Clarke Schmidt Was Not the Problem: Not Hitting Was

Just a couple of weeks ago, I could not have imagined that letting Clarke Schmidt continue to pitch would have been a good thing for the Yankees. Well, last night, against the Baltimore Orioles, it would have been. It didn't matter, though: They didn't hit.

Aaron Boone let Schmidt pitch 5 innings, in which he allowed 1 run on 5 hits and 2 walks. But that added up to 97 pitches, and Boone didn't dare defy Brian Cashman and let Schmidt pitch more. All bow down before the Holy Pitch Count.

So Nick Ramirez was brought in to start the 6th, and he pitched to the minimum 3 batters: Single, flyout, error. Boone brought in Jimmy Cordero, who got a double play. He only pitched to 2 batters in the 7th, with a runner reaching on another error. Wandy Peralta was brought in, and in the 8th, he gave up 2 walks and a double.

That put the game out of reach, because, as I said, the Yankees didn't hit. They wasted a leadoff single with a double play in the 1st inning, a walk with 1 out in the 3rd, 2 walks in the 4th, a walk with 1 out in the 5th, and another a leadoff single with a double play in the 7th.

Walks, especially the leadoff variety? Just as they can "kill you," they can "give you new life." Aaron Judge drew a leadoff walk in the bottom of the 9th. Anthony Rizzo grounded out, but that moved Judge to 2nd. Harrison Bader struck out. Willie Calhoun doubled Judge home. There was hope: Rookie sensation Anthony Volpe was the batter. He certainly tried: He hit a drive to deep center field. But a great catch by Oriole center fielder Ryan McKenna ended the game.

It should be noted that Edwin Moscos, the home plate umpire, was squeezing Yankee pitchers all night. He wouldn't give us pitches that were clearly on the edge of the strike zone. Boone didn't like that, and yelled at him from the dugout. He threw Boone out of the game, Boone's 4th ejection of the season, and his 2nd in the last 4 games. During the argument, Boone spit on Moscos -- or so Moscos claimed. It was clearly an accident: It's not the sort of thing that Boone does.

Sometimes, a manager will get himself thrown out to throw a charge into his team. If that was Boone's idea, it didn't work: Orioles 3, Yankees 1. WP: Kyle Gibson (6-3). SV: Yennier Cano (4). LP: Schmidt (2-5). The Yankees are now 30-22, 7 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League Eastern Division, and in the 5th AL Playoff slot.

The San Diego Padres now come into Yankee Stadium for 3 games. One of the preseason favorites due to their high spending, it hasn't worked out too well for them so far. They are 23-27, 7 1/2 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Western Division, and 2 games out of the last NL Playoff slot. They need this series more than we do, so they may be playing hungry. Joe Musgrove, hero of their Playoff win over the Mets last season, starts for them tonight. For us, Randy Vásquez, a 24-year-old Dominican, will start, making his major league debut.

That Was a Little Too Interesting at the End

I don't want to talk about Arsenal, unless you tell me that Stan Kroenke is going to fire Unai Emery and hire a manager with a damn clue.

So let's talk about the Yankees. J.A. Happ started against the San Francisco Giants at newly-renamed Oracle Park yesterday, and he was terrific: 7 innings, no runs, 5 hits, no walks, 2 strikeouts. I'll take a start like that any day.

The start was so good (How good was it?), he probably should have been left in to pitch the 8th inning. He'd only thrown 95 pitches, but that seems to be Brian Cashman's magic number for a pitch limit.

Anyway, the Yankees did hit for him. And walk for him. Cliche Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. New acquisition Cameron Maybin led off the top of the 3rd by drawing a walk off Giant starter Derek Holland. Happ, batting because it was an Interleague game in a National League team's ballpark, bunted him over. And DJ LeMahieu singled him home. One-nil to the Pinstripe Boys.

The 5th inning was the decisive one. Maybin led off with a single, Thairo Estrada followed with another, Happ sacrificed again, and LeMahieu walked to load the bases. Then Holland hit Luke Voit with a pitch. Not the best way to get an RBI.

Then Holland pitched like his name should have been Derek Italy, or maybe Derek Sweden, because he served an absolute meatball to Gary Sanchez. It was right in his kitchen, and he cooked it. I thought it was going to go into that giant glove behind the left-center field bleachers. Good way to break out of a slump. 6-0 Yankees.

It was still 6-0 when Aaron Boone sent Luis Cessa out to pitch the 8th. He pitched a 1-2-3 inning. Not wanting to exhaust the bullpen, Boone sent Cessa back out to pitch the 9th. It became clear that he should have let Happ keep going through the 8th, and then maybe let Cessa pitch only the 9th.

Cessa gave up singles to Brandon Belt and Buster Posey. He got Evan Longoria, a pain in the Yankees' necks when he played for the Tampa Bay Rays, to ground into a force play at 2nd, making it 1st and 3rd with 1 out. Then he gave up a home run to Yangervis Solarte. Remember him? He got off to a great start as a rookie with the 2014 Yankees, and then Cashman traded him for Chase Headley.

It was 6-3, and the game had suddenly become interesting. Brandon Crawford came up, and hit a long fly out to left. Then came Erik Kratz, and he hit an even longer fly to left. Home run. Now it's 6-4. This game had gotten a little too interesting. Or, as the great comedian Arte Johnson would have said on the late 1960s variety show Laugh-In, "Verrrry intereshting... but shtupid!"

Boone decided his best chance at the game not getting any more interesting was to bring in his closer, Aroldis Chapman. We've seen Chapman fool around in the 9th inning, before getting down to business and finishing it off. This time, he got right down to business, and fanned Pablo Sandoval to end it.

Yankees 6, Giants 4. WP: Happ (1-2). SV: Chapman (5). LP: Holland (1-4).

The series concludes this afternoon. Domingo German starts against Dereck Rodriguez.

Injury Issues & Betances Halt Yankees

You didn't think the Yankees were going to go 162-0, did you?

You may have thought, as I did, that general manager Brian Cashman's apparent strategy of having an all-outfield team was foolish.

Doesn't look so foolish now, does it?

In the bottom of the 1st inning at the Rogers Centre last night, left fielder Billy McKinney, who got his 1st major league hit and RBi yesterday, chased a Josh Donaldson line drive, and crashed into the outfield wall -- one of the last few in the major leagues that isn't padded. He didn't get the ball, and Donaldson reached 2nd on a double.

At first, it looked like McKinney had hit his head, meaning that he should be taken out of the game as a concussion precaution. He insisted that his head was fine, and manager Aaron Boone left him in the game. Then Justin Smoak hit one into the left field corner, and McKinney retrieved it, and threw it back to the infield, and it became clear that the problem wasn't with his head, but with his arm. Boone took him out of the game.

This is on top of Greg Bird, Jacoby Ellsbury, Aaron Hicks and Clint Frazier already being on the Disabled List. McKinney was started to give Brett Gardner a day off, but Gardner had to be sent out there.

Boone let CC Sabathia pitch only 5 innings, in which he allowed 2 runs, only 1 of which was earned, 5 hits and 2 walks, with 4 strikeouts. He had thrown 84 pitches, 54 for strikes. This is CC we're talking about: He could have gone longer. But, apparently, Boone cares more about the pitch count than actual results. If you're still going to have a pitch count, then what the hell was the point of firing Joe Girardi?

Boone brought in Adam Warren, who shouldn't be on the Yankees' roster, or any other major league team's roster, because he stinks. He allowed another run and got hurt. So that's another injury, albeit one that will prevent him from wrecking any more Yankee games for a while. Jonathan Holder finished the 6th inning without further damage.

Tyler Austin hit 2 long home runs, a 432-foot 2-run shot in the 5th inning, and a 412-foot solo drive in the 7th. That made it 3-3.

But instead of letting Holder keep pitching in the bottom of the 7th, Boone put Dellin Betances in. Betances got through the 7th without much trouble. Him, Boone left in. And the 8th turned out to be the worst inning of the Yankees' young season thus far.

Yangervis Solarte -- who, you'll recall, Cashman traded away for Chase Headley -- led off the inning with a tremendous blast to center field, 455 feet. Betances struck Randal Grichuk out, but allowed a single to Kevin Pillar -- not to be confused with Kevin Millar, our former foe in Boston, who was so slow (How slow was he?), he certainly couldn't have done what I'm about to describe.

Betances struck Aledmys Diaz out. But Pillar stole 2nd. Betances walked Luke Maile. Then a double steal: Pillar stole 3rd and Maile stole 2nd. And then, Pillar stole home plate. He stole 2nd, 3rd and home in the same inning. All because Betances wasn't paying enough attention, and wasn't throwing enough strikes.

That made it 5-3 Blue Jays, and that's how it ended. WP: Ryan Tepera (1-0). SV: Roberto Osuna (1). LP: Betances (0-1).

It's not just that the Yankees lost, it's how. It could have been avoided, had Boone just let either Sabathia or Holder pitch longer. Instead, he Girardi-ed the game. His 1st screwup as a major league manager. Well, his 1st 2.

The series concludes this afternoon, Easter Sunday, with a scheduled first pitch of 1:07 PM. Sonny Gray will start for the Yankees, Marcus Stroman for the Jays. Then, tomorrow afternoon is the home opener, against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Yankees Open With Stanton-Powered Win in Toronto

The 2018 Major League Baseball season is underway. If you were hoping that the New York Yankees were going to use the long ball to win games this season, the first of your hopes have been realized. If you were hoping the Yankees were going to get good pitching, that hope also saw some realization.

The Yankees opened by starting a 4-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays, at the Rogers Centre (formerly named the SkyDome). Luis Severino got the start, and walked 2 batters in the 1st inning, but settled down, allowing just 1 hit until the 6th.

With 1 out, he walked Josh Donaldson, and then struck out Justin Smoak. It looked like the walk would be no big deal, and he could continue. He had thrown 91 pitches, but had done very well.

Unfortunately, Aaron Boone, in his 1st game as a major league manager, handled the situation exactly the way that Joe Girardi would have, and took the side of the pitch count, rather than that of the actual performance.

This was, potentially, a very stupid move. If you're concerned that he's thrown too many pitches, why wait until the batter after a walk to take him out? I don't care what the handedness of either the pitcher or the batter is: Unless the pitcher is injured, you never take him out after he's gotten an out!

With his 1st pitching change, Boone brought in Chad Green, and he struck former Yankee Curtis Granderson out to end the inning. Green faced 4 batters and got them all out.

As for the Yankee bats: They did what we had been led to believe they would do. Brett Gardner led off the season by reaching 1st base on an error. Aaron Judge struck out, and up came the big new acquisition, Giancarlo Stanton. In his 1st at-bat as a Yankee -- his 1st at-bat in the American League -- he hit a long drive to right-center field, the opposite field. Home run. 2-0 Yankees.

That would be all the Yankees would need. But, to quote a Bob Dylan song, "Your debutante knows what you need, but I know what you want!" With 2 out in the top of the 5th, Judge drew a walk, and was followed by back-to-back doubles by Stanton and Gary Sanchez. Gardner led off the 7th with a home run. 5-0.

Boone brought Dellin Betances in to pitch the 8th. His 1st pitch was to Kevin Pillar, who hit it out. Until then, the Jays had a grand total of 1 hit. Fortunately, Betances got through the inning with no further damage.

Equally fortunately, Tyler Clippard came into the game -- for the Jays. He got Gardner and Judge out without looking sharp. Then he faced Stanton, who drove a missile to straightaway center field. 434 feet.

So far, the hype seems justified. As they would say in English soccer, Stanton was Man of the Match. The 1st home run was cake; the 2nd, icing -- delicious icing.

Aroldis Chapman needed all of 10 pitches to get through the 9th inning. Ballgame over, Yankees win -- Theeeeeeee Yankees win! First time in a game that counts since October 20, 2017.

Yankees 6, Blue Jays 1. WP: Severino (1-0). No save. LP: J.A. Happ (0-1). For Aaron Boone, his 1st game as a major league manager is a win.

The Baltimore Orioles and Tampa Bay Rays also started the season with wins. The Boston Red Sox, with a nasty loss against Tampa Bay, in which they blew a 4-0 lead. They didn't blow a lead of 2 or more runs all last season.

Baseball is back. God, did I miss it.

Yanks Crawl Into Wild Card Game, Without Sabathia

CC Sabathia has checked himself into alcohol rehab. It has been speculated that, with his injuries of the past 3 seasons, he has been "self-medicating."

The Yankee organization is standing behind his decision, as well it should: His long-term health is more important than anything the Yankees could win, starting with tonight's Wild Card play-in game. (He wouldn't have appeared in it anyway: Had he been okay, he would have been used as the starter for Game 1 of the American League Division Series.)

*

Over the weekend, playing games that were pretty much meaningless (though they could have determined home-field advantage for the play-in game), the Yankees played the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards as if they didn't care what happened.

Friday night's game was rained out, thanks to Hurricane Joaquin, and rescheduled for Saturday afternoon.

Right in the 1st inning, Ivan Nova allowed a single to Nolan Reimold, and a single to Gerald Parra that got Reimold to 3rd, and got Manny Machado to ground into a double play that got Reimold home, immediately putting the Yankees in a 1-0 hole. In the 3rd, almost the same thing: He hit Reimold with a pitch, Parra doubled, and a groundout by Machado scored Reimold.

Machado homered in the 5th. In the 6th, J.J. Hardy and Reimold singled, and, with 2 outs and Nova having thrown 105 pitches, Joe Girardi panicked at the pitch count, and brought in Chasen Shreve. Just 4 batters later, a 3-0 deficit became 7-0.

The Yankee output for the night:

* Chris Young led off the 2nd with a triple, and was stranded.

* Brendan Ryan singled in the 3rd, and Brett Gardner singled him to 2nd, but Ryan was out trying to reach 3rd. Gardner reached 2nd, but was stranded.

* Young reached on an error and Chase Headley on a walk in the 4th, but were stranded.

* Young walked in the 5th, but was stranded.

* 7th inning: John Ryan Murphy walked, Jose Pirela singled, Greg Bird walked to load the bases with nobody out, Didi Gregorius struck out, a Gardner groundout got Murphy home, Rob Refsnyder singled home Pirela, and Alex Rodriguez struck out. Those 2 runs were immediately canceled out by the O's in the bottom of the inning.

* Rico Noel singled to lead off the 9th, and advanced to 2nd on a wild pitch, but was stranded.

Not much, and too little, too late. Orioles 9, Yankees 2. WP: Wei-Yin Chen (11-8), who always seems to pitch well against the Yankees. No save. LP: Nova (6-11).

*

The Saturday night was even more frustrating. Luis Severino started, and fell behind 2-0 in the 1st. The Yankees got a run back in the 2nd on a Gregorius sacrifice fly, but Machado homered off Severino in the 3rd.

The Yankees tied it in the 5th, with a double by Refsnyder, a single by Gregorius, a double by Slade Heathcott, Jacoby Ellsbury being hit with a pitch, and Carlos Beltran drawing a bases-loaded walk.

Severino pitched very well through 7 innings, throwing 91 pitches. Again, Girardi freaked out (froke out?) at the pitch count, and brought Dellin Betances in to pitch the 8th and the 9th. Here's what Betances did in the 8th: Single, wild pitch, strikeout, single, game-losing wild pitch.

A-Rod singled with 1 out in the 8th, bringing the potential winning run to the late, in the form of Headley. But Girardi took A-Rod (who is 40) out for Noel, whose sole duty on the Yankees is to pinch-run and steal bases. Everybody in the stadium knew he was going to try to steal 2nd, and he was thrown out. That left Headley as only the tying run, and he grounded out to end the game.

Orioles 4, Yankees 3. WP: T.J. McFarland (2-2). SV: Zach Britton (36). LP: Betances (6-4).

Girardi lost this one, on the mound and on the bases.

*

Sunday afternoon was the 162nd and last game of the regular season. Michael Pineda started, and had nothing. Yet again, the Orioles scored 2 runs in the 1st, and had 7 runs before the 5th was over. It's not even worth mentioning what the Yankees did at the plate. No home runs, and, on this day, even 4 runs wasn't close to being enough.

Orioles 9, Yankees 4. WP: Chris Tillman (11-11). No save. LP: Pineda (12-10).

*

Final standings for the 2015 Major League Baseball season, all 26 weeks in the books:

American League
Eastern Division
Toronto Blue Jays 93-69
New York Yankees 87-75, 6 games behind
Baltimore Orioles 81-81, 12
Tampa Bay Rays 80-82, 13
Boston Red Sox 78-84, 15

Central Division
Kansas City Royals 95-67
Minnesota Twins 83-79, 12
Cleveland Indians 81-80, 13 1/2
Chicago White Sox 76-86, 19
Detroit Tigers 74-87, 20 1/2

Western Division
Texas Rangers 88-74
Houston Astros 86-76, 2
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 85-77, 3
Seattle Mariners 76-86, 12
Oakland Athletics 68-94, 20

National League
Eastern Division
New York Mets 90-72
Washington Nations 83-79, 7
Miami Marlins 71-91, 19
Atlanta Braves 67-95, 23
Philadelphia Phillies 63-99, 27

Central Division
St. Louis Cardinals 100-62
Pittsburgh Pirates 98-64, 2
Chicago Cubs 97-65, 3
Milwaukee Brewers 68-94, 32
Cincinnati Reds 64-98, 36

Western Division
Los Angeles Dodgers 92-70
San Francisco Giants 84-78, 8
Arizona Diamondbacks 79-83, 13
San Diego Padres 74-88, 18
Colorado Rockies 68-94, 24

*

Tonight, the Wild Card play-in games will be played. The Yankees host the Astros at Yankee Stadium II, while the Cubs travel to PNC Park to play the Pirates.

Masahiro Tanaka starts for the Yankees. He's 12-7. Dallas Keuchel starts for the Astros, having already started for the AL in this year's All-Star Game. He's 20-8, and sure to win the AL Cy Young Award. He went 15-0 at home... but just 5-8 on the road. That's the Yankees hope: That Road Keuchel shows up, not Home Keuchel.

Once it became clear that the Yankees might not win the AL East, my concern became this: That they wouldn't score enough runs in the play-in game, the starting pitcher would have just a 1-run lead going into the 6th, reach whatever Girardi decided was his pitch limit, and get taken out, the bullpen would blow it, and then the Yankees would mount a late comeback that falls just short. For example: 1-0 ahead, then 6-1 behind, and ending 6-5 behind.

Once Tanaka, with his questionable elbow, was named as a starter, especially after his missed his next-to-last regular season start with a hamstring issue, that worry intensified. It has now become a full-blown fear.

This is the biggest game the Yankees have played in a long time. I don't mean since Game 5 of the 2012 AL Division Series against the Orioles. We were already in the Playoffs. This is, essentially, a title-deciding season finale. The Yankees haven't played one of those since the Bucky Dent Game, 37 years ago.

This is the kind of game that management, if it were rational, would use to decide who wants to be here next year, and who doesn't.

If I were in charge, if the George Steinbrenner of the 1970s and '80s were in charge, Joe Girardi would have been fired as manager at least 2 years ago.

If the Yankees lose this game, after all the pitching screwups by Girardi this season, he ought never to wear a Yankee uniform again.

Except maybe on Old-Timers' Day. And then, he should wear the Number 25 he wore as a player. Not the 27 he wore as a manager in 2008 and '09, seeking the 27th title, or the 28 he's worn since, in his vain efforts at a 28th.

Joe, forget the pitch count, and manage like your job depends on it.

It probably doesn't. Which is why general manager Brian Cashman should go, too.

The Melk of Human Kindness; Girardi Blows Another; Bill Gallo, 1922-2011

The Yankees began a 3-game series with the Kansas City Royals last night at Yankee Stadium II. It's been a long time since a series with the Royals really mattered, although from 1976 to 1985 that matchup was fraught with implications, complications, imprecations, depreadations, devastations and, at least until 1980, for the Yankees mostly acclamations -- but, starting in 1980, mostly frustrations.

The series marks the return of one Melky Astacio Cabrera to The Bronx. The Melkman was part of the Yankees' frustrating seasons of 2005 to '08, but a big part of their return to glory in 2009. Several walkoff hits and becoming the first Yankee to hit for the cycle since before the Joe Torre era began (Tony Fernandez in 1995) justified the faith of all those fans who had the "Got Melk?" T-shirts, and the Yankees won the World Series.

And yet, he was let go in the off-season, sent, along with 2 guys who haven't yet amounted to anything, to the Atlanta Braves for 2 pitchers. One, the returning Javier Vazquez, was a disaster. The verdict: Guilty of gross mound-based incompetence. With the other, lefty reliever Boone Logan, the jury is still out. The Braves released Melky after one season, and he signed with the Royals last December.

He's currently batting .282 with 4 home runs and 22 RBIs for the Royals, which would (for the moment) make him an upgrade at left field over Brett Gardner, but not at his usual position, center field, over Curtis Granderson, who is having a great season.

As with Hideki Matsui, Johnny Damon, the ringless Jason Giambi, and even the Pennantless Bobby Abreu when they made their first returns to Yankee Stadium after they were let go, Melky got a nice hand from the Yankee Fans. Good.

After all, it's not like he was Carl Pavano. Or Randy Johnson. Or even Gary Sheffield.

Melky was 1-for-4 with a homer last night, for the Royals' only run. Other than that, Freddy Garcia (2-2) pitched very well for 6 innings, outdueling Kyle Davies (1-5). David Robertson, Joba Chamberlain and Mariano Rivera (13th save) each pitched a scoreless inning.

Derek Jeter singled home a run in the 3rd, and then Alex Rodriguez, mired in a slump that was even worse than the one Jeter was in until a week ago, drove in 2 runs with a 5th-inning single. Both of those hits came with 2 outs. So a Captain's Contribution, and an A-Men from A-Rod.

Yankees 3, Royals 1. Counting last night's game,the Royals are 15-8 at home, but only 3-9 on the road. Overall, they're just over .500 at 18-17. Compared to what they've usually done since 1993, the last time they were even remotely in a Pennant race, that's progress. They're 5 1/2 games behind the American League Central Division-leading Cleveland Indians.

The Yankees remain in 1st place in the AL Eastern Division, a game ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays (2 in the loss column), 4 1/2 (6) ahead of the Boston Red Sox, 5 1/2 (7) ahead of the Toronto Blue Jays, and 5 1/2 (6) ahead of the Baltimore Orioles. (I have the teams listed in descending order of winning percentage; the differences in the number of games each team has played explains the discrepancies.)

Game 2 of the series is tonight. A.J. Burnett takes the hill for the Yankees, and the Royals' starter will be Vin Mazzaro. He's from nearby Rutherford, New Jersey, and the Yankees often have trouble with pitchers who are local guys. That's not the only bad sign: Due to an injury to another starter, Mazzaro has just been called up from Triple-A. The proverbial, troublesome "pitcher we've never seen before"?

Not quite: He last pitched against the Yankees for the Oakland Athletics on August 31, 2010, and got rocked, not making it through the 4th inning. In 2009, the Yankees smacked him around on July 23 and August 19. That 8/19/09 appearance is the only time he's completed a 5th inning against the Yankees: Overall, in 3 appearances, all starts, his teams have lost all of them to the Yankees, and he's 0-2 with a 9.69 ERA (14 earned runs in 13 innings).

I think the Yankees can hit this guy, so it all depends on whether Good A.J. or Bad A.J. shows up.

One pitcher who will not be showing up is reliever Rafael Soriano, who's experiencing some tightness in his shoulder. But Phil Hughes is scheduled to throw off a mound again in a few days. Very good sign.

*

On May 12, 2001, 10 years ago today, A.J. Burnett pitched a no-hitter. It wasn't for the Yankees, it was for the Florida Marlins, against the San Diego Padres at Jack Murphy Stadium (or whatever corporate name it had at the time).

Last night, we were wondering who would show up for the Yankees: "Good A.J." as in 2009, or "Bad A.J." as in 2010.

Good A.J. showed up, and he brought it: 7 innings, 1 hit, 1 run -- a home run by Eric Hosmer. (He plays 1st base, which is appropriate, because before this game, I would have said, "Who?" Yes, Who is on first.)

And my fears about the unfamiliar Vin Mazzaro starting for the Kansas City Royals were unfounded: The native of Hackensack, New Jersey and graduate of Rutherford High School in, well, Rutherford, lasted only 4 innings, giving up 2 runs, including a league-leading 12th home run by Curtis Granderson.

So, going into the top of the 8th, it was Yankees 2, Royals 1. With the Yankee bullpen, this is a good sign.

Unfortunately, keeping Ye Olde Holy Pitch Count in mind, Joe Girardi pulled Burnett for David Robertson. Now, if you were reading last year, you know that Robertson drove me crazy last year, but has been superb this year. But he went back to last year's model, and blew the lead. The game went to extra innings, and the Royals scored in the top of the 10th ex-Met Jeff Francoeur singling home Hosmer to make it 3-2 Royals.

Then came the bottom of the 10th. This was the kind of inning you think about when your team misses the Playoffs by one fucking game. (In this case, I think the profanity is warranted.)

Joakim Soria comes in to pitch for the Royals. This guy can't find the plate with a map. He throws not a single strike (or, at least, not a single pitch I would have called a strike) to his 1st 2 batters. He walks Russell Martin on 4 straight pitches. Awright, leadoff man on.

Brett Gardner up. John Sterling says on WCBS that, with his speed, and the way the infield was set up, Gardner could have bunted to the left side and beaten the throw. That would be the tying and winning runs on with nobody out, and the next 3 hitters would be Derek Jeter, Granderson and Mark Teixeira. If the game remained undecided, next would be Alex Rodriguez. (Not Robinson Cano, however: He was hit in the head with a pitch earlier, and had to be replaced by Eduardo Nunez. A CAT scan revealed nothing wrong, and he's day-to-day.)

Instead, bunting on orders from Girardi, Gardner bunts... to the right side! He gets thrown out. So now, instead of 1st and 2nd with nobody out, there's a man on 2nd with 1 out.

Jeter's hot streak comes to a crashing halt, finishing an 0-for-6 day with a grounder to short. Martin goes to 3rd. Now, I realize that, if there had been men on 1st and 2nd, this would likely have been a double play. But maybe not. Perhaps with 2 men on, Jeter would have approached the at-bat differently, and the game would have been tied, with men on 1st and 3rd (the winning run) and less than 2 out. Instead...

The Grandy Man came through again, singling home Martin. Tie game, man on 1st (the winning run) with 2 out. Teix up.

Teix flies out to center, where our old friend Melky Cabrera does his duty to his current team, and catches it.

We go to the 11th. Instead of having won this thing in the 10th.

As Phillies fan Bill Cosby says, "Don't ever say, 'It can't get any worse.' It can always get worse!"

Instead of leaving A.J. in for the 8th and letting Mariano Rivera close it out in the 9th, Girardi brought Robertson in for the 8th, and he blew it. He also used Boone Logan in the 8th. He sent Mo in for the 9th and he got that job done, but he didn't send Mo back out for the 10th, and K.C. scored off Buddy Carlyle. Knowing that the Yankees had tied it and it would go to the 11th, did Girardi bring in a better pitcher?

No! He leaves the already-failed (at least in this game) Carlyle in! And he blows it again, walking leadoff hitter Chris Getz! Girardi pulls him for Luis Ayala. As Brandon C. of the blog Pinstripe Alley points out, this was a mistake, because the Yankees sent Lance Pendleton down to Scranton to make room for Ayala coming off the Disabled List. "You don't lose your job due to injury," says one of the "unwritten rules" of sport.

Except, as Brandon C. also points out, the Yankees could have sent down Ramiro "Never mind what a lousy hitter I am, check out my versatility!" Pena to make room for Ayala. With Nunez, and Martin's ability to play multiple positions while Francisco Cervelli can be a good backup catcher (if not a great hitter), Pena is superfluous to Pinstripe aspirations. In other words, we don't need him.

And why was Ayala in the game in the first place? Because Rafael Soriano has a problem with his shoulder, and may have to go on the D.L.; and Joba Chamberlain was getting a night of rest. Okay, fair enough, but this was a situation tailor-made for Pendleton, who's been terrific since coming to the Yankees.

Ayala gets Alcides Escobar out, but he allows a single to Jarrod Dyson, getting Getz to third. And, again, Hosmer is involved, hitting an 0-and-2 pitch for a sacrifice fly that scores Getz.

In the bottom of the 11th, A-Rod flies out, and Nunez and Swisher strike out. Royals 4, Yankees 3.

WP: Soria (3-0), and giving him the win is a joke, but it's also the rule in this case. SV: Louis Coleman (1). LP: Carlyle (0-1).

All told, the Yankees got 12 hits, the Royals only 4, but it's runs that count. The Yankees were 2-for-16 with runners in scoring position last night. Two such hits in 11 fucking innings. They left 15 men on base. Fifteen. Thurman Munson's number.

Only 3 runs on 4 hits when the opposition scores 4 on 4 hits? 2-for-16 with RISP? 15 LOBs? Those facts are absolutely unacceptable.

The rubber game of the series is tonight. Ivan Nova starts against... another Who's He? Sean O'Sullivan. Cue Harrison Ford: "I've got a bad feeling about this!"

To make matters worse, technically, the Yankees are now tied for 1st with the Tampa Bay Rays, although we're .005 ahead of them percentage-wise and a game ahead in the AILC (All-Important Loss Column).

And the Rays are playing an early game against the Indians in Cleveland, and as I type this are winning 4-0 and threatening for more in the 3rd. By game-time, we will probably be out of 1st place. Got to take it back with a win over those Great Plains rednecks.

Jeter 2962 38
Rivera 572 29
A-Rod 618 145
Magic Number 127 (to eliminate Rays, 124 for O's, 122 for Scum and Jays)

*

Bill Gallo died yesterday. He was the greatest New York newspaper cartoonist of the 20th Century -- and he didn't just do sports.

A son of Spanish immigrants, he was born on December 28, 1922 in Manhattan, and got a job as a copy boy at the New York Daily News on, according to this cartoon, October 8, 1941. A year later, he was drafted into World War II. He served with the U.S. Marine Corps, seeing combat at Saipan, Tinian and Iwo Jima.

He returned to the Daily News after The War, and never left. In 1960, Leo O'Melia, the paper's sports cartoonist, died, and Bill was given his job.

And what a job. He created 2 enduring characters. One was Yuchie -- a variant of "Eugene," named for a childhood friend who didn't come back from The War -- who represented the kid in us all. The other was Basement Bertha, so named because she loved the early Mets, who were stuck in last place -- in those days, referred to as "the basement" or "the cellar." He often had Bertha talking to Met manager Casey Stengel, whose distinctive mug was easy to draw.

Bertha and Yuchie

He lampooned George Steinbrenner as "General von Steingrabber," indulging the Boss' German heritage -- not as a Nazi, but as a World War I-style Prussian officer, with spiked helmet and enormous epaulets. George didn't mind: He asked Bill for the original of the first General cartoon, and got it.

His best-known cartoon came after the death of Yankee catcher and Captain Thurman Munson in a plane crash on August 2, 1979. It summed up what even people who didn't like the Yankees were feeling.

Bill Gallo died on May 10, 2011, from complications from pneumonia. He was 88. If you haven't seen his book Drawing a Crowd, get it: It contains a lot of great work.

UPDATE: He was buried at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, Westchester County, New York -- the same cemetery as Babe Ruth.

Joe Girardi, You Lost This One, Not Soriano

Saw my 1st live Yankee game of the season last night. The boss insisted. Not any member of the Steinbrenner family, my boss. (True story.)

It seemed like a good idea. I hadn't yet seen a live Yankee game this season, they were playing a team for whom I have no ill will, the seat was pretty good (down the right-field line, and the view was better than it would have been from the same seat at the old Stadium), the weather was just right, the fans behaved themselves (except for this one incomprehensible drunk behind us, who was yelling at Nick Swisher, though he was so slurred that I couldn't tell if it was to encourage or to slate), the Yankees hit 2 home runs, and there was a good pitchers' duel between the two starters.

There was only one thing wrong: The Yankees lost. Through no fault of their own.

Gavin Floyd started for the Chicago White Sox. I last saw him pitch live in 2001, 10 years ago, for the Lakewood BlueClaws. The Phillies brought him up in 2004, which turned out to be too soon, and traded him to the White Sox in the Aaron Rowand deal. But he won 18 for them in 2008, including the regular-season finale that forced a Playoff for the Central Division title with the Minnesota Twins (which the Twins won).

He's been reliable ever since, and, last night, he did something increasingly rare: He pitched into the 9th inning. He made 2 mistakes, Robinson Cano's 5th home run in the 2nd, and Brett Gardner's 2nd homer in the 5th. Other than that, he was great, allowing only 2 other hits, both to Derek Jeter, putting him a little closer to 3,000.

Ivan Nova started for the Yankees, and produced the longest and best outing of his career thus far. In 6 1/3rd innings, he allowed just 1 run (and that should have been unearned, as a hit was given on what should have been assessed as an error to Cano), 5 hits and 2 walks. He had good control, and seemed very poised.

But he let a couple of runners on in the 7th, and Yankee manager Joe Girardi panicked.

(To the tune of "My Darling Clementine")

Joe Girardi.
Joe Girardi.
Joe Girardi, leave him in!
Game is lost and gone forever
'cause you didn't leave him in!

Miller Huggins would've left Waite Hoyt in. Joe McCarthy would've left Lefty Gomez in. Casey Stengel would've left Allie Reynolds in. Ralph Houk would've left Whitey Ford in. Billy Martin would've left Ron Guidry in. Joe Torre would've... okay, there the pattern ends.

What's that, you say? Ivan Nova isn't yet any of those pitchers? This is true, but how's he going to become any of those pitchers if he's not given a fair chance by his manager?

Girardi brought in David Robertson, who has bounced back from a poor 2010 season, and hasn't yet allowed a run in 2011. His ERA is 0.00. He got the last 2 outs in the 7th.

Did Girardi leave him in to pitch the 8th? If you have to ask, you're either new to the world of the New York Yankees, or you're just, as they say in English soccer, taking the piss.

Girardi brought Rafael Soriano in to pitch the 8th. Big mistake. By all rights, Nova should still have been on the mound: He'd thrown only 92 pitches in 6 1/3, 54 of them for strikes. (Floyd threw only 102 in 8-plus.) At the very least, Robertson should have been allowed to continue throwing well. Or, if Joe really wanted a reliever, he could have called on Joba Chamberlain. But I never saw Joba in the pen (and I had a pretty good view of the Yankee bullpen). Is he hurt? Not that I've heard.

Soriano had nothing. Absolutely nothing. He got the 1st out, barely, as Alexei Ramirez swung at bad pitches. Then Soriano hit Carlos Quentin, which, in this situation, would have been a bad thing to do accidentally, and a moronic thing to do if intentional.

This turned out to be the key moment of the game, and not just for its immediate after-effect, because of who replaced him as a pinch-runner: A player I'd never heard of, Brent Lillibridge, a 27-year-old kid from the Seattle area, who debuted with the Atlanta Braves in 2008, went to the White Sox the next season, has been multi-positional but has played 2nd base more than anything else, and, thus far, has never had more than 112 plate appearances in a season. A utility player.

So there he was, the tying run on 1st with 1 out, and Paul Konerko was up. The Arizonan, the biggest hitting star of the last few years for the Pale Hose, including their 2005 World Championship, he has rather quietly inserted himself into the Hall of Fame discussion. He's just 35, could probably still be productive at 40, and already has 370 home runs. That's as many as Gil Hodges, and more than David Ortiz (who's the same age and needed steroids), Dick Allen, Ralph Kiner, Johnny Mize, Joe DiMaggio and Yogi Berra. (It's also more than Adam Dunn, now his White Sox teammate, with 356.)

Soriano served up a very saucy meatball, and there was no doubt about it: Home run Number 6 on the season for Konerko, Number 371 for his career, and the White Sox led, 3-2.

That turned out to be the final score. Boone Logan and Buddy Carlyle pitched the 9th for the Yankees, and both were fine. If either of them had been brought in instead of Soriano, the Yankees might have won.

Floyd (3-1) left in the 9th, and everybody was still too mad at Soriano (1-1) to call Sox manager Ozzie Guillen names as he came to the mound to take Floyd out. He left after allowing a leadoff single to Jeter, and things were looking up. Matt Thornton came in, and allowed Curtis Granderson to lay down a nice bunt to get Jeter to 2nd, as the tying run with 1 out. Next up were Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez, and, if one of them got on, Robinson Cano. I liked the Yankees chances.

Thornton walked Teix, and Girardi took him out for pinch-runner Eduardo Nunez. Now the tying run was on 2nd, the winning run was on 1st, both runners were fast, there was still only 1 out, and A-Rod and Robbie were up. I was liking this.

Guillen replaced Thornton with Sergio Santos. A-Rod looked for all the world like the clutch hitter that some people think he finally became in 2009. I remember thinking about Lisa Swan of the Subway Squawkers blog, the biggest A-Rod fan I know: "If A-Rod hits one out to win this game, Squawker Lisa is going to... " I'd better not finish that thought, but let's say she would have felt real good. (I wonder if she would have noticed that Jeter started the rally?)

Sure enough, A-Rod gave it a ride, deep to right field, the opposite field, right in front of me. And... and Lillibridge, who'd stayed in the game to play right field, made a terrific catch. A-Robbed! Can't fault Alex: He hit a ball that should have produced a run.

Well, so what. Cano was up. Not a bad last hope to have. True, he'd mishandled 2 plays that were credited as hits but should have been errors. But he'd also homered, and that short porch still beckoned in right field.

Cano got a pitch he liked, he swung, and he sent a sinking liner into right. Surely, this was going to drop for a double. Jeter would score the tying run, and Nunez would have a pretty good shot at scoring the winning run!

Except that blasted Lillibridge, who I'd never heard of half an hour before, slid and made an even more amazing catch! The Stadium went from "Come on, Robbie!" to "Yeeeeahhhh!" to "Awwww... " in about 3 seconds.

Lillibridge, who'd scored the tying run ahead of Konerko on the latter's homer, made 2 "Holy Cow" plays to nail down the win for Floyd and the save for Santos (his 2nd).

In spite of their record, now 10-14, the White Sox are a good team. But I don't care how good the other team is: 2 games, 7 total hits and 2 losses is unacceptable.

And last night's loss wouldn't have happened if Joe Girardi had simply trusted his eyes, not the pitch count, and not the way pitchers have been handled these last 20 years or so, and let Ivan Nova continue pitching. Nova had earned it. Even if Joe had left Robertson in, or brought in Logan or Carlyle instead of Soriano, the game might have been won by the Yankees.

Joe Girardi, you lost this one. Not Soriano. Not Cano's fielding miscues (after all, he drove in a run). You lost it, Joe.

Soriano got the hell booed out of him with almost every pitch, but Girardi is the one who deserved it.

If this were European soccer, especially in Italy, but maybe also in England, the papers, TV pundits and radio hosts would be talking about a "crisis," wondering if the manager was about to be sacked.

That's one of the good things about baseball: A 2-game losing streak is no big deal.

Unless you're the 1949 Red Sox.

*

Tonight, Game 3 of the 4-game series at Yankee Stadium II. Bartolo Colon and Mark Buehrle are the starters. As good as both men have been, could they really pitch much better than Ivan Nova and Gavin Floyd pitched last night? If they do, I wonder if Girardi will let Colon keep going. I'll bet Ozzie Guillen will let Buehrle pitch as long as he wants.

The Mets hung on to beat Washington. Baltimore beat Boston. Toronto clobbered Texas. Tampa Bay got rained out at Minnesota.

Jeter 2946 54
Rivera 566 35
A-Rod 618 145
Magic Number 138 (to eliminate Scum and Jays, 139 for O's and Rays)

You Can Shove Your Pitch Count

The Devil Rays, south of Georgia, they were looking for a game to steal. They got it on Friday night, beating the Yankees 9-3. They paid dearly for it yesterday afternoon.

I was on the Subway yesterday afternoon, when I saw a couple wearing... Met scarves? Like soccer fans wear? A little later, I was at the Time Warner Center, buying back another piece of the floodlost library at their Borders, when I saw another couple wearing them. Turned out the Mets were giving away 2 things at the game: The scarves, and, well, the game.

Coming out of the Time Warner Center -- for the unaware, it's a minor-league "Twin Towers" at Columbus Circle, where 59th Street, 8th Avenue and Broadway meet, containing CNN's studios, high-end shops, and, thank God, a Borders bookstore -- those Met scarves made me flip open my phone and check the Yankee score, and ESPN said that CC Sabathia had one of those games where you don't allow any hits going, after 7 innings. And, oh yeah, that the Yankees were winning, 10-0.

The Time Warner Center is just 3 blocks from Mickey Mantle's restaurant on Central Park South. I got over there in time to see CC get the first 2 outs in the bottom of the 8th, 4 outs to go.

Then came a hit, from Kelly Shoppach, and it was over. The Rays fans gave CC a standing ovation, and then most of them left, leaving their stupid dome over to Yankee Fans.

I stood up, and said, "Okay, who said the word 'no-hitter' out loud?" You don't say that word while one is in progress. A guy stood up and said, "I did. I'm a Met fan. Sorry."

I said, "You're a Met fan, yes, you are sorry."

A guy behind me said, "I'm a Met fan. You're outnumbered."

Met fans outnumber Yankee Fans? In Mickey Mantle's Restaurant? In 2010? Ha! Yankee Fans weren't even outnumbered in Tropicana Field yesterday!

I got out all right. Met fans talk big, but they're pussies. By New York standards, anyway.

*

But on to a more important matter: Before Shoppach had even gotten to first base, Joe Girardi had come out of the dugout to pull CC. Apparently, Shoppach was going to be CC's last batter, no matter what, because he'd had CC on a pitch count of 110 to 115 pitches. The hit was pitch Number 111.

I see: Girardi thinks CC is Pedro Martinez and can't pitch with any effectiveness after Pitch 100.

Joe, you won 3 World Series for us as a player. Your triple won Game 6 of the 1996 World Series. You caught David Cone's perfect game. You restored the universe to order by managing the team to the 2009 World Championship. Joe, I love you. But...

Joe, you can take your pitch count, and you can shove it up your ass.

I don't give a damn HOW many pitches a guy has thrown: If he's pitching effectively, you leave him in!

Never mind "being a man" on the mound: Ever hear of giving your bullpen a break? The fact that Dave Robertson pitched fine for the last inning and a third, and Mariano Rivera and Joba Chamberalin and the rest were rested, is beside the point: You wouldn't take out a pitcher who hadn't allowed a hit through 5, why would you take out a pitcher who hadn't allowed a hit through 8?

Three times -- once in the minors, and twice in the majors -- Preston Gomez pulled his pitcher after 8 no-hit innings, and all 3 times, his team ended up losing the game. To be fair, this was A, in the National League, where pitchers have to bat (this was before the American League had the DH, either); and B, on one of the major-league occasions, the team was already losing due to walks and errors. But taking out guys who were pitching no-hitters and losing is the only thing we remember Preston Gomez for these days.

Joe, one of these days, the pitch count is going to come back to bite you. There may come a day when CC is pitching fine through 6, but has already hit 110 pitches. And you'll bring in... well, Scott (I think the plate is around here somewhere) Proctor, Kyle (Not a) Farnsworth, Randy Choate (Randy Choke), Silly Ted Lilly (who sucked in Pinstripes, I don't care how many games he's won elsewhere) and Jeff (Bad Dream) Weaver are all gone. But it's the 7th, and it's too soon to bring in Mariano Rivera (frankly, the 8th is too soon to bring Mo in, as Joe Torre found out on November 4, 2001), and suppose you bring in Robertson, or Joba, or Damaso Marte, and on this day this as-yet-hypothetical reliever doesn't have it. And suppose it's a Red Sox game. Or a Playoff game. Or, dear God, both.

Waite Hoyt. Herb Pennock. Red Ruffing. Lefty Gomez. Whitey Ford. Catfish Hunter. All Yankee starters in the Hall of Fame. Ruffing, Gomez, Ford, Allie Reynolds, Ron Guidry. All starters in the Yankees' Monument Park. They didn't need no stinkin' pitch count.

I wonder, Joe: In that perfect game, Coney through just 88 pitches; if he'd through 108 through 8, would you have told Torre to take him out for Mo? There's been a few combined no-hitters, but there's never been a combined perfect game. I wonder...

Pitch counts are for nervous nellies. And if you're a nervous nellie, you have no place as the manager or the head coach of a New York major league sports team.

To hell with pitch counts.

*

Hours until the last Nets game at the Meadowlands: 30, tomorrow night at 7:30, against the Charlotte Bobcats.

Days until the Yankees' 2010 home opener: 2, this Tuesday afternoon at 1:00, against the Anaheim Angels, or whatever they're calling themselves this season.

Days until the next North London Derby between Arsenal and Tottenham: 3, Wednesday afternoon at 3:00 (8:00 PM their time) at The Lane. Shred the bastards.

Days until the next Yankees-Red Sox series: 26, starting Friday night, May 7, at Fenway. Less than 4 weeks.

Days until the 2010 World Cup begins: 60. Just 2 months. With the U.S.-England game the next day, June 12. I really, really hope we beat Rooney, Terry, Lampard, Cashley, Defoe, Lennon and the rest of those cunts. (A minor advantage to being an American who's also a fan of English-player-deprived, save for Theo Walcott, Arsenal.)

Days until the World Cup Final: 91. Just 3 months.

Days until Rutgers plays football again: 146.

Days until East Brunswick plays football again: 152. Days until they play it well: Hopefully, the same.

Days until the new Meadowlands Stadium (still unnamed) opens for football: 154.

Days until the Devils play another local rival: At least 180 -- in other words, the start of next season, about 6 months from now.

Days until the next East Brunswick-Old Bridge Thanksgiving clash: 228.

Days until Derek Jeter collects his 3,000th career hit: 415 (adjusted estimate).

Days until the Rutgers-Army football game at Yankee Stadium: 580.

Days until the last Nets game in New Jersey: 728 (estimated).

Days until the 2012 Olympics begin in London: 848.