Boone Vas Just Following Orders

Last night, the Yankees began a 3-game series away to the Houston Astros. And they should have won it. Unfortunately, Aaron Boone had his orders.

Masahiro Tanaka started, and pitched really well, going 6 innings, allowing 1 run on 3 hits and 2 walks with 3 strikeouts.

And he had the lead. He has given up a long home run to Jose Altuve in the 4th inning, but an RBI single by Luke Voit had put the Yankees on the board in the 3rd, Aaron Judge had given the Yankees back the lead with a solo homer in the 5th, and Clint Frazier continued his redemption with an RBI single in the 6th.

It was 3-1 Yankees. Tanaka had outpitched likely future Hall-of-Famer Justin Verlander. He had allowed a double and a walk in the 6th, but had worked out of it. He had thrown only 78 pitches. He was cruising.

There was absolutely no reason why an intelligent manager would have taken him out. He absolutely should have begun the bottom of the 7th inning still on the mound.

Unfortunately, the Yankees manager is Aaron Boone, and he is under orders from general manager Brian Cashman to not let his starters pitch any longer than that. So Boone sent Zack Britton in to pitch the bottom of the 7th.

Britton is a good pitcher. Maybe he would have been fine, if Boone had let Tanaka pitch the 7th and Boone Britton the 8th, or even if he'd let Tanaka pitch for 8 innings, and brought Britton in for the 9th.

Instead, Boone followed orders, and brought Britton in for the 7th. And here is what Britton allowed: Single, fielder's choice, groundout, walk, game-tying double.

That's when Boone brought Adam Ottavino in, and he got out of the jam with the score 3-3. In the 8th, he struck out the side. But he also allowed a walk and 2 singles, giving the Astros the lead. Cliche alert: Walks can kill you. Although those walks might not have happened had Cashman let his manager leave Tanaka in longer.

If this was a Mets game, Met fans and the national media would be slobbering, telling us how Jacob deGrom is the best pitcher in baseball, and the Mets would have won the game easily had he been allowed to stay in and win the game.

Instead, it was a Yankee game, and Cashman gets praised for his GM genius, while Boone gets called an idiot. We know the truth: Boone was betrayed by his orders. We all were.

Astros 4, Yankees 3. WP: Ryan Pressly (1-0). SV: Roberto Osuna (3). LP: Ottavino (1-1).

Don't blame Ottavino. He was put into a situation he never should have been in.

Don't blame Britton. He was put into maybe the right situation, at definitely the wrong time.

Don't blame Boone. He can always use the line that Nazi war criminals used at Nuremberg: "I vas just following orders."

Someday, he may decide, "To Hell with Cashman's orders. I have to win this game, and my starting pitcher is cruising, and I'm going to let him pitch."

The series continues tonight. I'm not even going to tell you the starting pitchers are supposed to be, because, with Cashman running things, it may not even matter.

Cashman's demand of a pitch limit ultimately cost Joe Girardi his chance at becoming one of the great Yankee managers. And it may have cost the Yankees up to 5 Division titles in this decade, and possibly multiple Pennants and World Championships.

How much longer are George Steinbrenner's children going to put up with this shit? As you can see, I am not putting up with it.

Yanks Start Season 2-4, and It's All Cashman's Fault

Yesterday's series finale between the Yankees and the Detroit Tigers was one of those games that looked lost before it started, since it was one of the holes in the starting rotation that Brian Cashman refused to fill.

As it's turned out however, the pitching wasn't the issue at all. Jonathan Loaisiga, not really a starter, got the start, and went 4 innings. Jonathan Holder pitched the 5th and the 6th, Chad Green the 7th and the 8th, and Zach Britton the 9th. Between them, they allowed to just 2 runs on 3 hits and 3 walks, striking out 8.

The Tigers' Christin Stewart drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in the 4rth, and Gordon Beckham hit a home run off Green in the 8th. That was it. If 1 single pitcher had pitched all 9 innings and done that, we would have been ecstatic.

The problem was that the Yankees, billed as the team that could bomb other teams out of the yard, outscoring anybody anytime, couldn't hit water if they fell out of a boat.

In the 2nd inning, Greg Bird singled and Clint Frazier drew a walk, but were both stranded. In the 3rd, DJ LeMahieu doubled, and Aaron Judge singled him home. Gary Sanchez walked, and it looked like it could be a big inning.

Gleyber Torres reached on infield single, but the reason the Tigers couldn't throw him out is that the ball hit Judge, trying to get from 2nd to 3rd, and the rule meant that he was out, through no fault of his own. End of the threat.

Judge drew a walk in the 5th, but was stranded. Sanchez led off the 6th by reaching on an error, and Frazier singled, but w're stranded. Luke Voit led off the 8th with a walk, but, this time, the cliche that walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety, did not work in our favor.

Those were all the baserunners the Yankees had. The team set a record with 18 strikeouts. Tigers starter Matthew Boyd pitched into the 7th, and got 13 of them. This pathetic performance broke the record of 17 that Pedro Martinez of the Boston Red Sox got against us in 1999.

18 strikeouts. And Giancarlo Stanton isn't even playing!

At least, unlike Pedro, the Tiger pitchers weren't trying to injure our hitters. As it turned out, though, that didn't matter much, because we got another injury anyway. Troy Tulowitzki, signed to take the place of Didi Gregorius, who is out with an injury, probably until at least the All-Star Break, hurt his hamstring, and who knows how long he'll be out?

At any rate, Tigers 2, Yankees 1. WP: Buck Farmer, who took over for Boyd in the bottom of the 7th, and was thus the Tiger pitcher of record when Beckham hit the home run in the 8th (1-0). SV: Shane Greene (4, including the last 2 days against his former team, the Yankees). LP: Chad Green (0-1).

The Yankees are now 2-4, as they begin a road trip, including the home opener of the Baltimore Orioles this afternoon at 3:05. To make matters worse, the Mets are cruising, as, yesterday, Jacob deGrom not only won, but hit a home run. The Mets are 5-1: Only the Seattle Mariners (7-1) and the Milwaukee Brewers (6-1) have better records.

Only the Red Sox (one saving grace to this 1st week, the Houston Astros, the Miami Marlins, the San Francisco Giants, the Chicago Cubs, the Cincinnati Reds, the Los Angeles Angels have a worse record than the Yankees: The Sox, Astros, Marlins and Giants are all 2-5; the Cubs and Reds 1-4. and the Angels 1-5.

As it turned out, only one more man was needed to make the Mets better than the Yankees. And his name was Brian Cashman.

It's all his fault. He's the guy who ignored everything Gene Michael taught him in assembling the 1996-2003 dynasty: You can never have too much pitching, and it's better to have contact hitters who can hit to all fields than a bunch of big boomers.

It worked so well. Never in the 150-year history of professional baseball has a team had so many guys who could not only hit, but do it to the opposite field, as well as those Yankees. Righthanded hitters Derek Jeter and Chuck Knoblauch. Lefthanded hitters Paul O'Neill, Tino Martinez, and, at least at the beginning, Wade Boggs. They had Bernie Williams and Jorge Posada, who could hit to all fields from both sides of the plate.

Cashman wanted "prospects" who would bomb balls out of the yard for the next 10 to 15 years. Instead, he's built a team that always swings for the fences, and doesn't connect nearly enough.

He's created a monster. And not in our favor.

No Division titles in 7 years. No Pennants or World Championships in 10 years. 1 Pennant in 16 years. 1 World Championship in 19 years.

Think about that: A child born in November 2000 would now be in his or her freshman year of college, and have seen the Yankees take the massive resources at their disposal, and go all the way only once in his or her lifetime.

I have twin nieces that will turn 12 in July. They know the Yankees have won the World Series in their lifetime, but not in their memory. To them, the Yankees' 27 World Championships are history, but not history that they witnessed.

And even that 2009 title was won with a core of Stick's players, and George Steinbrenner's money. The next year, George died, and Cashman began to break it up. Since then: 3 losses in the American League Championship Series, 2 losses in the AL Division Series, a loss in the AL Wild Card Game, and 3 seasons in which the Yankees missed the Playoffs completely.

Brian Cashman has built this legacy, and he has built this current team, which is on a pace to finish 54-108.

It is time for him to go. And to bring in a general manager who will clean up this mess.

Good Pitching Will Beat Good Hitting, Except When It Doesn't

This past Thursday, the Yankees began a home series against the Detroit Tigers. J.A. Happ started, but couldn't get out of the 5th inning. The 1st batter of the game was Jeimer Candelario, and Happ served him up a home run.

It was still 1-0 in the bottom of the 3rd, when Giancarlo Stanton tied the game with a home run. The teams traded homers in the 4th, Ronny Rodriguez for us, Gleyber Torres for them. But a Victor Martinez homer in the top of the 5th made it 5-4 Tigers, and Happ was done.

But a Detroit throwing error allowed the Yankees to tie the game in the bottom of the 5th, and a double by Stanton and a home run by Luke Voit, in the 7th, gave the Yankees a 7-5 lead.

Chad Green had gotten the Yankees through the 6th. Did Aaron Boone leave him in for the 7th? No, he brought David Robertson in. Robertson got through it 1-2-3. Did Boone leave him in for the 8th? No, he brought Zach Britton in. Britton pitched a scoreless inning. Did Boone leave him in for the 9th? No, he brought Dellin Betances in.

Three times, Boone had the chance to leave a pitcher who was pitching effectively in to continue pitching effectively. Three times, he pulled a stupid movie right out of Joe Girardi's binder. The 1st 2 times, it didn't hurt the Yankees.

The 3rd time, it did. Betances struck out the side, fanning Mikie Mahtook, Rodriguez and McCann. Unfortunately, between Mahtook and Rodriguez, he walked Nick Castellanos (Cliche Alert: Walks can kill you), and gave up home runs to Martinez and Niko Goodrum. The Yankees went down quietly in the bottom of the 9th.

Tigers 8, Yankees 7. WP: Alex Wilson (2-4). SV: Shane Greene (28). LP: Betances (4-4), although this one was clearly on Boone.

*

Again on Friday night, the Yankees scored 7 runs. This time, it was enough.

Luis Severino started, and struck out 10 batters and walked none in 6 innings. But he also allowed 3 runs on 6 hits. But the Yankees bailed him out in the bottom of the 6th, with 3 home runs, hit by Brett Gardner, Aaron Hicks and Miguel Andujar. It was 4-3 Yankees.

But Jonathan Holder got in trouble in the 7th, and Britton allowed the tying run before getting out of it. Britton allowed another run in the 8th. 5-4 Tigers. Given the circumstances, Britton should not have gotten credit for the win if the Yankees were to come from behind to win.

Which they did, and he got credit for the win. Gardner led off the bottom of the 8th with a double. Stanton, in a clutch situation, struck out. Hicks drew a walk, but Andujar struck out. Voit drew a walk to keep it going. Torres singled Gardner and Hicks home. Neil Walker was walked intentionally, and Austin Romine singled Torres home.

Robertson got into a little trouble in the 9th, but didn't let the Tigers score. Yankees 7, Tigers 5. WP: Britton (2-0). SV: Robertson (5). LP: Joe Jimenez (4-4).

*

Sometimes, you score 7 (or more) runs, and it's not enough. Sometimes, you score 2 (or even 1), and it is. On Saturday afternoon, Masahiro Tanaka pitched brilliantly for 7 innings, allowing just 1 run on 7 hits and 1 walk, with 6 strikeouts. Torres hit a home run, and Betances redeemed himself with a scoreless 9th. Yankees 2, Tigers 1. WP: Tanaka (10-5). SV: Betances (2). LP: Daniel Norris (0-3).

Like I said: Sometimes, you score 7 (or more) runs, and it's not enough. On Sunday afternoon, Lance Lynn had nothing. He didn't get out of the 4th inning, allowing 6 runs. Tommy Kahnle couldn't stop the bleeding, allowing a run.

Sonny Gray pitched decently in relief, allowing just 1 run in 4 innings. But Stephen Tarpley, a 25-year-old righthander from Los Angeles, wearing Number 71, made a mess of his major league debut, allowing 3 runs on 3 hits and 2 walks in the 9th. The Yankees were already losing 8-5, but he put a comeback out of reach.

Hicks and Voit homered, and there was a comeback attempt in the 9th. But without good pitching, 7 runs wasn't nearly enough. Tigers 11, Yankees 7. WP: Matthew Boyd (9-12). No save. LP: Lynn (8-10).

Yogi Berra supposedly once said, "Good pitching will beat good hitting, and vice versa." The Yankees scored 7 runs 3 times in the series, and won only 1 of those games; but scored just 2 in the other, and won it. Good pitching beats good hitting, except when it doesn't.

Yogi also supposedly once said, "In baseball, you don't know nothin'."

So the Yankees got only a split. Next up: A Western trip. Not entirely a Pacific Coast trip: Oakland, then Seattle, then Minnesota.

Trade Deadline Update

Today is the trade deadline. So far, the Yankees have:

* Traded pitchers Cody Carroll, Dillon Tate and Josh Rogers to the Baltimore Orioles for pitcher Zach Britton.
* Traded 3rd baseman Brandon Drury and left fielder Billy McKinney to the Toronto Blue Jays for pitcher J.A. Happ.
* Traded pitchers Chasen Shreve (thank God) and Giovanny Gallegos (not much better) to the St. Louis Cardinals forn1st baseman Luke Voit and international prospect money.
* Traded pitcher Caleb Fare to the Chicago White Sox for international prospect money.
* Traded pitcher Adam Warren (thank God) to the Seattle Mariners for international prospect money. (Brian Cashman must have his eye on a good Japanese pitcher.)
* And traded 1st baseman Tyler Austin and pitcher Luis Rijo to the Minnesota Twins for pitcher Lance Lynn.

I'm fine with all of these moves.

So far, my big fear, that Cashman would trade Masahiro Tanaka and Gary Sanchez for 147 "prospects" hasn't happened.

Still no word on whether the Washington Nationals are trading Bryce Harper. The Yankees don't need him. But the Boston Red Sox... Would David Ortiz give permission to wear Number 34?

Wait, here's a trade coming in over the wire...

America has traded Donald Trump to Russia for cash and a teenaged figure skater to be named later.

If only it were that easy...

*

Days until The Arsenal play again: 1, tomorrow, an International Champions Cup game against Chelsea, at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland.


Days until the next Yankees-Red Sox series begins: 2, on Friday night, at Fenway Park.

Days until the New York Red Bulls play again: 4, this Sunday night, home to expansion team Los Angeles FC.

Days until Arsenal play a competitive game with a manager other than Arsène Wenger: 11, in the 2018-19 Premier League season opener, on Saturday, August 11, home to defending Premier League Champions Manchester City. A little under 4 weeks.

Days until the Red Bulls next play a "derby": 22, onWednesday, August 22, against New York City FC, at Yankee Stadium II. 

Days until Rutgers University plays football again: 32, on Saturday, September 1, home to Texas State University. A little over a month.

Days until East Brunswick High School plays football again: 38, on Friday, September 7, away to Piscataway.

Days until the U.S. national soccer team plays again: 38, on Friday, September 7, a "friendly" against Brazil, at MetLife Stadium at the Meadowlands.

Days until the New Jersey Devils play another competitive game: 67, on Saturday, October 6, against the Edmonton Oilers, at... Scandinavium, an arena in Göteborg (Gothenburg), Sweden. Yes, that will be a regular-season game, part of the NHL Global Series. The Mulberry Street Marauders will warm up for it on October 1, with an exhibition game in Switzerland against SC Bern; while the Oilers will visit Kölner Haie in Cologne, Germany on October 3.

Days until the New Jersey Devils next play a local rival: 81, on Saturday afternoon, October 20, against the Philadelphia Flyers, a.k.a. The Philth, at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. The 1st game against the New York Islanders, a.k.a. the Fish Sticks, will be on Saturday night, November 3, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The 1st game against the New York Rangers, a.k.a. The Scum, will be on Thursday night, January 31, 2019, at the Prudential Center.

Days until the next Congressional election, when we can elect a Democratic Congress that can impeach and remove Donald Trump from the Presidency: 98, on November 6. Exactly 14 weeks.

Days until the next Rutgers-Penn State game: 109, on Saturday, November 17, at High Point Solutions Stadium in Piscataway, New Jersey.

Days until the next East Brunswick-Old Bridge Thanksgiving high school football game: 114, on Thursday, November 22. A little under 4 months.

Days until the next North London Derby: 124, on Sunday, December 2, at the Emirates Stadium. It had been set for December 1, but was moved due to Arsenal once again being stuck playing Europa League games on Thursday nights. No more "Thursday is Spursday" jokes for us Gooners.

Days until a Democratic Congress can convene, and the impeachment process can begin: 156, on Thursday, January 3, 2019. A little over 5 months.

Days until the Baseball Hall of Fame vote is announced, electing Mariano Rivera: 176, on January 23, 2019. A little under 6 months.

Days until the next Women's World Cup kicks off: 311, on June 7, 2019, in France. A little over 10 months. The U.S. team, as 3-time and defending Champions, has, as usual, a better chance than the men's team would have had in 2018 anyway.

Days until the Yankees and Red Sox play each other in London: 333, on June 29, 2019. A little under 11 months.

Days until my 50th Birthday, at which point I can join AARP and get discounts for travel and game tickets: 505, on December 18, 2019. A little under a year and a half, or a little under 17 months.

Days until the Baseball Hall of Fame vote is announced, electing Derek Jeter: 540, on January 22, 2020. A little under a year and a half, or a little under 18 months.

Days until the next Summer Olympics begins in Tokyo, Japan: 724, on July 24, 2020. A shade under 2 years, or just under 24 months.

Days until the next Presidential election, when we can dump the Trump-Pence regime and elect a real Administration: 826, on November 3, 2020. Under 2 1/2 years, or a little over 27 months.

Days until Liberation Day: 904, at noon on January 20, 2021. Under 3 years, or a little under 30 monnths. Note that this is liberation from the Republican Party, not just from Donald Trump. Having Mike Pence as President wouldn't be better, just differently bad, mixing theocracy with plutocracy, rather than mixing kleptocracy with plutocracy.

Days until the next Winter Olympics begins in Beijing, China: 1,284, on February 4, 2022. A little over 3 1/2 years, or a little over 42 months.

Days until the next World Cup for which the American team will be eligible is scheduled to kick off: 1,574, on November 21, 2022, in Qatar. Under 4 1/2 years, or a little under 52 months. The charges of corruption against Qatar may yet mean that they will lose the tournament, in which case it will be moved to a nation where it would not be too hot to play it in June and July.

Trades for Pitching Help Yanks Take 3 of 4 From Royals

The Yankees came home to play a 4-game weekend series with the Kansas City Royals, who have fallen on hard times since their 2015 World Championship. The series would feature the Pinstriped debut of Zach Britton, the lefthanded reliever formerly of the Baltimore Orioles. On Tuesday, the Yankees sent pitching prospects Dillon Tate, Cody Carroll and Josh Rogers to Baltimore for him. This could be a steal.

The series would also feature the Pinstriped debut of J.A. Happ, a lefthander who'd helped the Philadelphia Phillies win the 2008 World Series, pitched for them against the Yankees in the 2009 World Series, and had pitched well for the Toronto Blue Jays since then, including being named a 1st-time All-Star this year, at the age of 35. The Yankees sent 3rd baseman Brandon Drury and left fielder Billy McKinney to the Jays for pitcher Happ.

The idea is that Britton can provide the lefthanded setup relief that Chasen Shreve so rarely has, and that Happ can fill a hole in the rotation.

*

The Thursday night game was started by Sonny Gray, and he shook off his recent criticism by pitching 5 shutout innings, allowing only 3 hits and 2 walks striking out 5.

Manager Aaron Boone then took him out. Understandable, even though he'd thrown only 75 pitches. Less understandable was choosing Adam Warren to replace him. Warren allowed 2 runs in the top of the 6th. But David Robertson pitched a scoreless 7th, Britton a perfect 8th, and Shreve a scoreless (if 3-hit) 9th.

The Yankees scored 2 runs in the 1st, thanks to some Oriole sloppiness, a hit-by-pitch and an error bunched in with a double and a walk. In the 4th, a double by Austin Romine and a home run by Didi Gregorius made it 6-0. A Greg Bird sacrifice fly added a run in the 5th.

Yankees 7, Royals 2. WP: Gray (8-7). No save. LP: Jakob Junis (5-11).

*

The Friday night game was rained out, forcing a day-night, separate-admissions doubleheader for yesterday. The opener has led to the question: What has happened to Luis Severino? He was damn near unbeatable in the 1st half of the season, but has gotten hit hard in July. He allowed 6 runs, and didn't get out of the 5th inning.

A home run by Giancarlo Stanton didn't make much difference, as the Royals won 10-5. WP: Brad Keller (4-4). No save. LP: Severino (14-4, after starting out 14-1).

The Yankees also scored 5 runs in the nightcap. This time, it was different. But not because the starting pitcher got the job done. That would be CC Sabathia, and he was a bit shaky. He allowed 2 runs in the 1st 5 innings, and Boone panicked, and brought in Jonathan Holder, who wasn't effective, either. Nor was Chad Green, who blew a save. Nor was Britton, who heard his 1st Bronx boo-birds.

Shane Robinson had hit a home run for the Yankees in the 4th, but CC walked former Met star Lucas Duda in the 5th, and that was when Boone started Girardi-ing up with the bullpen. The Royals led 4-3 going into the bottom of the 8th.

You know Johnny Carson's line, "May the bird of paradise fly up your nose"? Well, last night, Greg Bird was the Bird of Paradise. He took Royal reliever Brian Flynn deep to right field for a game-tying home run. Then Neil Walker doubled, and Royal manager Ned Yost had seen enough of Flynn, bringing in Glenn Sparkman.

This didn't work, as Romine singled, Gleyber Torres walked to loaded the bases with nobody out, and Aaron Hicks hit a liner to left that became a sacrifice fly, scoring Walker. In that situation, the Yankees should have gotten more than 1 run.

Especially since Aroldis Chapman once again made the 9th inning interesting, allowing a leadoff single and a walk before getting the last out. Yankees 5, Royals 4. WP: Dellin Betances (2-3). SV: Chapman (27). LP: Flynn (2-2).

*

Today's game was Happ's Yankee debut, and, except for a couple of wild pitches, it went very well: 6 innings, 1 run, 3 hits, just 1 walk, 2 strikeouts. The Girardi (or Cashman) pitch count appears to still be on, because after throwing 96 pitches, Boone took him out. Again, it could have been a mistake, because Green allowed a run in the 7th, and Robertson allowed one in the 8th.

But the Yankees got the runs they needed. In the 1st, Gregorius walked. Cliche alert: Walks can kill you. Hicks hit a home run to make it 2-0. Hicks led off the 4th with a double, and was singled home by Miguel Andujar. The Yankees got 2 more runs in the 5th, and 1 more in the 6th.

This time, Chapman didn't fool around: He faced 3 batters in the 9th, and blew them all away, needing just 16 pitches to strike out the side. Yankees 6, Royals 1. WP: Happ (11-6). SV: Chapman (28). LP: Burch Smith (1-2).

Taking 3 out of 4 at home from such a poor team should be the minimum we expect from a good team. The Yankees did it. However, they remain 5 1/2 games behind the Boston Red Sox in the American League Eastern Division, although only 4 in the loss column. They lead in the race for home-field advantage in the Wild Card Game, but they've never won a Pennant after getting into the Playoffs as the Wild Card, so they need to win the Division. There are 58 games left to play.