Yanks Gain Bad Split In Baltimore

A rainout earlier in the season forced the Yankees into a 4-game series against the Baltimore at Camden Yards, including a doubleheader on Monday. The result was a split that was just 4 runs from becoming a 4-game sweep.

CC Sabathia started the Monday opener, but didn't have good stuff, barely making it into the 6th inning before falling apart. Giancarlo Stanton hit a home run, but the Yankees didn't get enough, as the Orioles won 5-4. WP: Mike Wright Jr. (2-0). SV: Zach Britton (2). LP: Sabathia (6-4).

The nightcap, on the other hand... Sometimes, you'd like to take runs from a blowout win and apply them to games you lost, but baseball just doesn't work that way.

Luis Cessa pitched probably the best game of his career so far, going 6 shutout innings, allowing 3 hits and 3 walks. Aaron Boone then took him out, having thrown only 85 pitches. Giovanny Gallegos went the rest of the way, and was terrible.

But he still got credit for the save, because the save rule is as follows: Credit a pitcher with a save if he is the finishing, but not the winning, pitcher for his team, and he meets 1 of these 3 criteria:

* 1. He comes in with a lead of no more than 3 runs and pitches for at least 1 inning. (Gallegos pitched for more than 1 inning, but the Yankee lead was already 4-0.)

* 2. He comes in with the tying run on base, at bat or on deck. (In other words, 1 of the 1st 2 batters he faces. Gallegos did not qualify here, either.)

* 3. "He pitches effectively for at least 3 innings." What does "effectively" mean? Apparently, it means nothing more than "He didn't blow the lead."

It didn't matter, because, this time, the Yankees got the runs they needed. Brett Gardner and Austin Romine hit home runs, and each man had 3 RBIs on the night. Gardner had 4 hits; Romine, Stanton, Aaron Judge, Didi Gregorius and Neil Walker each had 2.

Yankees 10, Orioles 2. WP: Cessa (1-1). SV: Gallegos (1), though he really didn't deserve it. LP: Yefry Ramirez (0-3, and, yes, I know, the name looks like it's misspelled, but I checked).

*

The Tuesday night game is one of those that will be remembered if the Yankees lose the AL East -- or the AL Wild Card Game -- by 1 game. Masahiro Tanaka did not have good stuff, and he didn't get out of the 5th inning, giving up a home run to Manny Machado to tie the game 3-3, after Greg Bird's home run gave the Yankees the lead in the top half of the inning.

The Yankees made it 5-3 in the top of the 7th, but Machado hit a 2nd home run, this one off Chad Green, and it was 5-5. It remained knotted until the bottom of the 9th. Dellin Betances was sent to the mound, and he began by hitting Caleb Joseph with a pitch. He allowed a double to Adam Jones, putting runners on 2nd and 3rd.

Naturally, Machado was up next, but, with 1st base open and neither his run nor Jones' meaning anything, he was intentionally walked to set up the inning-ending double play, or at least a force play at home.

No such luck: Betances struck Mark Trumbo out, but gave up a game-winning single to Jonathan Schoop, one of those average players who turns into a Hall-of-Famer against the Yankees.

Orioles 6, Yankees 5. WP: Zach Britton (1-0). No save. LP: Betances (1-3).

*

And the Wednesday night starter was Sonny Gray. In the Baltimore bandbox. This is gonna get ugly...

It did, but in the Yankees' favor. Bird hit a grand slam, part of a 5-run 3rd inning for the Bronx Bombers. Tyler Wade hit one out to lead off the 6th. Romine homered in the 7th. And the Yankees got single runs in the 8th and the 9th.

Gray only needed 1 run, pitching perhaps his best game as a Yankee: 6 innings, no runs, 3 hits, just 1 walk, 8 strikeouts. A.J. Cole pitched 2 scorless innings, and Chasen Shreve a perfect 9th.

Yankees 9, Orioles 0. WP: Gray (6-7). No save. LP: Dylan Bundy (6-9).

The games the Yankees won, well, I don't care how the wins come, only that they do. But the games they lost, it's not just that they were lost, but how.

Hopefully, we don't have to remember.

Fire Joe Girardi. Do It Today, Before He Blows It Again.

2:43 AM, Eastern Time. 11:43 PM, Pacific Time, which was the time where the game was actually played. That's what time last night's game ended.

As far as I'm concerned, if you're going to lose, at least have the decency to do it in the regulation 9 innings, instead of stringing us along.

Also as far as I'm concerned, Joe Girardi needed to be fired after the failed season of 2013. A case could have been made for firing him as far back as after the ignominious exit from the 2011 Playoffs. Nevertheless, here we are on June 16, 2017, and he is still fucking up the Yankees' pitching situation.

Jordan Montgomery started for the Yankees last night, in the opener of a 4-game series against the Oakland Athletics at the Oakland Coliseum. He did not have good stuff, allowing 3 runs in the 1st 2 innings, before settling down a bit, then allowing a 4th run in the 6th. Girardi brought Chad Green in, and he allowed another run in the 7th. He brought Tyler Clippard in, and he allowed another run in the 8th.

The Yankees closed to within 4-3 in the 6th, 5-4 in the 7th, and 6-5 in the 8th, thanks to the 7th home run of the season by Chris Carter -- who raised his on-base percentage to over .300.

Are you noticing a pattern here? Every time the Yankees had an inning in which they scored, Girardi changed pitchers, and lost another run. This is by-the-binder managing, and it is reckless as hell. It is just... plain... stupid. It does not work. It wastes pitchers.

Look, I understand taking Montgomery out. He didn't have a good game. I understand putting Green in. In spite of having allowed a run, he did throw 2/3rds of his pitches, 14 out of 21, for strikes. But Clippard has been horrible. Don't let that 2.30 ERA fool you: He has not gotten the job done.

Clippard was so bad last night! (How bad was he?) He was so bad, Girardi had to bring Dellin Betances in to get the last 2 outs in the 8th, because Clippard could only get 1 out with 14 pitches.

Somebody on Twitter told me last night that the pitching was "fine." No, it was not fine. They allowed 6 runs in the 1st 8 innings to the Oakland A's.

Not the 1972-74 World Champion "Swingin' A's" of Reggie Jackson, Joe Rudi, Sal Bando and Gene Tenace.

Not the 1988-90 Pennant-winning "Bash Brothers" A's of Mark McGwire, Jose Canseco, Rickey Henderson, Dave Henderson, Carney Lansford and the veteran but still powerful Dave Parker.

Not even the 2000-02 Division-winning A's of Jason and Jeremy Giambi, Miguel Tejada, Ben Grieve, Eric Chavez, Matt Stairs and Terence Long.

These are the 28-38, worst-record-in-the-American League, today's A's.

No, the pitching was not "fine" last night.

Nor was the hitting fine. The Yankees left the bases loaded in the 1st inning, stranded men on 2nd & 3rd in the 4th, stranded men on 1st & 2nd in the 6th, stranded a man on 2nd in the 7th, stranded a man on 1st with 1 out in the 8th, and stranded men on 1st & 2nd in the 9th. This game should never have gone to extra innings, and it wouldn't have, if the Yankees had gotten even 1 of those men home.

It still shouldn't have mattered: If Girardi had a goddamned clue about how to handle a pitching staff, none of those runs would have been necessary, because, at worst, the Yankees would have won 6-5 in 9 innings.

Betances was clearly gassed. And, having thrown 39 pitches last night, probably unavailable for tonight's game. He got out of a bases-loaded jam in the 9th to send the game to extra innings. With 1 out in the top of the 10th, Brett Gardner singled. Rob Refsnyder singled him to 3rd. Refsnyder took 2nd on fielder's indifference. Aaron Judge drew a walk to load the bases with only 1 out. Starlin Castro flew to right, and Gardner tagged up and scored. 7-6, the Yankees' 1st lead of the game.

Getting a run here was a must. As it turned out, getting 1 wasn't enough. With 2 outs, and men on 1st & 3rd, Matt Holliday struck out to end it.

Still, it looked like the Yankees were going to win. Until, that is, Girardi relieved Betances (which he had to do) with Giovanny Gallegos (which you should never do).

The words of Papa Bear from The Berenstain Bears come to mind: "Yes, that it was you should not do. Now let that be a lesson to you."

Gallegos got the 1st 2 outs. Things looked good. But then he gave up a single to Rajai Davis. Chad Pinder -- no relation to Branden Pinder, the horrible former Yankee pitcher, who would probably have been in this game had the Yankees not designated him for assignment due to injury after last season -- doubled, getting Davis to 3rd.

Girardi ordered Jed Lowrie intentionally walked, to set up the out at any base. Cliche alert: Walks can kill you. Khris Davis hit a bloop single to center, scoring the tying and winning runs.

A's 8, Yankees 7. WP: Liam Hendriks (3-1). No save. LP: Gallegos (0-1, now with a 7.15 ERA).

On Twitter, some Yankee Fans were blaming Castro, whose sac fly had given the Yankees the lead, for mishandling the blooper, for the defeat. That's kind of like blaming the security guards at the Empire State Building for King Kong taking Ann Darrow up there.

No, this game, the 3rd straight game lost by the Yankees, is the responsibility of our idiot manager, Joey Binders. After the game, he said:

We kept fighting back. We got behind then we tied it up, got behind, tied it up. We did it a bunch of times. It hurts because it's a matter of a couple inches that you lose that game by and it's frustrating. 

Yes, we lost that game by a couple of inches. The length of your brain. Or, perhaps, the width of your binder.

In addition, both Gary Sanchez and Aaron Hicks left the game due to apparent injuries. This after CC Sabathia was injured 2 nights before, in Anaheim. If they're both out, that's another pair of holes that Girardi and the equally execrable general manager Brian Cashman need to fill. Not including the holes in their respective heads.

The Boston Red Sox also lost last night, so the Yankees remain in 1st place by 2 games, by 3 in the loss column.

They'd be 5 games up. 6 in the loss column, if Girardi had simply used his eyes to manage, instead of that damn binder, over just the last 3 nights alone. That's not even counting his other fuckups this season.

Brian Cashman, Lonn Trost, Randy Levine, Hal Steinbrenner, Hank Steinbrenner, whoever might read these words, I implore you: Fire Joe Girardi. Do it today. Before he blows it again.

Or, as Samuel L. Jackson would say, "Enough is enough! I have had it with this motherfucking manager on this motherfucking ballclub!"

Shouldn't Have Been a Save Situation

The Kansas City Royals have fallen way off from their back-to-back Pennant winners of 2014-15. Their fans might have expected a new era of dominance, but it just didn't happen.

The Yankees, on the other hand, are looking very good after a brief slump last week. They scored a run in the 1st inning at Kauffman Stadium last night, on a Starlin Castro double. They tallied 5 times in the top of the 4th, including a 3-run home run by Aaron Hicks (his 7th homer of the season -- and it's still mid-May).

Michael Pineda took that 6-0 lead into the bottom of the 4th, and wobbled a little, giving up a 444-foot home run to Salvador Perez, to make it 6-2. The Yankees made them pay for this, playing "small ball" to get 4 more runs in the top of the 5th, but Pineda allowed another long homer, 428 feet, to Whit Merrifield in the bottom of the 5th.

Joe Girardi had seen enough. He took Pineda out after 6 innings, allowing 4 runs, 3 of them earned, 6 hits and 2 walks. Tommy Layne and Adam Warren pitched the 7th and the 8th, allowing another run. Yankees scored again in the 8th, and took a nice 11-3 lead into the bottom of the 9th.

Aroldis Chapman is on the Disabled List, so Dellin Betances is the de facto closer. But with a 7-run lead and 3 outs to go, you don't need your closer, right?

Girardi sent Giovanny Gallegos out to pitch the bottom of the 9th. But he had nothing: He allowed a single, got a strikeout and a fly out, but then allowed 4 straight singles, for 3 runs.

Suddenly, it was save situation. And so, for the 1st time since Chapman's return to the Yankees on Opening Day, Betances had to step in for him in his (at least) monthlong injury layoff. He got a groundout to end it. Yankees 11, Royals 7. WP: Pineda (5-2). SV: Betances (1). LP: Jason Vargas (4-2).

The series concludes tonight. Jordan Montgomery starts for the Yankees, Danny Duffy for the Royals. Then the Yankees head down to St. Petersburg for a weekend series with the Tampa Bay Rays.

If Betances is to be our 9th inning man for the rest of the month, that begs the same question we had last year, when Brian Cashman stupidly traded Chapman and Andrew Miller away: Who pitches the 7th and 8th innings? Because Girardi rarely lets the starting pitcher go that long, no matter how well he's doing.

Until the Yankees can answer that question, the great season we've had thus far will always have that "Yeah, but... " hanging over it.