Yanks Head Into Break by Pounding Sox Again

If only the Yankees could have taken a run from Saturday and a run from Sunday, and given it to themselves for Friday...

But it doesn't work that way. Nevertheless, they clobbered the Boston Red Sox again yesterday, and that's what I like to see.

Gerrit Cole started, and pitched like an All-Star, although, despite having been selected for the All-Star Game on Tuesday night, having gone 7 innings, he is unlikely to appear in it. He allowed 2 runs on 4 hits, no walks, and 12 strikeouts. He now has 147 strikeouts on the season, and is on pace to break Ron Guidry's single-season Yankee record of 248 set in 1978. Lucas Luetge and Jonathan Loáisiga each needed a good performance, and each pitched a scoreless inning.

Pitching like that deserves runs, and it got plenty of 'em. Chris Sale, in only his 2nd start after coming back from his latest injury, and only his 11th start since August 13, 2019, got hit hard, figuratively and literally. DJ LeMahieu led off the game with a double. Aaron Judge was hit by a pitch, although Sale, unlike certain other Boston pitchers we could mention, isn't known as a dirty pitcher. Anthony Rizzo grounded out, which moved the runners over. Gleyber Torres reached on an error that scored LeMahieu. Matt Carpenter grounded to short, which scored Judge.

This is where the "hit hard figuratively" ended and the "hit hard literally" occurred: Aaron Hicks hit a line drive right back at Sale, and the sound of ball striking bone could be heard. The ball ricocheted into right field, to score Torres, and Sale was already walking off the field. He would have been useless for any further defensive work on the play, anyway: The TV cameras caught his left pinky broken. He hadn't even moved to try to catch the ball: It hit his hand right where it stopped in his pitching motion.

That is one hard-luck injury. Even the most hard-core of Yankee Fans, hating the Red Sox, has to have some sympathy for Sale. But not for his team. In this emergency situation, the Sox ended up having to use 9 pitchers, none of whom went more than 1 full inning.

The Yankees put the game away with 8 runs in the bottom of the 4th, the last 2 on a home run from Injury List returnee Tim LoCastro. That's a linescore of 30080, and that's a ZIP Code for Smyrna, Georgia, outside Atlanta. There were 2 more runs in the 7th, on a home run by the much-maligned Joey Gallo.

Yankees 13, Red Sox 2. Speaking of 1978, those of you who, like me, are old enough to remember that year will recall that as the result of Game 2 of the "Boston Massacre" series, on September 8. Of course, that was at Fenway, and this was at home. WP: Cole (9-2). No save. LP: Sale (0-1).

So, after 92 games -- 11 games beyond the numerical halfway point of the regular season, but not quite halfway if you get all the way to the World Series:

* The Yankees are 64-28, for a winning percentage of .696, a pace to win 113 games.

* They lead the American League Eastern Division, by 13 games over the Tampa Bay Rays, 14 1/2 over the Toronto Blue Jays, 16 1/2 over the Red Sox, and 18 over the Baltimore Orioles, who are, nonetheless, at .500. So it's the strongest Division out of the 6 in Major League Baseball, and the Yankees are running away with it. The Magic Number to clinch the Division is 58.

* In the race for best record in the AL, and thus home-field advantage through the League Championship Series, they are 4 1/2 ahead of the AL West-leading Houston Astros, and 15 ahead of the AL Central-leading Minnesota Twins.

* In the race for best record in all of MLB, and thus home-field advantage in the World Series, should they get that far (and they should), they are 3 games ahead of the team with the best record in the National League, the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The 1st half's success stories are many. Great years were expected from the hitters, especially Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton, and we've gotten them. Jose Trevino and Isiah Kiner-Falefa, both acquired before the start of the season, have been nice surprises. Gleyber Torres and Aaron Hicks are much-improved, and the recently-acquired Matt Carpenter has been an absolute steal. The only real down note has been Joey Gallo, batting .164 with an on-base percentage of .288.

Defense is also much-improved. Having Trevino means a better-hitting catcher than either Gary Sánchez or Kyle Higashioka, and a much better-fielding catcher than Sánchez. Having the slick-fielding IKF at shortstop has allowed Torres to go back to 2nd base, where he is much better with the glove. This team is not betraying its pitchers with poor defense.

And those pitchers! When healthy, they have been excellent. Take a look at the ERA+'s: Nestor Cortes 145, Cole 126, Jordan Montgomery 117, Severino 110, Jameson Taillon 99. And the WHIPs: Cole 0.979, Cortes 1.003, Montgomery 1.039, Severino 1.070, Taillon 1.126. Taillon is at 1.126, and he's only the 5th-best starter on the team.

The bullpen is an issue. Clay Holmes is now the closer, as Aroldis Chapman may have thrown away his chance. Despite some blips, we've had really good work from Michael King, Wandy Peralta, Ron Marinaccio, JP Sears, Albert Abreu and Ryan Weber. Lucas Luetge is a bit shaky, and Loáisiga may not be fully back from injury. But, overall, the bullpen has been as good as any team's.

Injuries: Domingo Germán could be ready to take Severino's place in the rotation on the weekend; Marinaccio had a rehab assignment in Triple-A yesterday, and could be back in a week; Severino won't throw for another 2 weeks, so mid-August is probably a good guess; Miguel Castro probably won't be back until late August; Zack Britton could start throwing off a mound soon, and could be a September call-up; Deivi Garcia has been throwing, and could also be a September call-up; and both Chad Green and Luis Gil underwent Tommy John surgery, and neither is likely to be back before next season's All-Star Break.

So, a little bad news, but a whole lot of good news. The Yankees need to keep their stranglehold on the Division, and make sure they get home-field advantage over the Astros, and then, somehow, stop José Altuve. If they do those things, Title 28 is possible.

See you after the Break -- unless a major sports story happens during the Break.

Hey, Don't Look Now, But...

In the short term, the Yankees' biggest concern going into their series finale yesterday with the Cleveland Guardians was that their fans behaved themselves, the way they did not at the end of the Saturday afternoon game. There were some taunts in during the game, but no throwing objects out on the field this time. So, mission accomplished.

In the long run, the big concern was the pitching of supposed ace Gerrit Cole. He had his best game this season so far, getting into the 7th inning without allowing a run, 4 hits, only 1 walk, and 9 strikeouts.

Anthony Rizzo opened the scoring with a 2-run home run in the bottom of the 1st inning. A DJ LeMahieu double brought home a run in the 2nd, and the Yankees picked up runs in the 3rd on a double by Joey Gallo and sacrifice flies by Aaron Hicks and Isiah Kiner-Falefa.

LeMahieu added a 2-run homer in the 6th, and Tim LoCastro another in the 8th. Just when you think this game is going to be a blowout and a shutout, Ron Marinaccio got sent out to pitch the top of the 9th, and he allowed 2 runs. The last out was nearly a home run, and who knows what would have happened if it had been one. But it wasn't.

Yankees 10, Guardians 2. WP: Cole (1-0). No save. LP: Aaron Civale (0-2).

Hey, don't look now, but after their .500 start, the Yankees have won 5 of their last 6, and are 10-6, tied with those pesky Toronto Blue Jays for 1st place in the American League Eastern Division, and both are tied with the Seattle Mariners for the best record in the AL. The Tampa Bay Rays are 1 game back, the Boston Red Sox 3, and the Baltimore Orioles 4.

The Yankees have today off. Then the Orioles come into Yankee Stadium II for 3 games, including a getaway day matinee on Thursday. Then the Yankees go on the road, for 3 games in Kansas City and 3 in Toronto.

A Hell of a Way to Go Into the All-Star Break

That's a hell of a way to go into the All Star Break. Yesterday, the Yankees and the Mets each had a 5-run lead in their respective games, and both blew it.

The Mets blew  5-0 1st inning lead at home, to the Pittsburgh Pirates, with the 3rd-worst record in baseball. But it was piece-by-piece, not all at once. The way the Yankees blew it was worse.

The Yankees went down to Minute Maid Park and shut out the cheating Houston Astros twice, and they and their fans were feeling pretty good about themselves. Jameson Taillon was the scheduled starter for the series finale, but he had pitched well in his last 2 outings, so there was some reason for confidence.

Taillon pitched well again, going 6 innings, allowing 2 runs on 3 his and 2 walks. And he got plenty of support. Walks to Gary Sanchez and Luke Voit, and Gleyber Torres ground ball that resulted in an error, got them an unearned run in the 3rd inning. Tim Locastro hit a home run to lead off the 4th. Torres singled home a run in the 5th. Gio Urshela singled home a run in the 7th. And walks to DJ LeMahieu and Aaron Judge set up a Sanchez homer in the 8th. That made it 7-2 Yankees.

As Sanchez approached home plate, he mimed keeping his jersey close, mocking Jose Altuve for the home run he cheated to hit that gave the Astros the 2019 American League Pennant over the Yankees. He got seriously booed by the Astro fans, but they can't handle the truth.

Domingo German pitched a perfect 7th and a scoreless 8th. Being a starting pitcher, there was reason to believe he could finish the game. But he couldn't: He allowed an infield single to Yuri Gurriel, and a double to Kyle Tucker, who had homered off Taillon.

Aaron Boone took him out, which was the right thing to do. What was not the right thing to do was bring in Chad Green. He has been seriously inconsistent this season: Either very good, or very bad. This time, he was very bad.

This would have been the right time to bring in Aroldis Chapman, to see if he could break his Minute Maid Park jinx. But Boone didn't trust him. And Jonathan Loaisiga wasn't available, being on the COVID exposure list. And Zack Britton wasn't available, being on the Injured List. So he went with Green.

Green gave up a double to Chas McCormick. 7-4. He gave up a double to Abraham Toro. 7-5. He gave up a single to Jason Castro. He got Martin Maldonado to line out to Torres.

The batter was Altuve. Because of course it was. Boom. Astros 8, Yankees 7. WP: Ralph Garza (1-2). No save. LP: Green (3-5).

So all the good feeling over the 1st 2 games of the series was wiped out in the space of 7 batters.

*

The Yankees go into the All-Star Break 46-43, a winning percentage of .517, a pace for 84-78. That will not be good enough to make the Playoffs. They are 8 games, 7 in the loss column, behind the Boston Red Sox in the AL Eastern Division. They are 4 1/2 games, 3 in the loss column, out of the AL's 2nd Wild Card berth.

This is unacceptable. And the trading deadline is 18 days away.

The Mets go into the Break in 1st place in the National League Eastern Division, by 3 1/2 games over the Philadelphia Phillies. But their 47-40 record is only 1 1/2 better than that of the Yankees, and would be 7 games behind the Red Sox. And you can't say, "Gimme a break, look at the injuries the Mets have to their rotation!" The injuries the Yankees have had to theirs are worse.

The All-Star Game will be held tomorrow night, at Coors Field in Denver, home of the Colorado Rockies. It previously hosted the game in 1998. From the Yankees, Aaron Judge will start in right field, and Gerrit Cole and Aroldis Chapman will be on the pitching staff. The Mets will be represented by pitchers Jacob deGrom and Tajuan Walker.

We knew it was going to be a long season. And even though, in terms of where the All-Star Break fell in the 162-game process, the 1st half was longer than the 2nd half will be, the 2nd half may end up feeling longer.