Yanks Beat Cheats, North and South

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.

October 26, 2005: A World Series Won by Chicago

October 26, 2005, 20 years ago: The Chicago White Sox shut out the Houston Astros‚ 1-0 at Minute Maid Park (now Daikin Park) in Houston‚ to sweep the World Series, and win their 1st World Championship since 1917, 88 years earlier. It is the 1st World Series win for either Chicago team in that time.

The White Sox won the 1st American League Pennant, in 1901. They won the 1st intracity World Series, beating the Chicago Cubs in 1906. They won the World Series in 1917. Then they lost the World Series in 1919. The following year, it got out that 7 players on the team had "thrown" the Series, to get money from gamblers, since team owner Charlie Comiskey was underpaying them. It took 40 years to win another Pennant, as "The Go-Go White Sox" did it in 1959.

Over the years, the South Siders had some close calls. They missed the Pennant by 1 game in 1964, and 3 games in 1967. They missed the AL Western Division title by 5 1/2 games in 1972, and led the Division as late as August 8 in 1977, before drifting to 12 games back. They won the Division in 1983, but lost the AL Championship Series to the Baltimore Orioles. In 1990, the last season at the old Comiskey Park, they stayed close to the Oakland Athletics most of the season, before 9 back.

In 1993, they won the AL West, but lost the ALCS to the Toronto Blue Jays. In 1994, they led the newly-created AL Central Division when the Strike hit. In 2000, they won the Division, but lost the AL Division Series to the Seattle Mariners.

And so their drought after 1959 turned out to be longer than the one they had from 1919 to 1959. What's more, the crosstown Cubs, who hadn't won a Pennant since 1945 and the World Series since 1908, and the Boston Red Sox, who hadn't won the World Series since 1918 -- one year more recently than the White Sox -- were celebrated for their seemingly "cursed" close calls. The White Sox? They didn't have a litany of bizarre incidents down the years that could seemingly be ascribed to a curse. They just... lost.

And with the Cubs having gotten the WGN Superstation to broadcast their games, and the White Sox not, and the Cubs and the Red Sox both having literati write lots of books about their woe-is-us status, it was as if the baseball world didn't care that the White Sox hadn't won the World Series for longer than the Red Sox. Even when the Red Sox finally won it in 2004 *, the attention that was on them didn't shift to the White Sox. If anything, the Cubs got even more.

Finally, the Pale Hose won the AL Central Division again in 2005. They swept the defending World Champion * Red Sox in 3 straight games in the AL Division Series. They lost Game 1 of the AL Championship Series to the team then known as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, and looked likely to lose Game 2 before a controversial call led to the winning run in the bottom of the 9th.

They never lost another game, tying the 1999 New York Yankees' record for best postseason record in the 1995-present Division Series Era, 11-1. On October 16, trailing Game 5, 3-2 after 6 innings, they won, 6-3, to win the Pennant for the 1st time in 46 years and 24 days.

The White Sox hadn't won the World Series in 88 years. The Houston Astros were in it for the 1st time in their 44 seasons of play. Something had to give. Baseball fans can look at a written record of what happened, and figure that the White Sox had it easy. That was far from the case.

Each team's manager had previously played for them. Ozzie Guillén, like Luis Aparicio and Chico Carrasquel before him, had come from Venezuela to play shortstop for the White Sox, made the move from the old Comiskey Park to the new one in 1990 (the stadium was renamed U.S. Cellular Field in 2003, and would be renamed Guaranteed Rate Field in 2016 and Rate Field in 2025), and was a member of their Playoff team of 1993. He won a Pennant with the Atlanta Braves in 1999.

As a player, Guillén was a slick fielder and a 3-time All-Star, who could run well and hit a little. There was little to suggest that he would one day become a successful manager, and even less to suggest the wild personality that would one day become known.

Phil Garner was a 2nd baseman who, like Guillén, made 3 All-Star Games. He won the World Series with the Oakland Athletics in 1973 and 1974, and with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1979, before helping the Astros win the NL West title in 1986. Despite the nickname "Scrap Iron," he was not as argumentative, or as controversial, as Guillén.

The White Sox won Game 1 at U.S. Cellular Field, 5-3. Game 2, also at home, was a wild one, before Scott Podsednik hit a home run in the bottom of the 9th to win it. Game 3, at Minute Maid Park in Houston, went 14 innings, tying what was then a World Series record. Geoff Blum, a once-and-future Astro, and now a broadcaster for them, hit a home run for the White Sox in the top of the 14th inning, putting them 1 win away from the title.

Game 4 was played in Houston. Freddy Garcia, formerly the ace of the Seattle Mariners, started for the White Sox, Brandon Backe for the Astros, and both pitched 7 shutout innings, dispatching major threats along the way.

But Garner made a mistake, bringing closer Brad Lidge in for the 8th inning. Willie Harris singled off him, and was moved over by a bunt from Podsednik and a groundout by Carl Everett. Jermaine Dye singled Harris home, and was be named the Series' Most Valuable Player.

The Astros threatened in the bottom of the 8th, but ChiSox reliever Neal Cotts got out of it. For the 9th, Guillén brought in Bobby Jenks, the closer he called "The Big Boy." He allowed a single to Jason Lane, who was bunted over by Brad Ausmus. Chris Burke came up: His 18th-inning home run clinched the Division Series for the Astros, so there was concern. He hit a foul pop-up, of which Juan Uribe made a great catch for the 2nd out.

Orlando Palmeiro grounded to Uribe, who made another great play, and the ball just barely hit the glove of 1st baseman Paul Konerko in time. It was 11:01 PM Central Time on October 26, 2005 -- 12:01 AM Eastern on October 27 -- and, for the 1st time in 88 years and 9 days, the World Championship of baseball belonged to a team based in Chicago.

In Chicago in the interim:

* The NFL had been founded, the Bears had won 9 NFL Championships, including a Super Bowl; and the Cardinals had won 2 Championships, and moved to St. Louis, and then to Phoenix.

* The NBA had been founded, 2 Chicago-based teams and a few other professional basketball teams had failed, before the Bulls began play, eventually winning 6 NBA Championships in 8 years; DePaul University had won the NIT, when that was still considered college basketball's National Championship, and Loyola University had won an NCAA Tournament, and (7 months earlier) the University of Illinois had reached an NCAA Final.

* The NHL had been founded, and the Blackhawks had won 3 Stanley Cups; while the World Hockey Association had run its course, including the Chicago Cougars having reached but lost a Finals.

* The North American Soccer League had gone through its entire existence, with the Chicago Sting winning 2 titles, including the last; and Major League Soccer had been founded, with the Fire winning an MLS Cup and a U.S. Open Cup in the same year, "doing the Double."

* And the original Soldier Field, the Chicago Stadium, and the International Amphitheatre had all been built, hosted all kinds of events, and been torn down and replaced by new buildings.

In the world at large: Radio broadcasting, television, photocopiers, computers, the Internet and smart phones had all been invented. Penicillin had been synthesized, the polio vaccine had been created, smallpox had been eradicated, AIDS had developed and treatments for it had been created, and it had become possible to transplant major organs. Humanity had developed rockets, been to the Moon, and had sent unmanned probes to all 7 of the other bodies then officially classified as "planets."

And there had been 8 Popes, 16 Presidents and 11 Mayors of Chicago, 2 of them (including the incumbent) named Richard Daley and living within walking distance of the home of the White Sox.

A Chicago team had won the World Series. And it wasn't the Cubs. Still, the Cubs had better attendance over the next few years. And when the Cubs finally won it all again in 2016, it was celebrated as a great moment for Chicago and environs, and White Sox fans were all, "Uh, hello? We did it first!"

Guillén had become the 1st foreign-born manager to win a World Series. The Astros would not win another Pennant until 2017, finally winning a World Series -- dubiously, as it turned out.

Take That, Astros!

The Yankees started their toughest stretch of the season, 12 straight games against potential Playoff opponents, on Tuesdau night, at Daikin Park, formerly Minute Maid Park, formerly Enron Field, formerly The Ballpark at Union Station, in Houston. This began a 3-game series against the Houston Astros, formerly the Houston Colt .45s, also know as the Houston Asstros, the Houston Asshats, the Houston Asterisks, the Red Sox South, and the Chicken Fried Cheats.

Given the fact that the Astros have eliminated the Yankees from the Playoffs in 4 of the last 10 seasons coming into this one, and another Playoff matchup against them this season is possible, we had to send those  cheating bastards a message. We have to take at least 2 out of the 3. Anything less than that would have been unacceptable.

*

Max Fried started on Tuesday night, and he continued his resurgence after a difficult slump to start the 2nd half of the season. He went 7 innings, allowing just 1 run. Paul Blackburn went the rest of the way. That took a lot of pressure off the bullpen.

Jazz Chisholm made the difference all by himself, going 3-for-4 with 2 home runs and 3 RBIs. Trent Grisham went 2-for-4 with a grand slam. Yankees 7, Astros 1. A huge win, and a big statement made to the Chicken Fried Cheats in their bandbox

*

But Wednesday night was the kind of game that will loom large in our memories if the Yankees don't win the American League Eastern Division, especially if we can't go on from a Wild Card position to win the World Series.

It didn't start out that way. Will Warren allowed just 1 run in 5 innings. Giancarlo Stanton hit a home run in the 2nd inning, Austin Wells hit one in the 4th, and Ryan McMahon drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in the top of the 6th.

To lead off the bottom of the 6th, Jeremy Peña hit a home run. The Yankees still led, 4-2. Warren had thrown only 67 pitches, 46 of them for strikes. There was no reason to take him out and play musical chairs with the bullpen. But Aaron Boone did that. Fernando Cruz allowed another run in the 6th. And Luke Weaver allowed the Astros to tie the game in the 7th.

Then came the bottom of the 8th. Devin Williams may be the single most disappointing acquisition of the Brian Cashman era. Based on what he'd done with the Milwaukee Brewers -- who have the best record in baseball by 4 1/2 games without him -- he was expected to be the reliable closer that the Yankees haven't had since Mariano Rivera retired. Instead, he's been bad in the 9th inning and later, but good in innings 6, 7 and 8.

Not this time: He gave up a double and a walk, got a strikeout, gave up another walk to load the bases, got another strikeout to give us hope of getting out of the inning okay, then forced in a run with a walk.

Boone had seen enough: He took Williams out, and brought in new acquisition Camilo Doval. He allowed an RBI single, then forced runners home on a balk and a walk pitch, before he finally got a groundout to end the inning with 4 runs on 2 hits, 3 walks, a balk and a wild pitch. Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, although they're not the only thing that can. In this case, the other things wouldn't have without the walks.

Pardon my French, but DeFuque? Boone could have left Warren in, saved 3 bullpen slots, and, in practical term, it wouldn't have been any worse than this. Cruz threw 16 pitches, Weaver 22. Add those to Warren's 67, and you've got 105 pitches. That's not too many. Williams with 34 and Doval with 9 needed 43 pitches to end the bottom of the 8th.

What's worse, the Yankees mounted a comeback in the 9th, but it wasn't enough. With 1 out, McMahon singled. Grisham struck out, but Aaron Judge singled McMahon over to 3rd base. Judge took 2nd on defensive indifference. Cody Bellinger hit a home run, to make it 8-7.

But Chisholm was called out on strikes, on a pitch outside the strike zone, by home plate umpire Brian Walsh, to end it. There's no guarantee the Yankees would have gone on to tie the game had Walsh correctly given Chisholm ball 4. Still, it was a bad ending to a bad game.

The Astros won the game, a game in which Walsh had 21 missed calls. Walsh has admitted on Facebook to being a "Loyal Dodgers fan." After the game, someone found a picture of Walsh and an unidentified acquantaince wearing Boston Red Sox gear. Gee, you think he might have it in for the Yankees? Already, he's being called Boston Brian.

Walsh on the right. The guy on the left has not been identified.

*

So the Thursday night game became very important for both teams, but especially for the Yankees. They needed a good start from Carlos Rodón. They got one, as he went 6 innings, allowing only 2 runs. McMahon singled a run home in the 2nd inning, then hit a home run in the 5th. This was followed by 3 singles and 2 walks, and the Yankees left it up 4-1. Rodón left winning 4-2.

But Weaver began the 7th by allowing a home run to make it 4-3. He got 2 strikeouts, but also put runners on 1st and 2nd. Boone took him out, and brought in Cruz, to face the dangerous, cheating, diminutive, insufferable Jose Altuve. Cruz struck his cheating ass out, and the traveling Yankee Fans could be heard cheering over the the home fans.

The Yankees took this big lift into the top of the 8th, and scored 4 runs, including a screamer down the right-field line by Grisham, ending up in the 2nd deck. It was 8-3. If you want to argue that Cal Raleigh deserves the AL's Most Valuable Player award more than Judge, Grisham is your best argument: He might be more valuable to the Yankees than Judge is.

Cruz allowed a single to start the bottom of the 8th, then retired the next 3. David Bednar was brought in to pitch the bottom of the 9th. He was shaky: He began the inning with a single and a double. That double was hit by former Yankee Taylor Trammell. Afterward, Boone told the umpires to look at his bat. He thought there was something wrong with it. Trammell's double was allowed to stand, but the umpires confiscated the bat. We shall see if this is yet another example of the Astros' cheating.

There was a line-shot that shortstop Anthony Volpe caught. Apparently, Boone still thinks his defense is worth keeping his .208 batting average and his .271 on-base percentage in the lineup, although he did get a hit in this game.

Bednar allowed an RBI single to make it 8-4, then gave up a walk, loading the bases. The tying run was at the plate, with just 1 out. But he struck Carlos Correa out, and then he struck Christian Walker out to end it -- in each case, swinging, not on a disputable call. Yankees 8, Astros 4. Take that, Astros, you cheating bastards!

For the series, Altuve, the single most-hated Yankee opponent since fellow cheating bastard David Ortiz, went 0-for-11, with 2 walks, an RBI on a groundout, and 3 strikeouts.

One troubling note, though: Chisholm had to leave last night's game with contusions on both legs. Will he be able to play in the Toronto series?

*

So the Yankees not only survived their 1st big test of September, they took 2 out of 3 in Houston. They messed with Texas.

They are 78-62. They are 3 games behind the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League Eastern Division, with 22 left to play, and the next 3 are at home, at Yankee Stadium II, against those pesky Blue Jays. If the current standings hold to the end of the season, then, despite both teams having a better record than the AL West-leading Astros, the Yankees would have the 4th seed in the AL Playoffs, and the Boston Red Sox would have the 5th seed, and the Yanks and Sox would play each other, with the Yanks having home-field advantage.

Here are the projected pitching matchups for the Toronto series, with all 3 games on YES:

* Tonight, 7:05: Cam Schlittler vs. Kyle Gausman.

* Tomorrow, 1:05: Luis Gil, last season's AL Rookie of the Year, vs. Max Scherzer, a probable future Hall-of-Famer.

* Sunday, 1:35: Max Fried vs. Chris Bassitt.

This could decide the Division title. Come on you Pinstripes!