Not Much Confidence, Not Much Chance

There have been a few games in which the Yankees had an emotional clincher in an earlier round where they could have been expected to lose Game 1 of the next series, and did. Game 5 of this year's American League Division Series was no exception: I did not have much confidence that they would win Game 1 of the AL Championship Series, halfway across the country, less than 24 hours later, against the known cheats who are the Houston Astros, a team that has been stuck in the Yankees' heads.

Harrison Bader gave the Yankees an early 1-0 lead, with a home run in the top of the 2nd inning. The Astros tied it in the bottom of the 2nd. It was still 1-1 in the bottom of the 5th. Jameson Taillon started for the Yankees, and was pitching well, getting that cheating midget José Altuve to ground out to lead off the inning. (Yes, I know: "Midget" is now considered offensive; and, at 5-foot-6, Altuve doesn't meet the medical definition of one, anyway.)

But Taillon gave up a double to Jeremy Peña. It was only his 67th pitch of the game, but, as he so often does, manager Aaron Boone panicked, and he brought Clarke Schmidt in to pitch. Schmidt was shaky, loading the bases with walks before getting out of it. And in the 6th, Schmidt gave up home runs to Yuli Garriel and Chas McCormick. "Turn your sets off right there," as former WCBS-Channel 2 sports anchor Warner Wolf would have said.

Boone brought Lou Trivino in to finish the 6th without further damage, and he did. He should have left Trivino in to pitch the 7th. He didn't: He brought in Frankie Montas. As Vince Lombardi would have said, "What the hell's goin' on out here?" On his 3rd pitch, Montas served up a meatball to Peña, making it 4-1 Astros.

Anthony Rizzo hit a home run in the 8th, followed by a single by Giancarlo Stanton and a walk by Josh Donaldson. But Matt Carpenter struck out to end the inning, and the Yankees went down 1-2-3 in the 9th. Astros 4, Yankees 2.

In order to win this series, and thus win the Pennant, the Yankees must win at least 1 game in Houston. They have another chance tonight, with Luis Severino starting against Framber Valdez. This is the biggest game of the Yankees' season. Win it, and there will be bigger games to follow. Lose it, and it will almost certainly be another "Wait 'til next year."

High On a Montas of Loss

This is my 46th season watching the New York Yankees. At this point, no one loss, no matter how great the margin, no matter how embarrassing the method, should bother me beyond the simple desire to win not having been fulfilled.

This one did. To paraphrase J.R.R. Tolkien, One does not simply blow a 5-0 lead. With eight pitchers, you should not do this. It is folly.

And yet, that is what happened last night at Milwaukee County Stad-- I mean, Miller P-- I mean, American Family Field in Milwaukee.

Frankie Montas was sent out as the starting pitcher. While we're on the subject of folly... He was handed a 5-0 lead over the Milwaukee Brewers after 2 innings, and by the bottom of the 4th, he had set up a fully blowing of that lead. Lucas Luetge, who should never pitch for the Yankees again, allowed the Brewers to tie the game.

It remained 5-5 until the bottom of the 8th. Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. Jonathan Loáisiga allowed a leadoff walk in the 8th, and it led to the Brewers taking a 6-5 lead. Josh Donaldson led off the top of the 9th with a home run to tie it.

Bottom of the 9th. Aroldis Chapman had been activated from the Injured List, but Aaron Boone went with Clay Holmes to close it instead. Holmes' sequence: Leadoff double, groundout advancing winning run to 3rd, walk, strikeout, defensive indifference allowing meaningless run to 2nd, bases-loading walk, game-losing single.

Brewers 7, Yankees 6. WP: Taylor Rogers (4-7). No save. LP: Holmes (6-4). But the loss should go to Montas. Or to Boone, for starting him. Or to Brian Cashman, for acquiring him.

I'm reminded of the old song, "Mountain of Love," by Harold Dorman in 1960:

Standing in the ballpark looking down on the diamond.

The way I been feeling leads to darn sad rhymin'.

Teardrops falling on the dugout's side.

Every time he's pitching, it ends up that I've cried.

We used to be so happy, now we're gathering moss

high on a Montas of loss.

And the Toronto Blue Jays won, leaving the Yankees' Magic Number at 13, although the Tampa Bay Rays lost, dropping the number to eliminate them to 12.

The series against the Brewers continues tonight. Jameson Taillon starts against Brandon Woodruff.

Spectacular Collapse Still In Progress

"Bad Boy Mowers"? More like, "Bad Boy Left Fielder."

There are Yankee Fans online who want the Great Collapse to be complete: Not just blowing the entire 15 1/2-game lead that the Yankees had on July 8, but missing the Playoffs completely. Only such a collapse would cause team owner Hal Steinbrenner to fire general manager Brian Cashman and field manager Aaron Boone, and bring in competent people to fill both jobs.

In the words of the immortal Michael Corleone, "Who's being naive, Kay?" That won't do it:

 * Boone will never be fired, because he's doing exactly what Cashman wants him to do.

* Cashman will never be fired, because he's doing exactly what Hal wants him to do.

* And Hal will never sell the team.

Last night, at home, the Yankees the last series of the regular season against the Tampa Bay Rays, the team closest to them in the American League Eastern Division. This series shouldn't have mattered. Now, it does. And it was just like the previous game, against the Minnesota Twins: They fell behind, tried to come back, and couldn't. It could go down in history as "The Aaron Hicks Game."

Frankie Montas started, and, yet again, this season's key pitching acquisition of Cashman's proved he is not good enough, going 5 2/3rds innings, allowing 4 hits on 9 runs and 4 walks. Lucas Luetge and Ryan Weber went the rest of the way, allowing no runs on 2 hits and no walks, but it was too late.

It wasn't all Montas' fault: The hitters didn't do their jobs, either. Again, Boone/Cashman batted Aaron Judge leadoff. Again, he faced a strike 2 that was no strike, and then swung and missed on a bad pitch for strike 3. When is Boone/Cashman going to let the best slugger in baseball bat 4th, like he's supposed to?

In the top of the 4th, with 2 men on, Wander Franco hit a ball down the left-field line, and Aaron Hicks mishandled it, and seemed to stop. He seemed not to notice that the ball was fair. He also seemed not to notice that there were 2 outs, meaning the baserunners were running on the pitch. Both runners scored, making it 4-0 Rays.

And Hicks is batting just .211. Fans began chanting, "Jo-ey Gal-lo!" These same fans had previously booed the hell out of Gallo, whose batting average was .159 when he was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers (he's batting .191 with them), but was, at the least, a good fielder. When Yankee Fans prefer Joey Gallo to you, you know you've pissed them off.

It was still 4-0 Rays before the Yankees got on the board in the 7th. Oswald Peraza drew a walk. After 2 outs, 1 of which advanced Peraza to 2nd, Judge singled him home, although it looked at first as though Peraza was out at the plate. Boone challenged the call, and it was overturned by replay. But that was all the Yankees would get in the inning.

With 1 out in the bottom of the 9th, Kyle Higashioka hit a home run. With 2 out, Judge drew a walk. The tying run was at the plate. It was Gleyber Torres. Now, Yogi Berra used to say, "In baseball, you don't know nothin'." But Doris Kearns Goodwin says, "There's always these omens in baseball." You know how you just know something is going to happen? Well, I just knew Torres was not going to come through. Well, almost: He gave it a ride, but it wasn't quite long enough, and it was the last out.

Rays 4, Yankees 2. WP: Drew Rasmussen (10-4). SV: Shawn Armstrong (2). LP: Montas (5-12).

The Rays close to within 3 1/2 games of the Yankees, just 2 in the loss column. Forget catching the Astros for best record in the AL: Right now, the Yankees' best chance at winning the Pennant is somehow hanging on for the Division title, and then hoping the Astros lose their Division Series. Because the Yankees would have to win at least 1 game in Houston -- and they're not going to do that.

The Mets' blowing of their National League East lead is complete: They are now half a game behind the Atlanta Braves, 1 game in the loss column. And yet, nobody is talking about how this big-spending team with their big-talking fans has put themselves in position to be such a spectacular failure -- because the Yankees' failure, while perhaps not more shameful, is, by its size, more spectacular. And it is still in progress.

The fans have had enough. It was Derek Jeter Hall of Fame Night, and in his speech, Jeter thanked both Hal and Cashman. Both of them were booed. Jeter responded, "I see you guys are ready for the Playoff push." It wasn't a call to stop, only an acknowledgement.

The series continues this afternoon. Jameson Taillon starts against former Yankee Corey Kluber. To adapt a phrase we're hearing from London these days, God save the Yanks. It looks like no one else will.

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!

Judge's Yankees Lose Opener to Ohtani's Angels

My grandfather, George Golden, made me a Yankee Fan. (So, credit him, or blame him, depending on your point of view.) He was grew up in The Bronx. He watched them build the original Yankee Stadium. He saw Babe Ruth play there before Lou Gehrig. He moved to New Jersey in 1955, and to the Jersey Shore in 1973. He never saw a game at the renovated Stadium: By the time it reopened, he was too sick to go. He smoked, and it took him years to die, finally at rest in 1984.

On August 30, 2006, what would have been his 100th Birthday, I was pleased to see the Yankees were not only playing at home, but against a team he would have recognized, the Detroit Tigers. So I went to the game. Unfortunately, Joe Torre decided to give Mariano Rivera the night off, and Scott Proctor served up a gopher ball in the 9th inning to blow it.

On this anniversary of his birth, he would not be happy with the current state of the team. He believed that the New York Yankees should be relieving New Yorkers' everyday sufferings, not adding to them.

Last night, the Yankees began a series in Anaheim against the Los Angeles Angels. Frankie Montas started, and he did not have good stuff, going 6 innings, allowing 4 runs. And he didn't get much support, either. DJ LeMahieu had a very gutsy sacrifice bunt in the 2nd inning, to get a run home. Anthony Rizzo hit a home run in the 4th inning, and Aaron Judge hit his 50th home run of the season in the 8th. Of course, Shohei Ohtani (who didn't pitch) also hit a home run.

Angels 4, Yankees 3. WP: Jose Suarez (5-6). SV: Jimmy Herget (4). LP: Montas (4-11). If this was a battle to be "The Face of Baseball," Judge and Ohtani each did his part, but it was Ohtani's team that won.

The series continues tonight. Jameson Taillon starts against Mike Mayers, not to be confused with comedian Mike Myers or former Yankee and Red Sox pitcher Mike Meyers (both Canadians, as it turns out -- Mayers is from Ohio).

Elsewhere, last night, Albert Pujols hit the 694th home run of his career, off Ross Detwiler. This means that he's now hit home runs off 450 different pitchers, a new record. Tyler O'Neal hit 2 home runs, and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Cincinnati Reds, 13-4 at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati.

I'm Not Sayin', I'm Just Sayin'

I'm not saying sweeping a brief 2-game series with The Other Team has solved all of the Yankees' recent problems. After all, they had their chances to throw both games away.

I am saying what my grandmother, who started out as a Brooklyn Dodger fan in Queens, and became a Met fan on the Jersey Shore, used to say: "It's not how good you are when you play good, it's how good you are when you play bad." I know: It sounds like something Yogi Berra would have said.

But, in this case, she would have been right. Because, while the Yankees had their chances to throw both games away, they didn't.

Frankie Montas started for the Yankees, and Tajuan Walker started for the Mets. Each kept the other's team off the scoreboard until the bottom of the 4th, when Walker served an absolute meatball up to Aaron Judge, right in his kitchen, and he cooked it, sending it 453 feet to the rear bleachers in left-center field. This was followed by back-to-back singles by Anthony Rizzo and Gleyber Torres, which were followed by back-to-back walks by Josh Donaldson and Oswaldo Cabrera, the former loading the bases and the latter forcing in another run. 2-0 Yankees.

Things got a little bizarre in the top of the 5th. Mark Canha led off with a double. Brett Baty reached 1st base on catcher's interference. Tomás Nido bunted the runners over. Brandon Nimmo hit a liner to 3rd base that DJ LeMahieu caught.

Then Starling Marte singled to right. That scored Canha, and should have scored Baty. But the rookie Cabrera, who set a Yankee record by starting at 4 different positions in his 1st 7 games for the team, threw home from right field to nail Baty, and keep the Yankees on top.

Then came the top of the 6th, and the kind of play that has summed up Torres' career with the Yankees thus far. With 2 out, and Pete Alonso on 1st, Jeff McNeil hit a double to right. Now, Alonso is not the most athletic-looking of men. (Like I should talk. The difference is, he is actually paid to play baseball, so he should at least be more athletic than he looks.) And he tripped rounding 3rd base. He should have been a dead duck. McNeil, expecting a throw home and thus a 2nd out, tried for 3rd base.

Torres took Cabrera's relay throw, and instead of throwing home, saw McNeil off the bag, and ran to tag him out. McNeil got back to the base before Torres, Alonso got up and headed for the plate, and both runners were safe. Tie ballgame.

Torres, the man for whom Brian Cashman threw away a chance at the 2016 postseason in the hope that he could help the Yankees win Pennants starting in 2019, still hasn't helped the Yankees win one, partly because of dumb fielding like this. All together now: "How dumb was it?"

As it turned out, not as dumb as a play that happened in the bottom of the 7th. Because this game was on Amazon Prime, the only way for Yankee Fans who don't have it to watch it was to watch the Mets' broadcast on SNY. Gary Cohen, the Queens native who grew up a Met fan and has broadcast for them since 1989 -- and is no relation to new team owner Steve Cohen, the alleged richest team owner in MLB, whose billions were supposed to help the Mets "take over New York" and win multiple titles -- mentioned the Luis Castillo Game in 2009.

Remember? Yankees were trailing the Mets and down to their last out, when Alex Rodriguez popped up, and Castillo dropped it, and the tying and winning runs scored.

Cohen mentioned this after Cabrera led off the inning with a single, and Isiah Kiner-Falefa bunted him over. The batter was Jose Trevino, and he popped one up, close to the spot where Castillo dropped the ball 13 years earlier. 1st baseman Alonso could have caught it. 2nd baseman McNeil could have caught it. Right fielder Marte could have caught it. But, because the Mets are a fucking joke and always will be a fucking joke, none of them caught it. A ball dropping between 2 players is bad enough, but it takes a special brand of incompetence, however temporary, to allow a ball to drop between 3 players.

Cabrera couldn't try to score, since he didn't know the ball wasn't going to be caught, but he did make it to 3rd, Trevino to 1st. Andrew Benintendi grounded a ball through the shortstop-3rd base hole, and Cabrera scored. After LeMahieu struck out, Judge singled, making it 4-2 Pinstripes.

Aaron Boone trusted Clarke Schmidt for a 10-out save. He got the 1st 9 of those outs. Then he walked Tyler Naquin, who was pinch-hitting for Nido. That brought Nimmo to the plate with the tying run. Naquin stole 2nd. Nimmo grounded up the middle. It would have been a tough play for any 2nd baseman, and Torres, for once making a wise decision, made no throw. And Schmidt walked Marte. 

Naquin's run, on 3rd, meant nothing. But now, Nimmo, the tying run, was on 2nd; and Marte, the go-ahead run, was on 1st. Bases loaded. And Francisco Lindor was coming up. This past Sunday, in his weekly column in the Daily News, Mike Lupica, as usual bigging up the Mets and mocking the Yankees, wrote, "The Mets have never had a more talented all-around player than Francisco Lindor." (Darryl Strawberry, who won 1 World Series as a Met phenom and 3 as a Yankee veteran, was at Yankee Stadium for both of these games.)

Schmidt, who had twice gone the last 3 innings in blowouts, and thus qualified for the save both times under the least restrictive part of the rule, and was now in line to be the winning pitcher, was out of gas. Boone took him out, and brought in Wandy Peralta. Oh no.

But before I could unleash the Star Wars quote and say, "I've got a bad feeling about this," Peralta induced Lindor to fly to center, where Estevan Florial caught it. (Boone had moved Judge over to right in place of Cabrera, and put Florial in center.)

Yankees 4, Mets 2. WP: Schmidt (5-2). SV: Peralta (2). LP: Joely Rodríguez (0-3).

With 38 games to go, the Yankees, having once led the American League Eastern Division by 15 1/2 games, now lead it by 8 games over the Tampa Bay Rays, and 8 1/2 over the Toronto Blue Jays. In each case, the lead is 7 in the all-important loss column. The Magic Number to clinch the Division is 33. 

They trail the Houston Astros for best record in the League, and thus top seed in the Playoffs, by 3 games.

With 37 games to go, the Mets, having once led the National League Eastern Division by 10 1/2 games, now lead it by 2 games over the Atlanta Braves. With all the talk about how the Yankees playing poorly since July 8, hardly anybody seems to have noticed that the Mets could well be in an epic choke. After all, the Braves are the defending World Champions, so they do know how to win.

For the top seed in the NL Playoffs, the Mets trail the Los Angeles Dodgers by 7 1/2, 9 in the loss column, and catching the former Brooklyn team seems unlikely, although hardly necessary: The Mets need to avoid a Game 7 at Chavez Ravine a whole lot less than the Yankees need to avoid a Game 7 at Minute Maid Park.

The Yankees have today off, and begin a long roadtrip: 4 games in Oakland, 3 in Anaheim, 3 in St. Petersburg, before coming home on September 5, Labor Day, for 4 games against Minnesota and 3 against Tampa Bay.

I'm not saying the Yankees are out of the woods yet. I am saying that beating the Mets twice feels damn good. I'm not saying that I'm looking forward to the Yankees playing in California in August, which has been problematic at least since the 1980s. I am saying that taking 2 from the Mets should put them in a better frame of mind for it.

I'm not saying the Mets are done. I am saying the Yankees are better than the Mets, and always have been, and that the Mets, as always, are a joke. I'm not saying the Yankees will go all the way. I am saying the Mets will fall.

As the old saying goes, "I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin'."

The Apple Remains Rotten

The breaking-out of the Yankees' slump lasted all of 5 innings. Last night, in the opener of a 4-game home series with the Toronto Blue Jays, what has stood as normal service since July 9 was restored.

The newly-acquired Frankie Montas started, and he had nothing, giving up 2 runs before Vladimir Guerrero Jr. took him deep in the top of the 2nd inning, to put the Yankees in a 5-0 hole. At the rate the Yankees have been hitting lately, that meant game over.

The Yankees tried to come back in the bottom of the 3rd. Jose Trevino led off with a walk, Estevan Florial (now 0-for-16 in official major league at-bats this season) was hit with a pitch, DJ LeMahieu singled Trevino home, and Aaron Judge got Florial home on a fielder's choice. But the Yankees got no closer: Anthony Rizzo struck out, and Josh Donaldson, the previous night's hero, flew out to short right field.

That was all the Yankees would get. Blue Jays 9, Yankees 2. WP: José Berrios (9-5). No save. LP: Montas (4-10).

The series continues tonight. Another home Friday night, another game we can only watch on Apple+, if we have it. I don't. So I won't get to see another pathetic hitting performance. The apple is rotten.

*

It's been 2 months since I did a countdown. Here goes, and, keep in mind, all dates are subject to change, due to TV networks' whims, COVID protocols, or anything else:

Days until the next Arsenal match: 1, tomorrow, at 10:00 AM New York time, away to Dorset team Bournemouth.

Days until the next New York Red Bulls game: 1, tomorrow at 6:00 PM, home to FC Cincinnati.

Days until the next East Brunswick High School football game: 14, on Friday, September 2, away to Hillsborough, in Somerset County -- the defending Central Jersey Group V Champions. Swell. Anyway, just 2 weeks.

Days until the next Rutgers University football game: 15, on Saturday, September 3, away to Boston College.

Days until the Red Bulls again play a nearby rival: 15, on Saturday, September 3, home to the Philadelphia Union.

Days until the Yankees' next series against the Boston Red Sox begins: 25, on Tuesday, September 13, at Fenway Park.

Days until the next East Brunswick-Old Bridge game: 35, on Friday, September 23 against arch-rival Old Bridge. Just 5 weeks. Hopefully, our home field, under renovation through the entire 2021 season, will be ready, so we don't have to go back to the purple pit.

Days until the next North London Derby: 103, on Saturday, October 1, at 7:30 AM New York time, at the Emirates Stadium. 

Days until the New Jersey Devils play again: 55, on Thursday, September 13, away to the Philadelphia Flyers.

Days until the New Jersey Devils again play a local rival: See the previous answer.

Days until the next elections for the U.S. Congress and for the Governors of most States in the Union, including New York and Pennsylvania: 81, on Tuesday, November 8, 2022. Under 3 months.

Days until the next Rutgers-Penn State football game: 92, on Saturday, November 19, at 12:00 noon, at SHI Stadium in Piscataway, New Jersey. Under 3 months.

Days until the next World Cup opens: 94, on Monday, November 21, 2022, in Doha, Qatar. A shade over 3 months.

Days until the next game of the U.S. National Soccer Team: Same day, 2:00 PM New York time, against Wales, in the Group Stage of the World Cup, at the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium in Al Rayyan, Qatar.

Days until the next Women's World Cup opens: 325, on Friday, July 10, 2023, jointly held in the neighboring nations of Australia and New Zealand. Under 11 months.

Days until the next Summer Olympic Games: 707, on Friday, July 26, 2024, in Paris, France. Under 2 years, or a little over 23 months.

Days until the next Presidential election: 809, on Tuesday, November 5, 2024. Under 2 1/2 years, or under 27 months.

Days until the next elections for Governor of New Jersey and Mayor of New York City: 1,173, on Tuesday, November 4, 2025. Under 3 1/2 years.

Days until the next Winter Olympics open in Milan, Italy: 1,267, on Friday, February 6, 2026. Under 3 1/2 years.

The IKF Game: Kiner-Falefa Leads Yanks Past Sox

One of the great things about baseball is that, when you lose to your arch-rivals, especially in the manner in which the Yankees lost to the Boston Red Sox on Friday night, you usually have another game the next day. Frequently, it's against the same team, unless said loss was in the last game of a series. So you can get right back out there and make those bastards pay.

Last night's game at Fenway Park was another tight one, as Yanks-Sox games tend to be, especially at that wretched hive of scum and villainy in the Back Bay. Frankie Montas made his 2nd start for the Yankees, and was considerably better than he was in his 1st, going 5 innings, allowing 2 runs. Lucas Luetge pitched a scoreless 6th.

Lou Trivino got in trouble in the 7th, and was bailed out of it by Aroldis Chapman. He then pitched a perfect 8th, for his best outing in a long time.

Pitching like that deserves run support. Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. Andrew Benintendi led off the top of the 5th with a walk. After Jose Trevino lined to short, Isiah Kiner-Falefa hit his 1st home run as a Yankee, into the seats on top of the Green Monster, bringing up memories of a previous good-field-light-hit Yankee shortstop, Bucky Blessed Dent. That tied the game at 2-2.

The game remained tied into the 9th. With 1 out, Benintendi doubled. Trevino hit a grounder to 3rd, and beat it out, enabling Benintendi to advance. IKF came up again, and laid down a "safety squeeze" bunt. That's when the runner on 3rd doesn't take off for the plate immediately, and can probably get back to base if the batter misses his bunt; as opposed to the "suicide squeeze," when he breaks for home and is a dead duck if the batter misses. The bunt was fielded by Sox pitcher John Schreiber, and he only had a play to 1st, and couldn't make it, and everybody was safe. 3-2 Yankees, with the bases still loaded, and only 1 out.

But Aaron Hicks and DJ LeMahieu both struck out, and I had a feeling that those runners left on base were going to matter.

They nearly did. With Chapman already having thrown 13 pitches, Clay Holmes and Jonathan Loáisiga both shaky lately, Zack Britton scheduled to come back from injury sometime next month, and Chad Green and Michael King both out for the season with injuries, Aaron Boone gave the ball to Scott Effross. He got a strikeout, then allowed 2 straight singles. A tough force play at 2nd put the tying run on 3rd and the winning run on 1st, with 2 outs and the dangerous Xander Bogaerts up. But Effross got him to pop up to end the game.

Yankees 3, Red Sox 2. WP: Chapman (1-3). SV: Effross (2, his 1st as a Yankee). LP: Schreiber (3-2).

IKF has come in for a lot of criticism lately, some of it genuine abuse, and some of that having been over the line, including a fake "IKF SHOT DEAD IN BRONX" article sent to his father on Twitter. IKF responded in the best way possible, at least in the regular season: By beating the Red Sox.

The series concludes tonight, as the Sunday night ESPN game. Jameson Taillon starts against Michael Wacha. Come on you Bombers: Beat The Scum!

For Yankees, Concern Is Mounting

The Yankees waited until the finale of their road series with the St. Louis Cardinals to score some runs. This time, it was the pitching that failed.

The newly-acquired Frankie Montas made his Yankee debut, and stunk up the joint, allowing 6 runs in 3 innings.  But the Yankees tagged the possible future Hall-of-Famer Adam Wainwright for 6 innings over 4. It didn't matter, since Albert Abreu again proved that he is not a major league quality pitcher, and Scott Effross was lousy as well.

The only Yankee home run of the series came in the 9th inning of this last game, when it no longer mattered, by DJ LeMahieu. Aaron Judge had 2 hits and 4 RBIs yesterday, but is stuck on 43 home runs.

Cardinals 12, Yankees 9. WP: Chris Stratton (6-4). SV: Ryan Helsley (11). LP: Abreu (2-1). The Yankees have lost 5 straight for the 1st time this season, and 16 out of 25 since July 8.

With 8 weeks to go in the regular season, the Yankees' lead in the American League Eastern Division, once as high as 16 games, is down to 9 1/2. They remain half a game, one in the loss column, ahead of the Houston Astros for home-field advantage through the American League Playoffs.

Now, they have to go to Seattle to play the AL Western Division-leading Mariners, after dropping 2 of 3 to them at home.

Concern is mounting.

Yanks Follow Loss With Big Trade for Montas

Why is this man smiling? Because he's about to wear Pinstripes.

When I found out that the finale of the yankees 4 game home series with the Kansas City Royals was going to be started by the ill-supported Jordan Montgomery and the possible future Hall-of-Famer Zack Greinke, I had a sinking feeling that a sweep of the series was not in the offing. 

Sure enough, the game was scoreless going into the top of the 5th inning, when Montgomery had a bad inning, allowing 4 runs, and needing to be bailed out by Albert Abreu.

As it turned out, though, neither starting pitcher ended up as a pitcher of record. The Yankees came back with 3 runs in the bottom of the 5th, including a home run by DJ LeMahieu. 

Anthony Rizzo homered in the 7th to give the Yankees a 6-3 lead. Montgomery couldn't get the win, but he was off the hook for the loss.

But Ron Marinaccio gave up a solo homer to start the top of the 8th, and Clay Holmes blew it with a 3-run homer to Salvador Perez in the top of the 9th. The Yankees got the tying runs on in the bottom of the 9th, but couldn't get them home.

Royals 8, Yankees 6. WP: Taylor Clarke (2-1). No save. LP: Holmes (5-2).

*

We leave July and enter August with a record of 69-34. In the American League Eastern Division, the closest team is, for the moment, the Toronto Blue Jays, 11 1/2 games back. The Magic Number to clinch the Division is 45. The Yankees are 2 1/2 games ahead of the Houston Astros for the best record in the AL.

And now, general manager Brian Cashman has pulled the trigger on a trade. With the Seattle Mariners, who come into Yankee Stadium for a 3-game series, having traded for Luis Castillo of the Cincinnati Reds, the man considered the best remaining available pitcher was Frankie Montas of the Oakland Athletics.

So the Yankees send pitchers JP Sears, Ken Waldichuk and Luis Medina, and 2nd baseman Cooper Bowman, to the A's for Montas and relief pitcher Lou Trivino, both righthanded. Since the Yankees need help for both the starting rotation and the bullpen, and they didn't give up one of their bigger prospects like Anthony Volpe or Jasson Dominguez, this is, at least at first glance, a good trade.

Neither pitcher has yet been assigned a uniform number. In Oakland, Montas wore 47, worn here by Montgomery; and Trivino wore 62, which is currently available. Montas wore 60 when he first came to the majors, with the Chicago White Sox. On the Yankees, that number is currently worn by bullpen coach Mike Harkey, and making a coach give up a uniform number is easier than making an active player give his up.

This season is 18 out of 27 weeks, or 2/3rds, done. Time to get serious.