Yankees Still Have Reason For Concern

Having won the 1st 2 games of their series with the hated Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, the Yankees coming away with a split would not have been acceptable. And yet, that's all they got.

I could blame this defeat on the home plate umpire, Hal Harrison Gibson III, a.k.a. Tripp Gibson. When the Yankees batted last night, his strike zone was roughly the size of Aaron Judge. When the Red Sox batted, it was roughly the size of the ball itself.

But the real reason the Yankees lost is that the didn't get the pitching they needed. Had they gotten it, the runs they scored should have been enough.

The Yankees got 2 runs in each of the 1st 3 innings. This included home runs from Giancarlo Stanton and Matt Carpenter. You cannot allow yourself to lose when you put up a linescore of 22200. That ZIP Code is not in use, but if it were, it would be in Arlington, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C.

But Jameson Taillon allowed 6 runs in 5 innings. He simply did not get the job done. And then, Aaron Boone decided to risk Aroldis Chapman. In a tie game. Against the Red Sox. At Fenway.

In the words of the great former WCBS-Channel 2 sports anchor Warner Wolf (still alive, by the way, age 84), "Turn your sets off right there!" Because here's what he allowed: Single, walk, walk, strikeout, a dropped popup by Torres that was turned into a run-scoring forceout, strikeout.

Miguel Castro was even worse in the 7th, although it wasn't all his fault: For the 2nd night in a row, Josh Donaldson made an error at 3rd base. That started this progression: Walk, single, bases-clearing double, sacrifice bunt mishandled for a run.

That made the score Red Sox 11, Yankees 6, and that would be the final. WP: Hirokazu Sawamura (1-1). No save. LP: Chapman (0-3).

The Yankees are now 61-25, but are 6-5 combined against the Red Sox and the Houston Astros. They were 30-2 when scoring 6 or more runs going into this game, but are now 30-3.

Here are the OPS+'s for every player with at least 78 plate appearances. (With 77, Matt Carpenter's 267 is an outlier):

Aaron Judge 175

Anthony Rizzo 141

Giancarlo Stanton 136

Gleyber Torres 130

D.J. LeMahieu 122

Jose Trevino 113

Aaron Hicks 109

Josh Donaldson 105

Marwin Gonzalez 104

Isiah Kiner-Falefa 84

Joey Gallo 82

Kyle Higashioka 58

IKF's 84 is deceptively low, because he's come up with some clutch hits and walks. But Gallo, still with a .166 batting average, is a home-run-or-nothing guy: Of his 70 total bases, 40 have come on home runs.

Now, let's look at the pitchers. This is every pitcher with at least 15 appearances. (Chad Green, out for the season, had 14.) WHIP (Walks plus Hits, divided by Innings Pitched) is also a concern. But not with the 5 main starters, who have been sensational in this regard: 

Luis Severino 1.024

Nestor Cortes 1.026

Gerrit Cole 1.027

Jordan Montgomery 1.031

Jameson Taillon 1.177

Nor with these relievers:

Clay Holmes 0.737

Ron Marinaccio 0.879

Wandy Peralta 0.990

Michael King 0.993

But with these:

Lucas Luetge 1.267

Miguel Castro 1.407

Jonathan Loaisiga 1.560

Aroldis Chapman 1.706

And you can't carry 4 relievers with WHIPs as high as Luetge's, never mind as high as Chapman's.

So there is still reason for concern, and until that concern gets turned around -- with better series over Boston and Houston -- we can stop comparing this team to the 1998 Yankees.

I had been under the impression that this week was the All-Star Break. Turns out, that's next week. The Yankees do have today off. Tomorrow, they start a homestand with 3 against the awful Cincinnati Reds, and then 3 against these same Red Sox. Time to get back to winning.

Yankees Play Pinball at Fenway Again

I always want the Yankees to beat the Red Sox. I want the Yankees to beat the Red Sox even when they're playing somebody else.

It's not that the Red Sox turned around the dynamic of the rivalry by finally winning, or even starting a period where they have been the superior organization, if not the superior team. It's not even that they did so by cheating. It's that they got away with it: They have gotten caught, repeatedly, they deny they'd done anything wrong, and the media takes their word for it, while believing every accusation against the Yankees, no matter how flimsy the evidence.

Is it any wonder that I follow the custom of English soccer rivalries, and call the Red Sox "The Scum" -- Capital T, Capital S?

Last night, in the 2nd game of a 4-game weekend series at Fenway Park, the Yankees did not get a good start from Nestor Cortes: He didn't get out of the 4th inning, allowing 4 runs on 8 hits and 2 walks.

But the Yankees didn't need a good start from him. I have often called Fenway "the little green pinball machine in the Back Bay," or "the little green pinball machine off Kenmore Square." The Yankees treated it as such last night. They scored 4 runs before the Red Sox even came to bat: Single by DJ LeMahieu, groundout by Aaron Judge that moved LeMahieu over to 2nd, Matt Carpenter was hit by a pitch, RBI single by Gleyber Torres, home run by Josh Donaldson.

Carpenter doubled a run home in the 2nd. In the 3rd, Aaron Hicks drew a leadoff walk (you know how troublesome those can be), and Jose Trevino doubled. After a Marwin González popup, Joey Gallo hit a ball that Sox right fielder Christian Arroyo never saw. It didn't quite make it out of the field of play, but it scored Hicks and Trevino. Gallo thought he could get an inside-the-park home run out of it, but was easily thrown out at the plate. It was the latest dumb moment for Gallo in a season loaded with them, but the ball he hit before it was a big help. That made it 7-2 Yankees.

Knowing Fenway, the run that Gallo couldn't score could have loomed large. As George Carlin might have said, You never hear about anything "looming small," but the Yankees made it do so. Carpenter led off the 4th with a home run. If I were Matt Carpenter, and you were at Fenway, would you cheer me anyway? 'Cause it was bye, bye, baby. (With apologies to the memories of Tim Hardin, Bobby Darin and Johnny Cash.) Two walks and a Sox error led to another Yankee run in the inning, and it was 9-2 New York.

The Yankee linescore for the 1st 5 innings was 41220. That ZIP Code is not in use, but if it were, it would be in Hagerhill, Kentucky.

The Sox scored 2 in the bottom of the 4th, and another in the 6th. 9 to 5 was a good movie, but as a score at Fenway Park, it brought back some concern. But the Yankees tacked on a run with some "small ball" in the 7th, another in the 8th on a single by Carpenter and a double by Torres, and another in the 9th on a bases-loaded walk by Isiah Kiner-Falefa.

Yankees 12, Red Sox 5. WP: Miguel Castro, who finished the 4th inning and pitched a scoreless 5th (5-0). SV: Lucas Luetge, who was the finishing but not the winning pitcher in a game won by his team, and pitched 3 1/3rd innings without blowing the lead, and thus fit the qualifications for being credited with a save (1). LP: Connor Seabold (0-2). Seabold was a nonentity coming into this game, and I was concerned that he might pitch the game of his life this one time against the Yankees, but he was given the beating that, by the fact of his wearing the Red Sox uniform, he so richly deserved.

In the American League Eastern Division, the Yankees now lead the Tampa Bay Rays by 15 1/2 games, the Red Sox by 16, the Toronto Blue Jays by 16 1/2, and the Baltimore Orioles by 20 1/2. Hey, don't look now, but after getting off to a terrible start, the O's are now only 3 games under .500. The AL East is actually a pretty good Division this year -- and the Yankees are running away with it. The Magic Number to clinch is 64.

The series continues tonight. Jordan Montgomery starts against Kutter Crawford. That's "Kutter" with a K. Maybe Roger Clemens is his real father. Let the Yankees be "his daddy" tonight.

Yankee Bats Bail Out Cold King Cole

The Yankees sent Gerrit Cole to the mound for the finale of their visit to Minneapolis, but he sure didn't pitch like an ace. He didn't get out of the 3rd inning.

Or, to put it another way: Cole faced 17 batters, threw 70 pitches, allowing 7 runs on 8 hits and 2 walks; the rest of the Yankee staff combined, last night, 22 batters, 84 pitches, no runs, 1 hit, 2 walks. Indeed, Cole allowed home runs to the 1st 3 batters the Minnesota Twins sent up.

Sounds like King Cole was a Cold King last night. Sounds like the kind of night where Brian Cashman's policy of "Bomb them out of the yard, so it doesn't matter how good our pitching is" was needed. Here's what we got:

* With 1 out in the 1st inning: Aaron Judge drew a walk, Anthony Rizzo singled him to 3rd, and Josh Donaldson got Judge home on a sacrifice fly.

* With 2 outs in the 2nd: Jose Trevino singled, and Joey Gallo hit a home run.

* Leading off the 5th: Gallo hit another home run, and DJ LeMahieu made it back-to-back home runs.

* Leading off the 6th: Gleyber Torres singled, and Aaron Hicks hit a home run. So the 2 most-booed Yankees, Gallo and Hicks, between them, went 4-for-10 with 3 home runs and 6 RBIs.

* Leading off the 7th: Judge doubled, Rizzo singled him home, Donaldson singled and stole 2nd, Torres reached on an error, and Hicks singled home Donaldson.

* With 2 out in the 8th: Rizzo walked, Donaldson doubled, Torres walked to load the bases, and Rizzo scored on a wild pitch.

Yankees 10, Twins 7. WP: Miguel Castro (3-0). SV: Clay Holmes (9). LP: Jhoan Duran (0-2, and, yes, that's how he spells his name, worse than Jhonny Peralta).

The Yankees are now 7 games ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays, who won last night; and 7 1/2 ahead of the Toronto Blue Jays, who were idle.

Tonight, the Yankees begin a 3-game weekend Interleague series, with the Chicago Cubs.

Any Way You Want It

There are 2 hit songs titled "Any Way You Want It." In 1964, the Dave Clark Five hit Number 14 with one. In 1980, Journey hit Number 23 with the other. Both are hard-driving rock and roll numbers.

The 2022 New York Yankees can win a baseball game any way you want it:

* Score a lot of runs? They are 12-0 when scoring at least 7.

* Get great pitching? They are 15-0 when allowing 1 run or none, and 25-2 when allowing 2 runs or less.

* Be clutch? They are 11-4 in one-run games, including this past Sunday, the conclusion of a 3-game home series with the Detroit Tigers.

* Get it done in extra innings? They are 3-1 when needing more than the standard 9, also including this past Sunday.

* In walkoff fashion? They've done it 6 times, also including this past Sunday.

The Tigers got 2 runs in the top of the 4th, but the Yankees responded in the bottom of the 5th: With 1 out, Isiah Kiner-Falefa singled. Jose Trevino struck out, but in his at-bat, IKF stole 2nd. He was originally called out, but the Yankees appealed, and the replay showed he was safe. And then the much-maligned Joey Gallo crushed a home run to right field. This was no short-porcher: It went halfway up the Bleachers in right-center.

Once again, Jordan Montgomery pitched well despite not getting sufficient run support: He went 6 1/3rd innings, allowing 2 runs on 5 hits, just 1 walk, and 5 strikeouts. But he left with the game tied -- and just after getting a strikeout to start the top of the 7th. He had allowed 90 pitches. What would 5 more have been? There was no reason to bring in a reliever at that point. But Boone brought in Clarke Schmidt, who finished the inning.

The Yankees loaded the bases in the bottom of the 7th, and DJ LeMahieu drew a walk that put them on top, 3-2.

If Aaron Boone had let Montgomery finish the 7th, he could have brought Schmidt in to pitch the 8th. Instead, he brought Schmidt in too soon, and to start the 8th, he allowed a double and a long flyout. Boone brought in Miguel Castro, and he had nothing, too: Strikeout, then game-tying single, wild-pitch, lead-granting single.

The runner scoring on that play was a pinch-runner, Kody Clemens, son of Roger, who was in the ballpark. Like his father did in Boston and Toronto, Kody wears Number 21. Because K is the symbol for "strikeout," Roger gave all 4 of his sons 4-letter names starting with K: Koby, Kory, Kacy and Kody. Koby got as far as Triple-A ball, Kacy to Double-A, and Cory now plays for the Staten Island FerryHawks of the independent Atlantic League.

The Yankees struck back in the bottom of the 8th. Leading off, Anthony Rizzo was hit by a pitch. Josh Donaldson struck out. Rizzo stole 2nd, and advance to 3rd when Tiger 2nd baseman Jonathan Schoop (who used to drive the Yankees crazy hitting against them for the Baltimore Orioles) mishandled the throw from catcher Eric Haase. Gleyber Torres grounded to 3rd, and 3rd baseman Jeimer Candelario made a bad throw. Tie ballgame.

Wandy Peralta pitched a scoreless 9th, but the Yankees couldn't get the 1 more run they needed. Michael King stranded the ghost runner in the 10th by striking out the side. Aaron Judge started the bottom of the 10th on 2nd. Rizzo singled him over to 3rd. Boone called for the 2nd & home double steal, but it only worked well enough for Rizzo to reach 2nd, as the Tigers didn't take the bait. After all, the only run that mattered was Judge on 3rd.

Donaldson brought him home with a sacrifice fly to left. Yankees 5, Tigers 4. WP: King (3-1). No save. LP: Gregory Soto (2-3).

*

The Yankees have now won 6 in a row, 10 of their last 12. They are 39-15 overall, the best record in Major League Baseball. In the American League Eastern Division, they are 7 1/2 games ahead of the Toronto Blue Jays, 7 in the loss column; 8 ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays; 12 ahead of the Boston Red Sox; and 17 ahead of the Orioles.

Compared to the other Division leaders, in the race for Playoff position: They are 8 games ahead of the AL Central-leading Minnesota Twins, 4 ahead of the AL Western-leading Houston Astros, 4 ahead of the National League Western-leading Los Angeles Dodgers, 7 ahead of the NL Central-leading Milwaukee Brewers, and 3 games, 4 in the loss column, ahead of the NL Eastern-leading Mets.

"Yeah, but the Mets are doing this without... " Spare me: No team has had injury problems like the Yankees have. Except maybe Arsenal, and they don't even play the same sport, much less on the same side of the Atlantic Ocean. (Though they will play 3 games in America in July.)

Regarding the Astros: Although the Yankees had home-field advantage over them in the 2015 AL Wild Card Game, they did not have it in either the 2017 or the 2019 AL Championship Series. Home field could be critical.

Tonight, the Yankees begin a 3-game roadtrip to Minnesota, before coming home to face the Chicago Cubs in an Interleague matchup. Then comes 3 home games against the Rays, followed by another big roadtrip: 3 in Toronto, 3 in Tampa Bay.

That's 3 against the Jays, 6 against the Rays. The Yankees could have the AL East all but wrapped up in June, and concentrate on keeping key players healthy. In which case, maybe I shouldn't complain when a starting pitcher is taken out too soon, or a key hitter gets a day off. Maybe it's all part of the plan.

Somewhere, there must be a meme of Yankee general manager Brian Cashman as Heath Ledger's Joker, asking, "Do I look like a guy with a plan?" No, he doesn't.

At this point, I don't care. Any way I want it -- and "it" is winning the World Series -- via a plan, or no plan at all, that's all right by me.

Yankees Look Like Yankees Again, At Least Against Orioles

After a shaky start to the season, the Yankees are playing like the Yankees again. Certainly, they're playing like the Yankees against the Baltimore Orioles again.

Yesterday afternoon, they completed a 3-game sweep against the Birds. This time, the hitting bailed out the pitching. Jameson Taillon started, and, although he only allowed 2 runs, he couldn't get out of the 5th inning.

Luckily, the Yankees came up big in that inning. Tim LoCastro reached on an error. Marwin Gonzalez doubled him home. Kyle Higashioka flew out, but DJ LeMahieu reached on another error. The days of the Orioles being known for their defense are long-gone. (In the 1970s, 3rd baseman Brooks Robinson and shortstop Mark Belanger were known as the Leather Curtain.)

Aaron Judge singled home a run. Anthony Rizzo did the same. Then, so did Giancarlo Stanton. It was 4-2 Yankees.

Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. Well, if you get one, it can help. Joey Gallo, not known for being selected at the plate, drew one in the 6th. LoCastro singled him to 3rd, and Gonzalez hit a sacrifice fly. Josh Donaldson hit a sacrifice fly in the 7th, to make it 6-2 Yankees.

Leadoff walks? LoCastro drew one in the 8th, and stole 2nd. Gonzalez struck out, but Higashioka was hit with a pitch. LeMahieu reached on an error to loaded the bases. LoCastro scored on a wild pitch. Judge hit one out. At 10-2, it looked like the game was in the bag.

Cliché Alert: Looks can be deceiving. (What, you thought I had only one cliché?) Ron Marinaccio is not ready for the major leagues. After starting the top of the 9th with a strikeout, he allowed 3 straight doubles, and uncorked a wild pitch. He got a strikeout, then allowed an RBI single. Aaron Boone saw enough: He brought in Lucas Luetge. And he allowed a walk. Then he got a flyout to end it.

Yankees 10, Orioles 5. WP: Miguel Castro (2-0). No save. LP: Bruce Zimmerman (1-1).

The Yankees remain in 1st place, half a game ahead of the Toronto Blue Jays, as they begin a roadtrip tonight, starting with the Kansas City Royals.