Lucky > Good

On Monday night, the Yankees began a roadtrip by blowing 4 saves against the Kansas City Royals, and still managed to win. Surely, such a defiance of luck would come back to haunt them in the next game.

It did. Nestor Cortes allowed 2 runs in the 1st inning. The Yankees scored a run in the 3rd, and 2 more on a home run by Kyle Higashioka to takes a 3-2 lead in the 4th. But Cortes and the bullpen couldn't hold it, and the game fell apart.

Royals 8, Yankees 4. WP: Josh Staumont (2-2). No save. LP: Cortes (0-1).

*

So the rubber match of the series was played yesterday afternoon. With their starting rotation depleted by injuries and COVID restrictions, and closer Aroldis Chapman also on the Injured List, Aaron Boone chose the bullpen-all-day route, with Lucas Luetge as the starter, and 99 percent of Yankee Fans were thinking....

But a funny thing happened on the way to falling behind 8-1 after 3 innings on the way to a 12-3 loss: We didn't. Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. DJ LeMahieu led off the game with a walk. Brett Gardner struck out, but Aaron Judge singled, Joey Gallo added a walk, and this was followed by back-to-back RBI singles by Luke Voit and Rougned Odor. It was 3-0 Yankees before Luetge even took the mound.

He allowed a run in the 1st, and we were all, "Ah, shit... " But he settled doendown, and got to the end of the 2nd without further damage. Albert Abreu pitched the 3rd and the 4th, allowing another run. But the rest of the way, the bullpen was brilliant: Joely Rodriguez, Chad Green (who, somehow, got credit for the win), Jonathan Loáisiga and Zack Britton got through the last 5 innings, allowing no runs on 1 hit and 1 walk.

The Yankees didn't need any more runs, but they got them. Tyler Wade -- usually completely useless at the plate, so this is one for Ripley's Believe It Or Not! -- hit 2 doubles in the game, 1 of them leading off the 4th. After Rob Brantley (the emergency catcher with Gary Sanchez having had the weak J&J vaccine) flew out, there followed 3 straight singles, by LeMahieu, Gardner and Judge, driving home 2 runs.

Yankees 5, Royals 2. WP: Green (6-5). SV: Britton (1). LP: Brady Singer (3-8). The Yankees took 2 out of 3 in the series, and while they were lucky, they also got the job done when they needed to. As their Hall of Fame pitcher of the 1930s, Vernon "Lefty" Gomez, used to say, "I'd rather be lucky than good." He was both. Maybe, so is this Yankee team, which was hardly imaginable a month ago.

The Yankees closed the series 6 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League Eastern Division, and 2 games (only 1 in the loss column) behind the Boston Red Sox for the AL's 2nd Wild Card slot.

Tonight, they begin a series away to the Chicago White Sox -- but not in Chicago. It will be at the Field of Dreams complex in Dyersville, Iowa, a game that was planned for last season, but postponed due to the COVID shutdown. Assuming no further injuries or virus afflictions -- and, as that great fictional New Yorker Felix Unger taught us, you should never assume -- Andrew Heaney will start for the Yankees, against Lance Lynn for the Pale Hose.

Kluber No-Hitter Part of Yankees Messing With Texas

It took 41 games, but, for the 1st time this season, I failed to get a blog entry on a Yankee game done before the next one started. Real life intervened. (Nothing really bad, but time-consuming.)

So I decided to wait until the 4-game series was over. But Corey Kluber and baseball history had other ideas. But, since the next game was the dreaded day game after a night game, I decided to wait anyway.

The Yankees played the Texas Rangers. Because of the COVID-rejiggered schedule last season, the Yankees did not visit the Rangers, who were playing their 1st season in their new retractable-roof, but artificial-turf, stadium, Globe Life Field, built in Arlington, about halfway between Dallas and Fort Worth, adjacent to their previous stadium, Globe Life Park, which was built adjacent to their original stadium (1972-93), Arlington Stadium. (This will be on the test.)

Due to the COVID restrictions, Globe Life Field was selected as the controlled-environment neutral-site home for the 2020 World Series, between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Tampa Bay Rays, which the former Brooklyn team won. 

This means that, for the 1st time ever, an American League ballpark hosted a World Series before it hosted a regular-season visit from the Yankees. (Even ballparks that opened in midseason didn't do that: Comiskey Park in Chicago in 1910, Griffith Stadium in Washington in 1911, the SkyDome/Rogers Centre in Toronto in 1989, and Safeco Field/T-Mobile Park in Seattle in 1999.)

The opening game of the series was not good. We expected that it would be, because we had Gerrit Cole starting for us. But he had his worst start of the season, going only 5 innings, and allowing 5 runs. He did, however, set a new major league record, going through 61 strikeouts since he last walked a batter, before walking 2 in this game.

But what difference does it make? The Yankees still lost the game. To a crap team. In a crap stadium. In a crap State. Luke Voit came off the injured list, and hit a home run. But that was pretty much it. To make matters worse, the Rangers' closer is Ian Kennedy, whom the Yankees infamously traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2009, and 2 years later led the National League in wins.

Rangers 5, Yankees 2. WP: Jordan Lyles (2-3). SV: Kennedy: (11). LP: Cole (5-2).

*

Well, if you can't win the game that Gerrit Cole starts, that's not a good sign. Jameson Taillon started the 2nd game for the Bronx Bombers, and he had nothing, not getting out of the 5th, allowing 4 runs. 

But the bullpen got the job done. Wandy Peralta pitched an inning, and allowed only a walk. Jonathan Loaisiga pitched a perfect inning and 2/3rds. Chad Green pitched a perfect inning.

But you gotta get hits and runs. With 1 out in the top of the 4th, Aaron Judge singled, Gio Urshela doubled him home, Rougned Odor (returning from the Injured List) popped up, Gary Sanchez doubled home Urshela, and Miguel Andujar singled home Sanchez. Ford singled, new acquisition Ryan LaMarre drew a walk, and DJ LeMahieu doubled home Andujar and Ford. The Yankees went from 3-0 down to 5-3 up.

The Yankees got another run in the 6th, and another in the 9th. Aroldis Chapman came in and slammed to door. Yankees 7, Rangers 4. WP: Peralta (3-1). SV: Chapman (10). LP: Mike Foltynewicz (1-4).

*

Game 3 is certain to be the highlight of the regular season. Whether it remains the highlight of the entire season depends on whether the Yankees make the postseason, and do well in it.

Corey Kluber started. From 2016 to 2018, he went 56-20. But injuries limited him to 7 starts in 2019, and one inning in 2020. This was his 9th start of this season already.

The Yankees against struggled to score runs. It was 0-0 after 5. Cliche Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. It was only fair that Kluber got picked up by his catcher, Kyle Higashioka, who began the top of the 6th with a walk. The much-maligned Tyler Wade hit a triple tht scored Higgy. Then LeMahieu hit a sacrifice fly to score Wade.

It was 2-0 Yankees. In spite of the impending possible historic achievement, pretty much anybody who's supported the Yankees the last few years had to be worried about simply winning the game.

Read ye now the Wednesday night, May 19, 2021 performance of Corey Kluber: 

* Bottom of the 1st inning: Struck out Willie Calhoun. Struck out Nick Solak. Got Nate Lowe to ground to 1st, unassisted.

* 2nd: Struck out Adolis Garcia. Got Joey Gallo to fly to center. Got Krhis Davis to ground to 2nd.

* 3rd: Got Isiah Kiner-Falefa to line out to right field. Walked Charlie Culberson. Struck out Jose Trevino. Got Calhoun to pop up to 2nd.

* 4th: Struck Solak out. Got Lowe to fly to right. Got Garcia to line out to center.

* 5th: Struck out Gallo. Struck out Davis. Got Kiner-Falefa to ground to 3rd.

* 6th: Got Culberson to pop up to 2nd. Got Trevino to fly to right. Got Calhoun to ground to short.

* 7th: Struck out Solak. Struck out Lowe. Got Garcia to ground to short.

* 8th: Got Gallo to ground to 1st, unassisted. Got Davis to ground to 3rd. Got Kiner-Falefa to hit a long fly to right, but it was caught by LaMarr. (Judge was the DH in this game.)

* 9th: Got Culberson to ground to 2nd. David Dahl pinch-hit for Trevino, and hit a long fly to right, but LaMarr caught this one, too. And got Calhoun to ground to short.

Ballgame over. No-hitter over. Corey Kluber writing his name in the book of baseball immortality over. Yankees win. Theeeeeeee Yankees win!

Yankees 2, Rangers 0. WP: Kluber, a lone walk short of a perfect game (4-2). No save. LP: Hyeon-jong Yang (0-1).

It was the 1st Yankee no-hitter since David Cone's perfect game in 1999 -- 22 years. It was the 1st Yankee no-hitter on the road since Allie Reynolds in 1951 -- 70 years. (Reynolds pitched 2 no-hitters that season, the 2nd at home, in the opener of a doubleheader against the Boston Red Sox, and the Yankees clinched the Pennant in the nightcap.)

*

So that led to yesterday's finale, with Domingo German as the starter. He's been inconsistent so far this season, with both very good starts and very bad starts. Yesterday, he had a very good one: 7 innings, no runs, 6 hits, no walks, 5 strikeouts.

He almost didn't get the win, anyway. The game remained scoreless going into the top of the 7th. Ranger starter John King did not start the inning with one of those walks that can "kill you." But it was just as bad (for him): He hit Odor with a pitch.

Torres grounded out, but that got Odor to 2nd. Sanchez singled, but it wasn't deep enough to score Odor, who had to stop at 3rd. Now, it looked like one of those frustrating #YankeeRISPfail innings.

But Urshela stepped up, and singled Odor home. Andujar struck out. Aaron Boone had given Judge the day off, with Wade starting in right field. But he Boone sent Judge up to pinch-hit for Wade. Judge had never gotten a hit in a pinch-hitting role before. This time, he did, singling Sanchez home, and making it 2-0 Yankees.

Chad Green pitched a perfect 8th. Chapman walked a batter with 1 out in the 9th, but got out of it. Yankees 2, Rangers 0. WP: German (4-2). SV: Chapman (11). LP: King (4-3).

*

So the Yankees' longest roadtrip of the year ended 7-3. They took 2 of 3 in St. Petersburg, 2 of 3 in Baltimore, and 3 of 4 in Arlington, as the Yankees violated the 1st Rule of Dealing With Texas: "Don't Mess With Texas." They did.

We are 46 games into, 28 percent of the way through, the regular season. The Yankees are 25-19, a .568 percentage, and that works out to 92-70 over a full 162 games. As I've previously shown, since the dawn of Divisional Play in 1969, it has taken an average of 93 wins to win the American League Eastern Division, and the Yankees are just short of that pace.

They are a game and a half behind the despised Boston Red Sox, just 1 game in the all-important loss column. The Tampa Bay Rays and the Toronto Blue Jays are also 1 behind in the loss column. The only team in the AL East not currently close is the Baltimore Orioles, 9 games back.

So things are looking up for the Yankees. However, it should be noted that, if you take away the 5-run 4th inning in Game 2, they played 35 innings in this series in Texas, and scored just 8 runs. That's not good. You can't count on great pitching every time.

They return home, to begin a weekend series with the Chicago White Sox, who have the best record in the AL, but are currently in a nasty spot due to the words and actions of their manager, Tony La Russa. I'll have more on that tomorrow, after this series opens.

Even Tyler Wade Is Helping Yanks Beat O's

The Baltimore Orioles are so bad!

How bad are they? They're so bad, Tyler Wade got 3 hits off of them last night.

Sure, it was at Camden Yards, the bandbox on the Inner Harbor. But if you let Tyler Wade get 3 hits off your team in 1 night, it might be time to consider blowing it all up and starting over.

Cliche Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. DJ LeMahieu led off the game with a walk. Luke Voit singled. Aaron Judge drew a walk, loading the bases with nobody out. Gio Urshela struck out, but Jorge Lopez threw a pitch that catcher Chance Sisco couldn't handle. It was scored as a passed ball, and LeMahieu scored. Gary Sanchez singled home Voit and Judge.

Wade opened the 2nd inning by beating out an infield hit, but was caught stealing 2nd. This is supposedly on the team in the first place: His baserunning ability. He proved once again that he isn't good enough of a baserunner to keep him for that reason.

No matter. LeMahieu followed with a single. Voit struck out. Then Judge hit a home run. 5-0 Yankees.

Brett Gardner led off the top of the 6th with a single. After Clint Frazier flied out, Miguel Andujar singled. Wade singled to load the bases. New Oriole pitcher Tyler Wells committed a balk, moving up the runners, scoring Gardner. He struck LeMahieu out, but Voit singled to bring Andujar and Wade home. 8-0 Yankees.

Domingo German didn't allow a run until the bottom of the 6th, allowing 4 hits and 2 walks, with 6 strikeouts. Lucas Luetge pitched a perfect 7th, Justin Wilson a perfect 8th. Luis Cessa ran into a little trouble in the 9th, allowing a run, but ensuring that Aroldis Chapman will be completely fresh for tomorrow's game.

Yankees 8, Orioles 2. And this was without Giancarlo Stanton (day-to-day), Gleyber Torres (recovering from COVID), or Aaron Hicks (who went on the Injured List). WP: German (3-2). No save. LP: Lopez (1-4). The Orioles are now 16-23, just 5-15 at home, easily the worst home record in the majors.

The series concludes this afternoon, and the Yankees will be going for the sweep. Jordan Montgomery starts against John Means, who pitched a no-hitter 2 starts ago.

Don't Look Now...

Don't look now, but in spite of all their injuries, the Yankees are only 1 game out of 1st place in the all-important loss column, a game and a half overall.

Gary Sanchez was activated from the injured list. Clint Frazier went onto it. Didn't matter. The Yankees made it 3 straight over the Los Angeles Angels in Anaheim, 6 straight overall.

We certainly can't, as I did many times last season, call this team "gutless wonders." Last night, they came from 5-0 behind to win.

CC Sabathia started, but didn't do well. He allowed 2 home runs to Andrelton Simmons and 1 to Kole Calhoun, and that's why it was 5-0 Angels after the 4th inning. Jonathan Loaisiga came on to relieve, and pitched shutout ball through the 7th.

The banged-up Yankees made their move in the top of the 6th. Tyler Wade led off with an infield single. DJ LeMahieu hit a double into the left field corner, deep enough to score Wade. Luke Voit singled, but DJLM couldn't score. Brett Gardner popped up, and Sanchez struck out. With the slumping Gleyber Torres up, it began to look like that would be it for the Yankees. But Angels catcher Jonathan Lucroy couldn't handle a Felix Pena pitch, and the passed ball allowed LeMahieu to score. It was 5-2 Angels.

Then came the 7th. Cliche Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. Mike Ford worked Luis Garcia for a walk. Gio Urshela singled. Mike Tauchman drew a walk to load the bases with nobody out. Wade drew a walk to force home a run. Angel manager Brad Ausmus brought Ty Buttrey in to pitch, but it didn't work: LeMahieu hit a fly ball to left, deep enough to score Urshela. Voit grounded to short, and there was no play at the plate. Tie game. Gardner lined into a double play to end the threat, but the Angels had a five-nil lead and blew it.

How about a nice 2-out rally? The Yankees got one in the 9th, as Wade singled to right and stole 2nd, and LeMahieu singled him home. Aroldis Chapman shook off his most recent troublesome performance, and pitched a hitless 9th.

Yankees 6, Angels 5. WP: Loaisiga (1-0). SV: Chapman (4). LP: Buttrey (1-1).

The series concludes tonight. Masahiro Tanaka starts against Trevor Cahill.

So, don't look now... Actually, yes, look. Now. In spite of everything that's happened already this season, the Yankees are close to 1st place.

Old Formula, Familiar Result: CC & Homers Lead Yanks Past Royals

The Yankees have needed too many bounce-back wins already this season, and haven't gotten enough of them. They needed another last night, against the Kansas City Royals. And on the mound was just the Big Fella to do it.

CC Sabathia started for the Pinstripes, and was his old (or young) self: He went 5 innings, allowing 1 unearned run on 3 hits, before concern for age and injury led Brian Cashman (through Aaron Boone) to take him out. His 5 strikeouts got him closer to a milestone: He now has 2,994 for his career. The 4 walks were a worry, though.

But that unearned run in the 3rd, thanks to errors by CC himself and Luke Voit, put the Yankees down 1-0. They struck right back, as Tyler Wade singled and Brett Gardner hit a home run. 2-1 Yankees.

Mike Tauchman led off the 5th with a homer. The Royals closed to within 3-2 in the top of the 6th, but the Yankees put the game away in the bottom of the inning. Aaron Judge led off with a double, Voit drew a walk, Gleyber Torres got an infield single to load the bases with nobody out.

If you were expecting the Yankees to get some runs home, you may not have expected how they did it. DJ LeMahieu flew to center for a sacrifice fly that got Judge home, and Clint Frazier drew a walk whose ball 4 was a passed ball, allowing Voit to score. 5-2 Yankees.

Kyle Higashioka, doing just fine filling in at as catcher for the injured Gary Sanchez, doubled to lead off the bottom of the 7th. Wade tried to sacrifice him over, and got more than that when Royal 3rd baseman Hunter Rosier fielded his bunt and threw it away for another run.

Luis Cessa allowed a run in the 6th, while Adam Ottavino, Tommy Kahnle and Zach Britton each pitched a scoreless, hitless inning.

Yankees 6, Royals 2. WP: Sabathia (1-0). No save. LP: Jakob Junis (1-2). CC notched his 247th career win, and is now 15-1 with a 2.71 ERA in 27 regular-season starts following a Yankees loss since the start of the 2017 season. Shades of an earlier, much thinner lefty, Ron Guidry in 1978.

The series continues this afternoon. Masahiro Tanaka starts against Heath Fillmyer. Yeah, I know: Another one of those weird names that sounds like the name of a shady law firm.

Yanks Beat Tigers In Spite of Arsenalesque Injury Crisis

First, the bad news: The Yankees on the Injured List (it's no longer the "Disabled List") now include pitchers CC Sabathia, Luis Severino, Jonathan Loaisiga, Dellin Betances and Ben Heller; backup catcher Kyle Higashioka (meaning that, if anything happens to Gary Sanchez, we're stuck with Austin Romine); starting shortstop Did Gregorius; starting 3rd baseman Miguel Andujar; outfielders Jacoby Ellsbury and Aaron Hicks; and designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton.

To rewrite an old joke, I went to a Yankee game, and an Arsenal match broke out! This looks like Arsenal's annual "injury crisis," and we'd only played 3 games!

To make matters worse, Andujar's injury is a torn labrum in his shoulder. He could be out for the season. Stanton's place on the roster was taken by Clint Frazier, and Andujar's by Tyler Wade. These two guys couldn't hit sand if they fell off a boardwalk!

Clearly, general manager Brian Cashman is not doing his job.

And last night, Domingo German was scheduled to start the opener of a 3-game series against the Detroit Tigers. This could be a long night...

*

The good news: Surprise: The Yankee pitching was brilliant.

How many Yankee pitchers does it take to hold the Tigers to 2 hits? Apparently, 5. German went the 1st 5 innings, allowing 1 run on just 1 hit, but 5 walks, which is concerning.

He threw 79 pitches, which means he had at least 2 more innings in him. But Cashman loves him some analytics and some pitch count, and Aaron Boone doesn't have the balls to tell him how fucking stupid this is.

Chad Green pitched a perfect 6th. Zach Britton pitched a scoreless 7th, allowing the only other Tiger hit. Adam Ottavino pitched a scoreless 8th, albeit with 2 walks. Maybe he should've worked on his control, instead of talking trash about Babe Ruth. And Aroldis Chapman pitched a scoreless 9th. None of the relievers allowed a walk.

But it would be just like the 2010-19 Cashman Yankees to have such a nice pitching performance and lose 1-0. Instead, the Yankees got a 2-run home run from Gary Sanchez in the 2nd inning, and a solo homer from Brett Gardner in the 5th, and that was all they needed.

Yankees 3, Tigers 1. WP: German (1-0). SV: Chapman (1). LP: Tyson Ross (0-1).

The series continues tonight. Masahiro Tanaka is scheduled to start against Jordan Zimmerman. The series concludes with an early start tomorrow, 4:05. Matthew Boyd starts for the Tigers, and the Yankees are still undecided. As with the replacements for Stanton and Andujar, we could be looking at the Scranton Shuttle.

Yanks Gain Bad Split In Baltimore

A rainout earlier in the season forced the Yankees into a 4-game series against the Baltimore at Camden Yards, including a doubleheader on Monday. The result was a split that was just 4 runs from becoming a 4-game sweep.

CC Sabathia started the Monday opener, but didn't have good stuff, barely making it into the 6th inning before falling apart. Giancarlo Stanton hit a home run, but the Yankees didn't get enough, as the Orioles won 5-4. WP: Mike Wright Jr. (2-0). SV: Zach Britton (2). LP: Sabathia (6-4).

The nightcap, on the other hand... Sometimes, you'd like to take runs from a blowout win and apply them to games you lost, but baseball just doesn't work that way.

Luis Cessa pitched probably the best game of his career so far, going 6 shutout innings, allowing 3 hits and 3 walks. Aaron Boone then took him out, having thrown only 85 pitches. Giovanny Gallegos went the rest of the way, and was terrible.

But he still got credit for the save, because the save rule is as follows: Credit a pitcher with a save if he is the finishing, but not the winning, pitcher for his team, and he meets 1 of these 3 criteria:

* 1. He comes in with a lead of no more than 3 runs and pitches for at least 1 inning. (Gallegos pitched for more than 1 inning, but the Yankee lead was already 4-0.)

* 2. He comes in with the tying run on base, at bat or on deck. (In other words, 1 of the 1st 2 batters he faces. Gallegos did not qualify here, either.)

* 3. "He pitches effectively for at least 3 innings." What does "effectively" mean? Apparently, it means nothing more than "He didn't blow the lead."

It didn't matter, because, this time, the Yankees got the runs they needed. Brett Gardner and Austin Romine hit home runs, and each man had 3 RBIs on the night. Gardner had 4 hits; Romine, Stanton, Aaron Judge, Didi Gregorius and Neil Walker each had 2.

Yankees 10, Orioles 2. WP: Cessa (1-1). SV: Gallegos (1), though he really didn't deserve it. LP: Yefry Ramirez (0-3, and, yes, I know, the name looks like it's misspelled, but I checked).

*

The Tuesday night game is one of those that will be remembered if the Yankees lose the AL East -- or the AL Wild Card Game -- by 1 game. Masahiro Tanaka did not have good stuff, and he didn't get out of the 5th inning, giving up a home run to Manny Machado to tie the game 3-3, after Greg Bird's home run gave the Yankees the lead in the top half of the inning.

The Yankees made it 5-3 in the top of the 7th, but Machado hit a 2nd home run, this one off Chad Green, and it was 5-5. It remained knotted until the bottom of the 9th. Dellin Betances was sent to the mound, and he began by hitting Caleb Joseph with a pitch. He allowed a double to Adam Jones, putting runners on 2nd and 3rd.

Naturally, Machado was up next, but, with 1st base open and neither his run nor Jones' meaning anything, he was intentionally walked to set up the inning-ending double play, or at least a force play at home.

No such luck: Betances struck Mark Trumbo out, but gave up a game-winning single to Jonathan Schoop, one of those average players who turns into a Hall-of-Famer against the Yankees.

Orioles 6, Yankees 5. WP: Zach Britton (1-0). No save. LP: Betances (1-3).

*

And the Wednesday night starter was Sonny Gray. In the Baltimore bandbox. This is gonna get ugly...

It did, but in the Yankees' favor. Bird hit a grand slam, part of a 5-run 3rd inning for the Bronx Bombers. Tyler Wade hit one out to lead off the 6th. Romine homered in the 7th. And the Yankees got single runs in the 8th and the 9th.

Gray only needed 1 run, pitching perhaps his best game as a Yankee: 6 innings, no runs, 3 hits, just 1 walk, 8 strikeouts. A.J. Cole pitched 2 scorless innings, and Chasen Shreve a perfect 9th.

Yankees 9, Orioles 0. WP: Gray (6-7). No save. LP: Dylan Bundy (6-9).

The games the Yankees won, well, I don't care how the wins come, only that they do. But the games they lost, it's not just that they were lost, but how.

Hopefully, we don't have to remember.

Yankees Improvise to 2-0 Start

Somebody said that this is what it must have been like for Yankee Fans in 1998.

It wasn't. We didn't start that season out 2-0. We started it 0-3, and 1-4.

Then came the good stuff.

*

Last night, the Yankees tried to follow their fantastic season opener in Toronto against those pesky Blue Jays with another win. Masahiro Tanaka started, and pitched like an ace. Well, for 2/3rds of the game, anyway: 6 innings, 1 run, 3 hits, no walks, 8 strikeouts.

He has a habit of giving up gopher balls, and Randal Grichuk hit a home run off him in the 2nd inning. How the Grinch Stole a Shutout.

But it didn't matter. Nor did the fact that, between them, Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Gary Sanchez went 0-for-12. Nor did the fact that 1st baseman Greg Bird began the season on the Disabled List, forcing new manager Aaron Boone to move newly-acquired 2nd baseman Neil Walker to 1st base, and put "prospect" Tyler Wade at 2nd.

Nor did the fact that, just 1 game in, Aaron Hicks went on the Disabled List, and Billy McKinney, a 23-year-old outfielder from the Dallas suburbs, was called up to make his major league debut. (That's McKinney in the picture above. The Yankees now have a player who was born during the Strike of '94. God, I'm old.)

What mattered was the bottom of the order coming through. In the top of the 2nd, in his 1st major league at-bat, McKinney singled to right. New 3rd baseman Brandon Drury doubled him home, and it was one-nil to the Bronx Bombers.

Grichuk's homer tied the game, but Didi Gregorius led off the top of the 4th with a double. After a Sanchez pop-up, Walker lived up to his name and drew a base on balls. McKinney moved the runners over with a fielder's choice. And Drury singled Sir Didi home.

Didi also led off the top of the 6th by getting on base, this time with a walk. After Sanchez flew out, Walker singled. After McKinney popped up, Drury walked to load the bases. And Wade doubled home Gregorius and Walker. 4-1 Yankees.

That would remain the score into the bottom of the 9th, as Tommy Kahnle pitched the 7th and into the 8th, allowing just 1 baserunner, a walk. David Robertson had to finish the 8th.

Aroldis Chapman came on for the 9th, and, well, Aroldis gotta Aroldis: He looked great, but almost blew it. He struck Josh Donaldson and Justin Smoak out, and was 1 strike away from striking out the side. But he allowed back-to-back doubles to Steve Pearce and former Yankee Yangervis Solarte. (You remember: The guy who got off to a great start as Yankee 3rd baseman, before Cashman sent him to the San Diego Padres for Chase Headley.) But Chapman fanned Grichuk to end it.

Yankees 4, Blue Jays 2. WP: Tanaka (1-0). SV: Chapman (1 -- remember, the previous night was not a save situation). LP: Anibal Sanchez (0-1).

Yankee pitchers got a total of 12 strikeouts. Somebody online said that this was the 1st time in the Yankees' 116-season history that their pitchers got 12 or more strikeouts in the season's 1st 2 games. Personally, I don't care how the outs come, as long as they come.

Starting the season 2-0 is good. As for the other American League Eastern Division teams, the Baltimore Orioles are 1-0, the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays are 1-1, and, of course, the Jays are 0-2.

The series continues this afternoon at 4:00 (well, 4:07). CC Sabathia makes his season debut for the Yankees, and Marco Estrada takes the hill for the Jays. Come on you Bombers!

Sonny's Day Was a Gray Day

Last night, Sonny Douglas Gray -- yes, "Sonny" is the name he was born with -- made his Yankee debut, taking the mound at Progressive Field in Cleveland, wearing Number 55.

#YankeesTwitter used the "Sonny Day" theme. It turned into a Gray Day instead.

First, Bradley Zimmer led off the game for the Cleveland Indians, and reached on an error by Chase Headley, who, for reasons known only to Joe Girardi, was playing 1st base. Francisco Lindor grounded to 2nd, but that got Zimmer to 2nd. Then Michael Brantley hit a grounder to Tyler Wade, who, for reasons known only to Girardi, was playing 2nd base. Another error.

Then Jose Ramirez singled to right field, scoring Zimmer. Brantley made it to 3rd. Clint Frazier fielded the ball in right field, and then Can't Miss Clint missed 3rd base with his throw, allowing Brantley to score.

Sonny Gray had faced 4 batters, and had gotten only 1 out, and the runner had advanced on the play anyway. He was down 2-0 before he even got a 2nd out, and none of it was his fault.

I was reminded of another Sonny, Santino Corleone, the heir to the organized crime empire in The Godfather, played by James Caan, who got whacked in his car with a baseball game on the radio. His father, Don Vito, played by Marlon Brando, sees his bullet-riddled son in the funeral parlor, and says, "Look how they massacred my boy!"

Except, in The Godfather, while there were traitors in the Corleone family's midst, it wasn't their own people who rubbed Sonny out. In this game, while having the best of intentions, it was the Yankee fielders who doomed Sonny Gray.

Gray settled down, and cruised into the 6th, then allowed 2 more runs, and the game was essentially over. Chasen Shreve pitched the 7th and the 8th, allowing another run, but it was pointless.

It was pointless because Corey Kluber pitched a complete game for the Indians. Because his manager is Terry Francona, who trusts his starting pitchers, not Joe Girardi, who trusts his damn binder.

In spite of his error, Can't Miss Clint got a hit, a double. Gary Sanchez and Ronald Torreyes each hit singles. And Jacoby Ellsbury drew a walk. That was all that the Yankees got: 4 baserunners.

Indians 5, Yankees 1. WP: Kluber (9-3). No save. LP: Gray (6-6).

The Yankees are now 2 games behind the Boston Red Sox in the American League Eastern Division, 1 game behind them in the loss column.

The series continues tonight. Hopefully, Jaime Garcia's Yankee debut won't be ruined by bad fielding as Gray's was. He starts tonight, and Trevor Bauer goes for the Indians.

Too Many Tylers Do Not Spoil the Game

After one game where Joe Girardi's bullpen idiocy almost cost the Yankees a win, and another where it did, the Yankees needed a great all-around performance against the Chicago White Sox at Comisk... at U.S. Cell... at Guaranteed Rate Field last night.

They got it. The pitching game through, with Masahiro Tanaka pitching his 2nd straight strong game after struggling so hard this season: 6 innings, 2 runs, 6 hits, 2 walks, 5 strikeouts -- and no home runs. Chasen Shreve got the 1st out in the 7th, and Chad Green the other 2 and all 3 in the 8th.

A White Sox error led to 3 Yankee runs in the 1st before Tanaka even had to throw a pitch. Rookie left fielder Tyler Wade got his 1st major league hit and RBI with a 6th inning double, part a a 5-run inning that also included another Aaron Judge home run, his 27th. The Yankees scored 4 more runs in the 9th, including the 9th home run of the season by Didi Gregorius.

The Yankees took a 10-run lead in the bottom of the 9th. Now, I have said on a number of occasions that Joe Girardi is an idiot. But, having gotten success out of Tyler Wade, I was concerned that he might put Tyler Clippard into the game.

He didn't. He did, however, put rookie Tyler Webb in. And, for a moment, I was worried that he might be as bad as Tyler Clippard -- or that even Tyler Austin, who is not a pitcher, would be a better option. Fortunately, Webb allowed just 1 run, and we all calmed down. We didn't have too many Tylers spoiling the game.

Yankees 12, White Sox 3. WP: Tanaka (6-7). No save. LP: Carlos Rodon (0-1). And, with the Boston Red Sox losing last night, the Yankees are again tied for 1st place in the American League East, a game ahead of the Sox in the all-important loss column.

The series concludes tonight. Luis Cessa starts for the Bronx Bombers, and former Tampa Bay pain in the neck James Shields for the Pale Hose. Then, it's off to Houston for a weekend series against the rampaging Astros, which could be a harbinger of things to come -- either way.