CC3K Not Backed By Enough Hitting

Congratulations to CC Sabathia on joining the 3,000 Strikeout Club. He follows Steve Carlton and Randy Johnson as only the 3rd left-handed pitcher to reach this milestone. Too bad the Yankees didn't hit for him.

It came last night, in the opener of a 2-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field in Phoenix. In the bottom of the 2nd inning, he struck out David Peralta and Christian Walker, to get to 2,999, but then allowed a home run to former Met Wilmer Flores to put the D-backs up 1-0.

He then allowed a single to Nick Ahmed, before facing former Yankee John Ryan Murphy. CC threw him 4 cut fastballs, the 1st missing inside, and the next 3 being fouled off. He then switched to a changeup, which went down and in. Murphy swung and completely missed. That was, as advertised, "CC3K" and "LegaCCy."

The Arizona fans gave CC a nice hand. But, the way things worked out in this Interleague game in a National League park, with no designated hitter, CC was the next Yankee up to bat. And the pitcher he faced, Zack Greinke, might also go to the Hall of Fame one day. (He's now 191-119 with 2,474 strikeouts for his career, and he's 35, so he could build it up more.) CC isn't a bad hitter by pitchers' standards, with a lifetime batting average of .212, but he struck out.

The Yankees tied the game in the top of the 4th, with back-to-back doubles by Gary Sanchez and Gleyber Torres. But Flores drove in another run in the 5th, and the the D-backs scored another in the 8th, after CC left. Greinke and 2 relievers limited the Yankees to 5 hits and a walk.

Diamondbacks 3, Yankees 1. WP: Greinke (5-1). SV: Greg Holland (6). LP: Sabathia, despite his milestone (1-1).

The brief series concludes this afternoon, at 3:40 PM New York time. Masahiro Tanaka starts against Merrill Kelly. Then, a travel day, and then a home weekend series against the Minnesota Twins.

5 Homers Lead Yanks to 2 of 3 in Boston

Much has happened today, so I'm going to start with the good stuff, since the rest is bad stuff.

The Yankees have 4 home games against the Red Sox at the end of the month, but won't have to go back to Fenway Park until at least next April.

Which is good, because, in the words of the immortal Obi-Wan Kenobi, You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.

(Disclaimer: In all fairness, I love Fenway Park. It's a part of baseball history. But it's full of Red Sox fans!)

They finished their Boston series yesterday afternoon, a rare 4:00 weekday start. Masahiro Tanaka has now started 3 games against the Sox this season, and won them all. He pitched into the 7th inning, allowing 4 runs on 6 hits and just 1 walk, striking out 5.

But the big story of the day was the Yankees finally unloading with the bats at a convenient time. The Sox took a 1-0 lead in the 1st inning, but in the top of the 2nd, the Yankees pretty much ended it. Observe:

* With 1 out, Chase Headley drew a walk.
* Greg Bird hit a home run (his 3rd of the season) down the right field line, giving the Yankees the lead.
* John Ryan Murphy hit a home run (his 2nd) over the Green Monster.
* Didi Gregorius singled.
* Stephen Drew doubled. (He finished the game batting .211.)
* Brett Gardner walked to load the bases.
* Chris Young singled home Gregorius, although Gardner was thrown out at 2nd.
* Alex Rodriguez singled home Drew and Young.
* Carlos Beltran hit a home run (his 14th) over the Green Monster.

8 runs on 7 hits and 2 walks. That's what I like to see when the Yankees play the Red Sox. Or anybody else, for that matter, but especially the Red Sox.

That should have been enough to beat The Scum. Believe it or not, it wasn't.

Fortunately, the Yankees got more. Bird led off the 3rd with a walk, Gregorius also walked after a flyout by Murphy, and Drew hit a home run (his 17th) to make it 11-1 Bronx Bombers.

That was enough, but the Yankees weren't finished. Gregorius hit a home run (his 8th) in the 5th, and a Jose Pirela single in the 8th made it 13-5 Yankees.

The Sox got to 5 because, when Tanaka tired in the 7th, Joe Girardi sent in Andrew Bailey, whom injuries had kept out of the game for 2 years. He wasn't ready, as he pitched to 4 batters: Walk, walk, RBI sacrifice fly, RBI single. Justin Wilson got out of the jam.

The Sox got 2 more in the 8th, because Bryan Mitchell had nothing, and Dellin Betances had to bail him out. It was 13-7 going to the bottom of the 9th, and Girardi decided to trust a 6-run lead to Caleb Cotham. But he allowed back-to-back doubles, and Girardi knew the door had to be slammed: Although it wasn't a save situation, in came Andrew Miller, who finished it off.

Yankees 13, Red Sox 8. WP: Tanaka (11-6). No save. LP: Henry Owens (2-2). We took 2 out of 3 from The Scum.

The Toronto Blue Jays also won, so the Yankees remain a game and a half behind.

The Yankees have today off, and come home to face the Tampa Bay Rays.

*

Days until the U.S. national soccer team plays again: 1, tomorrow night, in a friendly with Peru at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington.

Days until Rutgers plays football again: 2, this Saturday afternoon, home to Norfolk State.

Days until East Brunswick High School plays football again: 8, a week from tomorrow night, home to Piscataway. Not the best opponent to line up for your season opener: Not only are they the elite football program in Middlesex County, but we haven't beaten them in 25 years. No, I'm not exaggerating: It was October 1990.

Days until the Devils play another local rival: 45, on Sunday, October 18, away to the Rangers.

Days until the next North London Derby between Arsenal and Tottenham: 65, on Saturday, November 7, at the Emirates Stadium. A little over 2 months. (Most likely, at least the time -- currently 10 AM U.S. Eastern -- and possibly the date of this game could be moved to accommodate television. It could be moved to the next day, Sunday.)

Days until the next East Brunswick vs. Old Bridge Thanksgiving game: 84, on Thursday morning, November 26, at 11:00 AM, at Jay Doyle Field in East Brunswick. Just 12 weeks.

Days until Euro 2016 begins in France: 281, on Friday, June 10.

Days until the next Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: 337, on Friday, August 5, 2016. Just over 11 months.

A-Rod's 3, Murphy's Law Lead Yankees to Shock Comeback vs. Twins

Last night's game between the Yankees and the Minnesota Twins at Target Field in Minneapolis was looking as bad as the previous night's game. In that one, the Twins jumped out to a 5-0 lead after 4 innings, winning 10-1.

This time, the Twins jumped out to a 5-0 lead after 3 innings, as CC Sabathia again looked like an old pitcher.

But this time, the Yankees started clawing back sooner. Alex Rodriguez hit a home run in the 4th inning to make it 5-1 Minnesota.

In the 7th, Chris Young doubled, and A-Rod hit another homer. This was followed by a Mark Teixeira double, a Carlos Beltran lineout that got Teix to 3rd, and another lineout by Chase Headley that got Teix home. That made it 5-4.

The Yankees went into the 9th inning still losing. Thus far, they were 0-37 when trailing after 8 innings.

A-Rod led off the 9th, and did it again. Three home runs in one game. This made him the 5th-oldest player ever to do that. And it gave him 23 homers on the season, and 677 for his career -- putting him 23 short of 700, 37 behind Babe Ruth at 714, 78 behind Hank Aaron at 755, and 85 behind Barry Bonds at 762. More importantly, it tied the game.

Then Teix singled. Beltran grounded into a force play, eliminating Teix but getting himself to 1st. Headley singled Beltran over to 3rd. And John Ryan Murphy, hardly the kind of guy you would expect even to hit a sacrifice fly to get the go-ahead run home from 3rd with less than 2 out, crushed a pitch into the seats in right-center field. His 1st home run of the season, capping a tremendous comeback.

What could go wrong for the Twins, did. Murphy's Law.

Yankees 8, Twins 5. WP: Adam Warren (6-5). SV: Andrew Miller (23). LP: Glen Perkins (0-2).

The series concludes this afternoon. Nathan Eovaldi starts against Kyle Gibson.

*

Cole Hamels pitched a no-hitter last night. The trading deadline is 5 days from now. If that was his last start with the Philadelphia Phillies, it's a hell of a way to go out.

It was also the 1st no-hitter pitched against the Chicago Cubs in almost 50 years -- since Sandy Koufax's perfect game on September 9, 1965.

This does not mean the Yankees should trade for Hamels. Considering how much Hamels has struggled since the Phils' 2008 World Series win, this could well be the pitching equivalent of "death throes." After all, David Cone struggled a lot after his 1999 perfect game. So has The Great Johan Santana since his 2012 "no-hitter."

J.R. Murphy's Law Convicts Angels With Dirty Faces

The Yankees needed to bounce back from last night's 13-1 pasting by the Los Angeles Angels of Katella Boulevard, Anaheim, Orange County, California, United States of America, North America, Western Hemisphere, Earth, Sol System, Sector 001, United Federation of Planets, Milky Way Galaxy, Local Galactic Group, Known Universe.

And starting Vidal Nuno was not a good idea. Suffice it to say that I wouldn't leave him in the Ivan Nova slot in the rotation on a permanent basis. As Hiroki Kuroda did not last night, Nuno did not get out of the 5th inning, allowing 3 runs.

Fortunately, the bullpen stepped up. Dellin Betances pitched 2 innings, Shawn Kelly an inning and a third, Matt Thornton a third, and David Robertson 1 -- all scoreless.

That allowed the bats the chance to make the difference. With 1 out in the bottom of the 2nd, and the Angels up 1-0 on a home run by the pride of South Jersey, Millville native Mike Trout, Angel starter Hector Santiago hit Mark Teixeira with a pitch. He then allowed a single to Brett Gardner, and walked Brian Roberts on 4 straight pitches to load the bases. He got Kelly Johnson to fly to left, and Teix couldn't score. Another Yankee RISPfail?

Nope: Santiago balked, and that scored Teix. The batter was J.R. Murphy, a Princeton University graduate from Florida, about to turn 23, called up as a backup catcher, wearing Number 66. And he singled home Gardner and Roberts. 3-1 Yankees.

The Angels tied it in the 4th, but John Ryan Murphy, leading off the bottom of the 5th, hit his 1st major league home run, and that made the difference. Murphy laying down the law. (But not -- yet -- laying down a bunt.)

The Angels threatened in the 9th, with Trout singling off Robertson, but he got Albert Pujols and Howie Kendrick out to end the threat.

Yankees 4, Angels 3. WP: Betances (1-0). SV: Robertson (3). LP: Santiago (0-4).

As I write this, the Yankees are 14-10, 2 games ahead of Baltimore, 2 1/2 ahead of Boston, 3 ahead of Toronto, and 3 1/2 ahead of Tampa Bay.

The series concludes tomorrow night, as the Sunday night ESPN game. Masahiro Tanaka starts against Garrett Richards. Then, the Yankees have a day off, before the Seattle Mariners come to town.