Alert"?) Clay Holmes, the closer now -- Aroldis Chapman is currently on the Injured List, and wouldn't have the job back, anyway -- came on to get the last 3 outs. But he allowed a double, a lineout that advanced the runner to 3rd, and an RBI single. 2-1.

Tying run on 1st. Winning run at the plate. Holmes got a lineout to keep the runner at 1st. Then a double. Tying run at 3rd. Winning run at 2nd. 1st is open. Run at the plate means nothing. It's Yandy Díaz. He's batting .290, and he's a righthander, like Holmes. Do you pitch to him, or walk him, and pitch to Ji-Man Choi, who's batting .228 but is lefthanded? Boone -- or Cashman -- decided to pitch to Díaz. Holmes got what is, for the moment, the biggest strikeout of his career. 

Yankees 2, Rays 1. WP: Montas (5-11). SV: Holmes (18). LP: Armstrong (2-2).

This huge win puts the Yankees 5 games up on the Rays, 4 in the (Cliché Alert) all-important loss column. The Toronto Blue Jays are 6 games back, 5 in the loss column. The Yankees remain 6 games behind the Houston Astros for home-field advantage through the AL Playoffs.

The collapse is, at the very least, interrupted; at the most, stopped. The Yankees still (Cliché Alert) control their own destiny.

Speaking of collapses: For all their big spending, and for all their fans' big talk, has anybody noticed that the Mets' lead in the National League East is down to just one single solitary game?

At any rate, the Yankees have come home. This afternoon, Labor Day, they start a new homestand, not with a doubleheader, as used to be done on Labor Day, but with a matinee at Yankee Stadium II, against the Minnesota Twins. James Taillon starts against the struggling former Rays pitcher Chris Archer. Let's take yesterday's momentum and carry it, not just through the 28 games remaining in the regular season, but through October!

Truly Hard to Believe

Can you believe this? The Yankees might be in the process of one of the biggest regular-season collapses in Major League Baseball history. And it might not even be the most embarrassing one in New York this season.

For all their big talk, and for all their big spending, the Mets led the National League Eastern Division by 10 1/2 games on June 1, fell to half a game up on July 23, got back up, and were up by as many as 7 games on August 10. Here it is, the morning of September 4, and they're only up 2 games.

The Yankees led the American League Eastern Division by 15 1/2 games on July 8. That lead is now down to 4, to 3 in the all-important loss column. It is truly hard to believe. But it has happened. And the worst may yet be to come.

Last night, away to the Tampa Bay Rays, Clarke Schmidt started for the Yankees. Whoever decided that this was a good idea needs to get slapped. He's a reliever, not a starter. He only pitched 4 1/3rd innings, allowing 2 runs. The bullpen went the rest of the way, allowing no runs on 3 hits and 2 walks.

And it didn't matter, because there was no hitting. Corey Kluber, yet another good pitcher that Brian Cashman let get away because he lost confidence in him, pitched a pretty good game. It shouldn't matter how good the other pitcher is: The Yankees have the resources to get players who can hit any pitcher, but they don't use those resources properly.

In the 1st inning, DJ LeMahieu reached on an error, and Giancarlo Stanton singled him over to 3rd. But, on the play, Stanton tried to stretch his hit into a double, and was out.

The Yankees didn't get another baserunner until the 6th, when Aaron Hicks reached on an error and Aaron Judge singled. They were stranded. Judge led off the 9th with an opposite-field home run, his 52nd of the season. But no more Yankees could reach base.

Rays 2, Yankees 1. WP: Kluber (10-7). SV: Jason Adam (8). LP: Schmidt (5-4).

Pardon my mixing of metaphors, but the Rays have stopped knocking on the door, and are now breathing down the Yankees' necks.

During the game, a graphic was put up on the YES Network: In the 41 games since the All-Star Break, Judge was batting .326, the rest of the team only .209; on-base percentage, .475 to .276; slugging percentage, .783 to .324. This is beyond ridiculous. It's ludicrous. (Spaceballs reference.)

The series, and this long, hard roadtrip, concludes this afternoon. Frankie Montas starts against Shawn Armstrong. And if you're optimistic about winning, in the immortal words of Bronx native and Yankee Fan Dion DiMucci, "I wonder why."

There are 29 games to go, and a once-beautiful season is in serious jeopardy.

Yanks' Best Pitcher In Horrible Loss to Rays Is Marwin González

The Yankees began September the way they played most of July and pretty much all of August: Making complete fools of themselves.

It didn't start out that way: Domingo Germán started the opener of this more-important-than-it-should-have-been series away to the Tampa Bay Rays, and allowed 1 unearned run on 5 hits and 1 walk over the 1st 6 1/3rd innings.

Unfortunately, the Yankees didn't hit, again: They wasted men on 1st & 2nd in the 1st inning, went down 1-2-3 in the 2nd, wasted men on 1st & 2nd with 1 out in the 3rd, wasted a man on 1st in the 4th, wasted 1 leadoff double and a 1-out walk in the 5th, wasted 1st & 2nd in the 6th, and went down 1-2-3 in the top of the 7th. It was 1-0 Rays at the stretch.

Germán got the 1st out in the bottom of the 7th, then he walked a batter. You know the Cliché about what walks can do: The next batter hit a home run. It was 3-0 Rays, and, while Germán still hadn't pitched badly, it felt like game over.

And it was. The Yankees went down 1-2-3 in the 8th. And then Greg Weissert fell apart in the bottom of the 8th, allowing 2 runs. Aaron Boone brought Anthony Banda in, and he imploded, allowing walk, bases-loading single, bases-loaded walk, bases-loaded walk, 2-run single, and finally he hit a batter. Boone actually sent a position player in to pitch at this point: Marwin González, who finally got the 3rd out.

Aaron Hicks hit a single with 1 out in the top of the 9th, but it wasn't followed up. Rays 9, Yankees 0. WP: Jeffrey Springs (7-4). No save. LP: Germán (2-3).

Here are the career earned run averages of the pitchers the Yankees used last night: Germán, 4.36; Weissert, 10.13; Banda, 5.64; Marwin González, 0.00. He had previously pitched a full scoreless inning for the Boston Red Sox in 2021.

Aside from Germán, there is no reason for any of those men to ever pitch for the Yankees again.

The Yankees, once in 1st place in the American League Eastern Division by 15 1/2 games, are now just 5 games ahead of the Rays, 4 in the all-important loss column. And they are 6 games behind the Houston Astros for home-field advantage in the Playoffs. There are 30 games to go.

After the game, Boone said, "It's just embarrassing when you get beat like that and you're going through the struggles you are. I'm in charge of this team, what we're going through right now, I know better than anyone, there's going to be hard moments and hard times. I do think the effort is there, I think the care is there. But, we've set a much better standard in that room that we've got to start living up to it."

No shit, Sherlock.

The series continues tonight. Clarke Schmidt, who shouldn't be starting for the Yankees, does, against Corey Kluber, who should be starting for the Yankees, except Brian Cashman let him go. And you know what happens when Cashman lets a pitcher go, most notoriously with Nathan Eovaldi. I can feel another unacceptable loss coming on.

Yankees With Dirty Records

In 1938, New York native and Yankee Fan James Cagney played a New York gangster named Rocky Sullivan in a film titled Angels with Dirty Faces. (A fantastic movie, one of the few with a 100 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Sullivan's girlfriend is played by Ann Sheridan. As they said at the time, "Hubba hubba.") The titular angels were a group of young men who, collectively, became known as the Dead End Kids, the East Side Kids, and the Bowery Boys.

Last night, against a team called the Angels, the New York Yankees became a team with a dirty record: In August 2022, the Yankees went 10-18. YES broadcaster Michael Kay said it was their worst month in terms of record since September 1991, when they were 7-19.

They closed the month last night, by closing the California part of their roadtrip, at Angel Stadium of Anaheim, against the Los Angeles Angels.

Gerrit Cole got the start, and went 7 innings. Over the 1st 5, he was fantastic, allowing just 2 hits and a walk. And the Yankees gave him a 2-0 lead, courtesy of back-to-back doubles by Josh Donaldson and Gleyber Torres and a sacrifice fly by Aaron Hicks, 3 players who needed to come through, as they had done so rarely over the course of this season.

Then came the 6th. With 1 out, David Fletcher singled. Up came Mike Trout, already compared to some of the greatest players of all time. (His career batting average is .303, and his OPS+ is an astonishing 175, although he, as yet, falls short in the compilable stats: 1,508 hits and 338 home runs.) He hit a ground ball to shortstop, and Isiah Kiner-Falefa booted it.

That brought the superstar Shohei Ohtani to the plate, because of course it did. And Cole served up a 3-run, go-ahead home run, because of course he did.

The Yankees went down 1-2-3 in the 7th, and wasted a 2-out walk by DJ LeMahieu in the 8th. They seemed to be mounting a comeback in the 9th. Regular readers of this blog know what a leadoff walk can do. Aaron Judge drew one. Then Giancarlo Stanton drew a walk. The Yankees were in excellent shape. But Donaldson and Torres, responsible for the Yankees' 1st run, both struck out. That let the air out of the balloon. And Oswaldo Cabrera grounded out to end it.

Angels 3, Yankees 2. WP: Patrick Sandoval (5-9). SV: Jimmy Herget (5). LP: Cole (10-7).

The Yankees have tonight off. Tomorrow night, they start September by starting a 3-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays, in St. Petersburg, Florida. They are 6 games ahead of the Rays in the American League Eastern Division, 5 in the all-important loss column. There are 31 games to go.

A-10-tion Must Be Paid

Not that long ago, the Yankees looked like they would have little chance at making the postseason, and the Toronto Blue Jays would win the American League Eastern Division. The fact that the Yankees could only gain a split of a 4-game series at Yankee Stadium against them seemed to fit that narrative.

Well, now, in the words of Linda Loman in Death of a Salesman, "Attention must be paid." As in a 10-game winning streak, that now includes the opener of a Yanks-Jays series at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

Jordan Montgomery started for the Yankees, and went 5 innings, allowing 2 runs on 6 hits, no walks, with 5 strikeouts. He left with the game tied 2-2, thanks to a 2-run home run by Gleyber Torres, who has been hitting better lately.

The Yankee bullpen kept the game 2-2 going into the 9th. Giancarlo Stanton led off with a single. Tim LoCastro was sent in to pinch-run for him, and stole 2nd base. Josh Donaldson grounded out, and Aaron Hicks struck out. But Torres singled LoCastro home, and Chad Green shut the Jays down in the bottom of the 9th.

Yankees 3, Blue Jays 2. WP: Clay Holmes (2-0). SV: Green (1, which will help to keep Aroldis Chapman fresh for the rest of the series). LP: Yimi Garcia (0-2).

The Yankees now have a 10-game winning streak, and lead the Jays by 2 1/2 games in the AL East, 3 in the all-important loss column. This is not the sending of a message, but it is the beginning of the sending of a message. That message is: The road to winning the AL East goes through The Bronx, ya hosers.

The series continues tonight. Jameson Taillon starts for the Bronx Bombers, Alek Manoah for those pesky Blue Jays.

Yankees Still Giving Themselves a Chance

I don't know what's more shocking: How many bad things -- injuries, COVID contractions, bad transactions, bullpen meltdowns, phony strike calls by umpires, and so on -- have happened to the Yankees this season, or the fact that they're still very much in business as far as qualifying for the postseason is concerned.

Nestor Cortes started the finale of their series with the Chicago White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field, and he was fantastic. He pitched 5 shutout innings, before allowing a home run by Andrew Vaughn in the bottom of the 6th.

Luke Voit led off the top of the 2nd with a single, and Rougned Odor hit a home run. Kyle Higashioka and Tyler Wade struck out, but DJ LeMahieu singled, and Brett Gardner doubled him home. It was 3-0 Yankees, and remained so until the Vaughn homer.

Stephen Ridings pitched a scoreless 7th. Jonathan Loaisiga pitched a perfect 8th. But a feeling came over Yankee Fans (if Twitter is any guide) that Loaisiga would not also pitch the 9th inning, meaning somebody we trust considerably less would. So we needed insurance runs. We got them when Giancarlo Stanton led off the top of the 9th with a double, and Voit hit a home run, making it 5-1.

Sure enough, Aaron Boone sent Lucas Luetge out to start the bottom of the 9th, and, well, Cliche Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. He walked Yoan Moncada.

Then he gave up a single to Luis Robert. He got Jake Lamb to pop up. Then Zack Collins doubled home Moncada. Rather than let Luetge face the hero of Thursday night's Field of Dreams game, Tim Anderson, Boone took him out, and brought in Wandy Peralta. Anderson singled home Robert. But Cesar Hernandez hit a ground ball to 2nd. Odor stepped on 2nd to eliminate Anderson, and threw Hernandez out to finish the double play and the game.

Yankees 5, White Sox 3. WP: Cortes (1-1). SV: Peralta (4). LP: Lucas Giolito (9-9).

*

As I've said before: A good team should be able to gain at least 1 game a week, so if you have fewer games behind than weeks left, you have a chance. There are 7 weeks left in the regular season -- in the Yankees' case, 45 games -- and they are 5 1/2 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League Eastern Division. They are 2 1/2 games behind the Oakland Athletics for the AL's 2nd Wild Card slot. In the all-important loss column, they are 5 behind the Rays, and 2 behind the A's.

And they are getting healthier. Gerrit Cole, Jordan Montgomery, Gary Sanchez and Anthony Rizzo are coming off the COVID list. Cole starts tonight, in a rainout makeup against the Los Angeles Angels. Then the hated Boston Red Sox come to down, with a doubleheader on Tuesday (including another rainout makeup), and Montgomery will start one of the games.

Rizzo will resume baseball activity today, although it's not clear when he will play again. Domingo German will throw a bullpen session today, and be evaluated thereafter. Sanchez may be activated on Tuesday, after Higashioka performed yeoman duty as the catcher. Aroldis Chapman will soon be making a rehab appearance. Miguel Andujar has been working with the Class AA Somerset Patriots. Corey Kluber started for the Patriots on Thursday, meaning he could make another rehab start tomorrow, meaning he could be back in Pinstripes next week.

It's not all good news. Clint Frazier, who had played for the Patriots, has been transferred to the 60-Day Injured List, due to complications with his head injury. It is now unlikely he will play again this season. Luis Severino is getting an MRI today. Hopefully, it won't be any worse than a minor setback. It's not clear when Gio Urshela and Clay Holmes will return from injury. And I would be surprised if Gleyber Torres returned before the end of August.

There are 6 games left against the Red Sox, 3 at home this week, and 3 at Fenway Park in late September. And there are 3 games left against the Rays, the last 3 games of the regular season, at home. And the Sox and Rays play each other 7 times, 4 in St. Petersburg, 3 in Fenway. Those 16 games, 9 that the Yankees play in, are where the AL East is going to be decided.

And the Yankees are still giving themselves a chance, in spite of everything.

*

Days until the next Yankees series against the Boston Red Sox begins: 1, tomorrow afternoon, at Yankee Stadium II.

Days until the next New York Red Bulls game: 3, on Wednesday night, at 7:00 PM, home to the defending MLS Champion Columbus Crew.

Days until the Red Bulls again play a nearby rival: 5, on Saturday night, August 21, against New York City FC, at Red Bull Arena.

Days until the next Arsenal game: 6, on Sunday, 11:30 AM U.S. Eastern Time, home to defending Champions League winners Chelsea. After the Premier League opening disaster against newly-promoted Brentford, no one is optimistic. And with the next League game being away to defending PL Champions Manchester City, the Yankees could have no points after 3 games.

Days until the next Rutgers University football game: 17, on Thursday, September 2, at 6:30 PM, home to Temple University.

Days until the next game of the U.S. National Soccer Team: 17, on Thursday, September 2, at 10:00 PM Eastern Time, against El Salvador, in their national capital of San Salvador. It will bet he USMNT's 1st game since winning the CONCACAF Gold Cup. See, England? That's how you win a continental tournament final on home soil.

Days until the next East Brunswick High School football game: 18, on Friday, September 3, at 7:00 PM, home to arch-rival Old Bridge. 

Days until the next East Brunswick-Old Bridge football game: See the previous answer.

Days until the next North London Derby: 41, on Sunday, September 26, at 11:30 AM, at the Emirates Stadium. TV programming moved the game from the day before. Under 6 weeks.

Days until the New Jersey Devils play another regular-season game: 60, on Friday, October 15, home to the Chicago Blackhawks. Under 2 months.

Days until the New Jersey Devils again play a local rival: 73, on Thursday, October 28, home to the New York Rangers.

Days until the next election for Governor of New Jersey and Mayor of New York City: 78, on Tuesday, November 2. A little over 11 weeks.

Days until the next Rutgers-Penn State football game: 96, on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, November 20, at 12:00 noon, at Beaver Stadium in State College, Pennsylvania. A little over 3 months.

Days until the 1st Baseball Hall of Fame election for which Alex Rodriguez and David Ortiz will be eligible, and we will know for sure whether steroid use keeps a player out, or if it's only perception that does: 162, on Tuesday, January 25, 2022. A little over 5 months.

Days until the next Winter Olympics open in Beijing, China: 172, on Friday, February 4, 2022. Under 7 months.

Days until the next elections for Congress and for Governor of most States, including New York and Pennsylvania: 449, on Tuesday, November 8, 2022. Under a year and a half, or under 15 months.

Days until the next World Cup opens: 462, on Friday, November 21, 2022, in Doha, Qatar. Under a year and a half, or a little over 15 months.

Days until the next Women's World Cup opens: 699, on Friday, July 10, 2023, jointly held in the neighboring nations of Australia and New Zealand. A little under 2 years, or a little under 23 months.

Days until the next Summer Olympic Games: 1,075, on Friday, July 26, 2024, in Paris, France.

Days until the next Presidential election: 1,177, on Tuesday, November 5, 2024. Under 3 1/2 years, or under 39 months.

Yankees Lack the Mental Strength; Lute Olson, 1934-2020

A week ago, the Yankees and their fans were on an emotional high after sweeping the Boston Red Sox 4 straight.

Then they dropped 3 straight at home to the Tampa Bay Rays, making it 6 losses in our last 7 games against them. Then we had to postpone the interleague Citi Series/Subway Derby with the Mets, due to COVID-19 restrictions. Then we lost 2 games against the Atlanta Braves, including Gerrit Cole's 20-game winning streak coming to an end, scoring just 2 runs in the process.

Now, we have to face the Mets 5 times in the next 3 days, without sending either Cole or Masahiro Tanaka out there. Or any other good starting pitcher, for that matter, because of our injuries and suspensions.

We were in 1st place in the American League Eastern Division. Now, we're 2 1/2 games behind the Rays, although we're dead even with them in the all-important loss column.

There are 28 games left in this most irregular of regular seasons, assuming we play at all, between the restrictions and the boycotts due to racist white cops shooting unarmed black suspects.

The Yankees aren't physically ready to play these games, given all their injuries. I don't know if they're mentally ready to play these games, given that, thanks to the acquisitions and other maneuvers of Brian Cashman, Yankees don't seem to have what former Arsenal manager manager Arsène Wenger called "the mental strength."

Plus, for the last 4 days, we've had to listen to Donald Trump and his lackeys tell lie after bigoted lie on national television. That's enough to sap anybody's mental strength.

Anybody really ready for baseball at this point?

*

Lute Olson died yesterday, from complications of a series of strokes, at the age of 85. Born on September 22, 1934 in Mayville, North Dakota as Robert Luther Olson, he was only the 2nd-greatest basketball coach to come from North Dakota, behind Phil Jackson. But he was the best one at the college level.

A graduate of Augsburg College, an NCAA Division III school in Minneapolis, the closest big city to the Dakotas, he wasn't drafted by an NBA team. So he went right into coaching, at high schools, from 1956 to 1969.

In 1969, he became the head coach at Long Beach City College outside Los Angeles. In 1973, he was hired by nearby California State University, Long Beach (usually listed as "Long Beach State" for sports purposes). After just 1 season there, winning the 1974 Pacific Coast Athletic Association title, he was hired by the University of Iowa. He took the Hawkeyes to the 1979 Big Ten Conference regular-season title, and to the NCAA Final Four in 1980. He remains the best basketball coach the school has ever had.

Which is saying something about his abilities, because that's not the school he's best remembered for. In 1983, he was hired by the University of Arizona. He led them to the Pacific-10 (now Pacific-12) Conference regular-season title in 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003 and 2005. He won the Pac-10 Tournament in 1988, 1989, 1990 and 2002 -- meaning he won both, what English soccer fans would call "The Double," in 1988, 1989 and 1990, 3 straight seasons.

He got the school to its 1st Final Four in 1988, marking the 1st time any school from the State of Arizona had made it. He did it again in 1994, and again in 1997, winning the National Championship. His Wildcats defeated the Kentucky Wildcats in the Final, stopping them from winning 3 straight National Championships. He got Arizona to another Final Four in 2001. He also coached the U.S. national team, still all-amateur back then, to the 1986 FIBA World Championship.

He retired due to health issues after the 2008 season, with a career record of 781-280. Overall, he won 13 Conference Championships, 4 Conference Tournaments, and 8 league and 2 national Coach of the Year awards. He was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame. In 2001, his wife Bobbi, formerly Roberta Russell, died of cancer, and the playing surface at Arizona's arena, the McKale Center, is named the Lute and Bobbi Olson Court. A statue of Lute stands outside the arena.

Lute and Bobbi had 5 children. After she died, Lute married twice more. His daughter Jody Brase is a high school principal. Her son Matt Brase played for his grandfather at Arizona, then became an assistant coach at the school, and is now an assistant with the Houston Rockets. Jody's daughter Julie Hairgrove played for the Arizona women's team, and is now an assistant with the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury.

*

Days until Rutgers University plays football again: Unknown. They were supposed to kick off the 2020 season on September 5. Then the Big Ten Conference canceled all nonconference games, pushing the season opener ahead to September 26. Then they canceled all Fall sports, with the hope of playing the 2020 football season in the Spring. Who knows.

Days until the next Rutgers-Penn State football game: Unknown. It was supposed to be the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend, November 28.

Days until East Brunswick High School plays football again: Unknown. They were supposed to kick off the 2020 season on September 3. Then it got pushed back to October 2. Now, nobody knows.

Days until the next East Brunswick-Old Bridge football game: See the previous answer. The Big Green's season opener was supposed to be against the Purple Bastards.

Days until the next U.S. national soccer team game: Unknown. Currently, neither the men's nor the women's team has any matches scheduled.

Days until Arsenal play again: 1, tomorrow, at 11:30 AM New York time, in the Community Shield, English soccer's annual season-opening exhibition game at the national stadium, the new Wembley Stadium in West London, between the winners of the previous season's FA Cup, in this case Arsenal; and the winners of the previous season's Premier League title, in this case Liverpool.

Days until the New York Red Bulls play again: 1, tomorrow night at 8:00, against the New England Revolution, at the MLS "bubble" outside Orlando.

Days until the Red Bulls play another "derby" game: See the previous answer.

Days until the next Yankees-Red Sox series begins: 3, this Monday night, at Fenway Park.

Days until the 1st Presidential Debate: 32, on Tuesday night, September 29, in Cleveland. Joe Biden and Donald Trump will also debate on Thursday night, October 15, in Miami; and on Thursday night, October 22, in Nashville. If, that is, the cowardly Trump shows up.

Days until the 2020 Presidential election: 67, on Tuesday, November 3. Under 10 weeks. As the old saying goes, and it really is true this time, "This time, vote like your life depended on it."

Days until the New Jersey Devils play again: Unknown, as the NHL hasn't yet made out its 2020-21 season schedule. That's understandable, given all the uncertainty with trying to wrap up the 2019-20 season. Last I heard, the League was talking about starting next season on or around December 1. If that is the date, then it's 95 days, or a little over 3 months.

Days until the Devils play another local rival: Unknown, although it's unlikely that their 1st game of the season, or even their 1st home game, will be against a traditional rival.

Days until the next North London Derby: 99, on Saturday, December 5, at 10:00 AM New York time, at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in North London. This game will likely be moved, either to another time that day, or to the next day, or maybe to the Monday night, for TV and ratings purposes.

Days until a new Congress convenes, hopefully fully Democratic: 129, on Monday, January 4, 2021. A little over 4 months. Ordinarily, it would be January 3, but that's a Sunday next year.

Days until the next Presidential Inauguration: 145, on Wednesday, January 20, 2021. Under 5 months. Liberation Day.

Days until the COVID-delayed Euro 2020 opens in Paris: 287, on June 11, 2021. Under 10 months.

Days until the COVID-delayed 2020 Olympics open in Tokyo, Japan: 310, on July 4, 2021. A little over 10 months.

Days until Alex Rodriguez and David Ortiz become eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame: 501, on January 11, 2022. Under 17 months until we find out whether lying about having been caught taking steroids, as Big Papi did, is better than telling the truth about it, as A-Rod did.

Days until the next Winter Olympics open in Beijing, China: 525, on February 4, 2022. A little over 17 months.

Days until the next World Cup opens in Qatar: 815, on November 21, 2022. Under 27 months.

Days until the next Women's World Cup opens, a joint hosting by Australia and New Zealand: 1,046, on July 10, 2023. A little over 34 months.

Maybin, I'm Amazed

Despite an hour and 15 minute delay, the Yankees got last night's game against the Tampa Bay Rays in. J.A. Happ started, and while it was probably too much to ask for him to match Masahiro Tanaka's performance the night before, he got the job done. He only went 5 innings, allowing 2 runs on 7 hits, but no walks, striking out 3.

The Yankees got a run in the 1st inning, on a sacrifice fly by Gary Sanchez. The 5th inning turned out to be the key. With 1 out, the Yankees got 4 straight singles, from Gleyber Torres, Cameron Maybin, DJ LeMahieu and Luke Voit. That turned a 2-1 Tampa lead into a 3-2 New York lead. Aaron Hicks struck out, but Sanchez singled home LeMahieu to make it 4-2.

The Rays got a run back in the 7th, but home runs by Maybin and Edwin Encarnacion, his 1st as a Yankee, forged the final score. Yankees 6, Rays 3. WP: Happ (7-3). SV: Aroldis Chapman (19). LP: Chaz Roe (0-3).

With this win, and the Minnesota Twins' 17-inning win over the Boston Red Sox despite an amazing catch by Jackie Bradley Jr., the Yankees now lead the Rays by 2 1/2 games and the Red Sox by 6 1/2 -- by 3 and 8, respectively, in the all-important loss column.

The Yanks-Rays series concludes this afternoon, weather permitting. The scheduled starters are CC Sabathia for us, and Blake Snell for them.

To paraphrase Sir Paul McCartney -- whose 77th birthday was yesterday -- Maybin, I'm amazed. He certainly is making his case to stay on the roster once Aaron Judge comes back. Who would get sent down instead? Is it too much to hope for that it's Luis Cessa and his gasoline can arm?

The U.S. men's soccer team opened the CONCACAF Gold Cup by beating Guyana 4-0 at Minnesota United's stadium in St. Paul. The women's team completes the Group Stage of the Women's World Cup tomorrow afternoon (our time), playing Sweden in Le Havre, France.

Yankees Turn Out Rays' Lights

The Tampa Bay Rays are so bush-league.

"How bush-league are they, Uncle Mike?"

They're so bush-league, they haven't even paid their electric bill.

Masahiro Tanaka took the hill for the Yankees in the rubber game of a 3-game weekend series against the Rays, who were hanging on to 1st place in the American League Eastern Division. He got the job done, pitching 7 innings, allowing 1 run on 5 hits and no walks, striking out 7.

But no matter how well your starter pitches, you've got to score runs for him. The game was scoreless with 2 outs in the top of the 5th, but Austin Romine and Mike Tauchman hit back-to-back doubles, and DJ LeMahieu followed with an RBI single. That made it 2-0 Yankees.

The Yankees picked up a 3rd run in the 8th, and then came the power outage at Tropicana Field. A stadium designed to make rain delays impossible,  and we had a delay due to unplayable grounds anyway.

The delay ended up lasting 43 minutes. The Rays may now be wishing that power had not been restored. The Yankees added four runs in the top of the 9th, including a home run by rookie infield fill-in Thairo Estrada.

Zack Britton pitched a scoreless 8th, and Chad Green returned from the minor leagues, and pitched a perfect 9th. Yankees 7, Rays 1. WP: Tanaka (3-3). No save. LP: Blake Snell (3-4).

The Yankees are now just half a game out of 1st place in the AL East, 1 game behind the Rays in the all-important loss column.

They come home to play the Baltimore Orioles. When last these teams met, the injury crisis had just begun, and the Orioles handled the Yankees fairly easily. Fans were outraged, saying that we shouldn't lose to such a lousy team.

Since then, normal service has been restored, and the Orioles are in last place. And Aaron Hicks is going to be activated from the Injured List today, making the Yankees quite a bit more maneuverable, and possibly stronger.

Don't Look Now...

Don't look now, but in spite of all their injuries, the Yankees are only 1 game out of 1st place in the all-important loss column, a game and a half overall.

Gary Sanchez was activated from the injured list. Clint Frazier went onto it. Didn't matter. The Yankees made it 3 straight over the Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim, 6 straight overall.

We certainly can't, as I did many times last season, call this team "gutless wonders." Last night, they came from 5-0 behind to win.

CC Sabathia started, but didn't do well. He allowed 2 home runs to Andrelton Simmons and 1 to Kole Calhoun, and that's why it was 5-0 Angels after the 4th inning. Jonathan Loaisiga came on to relieve, and pitched shutout ball through the 7th.

The banged-up Yankees made their move in the top of the 6th. Tyler Wade led off with an infield single. DJ LeMahieu hit a double into the left field corner, deep enough to score Wade. Luke Voit singled, but DJLM couldn't score. Brett Gardner popped up, and Sanchez struck out. With the slumping Gleyber Torres up, it began to look like that would be it for the Yankees. But Angels catcher Jonathan Lucroy couldn't handle a Felix Pena pitch, and the passed ball allowed LeMahieu to score. It was 5-2 Angels.

Then came the 7th. Cliche Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. Mike Ford worked Luis Garcia for a walk. Gio Urshela singled. Mike Tauchman drew a walk to load the bases with nobody out. Wade drew a walk to force home a run. Angel manager Brad Ausmus brought Ty Buttrey in to pitch, but it didn't work: LeMahieu hit a fly ball to left, deep enough to score Urshela. Voit grounded to short, and there was no play at the plate. Tie game. Gardner lined into a double play to end the threat, but the Angels had a five-nil lead and blew it.

How about a nice 2-out rally? The Yankees got one in the 9th, as Wade singled to right and stole 2nd, and LeMahieu singled him home. Aroldis Chapman shook off his most recent troublesome performance, and pitched a hitless 9th.

Yankees 6, Angels 5. WP: Loaisiga (1-0). SV: Chapman (4). LP: Buttrey (1-1).

The series concludes tonight. Masahiro Tanaka starts against Trevor Cahill.

So, don't look now... Actually, yes, look. Now. In spite of everything that's happened already this season, the Yankees are close to 1st place.

HIX STIX NIX SOX

Yankees vs. Red Sox, weekend series at Yankee Stadium, with 1st place in the American League Eastern Division on the line.

Friday night: Gleyber Torres led off the bottom of the 2nd inning with a triple, and is singled home by Miguel Andujar. Giancarlo Stanton leads off the 4th with a walk. Didi Gregorius doubles. Torres hits a line drive to left, and it's deep enough to score Stanton. Then back-to-back home runs by Andujar and Greg Bird. Yankees 5, Scum 0.

The Sox get a run back in the 5th, but the 7th featured a single by Aaron Hicks and a home run by Aaron Judge. Bird added another home run in the 8th.

CC Sabathia was a beast again. He knows how much New York vs. Boston means. He went 7 innings, allowing 1 run on 6 hits and just 1 walk, striking out 5. Chad Green pitched a perfect inning. So did the much-maligned Chasen Shreve: Even he couldn't blow a 7-run lead.

Yankees 8, Red Sox 1. WP: Sabathia (5-3). No save. LP: Eduardo Rodriguez (9-3).

*

As good as Friday night was, Saturday night was an absolute disaster. Sonny Gray once again proved what everybody but Brian Cashman could see last July: He is no Justin Verlander. Or Chris Sale, for that matter. He didn't get out of the 3rd inning, and it was 6-0 by the time he walked off the mound.

Sale, on the other hand, was brilliant for the Sox, allowing just 3 baserunners: He hit Hicks with a pitch in the 1st -- had it been a different Sox pitcher, I'd have been sure hitting the 1st Yankee batter of the game was a message -- and single by Stanton in the 1st, and a walk to Austin Romine in the 2nd. After that, he retired 16 straight Yankees before being relieved.

Red Sox 11, Yankees 0. WP: Sale (8-4). No Save. LP: Gray (5-6).

*

The pendulum swung back in the Sunday night ESPN game. It was a Sevy Sunday, and Luis Severino was dominant, pitching shutout ball into the 7th inning, allowing just 2 hits, although 3 walks, with 6 strikeouts.

The Yankee bats, meanwhile clobbered old Tampa Bay pain in the neck David Price, who was supposed to be the 2nd example of the Sox proving the old saw that "The Yankees can't hit lefthanders," which was disproven long ago. Judge and Torres took him deep in the 1st inning. Hicks hit one out in the 3rd. Higashiokia homered in the 5th, and Hicks added another in the inning to finish Price off. In the 8th, Hicks hit a 3rd home run. HIX STIX NIX SOX.

Chapman needed the work, so Boone sent him in to protect an 11-run lead in the 9th. Even Shreve couldn't blow that, right? Well, Aroldis gotta Aroldis, so he allowed a run, but that was it. Yankees 11, Red Sox 1. WP: Severino (13-2). No save. LP: Price (9-6).

Taking 2 of 3 against The Scum is always good. Not as good as sweeping 3, but I'll gladly take it.

The Yankees end the series sort-of tied with the Sox for 1st place, 54-27 to the Sox' 56-29. Because we still have 4 games in hand on them due to rainouts, we're 2 games ahead in the all-important loss column.

That's 81 games in. The regular season is half-over. The Yankees are in a good position. But it could be better. Bring on the 2nd half.

Can't Say Yanks Are Toothless: Back in 1st Place!

So Brett Gardner hit a walkoff home run in the 11th inning on Thursday night, and in the celebration, somebody jumped up, and his helmet smacked Aaron Judge in the mouth, breaking one of his teeth.

The tooth was fixed yesterday morning, and Judge was in the lineup against the Tampa Bay Rays at Yankee Stadium last night. Good thing, too: He hit a home run in the 4th inning. Gardner hit one in the 1st. And rookie sensation Clint Frazier hit one in the 5th, going a Judgelike 455 feet, driving in 3 runs.

That's 4 home runs on the season for Frazier (remember, he's a recent callup), 19 for Gardner (remember, he's meant to be the speed guy on this team), and 33 for Judge (which is more home runs than a person has teeth, even to start out with)! Say what you want about the Yankees, but they are not toothless!

(Okay, Clint is no longer a prospect, or even a "prospect." He's a rookie sensation. But he could still turn out to be the next Kevin Maas, Dan Pasqua or Steve Balboni. But I would definitely settle for him being the next Shane Spencer, or even the next Brian Doyle!)

Masahiro Tanaka pitched his best game of the season, mainly because Joe Girardi let him: 8 innings, 109 pitches, 1 run, 2 hits, no walks, and a career-high 14 strikeouts.

The 1 run was a home run by Lucas Duda, whom the Rays just picked up from the Mets. This time, though, the home run that Tanaka allowed wasn't an early gopher ball that opened the floodgates. Instead, it was in the 7th inning, an inning that Girardi usually doesn't even let him pitch.

A Didi Gregorius single brought home another run in the 8th, to finish it off. Yankees 6, Rays 1. WP: Tanaka (8-9). No save. LP: Austin Pruitt (5-2).

And the Boston Red Sox lost to the Kansas City Royals 4-2, hours after acquiring former Yankee Eduardo "NunE6" Nunez. The Yankees are now in 1st place in the American League Eastern Division by half a game -- 2 games in the all-important loss column! First time alone in 1st place since June 21.

The series continues this afternoon. Caleb Smith starts against Blake Snell.

Don't look now, but Adrian Beltre, now with the Texas Rangers, has 2,998 career hits, 454 home runs, and a .307 lifetime batting average. His ticket to the Hall of Fame is being printed. And I will have to do that "3,000 Hit Club In Perspective" post again.

Triple Your Pleasure

The Yankees returned home last night, for a short 2-game Interleague series with the Cincinnati Reds. If it wasn't quite the 1939 World Series (the Yankees of DiMaggio, Bill Dickey, Ruffing and Gomez swept the Reds of Ernie Lombardi in 4 straight) or the 1961 World Series (the Yankees of Mantle, Maris, Berra and Ford beat the Reds of Frank Robinson in 5), it was certainly better than the 1976 World Series (the Yankees with Thurman Munson and Catfish Hunter, but not yet Reggie Jackson, got swept by the Big Red Machine of Pete Rose, Johnny Bench and Joe Morgan).

One of the weirdest plays in the 115-season history of the Yankees -- or even the 136-season history of the Reds -- happened last night. With the game scoreless in the bottom of the 2nd, Matt Holliday led off against Luis Castillo. As we've seen, National League players named Luis Castillo have some unpleasant (for them) history at the new Yankee Stadium.

But this was different. Holliday singled to right. Didi Gregorius singled to right. Chase Headley singled to left, but Holliday couldn't score. Bases loaded, nobody out. The Yankees should've gotten at least 2 runs home.

The batter was Todd Frazier. From Toms River, Ocean County, New Jersey, he was making his Pinstripes debut, having come to the Yankees in a trade while we were on the road. He got a nice hand.

Frazier hit a ground ball up the middle. Jose Peraza, the Reds' shortstop, got it, and stepped on 2nd base. That's 1 out. He threw to Joey Votto at 1st base to throw Frazier out. That's 2 outs. In the meantime, Holliday came home to score.

But Gregorius thought the ball might be caught, so he stayed close to 2nd. Maybe 99 times out of 100, that's the smart thing to do; maybe 999 times out of 1,000, it's at least the safe thing to do. But, seeing what was happening, he ran for 3rd base. Votto saw this, and threw across the diamond, and Gregorius was caught in a rundown. Eventually, he was called out for running wide of the baseline to avoid a tag. That's 3 outs.

A triple play. The 1st pulled by the Reds since 1995, the 1st against the Yankees since 2011. But since Holliday scored while the play was still in progress, and none of the outs concerned him, his run still counted.

"A strange play," said Captain Obvious, in his secret identity of Joe Girardi.

Not to be Captain Obvious myself, but, for any Mets or Red Sox fans

who may be reading, this is not actually Joe Girardi.

This is Brandon Moynihan, the actor who plays

Captain Obvious in the Hotels.com TV commercials.

"Got to be a record," Frazier said. Not quite: It was the 1st run scored during a triple play since the Seattle Mariners did it against the Minnesota Twins in 2006.

This wasn't a case of, to paraphrase the old Doublemint gum slogan, "Triple your pleasure, triple your fun." But it did get the Yankees on the board. Cliche Alert: That's baseball: You never know when you're going to see something you've never seen before.

A triple play, but we still score? Cliche Alert, Part 2: Whatever works.

So, anyway, one-nil to the Pinstripe Boys. Gregorius made up for his baserunning faux pas with a sacrifice fly in the 4th inning, to make it 2-0. An Austin Romine double brought home a run in the 5th, to make it 3-0.

Jordan Montgomery walked a batter in the 2nd inning, but kept a no-hitter going through 5. We were 12 outs away from having a no-hitter and a run-scoring triple play in the same game. Cliche Alert, Part 3: Baseball is a funny game.

In the 6th, Montgomery ran into trouble, allowing a leadoff double, and 2 grounders that each advanced the runner a base, to make it 3-1. Girardi kept him in through 7, and brought Dellin Betances in for the 8th.

Cliche Alert, Part 4: Walks can kill you. Betances bracketed a strikeout with walks. A fielder's choice moved the runners up, and then he allowed an RBI double to make it 3-2, with the tying run on 3rd.

Girardi brought in Adam Warren, and I figured this was another game that Girardi had blown with his pitching musical chairs. But Warren got a strikeout to end the threat. And Gregorius, clearly the man of the game, in whatever direction you want to suggest, got us an insurance run with his 15th home run of the season. Aroldis Chapman pitched a perfect 9th to close it out.

Yankees 4, Reds 2. WP: Montgomery (7-5). SV: Chapman (12). LP: Castillo (1-4). The Yankees have now won 4 of their last 5, and it really should be 5 in a row; while the Reds have lost 10 of their last 12.

Even better, the Boston Red Sox lost last night, so the Yankees close to within 1 game of 1st place in the American League Eastern Division -- and, because we have 4 games in hand on them, we are actually a game ahead of them in the all-important loss column!

This briefest of actual series, rather than a 1-game rainout makeup -- 2 games, most likely ending within 21 hours -- concludes with a matinee today, with Luis Severino starting for New York, and Homer Bailey, he of 2 career no-hitters but otherwise with a career record of just 59-56, for Cincinnati.

Then, tomorrow night, the Tampa Bay Rays come in for a 4-game series.

*

Hours until the U.S. national soccer team plays again: 9, tonight at 9:30, in the Final of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, against Jamaica, at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, home of the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles. The U.S. had expected to play Mexico in the Final, but Jamaica pulled the upset.

Days until The Arsenal play again: 3, on Saturday, 11:20 AM our time, as they begin the 2-day Emirates Cup. Four teams, two doubleheaders. The early game on Saturday is Sevilla of Spain against Red Bull Leipzig of Germany, followed by Arsenal vs. Benfica of Lisbon, Portugal. The next day, Benfica play RB Leipzig, while Arsenal host Sevilla.

Days until the Red Bulls play again: 3, on Saturday night at 7:30, home to the Montreal Impact.

Days until the Red Bulls next play a "derby": 11, a week from this Sunday, August 6, against New York City FC at Yankee Stadium. They will next play the Philadelphia Union on Sunday, September 17, at at Red Bull Arena. They will next play the D.C. Scum on Saturday, September 27, at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey. They are not scheduled to play the New England Revolution again this season. The Red Bulls might make the Playoffs, but the Revs probably won't, so they almost certainly won't face each other again until next season.

Days until the Premier League season begins: 16, on Friday, August 11. A little over 2 weeks.
The Arsenal open the season at home to Leicester City, in a game moved back from the intending opening to suit British TV.

Days until the next Yankees-Red Sox series: 16, on Friday, August 11, at Yankee Stadium. A little over 2 weeks.

Days until Rutgers University plays football again: 37, on Friday, September 1, home to the University of Washington. A little over 5 weeks.

Days until East Brunswick High School plays football again: 44, on Friday night, September 8, home to Sayreville, a "derby." A little over 6 weeks.

Days until the New Jersey Devils play again: 73, on Saturday night, October 7, home to the Colorado Avalanche. A little over 10 weeks.

Days until the New Jersey Devils next play a local rival: 80, on Saturday night, October 14, against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden in Midtown Manhattan. Their 1st game against the New York Islanders will be on Sunday, January 7, 2018, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn -- and they'll have played the Rangers 3 times by then. Their 1st game against the Philadelphia Flyers will be on Saturday, January 13, 2018, at the Prudential Center in Newark -- and they'll have played the Rangers 3 times and the Islanders once by then. This is a weird schedule. But at least we have it. The NBA usually doesn't release its new season's schedule until August.

Days until the Alex Rodriguez Contract From Hell officially runs out, and the Yankees can spend his salary on new players: 97, on October 31.

Days until the next election for Governor of New Jersey: 104, on Tuesday, November 7. A little over 3 months until we elect Phil Murphy, defeat Kim Guadagno, and end Christieism forever. But only if you vote!

Days until the next Rutgers-Penn State football game: 108, on Saturday, November 11, at Beaver Stadium in State College, Pennsylvania.

Days until the next North London Derby: 115, on Saturday, November 18, at the Emirates Stadium. This game could be moved to the following day, for TV purposes.

Days until the next East Brunswick-Old Bridge Thanksgiving high school football game: 120, on Thursday, November 23, at 10:00 AM. A little under months, and thank God it's at home, at Jay Doyle's Green Grove, rather than at that purple shit pit on Route 9.

Days until the next Winter Olympics begins in Pyeongchang, Korea: 202, on February 9, 2018. A little over 6 months.

Days until the next World Cup kicks off in Russia: 323, on June 14, 2018. Under 11 months. Has Bruce Arena turned our chances around? Maybe. Or maybe, with the tournament on his soil, Vladimir Putin will tell his bitch Donald Trump to tell Bruce Arena to tank the games. Maybe not. Or maybe only if we end up playing Russia. I don't think Arena will listen. If he doesn't, I hope his life insurance is paid up, because Putin has had people killed for defying him.

Days until September 2018 roster call-ups, when we can finally start to expect seeing most of these wonderful "prospects" for whom Yankee general manager Brian Cashman threw away a chance at the 2016 Playoffs: 402. A little over a year, or a little over 13 months. Of course, Clint Frazier is already up, but we've hardly benefited enough to offset the cost of Andrew Miller. We could end up seeing another of them sooner than that, but since most of them are at Double-A Trenton now, if that, who's kidding who?

Days until the next Congressional election: 468, on November 6, 2018. Under a year and a half, or a little over 15 months.

Days until the Baseball Hall of Fame vote is announced, electing Mariano Rivera: 532, on January 9, 2019. A little under a year and a half, or a little over 17 months.

Days until the Baseball Hall of Fame vote is announced, electing Derek Jeter: 897, on January 8, 2020. A little under 2 1/2 years, or a little over 29 months.

Days until the next Summer Olympics begins in Tokyo, Japan: 1,102, on July 24, 2020. A shade under 3 years, or 36 months.

Days until the next Presidential election: 1,564, on November 3, 2020. Under 3 1/2 years, or a little over 39 months.

Days until Liberation Day: 1,642, at noon on January 20, 2021. A little over 3 1/2 years, or a little under 42 months. Note that this is liberation from the Republican Party, not just from Donald Trump. Having Mike Pence as President wouldn't be better, just differently bad, mixing theocracy with plutocracy, rather than mixing kleptocracy with plutocracy.