Rizzo the Hero as Yanks Edge Closer to Clinching

Let's get this out of the way: If the Yankees can sweep the slimy, despicable, abhorrent Boston Red Sox in 4 straight games, without Aaron Judge hitting a home run in the series, I'm fine with it. Winning comes first, personal achievements later.

They're 75 percent of the way to that happening. Judge went 0-for-3 with a walk yesterday, and remained at 60 home runs on the season. The Yankees did get a home run in the bottom of the 1st inning, from Gleyber Torres. Regardless of the sport, I just want my teams to win, and I don't care who the heroes are in any given game.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa singled home a run in the bottom of the 2nd, but Harrison Bader also tried to score on the play, and was thrown out at the plate. Last year, getting thrown out at the plate happened to the Yankees more often than any other team in the major leagues, and it may have cost us the Division title. This year, it's hardly happened at all, and that may be a reason why we're in 1st place this close to the end.

Oswaldo Cabrera hit a home run in the 4th inning. In the 5th, Josh Donaldsons hit a weak grounder between 3rd and the mound, and it just stopped, and he beat it out, enabling Kyle Higashioka to score. That made the score 5-3 Yankees.

Domingo Germán was the Yankees' starting pitcher, and he was not at his best. Aaron Boone took him out after 5 innings, having allowed 3 runs on 3 hits, including 2 home runs, and a walk, striking out 5. It wasn't the pitch count, which was just 66, that caused Boone to remove him. Nor was it his control: 47 of those pitches were for strikes. He just got hit.

Zack Britton was activated from the Injured List, and made his 1st major league appearance since August 19, 2021. He was rusty: He faced 5 batters and only got 1 out, allowing 3 walks and a single. Lou Trivino got the last 2 outs of the 6th, and the 1st of the 7th. But Boone then removed him, and brought in Lucas Luetge. This was a dumb thing to do, as Luetge allowed 2 hits and the tying run.

However, in the bottom of the 7th, Aaron Hicks drew a leadoff walk, and you know what those can do. Judge was set up to be the hero, but he struck out. It didn't matter, because the next man up was Anthony Rizzo, and he hit a home run. Clarke Schmidt pitched a scoreless 8th. Scott Effross also came off the Injured List, and allowed a hit and a walk in the 9th, but finished the Sox off.

Yankees 7, Red Sox 5. WP: Luetge (4-4). There should be a rule that a pitcher who blows a save should not receive credit as the winning pitcher, even if he's still the team's official pitcher when they take a lead they never relinquish. SV: Effross (3). LP: John Schreiber (3-4).

The Yankees' Magic Number to clinch the American League Eastern Division was reduced to 3. It would get no lower, as the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Tampa Bay Rays.

The series concludes tonight, in the Sunday night ESPN game. Nestor Cortes starts against Brian Bellow. This afternoon, the Jays beat the Rays again. So, if the Yankees win tonight, that would reduce the Magic Number to 2, and would eliminate the Rays from the AL East race, although they would still have an excellent shot at a Wild Card berth in the Playoffs: They will likely get the 6th and last seed, and the team currently 7th in that format, the Baltimore Orioles, are 4 games behind them, which is still a huge improvement for them.

One more note of interest: Yankee "Legend" Don Mattingly will not be manager of the Miami Marlins next season. After taking them to the expanded Playoffs in 2020, he lost 95 games last year, and is on a pace for the same this year. He will see out the regular season, and then, "by mutual agreement," he will leave. I hope that doesn't mean he'll be managing the Yankees next season: The last thing this team needs is The Curse of Donnie Baseball, which has now affected 3 franchises over 40 years, to return to The Bronx.

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.

Another Disgraceful Loss That Can Be Blamed On Cashman

Last night, just after the trade deadline, 2 of Brian Cashman's newest Yankee acquisitions made their Pinstriped debuts. Neither did anything noteworthy. A 3rd came up small.

But it was the signature Cashman trade that ended the game -- and not in the Yankees' favor.

Jameson Taillon started, and, while he only gave up 2 hits, he didn't get out of the 5th inning. You see, those 2 hits were both home runs. And in that 5th inning, well, Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you. And Taillon walked 2 batters in the 5th. And since the 2nd of those walks got him to 98 pitches, Cashman's pitch limit kicked in, and "manager" Aaron Boone was "forced" to take him out.

Boone put in Lucas Luetge, and Luetge should have been the pitcher Cashman traded away this week, not Jordan Montgomery. He gave up a double that allowed both of Taillon's walks to score.

Jose Trevino hit his 3rd home run in 2 days in the 4th inning. Anthony Rizzo hit his 3rd in 3 days in the 6th, and Josh Donaldson added one that inning. Donaldson needed it: With Joey Gallo having been traded, he has become the focus of Yankee Fans' ire, as he is batting just .223.

Luetge gave up a home run in the 7th. He was replaced by Yankee debutant Scott Effross, who got out of the inning with no further damage. Albert Abreu allowed a run in the 9th, and another debutant, Lou Trivino (not to be confused with Jose Trevino, or old-time golfer Lee Trevino) ended the inning without further ado.

You'd think that, scoring 6 runs, the Yankees did okay. But they didn't. They had men on 2nd & 3rd in the 3rd inning, but DJ LeMahieu was thrown out at the plate, the kind of play that hurt the team so often last season, but not much this season, until now. They had men on 2nd & 3rd with 1 out in the 6th, but Aaron Hicks grounded into a double play. They had Tim LoCastro on 3rd in the 8th, but Trevino struck out. And Andrew Benintendi, the new acquisition who "rarely strikes out," went 0-for-4 with 3 strikeouts.

In the bottom of the 9th, Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Hicks struck out. But LeMahieu singled, and Aaron Judge and Rizzo drew walks. (The Mariners didn't want to face Judge. It was obviously that this was one of those "unintentional intentional walks.") They had the baserunners they needed. The bases were loaded. A runner on 3rd. The tying run on 2nd. The winning run on 1st.

But, instead of sending LoCastro back up, Boone sent up Gleyber Torres to pinch-hit. (LeMahieu had started at 2nd base, with Rizzo at 1st, Matt Carpenter in right field and Judge as the DH.)

Torres, of course, is the man Cashman traded 3 months of Aroldis Chapman for to get 20 years of, the greatest "prospect" of them all. This is his 7th year in the organization, and his 5th year on the big club. He has yet to help the Yankees win a Pennant. And he ended this game with a very poor-looking strikeout.

Mariners 8, Yankees 6. WP: Penn Murfee (yes, that's his real name, 2-0). SV: Andres Munoz (2). LP: Luetge (3-4).

Disgraceful. Blame Cashman. Not any individual player.

The series concludes this afternoon. It's a battle of alleged aces: Gerrit Cole against the Mariners' big acquisition in his debut for them, Luis Castillo, whom Cashman apparently didn't lift a finger in trying to get. Also, Judge is getting the day off, although he may appear as a pinch-hitter later.