Cincinnati Makes Both New York Teams See Red

Last week, the Cincinnati Reds came to New York, first to play the Mets, then an Interleague series with the Yankees. They embarrassed the Mets (who usually don't need help in embarrassing themselves), 12-0, before getting a more conventional 5-3 win, and then the Mets salvaged the finale, 9-1.

Off to The Bronx. Cam Schlittler took the mound for the Yanks on Friday night, and the only way he could have been much better is if Brian Cashman had let him. In 6 innings, he allowed no runs, 4 hits, no walks, and struck out 13 batters. But he threw 96 pitches (66 of them for strikes), and Aaron Boone is under orders.

On the other hand, the Yankees already had a 4-0 lead, thanks to 2nd-inning home runs by Jazz Chisholm and Ben Rice. So why risk their phenom any more than is necessary? Anthony Volpe added an RBI single in the 8th inning; and Jake Bird, Brent Headrick and David Bednar each pitched a hitless inning to complete the 4-hit shutout. Yankees 5, Reds 0.

Will Warren started on Saturday afternoon. He struck out the side in the top of the 1st inning. Paul Goldschmidt hit a home run in the bottom of the 1st. Things were looking good for the Yankees. 

But Warren allowed a 2-run double in the 3rd, and then came the 5th, starting with an error by the man who has been the Yankees' best player this season, Ben Rice; followed by a groundout, a double, a sacrifice fly, a walk, and a 3-run homer. Ryan Yarbrough had a rotten 8th inning, and the Reds got 4 more, looking like the Big Red Machine of the 1970s. The Yankees pulled a run back in the bottom of the 8th, but never got close. The Reds won, 10-2.

For Goldschmidt, it was his 12th home run of the year, and the 384th of his career. This meant that, on the all-time home run list, he passed Larry Walker, and tied Harold Baines. Next up, at 385, are Dwight Evans and... his own teammate, Aaron Judge, injured and stuck on 385.

Elmer Rodríguez was called back up to start the Sunday game. He got through the 1st 3 innings okay, and was given a 1-0 lead on a Rice home run. But, Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. He walked the leadoff man in the top of the 4th, then got 2 strikeouts, and then allowed a single and a homer. He walked the leadoff man in the 5th, and Boone pulled him, and Tim Hill got out of the inning without more damage.

Rodríguez has made 4 major league appearances, all starts, all this season, all for the Yankees. He is 0-2, is averaging 4 1/3rd innings per start, and has a 4.76 ERA and a 1.765 ERA. He turns 23 in August. He is not ready for the major leagues. Maybe he will be, next season. But not yet.

At any rate, the Yankees left 8 men on base, the Reds tacked on another run in the 9th, and they won, 4-1. They came into New York, took 2 out of 3 from the Mets, and then did the same to the Yankees.

*

Despite the bad series, the Yankees are 46-30, which is the best record in the American League, with the regular season about 47 percent complete. They lead the AL Eastern Division by 2 games, over the Tampa Bay Rays. The Toronto Blue Jays are 8 1/2 back, the Baltimore Orioles are 10 1/2 back, and the Boston Red Sox are 14 1/2 back. Cliché Alert: In the all-important loss column, the Rays trail by 1, the Jays 9, the O's 12, and the Sox 14.

Rodríguez has, rightly, been sent back down. So have Bird and backup catcher J.C. Escarra. Catcher Austin Wells has been reinstated from the Injured List. As for other notable injuries:

* Trent Grisham: Boone says he's "performing light on-field agility exercises," and, "We're really encouraged by how well he's doing." He could be back by July 1.

* Giancarlo Stanton: An MRI on June 15 showed an injury setback. He might return sometime in July, but don't expect him back before the All-Star Break.

* Max Fried: Had a bullpen session on June 19. Boone said he might resume facing hitters by the end of June, or early in July. Presumably, that means a minor-league rehab appearance. Two weeks, plus 4 minor-league starts, would put his return at around the early-to-mid-20s in July.

* Clarke Schmidt: Had a bullpen session on June 17. Boone said he is "a couple of weeks out" from facing hitters. This sounds like the same schedule as Fried.

* Aaron Judge: Will be reevaluated on July 17, which is the 1st day back after the All-Star Break. That doesn't mean he'll be reinstated that day, only that they'll check his recovery process. If he's back before August 1, I will be surprised.

* Luis Gil: Resumed throwing on June 14. Expected back in August.

The Yankees have hit the road, and begin a series against the Tigers in Detroit tonight.

June 22, 1986: Diego Maradona's "Hand of God"

June 22, 1986, 40 years ago: A World Cup Quarterfinal match is played between England and Argentina, at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City. In the 51st minute, Argentina's star, Diego Maradona, slaps the ball with his left hand, and it goes past England goalkeeper Peter Shilton, giving Argentina a 1-0 lead.

The referee, Ali Bin Nasser of Tunisia, gave the goal. There was no Video Assistant Referee (VAR) in those days. Maradona's postgame comments gave the goal its name: "The Hand of God." It is the most famous cheat in the history of sports on planet Earth.

Five minutes later, with the England players still in angry shock, Maradona scored again, a dizzying display of dribbling ending with a great shot that became known as "The Goal of the Century." Gary Lineker scored in the 81st minute, but England got no closer, and were out, 2-1.

If Nasser had correctly waved the 1st goal off, would Maradona have scored the 2nd? Would the England players have been able to stop him? Would they then have won 1-0 thanks to Lineker's goal? Would they then have beaten Belgium in the Semifinal, as Argentina did? Would they then have beaten West Germany in the Final, as Argentina did? We'll never know.

*

César Luis Menotti managed Argentina to the 1978 World Cup win. A Socialist, the opposite of his country's government at the time, he said:

There's a right-wing football and a left-wing football. Right-wing football wants to suggest that life is struggle. It demands sacrifices. We have to become of steel and win by any method... obey and function, that's what those with power want from the players. That's how they create retards, useful idiots that go with the system.

In contrast, by 1986, the ruling military junta was gone, and Argentina had a more liberal government. Its World Cup team was managed by Carlos Bilardo, a physician who had played as a midfielder who helped Estudiantes de La Plata win 3 straight Copas Libertadores (South America's version of the European Cup/UEFA Champions League) in 1968, '69 and '70. He had been a league winner with Estudiantes as a player in 1967, and as their manager in 1982.

Like Menotti, he believed in free-flowing football; and, in Maradona (who starred with Boca Juniors and Italian team Napoli), Jorge Valdano (a forward for Real Madrid, known as "The Philosopher of Football"), and Jorge Burruchaga (a midfielder who starred for Avellenada team Independiente, now with French team Nantes), he had the team for it. After beating England in the Quarterfinal, they beat Belgium in the Semifinal.

Franz Beckenbauer had starred for Bayern Munich, and captained West Germany to the 1974 World Cup. Now, he was their manager, and they were not merely loaded, but fired up to win the World Cup, after losing the 1982 Final to Italy.

Bayern presented Die Mannschaft with midfielder Lothar Matthäus, and their former forward, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, was now at Italy's Internazionale Milano, and served as the Captain. Werder Bremen produced forward Rudy Völler. Hamburger SV produced forward Felix Magath. And goalkeeper Harald Schumacher came from FC Köln in Cologne. They advanced to the Final.

NBC broadcast the game live in America. Argentina had taken a 2-0 2nd half lead, on goals by José Luis Brown of French club Stade Brestois in the 23rd, and Valdano in the 56th. Rummenigge scored in the 74th minute, and Völler scored in the 81st, and West Germany had tied the game.

No team had ever blown a 2-goal lead in a World Cup Final before, and it was just desserts for Argentina, due to Maradona's "Hand of God" in the Quarterfinal. But Burruchaga spared his homeland's blushes by scoring the winning goal in the 84th minute.

Argentina had now won 2 World Cups -- both under incredibly dubious circumstances. And least this one was won while they had a democratic government.

The teams played each other again in the 1990 Final, with Germany winning that one. It remains the only Final ever to be a rematch of the preceding World Cup's Final. A unified Germany faced Argentina in the 2014 Final, and Germany won.

Maradona died in 2021, a few days after his 60th birthday. His unrepentant treachery lives on. 

June 20, 1976: The Panenka Penalty

June 20, 1976, 50 years ago: The Final of the 1976 UEFA European Football Championship is held at Red Star Stadium in Belgrade, Yugoslavia -- now the Rajko Mitić Stadium in Belgrade, Serbia. This was the only time UEFA the Union of European Football Associations, ever held a tournament, or the Final of a club tournament, in a Communist country. (It has since held them in former Communist countries.)

England did not qualify. Nor did France, nor Italy. Under the format then in place, only 4 teams did, including Yugoslavia, who did so only because they were the hosts, although they usually had a good team. In one Semifinal, Czechoslovakia beat the Netherlands, 3-1. In the other, West Germany, who had won the last 2 major tournaments, the 1974 World Cup and Euro 72, beat Yugoslavia, 4-2. Both games went to extra time.

The Final also went to extra time. Czechoslovakia led, 2-0 after just 25 minutes, but West Germany came back, and the game ended, 2-2. So it went to penalty kicks. Stereotypically, Germany usually win those. With the Czechs up, 4-3, Ivo Viktor, goalkeeper for Dukla Prague was ready to try to stop Bayern Munich star Uli Hoeneß, but he missed his shot completely, sending it over the crossbar.

It was now up to Antonín Panenka to face the best goalie in the world at the time, Bayern's Josef "Sepp" Maier. Taking a short and stuttering run-up, he gently struck the ball in an arcing parabola up the middle, while Maier had already dived and was resting on his knees. The Czechs had won, 5-3.

It remains the only major tournament ever won by either a united Czechoslovakia, or by the Czech Republic (a.k.a. Czechia) or Slovakia separately, although they reached the Final of the 1962 World Cup, and finished 3rd at Euro 1980.

Such a penalty attempt has been known as a "Panenka" ever since, but a stuttering run-up is almost a giveaway that this is what the player is going to do, and it gets stopped more than most shots.

A midfielder, Antonín Panenka played for Bohemians Prague from 1967 to 1981, never winning a major trophy -- except Euro 76 for his country. He then went to Rapid Wien, and helped the Vienna club win the Austrian Bundesliga in 1982 and '83; and the Austrian Cup in 1983, '84 and '85. He continued to play professionally until 1993, at age 44. He later served as team president for Bohemians. As of June 20, 2026, he is still alive.

June 19, 2016: "Believeland" Beats 73-9

June 19, 2016, 10 years ago: This was the 2nd of 4 straight seasons in which the Golden State Warriors faced the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals. It was also the season in which the Warriors set a new NBA record for wins in a season, going 73-9.

It was the 1 of the 4 Finals that the Warriors lost.

In 1967, the Philadelphia 76ers set a new record for wins in an NBA regular season: 68. In 1972, the Los Angeles Lakers broke it, with 69. In 1996, the Chicago Bulls broke that, with 72. And all 3 of them won the NBA Championship.

In 2016, the Warriors, defending NBA Champions, won 73. With Steve Kerr coaching Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Andre Iguodala and Klay Thompson, all of them probably headed for the Basketball Hall of Fame, it seemed like no one could stop them.

Certainly not the Cleveland Cavaliers, whom they beat in the previous year's Finals. LeBron James had abandoned them -- or been chased out, depending on who you believe -- after the 2010 season, having played 7 seasons and led them to a single Finals, in 2007. With the Miami Heat, he played 4 seasons, reached the Finals every year, and won in 2012 and 2013.

For Cleveland, and for Northern Ohio, there had not been a World Championship in any sport since the Browns won the 1964 NFL Championship -- effectively, Super Bowl -II. The Browns had lost the NFL Championship Game in 1965, '68 and '69; and the AFC Championship Game in the seasons of 1986, '87 and '89.

The Indians (who became the Guardians in 2022) hadn't won a World Series since 1948, or a Pennant since 1954, or even been in a Pennant race since 1959, before winning the American League Pennant in 1995 and 1997, losing the World Series both times. They also reached the AL Championship Series in 1998 and 2007, but lost both times.

The Cavaliers reached the NBA Eastern Conference Finals in 1976 and 1992, before Akron, Ohio native LeBron arrived in 2003. He led them to the NBA Finals in 2007, but lost to the San Antonio Spurs. They never seemed to give him enough supporting players, and so he left, winning titles in Miami, before coming home to new Cavs ownership, to try again.

He got them to the Finals in 2015, but the Warriors won. And when the Warriors jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the 2016 Finals -- winning Game 1, 104-89; winning Game 2, 110-77; losing Game 3, 120-90; and winning Game 4, 108-97 -- it looked bad for LeBron.

But the Cavs won Game 5 in Oakland, 112-97. They won Game 6 in Cleveland, 115-101. It all came down to a Game 7 in Oakland. The host Warriors should have won.

The day before, The day before Game 7, Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue took his players to the famous San Quentin Prison in Marin County, north of San Francisco. He showed them the now-retired electric chair, and Lue told them, "That's pressure, not a Game 7."

Game 7 was close, with 20 lead changes and 11 ties. It was the only game in the series to have a final margin of fewer than 10 points. At halftime, the Warriors led 49–42. But they failed to score a basket during the last 4:39 of the game.

With the score tied at 89, and 1:50 remaining in regulation, LeBron delivered what became known as "The Block," on a layup attempt by Andre Iguodala. Kyrie Irving made a 3-point field goal over Stephen Curry to give Cleveland a 92–89 lead with 53 seconds left.

Kevin Love forced Curry into a contested three-pointer, which he missed. LeBron made 1 of 2 free throws, putting them 4 points ahead with only 10.6 seconds left. The Cavaliers fouled Draymond Green with 6.5 seconds remaining. Curry and Marreese Speights each missed a 3, and time expired.

LeBron led all Cavaliers with 27 points and became only the 3rd player ever in NBA history to record a triple-double in an NBA Finals Game 7, with 27 points, 11 assists and 11 rebounds. Lue, a reserve guard on the 2000 and 2001 Lakers, became the 14th person to win an NBA Championship as a player and as a head coach.

(The other 2 players with a triple-double in an NBA Finals Game 7 were Lakers. In 1969, Jerry West lived up to his nickname, "Mr. Clutch": He had 42 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists, but the Lakers lost to the Boston Celtics, anyway. In 1988, James Worthy lived up to his nickname, "Big Game James": He had 36 points 16 rebounds and 10 assists, and the Lakers beat the Detroit Pistons.)

The Cavaliers became the first team in NBA history to come back from a 3–1 series deficit to win the NBA Finals. They became the 1st NBA Champion to clinch all their playoff series on the road since the 1999 San Antonio Spurs, and the 1st road team to win a Finals Game 7 since the 1978 Washington Bullets.

The Cavaliers won their 1st championship in franchise history, in their 46th season. What's more, it ended a 52-year major league sports championship drought for Northern Ohio, since the Cleveland Browns won the 1964 NFL Championship. It was the 1st World Championship for any Ohio team since the Cincinnati Reds won the 1990 World Series, almost 36 years.

For Cleveland, and for Northern Ohio, all was forgiven with LeBron. "Believeland" had believed in him, and he had rewarded that belief. This remains the only NBA Finals in which a single player has led both teams in points, assists, steals, and blocks. A parade was held, ending in a ceremony at City Hall, attended by Jim Brown of the 1964 Browns.

Was there a carryover? Not really: The Warriors got up and beat the Cavs in the Finals in 2017 and '18. The Indians got to extra innings of Game 7 of the World Series in 2016, as they had in 1997 -- but, as in that season, they lost. And it took the Browns until 2020 to make the Playoffs again.

LeBron ended up going to 8 straight NBA Finals, 9 in 10 years, and 10 in 14. But it was a mixed record: He won with the Heat in 2012 and '13, with the Cavs in 2016, and with the Lakers in 2020; but he lost with the Cavs in 2007, '15, '17 and '18, and with the Heat in 2011 and '14. He went 4-6 in Finals. compare that to Bill Russell, 11-1; Wilt Chamberlain, 2-4; John Havlicek, 7-0; Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, 6-4; Magic Johnson, 5-4; Michael Jordan, 6-0; Shaquille O'Neal, 4-2; Kobe Bryant, 5-2; Tim Duncan, 5-1; and Curry, 4-2.

LeBron may be the NBA's all-time leading scorer. And, as the de facto (if not official) head coach and general manager of the Lakers, one of the most successful teams in any sport, he might be the most powerful single player in the history of North American sports.

But the "GOAT" -- Greatest Of All Time? Not by a long shot.

Yankees Take 2 of 3 From Resurgent White Sox

Two years ago, the Chicago White Sox lost 121 games, the most in American League history, and the most in Major League Baseball since 1899. Last season, they lost 102.

This past Tuesday night, they came into Yankee Stadium II with a record of 38-32, enough to lead the American League Central Division. The White Sox are no longer a joke. The Yankees had to take them seriously.

They did. Spencer Jones, Ben Rice, Paul Goldschmidt and José Caballero all hit home runs, in support of Gerrit Cole, who went 6 innings, allowing 2 runs on 3 hits and 2 walks, striking out 6. The Yankees won, 12-2.

Also of note: As they had done on the weekend at Fenway Park in Boston, where their national team are playing their World Cup Group Stage games, Scotland fans, "the Tartan Army," came in, wearing their full regalia, sat in the upper deck in left field, and cheered the Yankees on as if Yankee Stadium were Hampden Park in Glasgow.

On Wednesday night, World Champion Knicks Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart threw out ceremonial first balls. Carlos Rodón went 5 innings, allowing 3 runs on 7 hits and 1 walk, striking out 7. Goldschmidt homered again, giving him 383 for his career. In this series, he has passed Albert Belle and the still-active Manny Machado, who each have 381; and Frank Howard, Jim Rice and Ryan Howard, who each have 382; and tied Larry Walker. Next up: Harold Baines with 384. At 385 are Dwight Evans and the still-active... but injured Aaron Judge. Cody Bellinger and Jazz Chisholm also homered for the Yankees, who won, 10-5.

Yesterday afternoon saw the Yankees' best start of the series, by Ryan Weathers: 6 1/3rd innings, 1 run, 3 hits, 1 walk, 8 strikeouts. But he left with the score just 1-1, as Ryan McMahon had hit a home run. In the top of the 8th inning, the bullpen blew it. Fernando Cruz started by allowing a double. Aaron Boone brought Tim Hill in, and he hit the 1st 2 batters he faced. He got a strikeout, but, having faced the minimum 3 batters, Boone didn't want to take any further chances, and brought in Camilo Doval. He completed the collective SNAFU, allowing a home run to former Yankee Andrew Benintendi. He got the last 2 outs, but it was too late.

Over the last 2 innings, the Yankees got only a single by Goldschmidt, with 1 out in the 9th. White Sox 5, Yankees 1.

Still, taking 2 out of 3 from a good team is good. The Yankees lead the AL Eastern Division by 3 games, 2 in the loss column, over the Tampa Bay Rays. At 45-28, they have the best record in the AL. The only teams in the NL with a better record are the Los Angeles Dodgers at 48-27, the Atlanta Braves at 46-27, and the Milwaukee Brewers at 45-27.

Tonight, they start a home Interleague series with the Cincinnati Reds.

June 19, 1926: NBC Is Founded

Their 1979-86 logo. It's my favorite because

it's the only one they've ever used

that combines the letter N with a peacock.

June 19, 1926, 100 years ago: The Radio Corporation of America (RCA) founds the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), the 1st major broadcast network in America.

RCA was then owned by General Electric (GE), American Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T), Westinghouse, and United Fruit Company (forerunner of Chiquita Brands). In 1932, GE had to sell its shares of RCA, due to antitrust charges.

In 1986, with Ronald Reagan as President, and the federal government no longer caring about antitrust laws -- AT&T had been broken up in 1982, but that was a process begun under the Carter Administration -- GE was able to buy RCA, and therefore NBC, in its entirety. In 2011, Comcast bought NBC from GE, and remains the owner.

The 4 longest-continuously-running television series in American history are all still currently running on NBC: The weekly news program Meet the Press, which debuted in 1947; the morning news and entertainment program Today, or The Today Show, 1952; The Tonight Show, originally just Tonight, 1954; and Saturday Night Live, which, since 1975, has tried to do for Saturday what The Tonight Show does for weeknights.

RCA chairman David Sarnoff made NBC the first coast-to-coast radio network. In 1927, he established a 2nd radio network, which became known as NBC Blue or "The Blue Network." In 1939, he began to move NBC into television. In 1943, antitrust laws forced him to sell Blue, which became ABC. By 1947, NBC had beaten CBS in the race to become the 1st nationwide TV network.

Microphone logo, 1943-57 

In 1948, NBC became the 1st network to televise the two major American political parties' national nominating conventions. Their teaming of Chet Huntley and David Brinkley to do cover the conventions in 1956 led to the two of them co-anchoring the 1st half-hour nightly news broadcast, The Huntley-Brinkley Report, which lasted until 1970.

Huntley-Brinkley was replaced by the much more generically-titled NBC Nightly News, with John Chancellor as anchor. He was succeeded by Tom Brokaw in 1982, Brokaw was followed by Brian Williams in 2005, Williams was succeeded by Lester Holt in 2015, and Holt was succeeded by Tom Llamas in 2025.

In 1957, NBC debuted its Peacock logo, designed to symbolize the transition to color television. It would be shown with the following announcement: "The following program is brought to you in living color on NBC."

Peacock logo, 1957-75

Its official name is Johnny Chimes, after the three-note programming cue that NBC has used since 1929: "G₃ E₄ C_4." In 1959, NBC introduced the animated "Snake" logo that would appear at the end of every broadcast, with the Chimes playing as the animation played out. It also appeared at the base of every sportscaster's microphone.

But the Snake never proved as popular as the Chimes, which remained NBC's main identifier on radio, or the Peacock, which became even more identified with the network. So much so that, when they decided to retire the Peacock in 1975, there was an uproar. The Snake was retired at the same time, but few people cared. The Peacock was used for the last time to start The Tonight Show on New Year's Eve, December 31, 1975. And host Johnny Carson roasted the network over it. He could do that: The network was not going to fire its most popular employee over a few non-profane jokes.

This 50th Anniversary logo never caught on.

The Peacock was brought back in 1979, in a combination of the new "N" logo. In 1986, NBC dropped the N, switching from an 11-feathered Peacock facing the viewer's left, which every version thus far had been, to a 6-feathered Peacock facing right, which they have used ever since.

NBC was a sports pioneer. Their 1st coast-to-coast broadcast of anything was the 1927 Rose Bowl. NBC became the 1st network to broadcast a baseball game, in 1939; a football game, that same year, first at the college level, then in the NFL; the 1st to broadcast the World Series, in 1947; and the 1st to broadcast coast-to-coast in color, with the Rose Bowl again, in 1962.

In the 1966 season, NBC owned the broadcast rights to the American Football League, while CBS held those to the NFL. As part of the leagues' merger that season, both got to cover Super Bowl I. Regrettably, due to the high cost of videotape, which led to so many events, sports and otherwise, being taped over, no complete color videotape copy of Super Bowl I exists.

This is also true for most of NBC's World Series broadcasts up until 1975. Some black & white copies, meant as backups, survive. It's only because of a resourceful New York sports fan that the 1969 "miracles," the Jets' win in Super Bowl III and the Mets' home games (3, 4 & 5) in the World Series, have been saved in their entirety. (The subsequent 1970 NBA Finals, won by the Knicks, were on ABC.)

NBC's headquarters is at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, on 6th Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets in Midtown Manhattan. Nicknamed "30 Rock," it has officially been known as the RCA Building from its opening 1933 to 1988, the GE Building from then until 2015, and the Comcast Building ever since.

NBC also owns the cable networks CNBC and Bravo, the Spanish-language network Telemundo, and the streaming service Hulu; and, with Microsoft, co-owned the cable network MSNBC, until 2026, when it restructured its cable holdings, creating the holding company Versant, and MSNBC became MS NOW.

NBC's affiliates for major league cities include:

* New York: WNBC-4 (formerly W2XBS, WNBT and WRCA)

* Philadelphia: WCAU-10 (formerly KYW-3)

* Baltimore: WBAL-11

* Washington: WRC-4

* Boston: WBTS-15 (formerly WBZ-4)

* Atlanta: WXIA-11

* Tampa: WFLA-8

* Miami: WTVJ-6

* Pittsburgh: WPXI-11

* Cleveland: WKYC-3

* Cincinnati: WLWT-5

* Detroit: WDIV-4

* Chicago: WMAQ-5

* Milwaukee: WTMJ-4

* Minneapolis: KARE-11

* St. Louis: KSDK-5

* Kansas City: KSHB-41

* Dallas: KXAS-5

* Houston: KPRC-2

* Denver: KUSA-9

* Phoenix: KPNX-12

* San Diego: KNSD-39

* Los Angeles: KNBC-4

* San Francisco: KNTV-11

* Seattle: KING-5

Yankees Follow Knicks' Pattern vs. Blue Jays

The Yankees followed their road sweep of the Cleveland Guardians with a visit to those pesky Toronto Blue Jays. Ryan Weathers started on Friday night, against Trey Yesavage, the Jays' answer to Cam Schlittler, as the Yankees found out last October. Neither had much: Weathers allowing 6 runs on 5 hits over 4 1/3rd innings, including yet another home run against the Yankees by former Houston Astro cheater George Springer; and Yesavage allowing 5 runs on 4 hits over 5.

The difference was that the Jays got good pitching the rest of the way, while the Yankees got a little less than that. Jake Bird and Fernando Cruz each allowed an additional run. Despite a home run from Cody Bellinger, the Yankees lost, 8-5.

Schlittler started on Saturday afternoon, against Kevin Gausman, who always seems to pitch well against the Yankees, both with the Jays and earlier in his career with the Baltimore Orioles. Cam gave us 7 innings with just 1 run, but Gausman did the same, the only run he allowed coming on a home run by Jasson Domínguez, who was called up when Trent Grisham went on the Injured List.

But Bellinger led off the top of the 9th with a single, and Paul Goldschmidt hit a home run. David Bednar struck out the side to save it for Fernando Cruz: Yankees 3, Blue Jays 1.

The game ended at 5:44 PM. At 11:28, the Knicks won the NBA Championship.

The Sunday afternoon game was also tight -- until the end. As with the day before, the Yankees seemed to be copying the Knicks: Struggle early, win late.

Will Warren, like Weathers a hole-in-the-rotation filler due to injuries, threw 98 pitches -- in only 4 innings. He allowed 8 hits and 3 walks, but somehow allowed only 2 runs. The Yankees scored 2 of their own in the bottom of the 2nd, and it was 2-2 after 5. Each team scored a run in the 6th. Neither team scored in the 7th or the 8th.

For a while, early in the season, Goldschmidt looked done. But, in the absence of Judge, Stanton, and now Grisham, he and Ben Rice have really picked up the pace. With 1 out in the top of the 9th, Goldschmidt singled. Ryan McMahon was sent in to pinch-run for him. And then Rice crushed a drive down the right-field line for a home run.

That should have been enough. But the Yankees weren't done. Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you. Domínguez drew a walk. Bellinger flew out, but Jazz Chisholm walked. And then José Caballero hit one out. Bednar was already warming up, and came in even though it wasn't a save situation. He allowed a leadoff single and a 2-out double, but never really got into trouble. Yankees 8, Blue Jays 3. Camilo Doval, who pitched a perfect 8th, was named the winning pitcher.

*

So, after taking 2 out of 3 from the Peskies, and 5 out of 6 on the roadtrip so far, the Yankees are 43-27, for a winning percentage of .614, on a pace to go 99-63. They have the best record in the American League, although 3 teams in the National League have a better record. They lead the AL Eastern Division by a game and a half over the Tampa Bay Rays (1 game in the loss column), 10 over the Jays, 10 1/2 over the Orioles, and 13 1/2 over the despised Boston Red Sox.

Tonight, they come home, and play the Chicago White Sox. They'd better be careful: These are not the Pale Hose who set a modern baseball record with 121 losses 2 years ago, or the South Siders who lost 102 last season. The White Sox are no joke: They are 38-32, leading the AL Central, and are coming of a 2-game sweep of the Atlanta Braves and 2 out of 3 from the Atlanta Braves -- along with the Milwaukee Brewers, 2 of the 3 NL teams that have a better record than the Yankees. Take them lightly at your peril.