The Roof, the Roof, the Roof Is Not the Problem

Game 2 of the American League Championship Series went no better for the Yankees than did Game 1. Luis Severino started, and did not pitch well, going 5 1/3rd innings, allowing 3 runs on 5 hits and a walk. The bullpen held the Houston Astros scoreless the rest of the way.

It didn't matter: The Yankees just couldn't get runs home. They didn't even get a baserunner until Aaron Judge singled to lead off the 4th. Giancarlo Stanton reached on an error that got him to 2nd base and Judge to 3rd. Judge scored on an Anthony Rizzo groundout, and Stanton scored on a Gleyber Torres single. But the threat ended with Josh Donaldson and Kyle Higashioka both striking out.

The closest the Yankees came to scoring again was in the 8th, when Judge fell a couple of feet short of an opposite-field home run. Astros 3, Yankees 2.

In the 1st 2 games of the ALCS, Matt Carpenter is 0-for-5, Jose Trevino is 0-for-4, Kyle Higashioka is 0-for-3, Oswaldo Cabrera is also 0-for-3, Aaron Judge is 1-for-8, Gleyber Torres is also 1-for-8 (although he does have an RBI), Anthony Rizzo is 1-for-6 (although he does have a 2-run homer and a walk), and Josh Donaldson is also 1-for-6 (although he does have 2 walks). The only Yankee who's hit well is Harrison Bader, 2-for-7 with a solo homer and a walk.

The strikeouts are a problem, but outs in general are a bigger problem. Pop-ups, groundouts and flyouts -- unless they move a runner over, making them "productive outs" (a term not yet used often enough for me to issue a Cliché Alert) -- are, effectively, no worse than strikeouts.

Strikeouts look worse, but I'm more concerned with how things actually are than with how they look. What good is putting the ball in play, if it doesn't result in progress on the bases?

Furthermore, the strikeouts weren't entirely the Yankees' fault: Plate umpire D.J. Reyburn gave the Chicken Fried Cheats the game, calling pitches on the Yankees strikes that wouldn't be strikes on any other team.

And Aaron Boone, instead of blaming his (or perhaps Brian Cashman's) lineup and pitching selections, blamed the roof at Minute Maid Park being open. Even Cashman has got to see that this can't go on. Boone is doing the one thing a manager cannot do: He is embarrassing the organization. I will forever be grateful to Boone for that home run against Boston... 19 years ago, now. But he has to go as manager.

The roof, the roof, the roof is not the problem: The lack of hitting is.

Now, we have to sweep the 3 in The Bronx, and hope we can win Game 6 or Game 7 back in Houston. This is why you play for best record in the League: Home-field advantage. The Yankees had it in July, and threw it away in August.

Game 3 starts at 5:07 this afternoon. Gerrit Cole needs to pitch like an ace again, against Cristian Javier. If the Yankees lose this one, they may get swept by the Red Sox South.

The Boston Whommy Continues

Former Yankee manager Casey Stengel had an unusual vocabulary. Included in this was the word "whommy." Apparently, it was a variant of "whammy," meaning a strange advantage, like a curse. If a great pitcher had trouble with a particular hitter, that hitter "had the whommy over him." Same thing for teams: In 1952, under Casey, the Yankees won 20 of their last 22, but the 2 losses were to the considerably weaker Philadelphia Athletics. The A's had the whommy over the Yanks.

Right now, there are 3 teams that have the whommy over the Yankees: The Boston Red Sox, since the 2004 American League Championship Series; the Tampa Bay Rays, since the 2010 AL Eastern Division race; and the Houston Astros, since the 2015 AL Wild Card Game. And while they seem to be close to eliminating the one from the Rays, those from the Red Scum and the Asterisks are as solid as ever.

Last night, the Yankees started their last series before the All-Star Break, at home to the Red Sox, and it was bad. Talk about a whommy: Ever since general manager Brian Cashman let him go, Nathan Eovaldi has tried to show him just how big a mistake he made.

This time, despite being staked to a 2-0 lead, including another home run off the Yankees by Rafael Devers, before the Yankees even came to bat, Eovaldi didn't get out of the 5th inning. Giancarlo Stanton hit a home run in the 3rd, to give the Yankees a 3-2 lead. But Christian Vazquez homered to tie the game in the top of the 4th. Clearly, this was going to be another game where Jordan Montgomery got insufficient run support.

In the 7th, Aaron Boone made a mistake that was so dumb. How dumb was it? It was so dumb, it, as much as anything else that happened, cost the Yankees the game. He brought Aroldis Chapman in to pitch in a tie game against the Red Sox. First batter: Bobby Dalbec. Result: Home run. 4-3 Scum. Chapman got a popup and 2 strikeouts after that. As Phil Rizzuto would have said, "But the damage is done. I tell ya, Bill White, it's unbelievable. I'm gettin' agita here. I shoulda gone home early. Holy cow."

Gleyber Torres led off the bottom of the 9th with a single. Matt Carpenter was hit with a pitch. Isiah Kiner-Falefa grounded back to Sox closer Tanner Houck, who made a bad throw, and Torres scored the tying run.

Aaron Hicks was intentionally walked. Now, the bases were loaded with nobody out. But Jose Trevino grounded into a double play, and DJ LeMahieu grounded back to Houck, who made this play. Extra innings.

Clay Holmes struck out the side in the top of the 10th, overcoming his recent horrible outing against the Sox at Fenway Park. LeMahieu was the ghost runner for the bottom of the 10th. Aaron Judge grounded out, and LeMahieu had to hold at 2nd. Anthony Rizzo was intentionally walked. Stanton singled, but LeMahieu was unable to score on the play. And Torres grounded into a double play. Back-to-back innings with the bases loaded and less than 2 outs, and the Yankees couldn't score either time.

Michael King started the top of the 11th. Alex Verdugo flew out, but ghost runner Xander Bogaerts was able to get to 3rd. Vazquez grounded to 3rd, and Bogaerts had to hold. But with Dalbec up, King threw a wild pitch, and Bogaerts scored.

Ryan Brasier came on to pitch for the Red Sox, and home plate umpire D.J. Reyburn, as he had been doing all night, called some pitches strikes that were easily out of the strike zone. This forced Donaldson and Hicks, bracketing a groundout by IKF, to swing at pitches out of the zone for strike 3.

Red Sox 5, Yankees 4. WP: Houck (5-3, even though he blew the save.) SV: Brasier (1). LP: King (6-2). Blame the plate umpire, blame the stupid ghost runner rule, but also blame the Yankee hitters for not overcoming those things, anyway. The Red Sox' whommy over the Yankees is intact.

The series continues tonight. Jameson Taillon starts against Nick Pivetta. The game will be on Fox, which is usually bad news for the Yankees and good news for the Red Sox. Fox loves them some Sox, and hates them some Yankees.