Yankees Beat Braves In "A Game of Two Halves"

 

I was once asked to write "99 Reasons Why Baseball Is Better Than Football." I thought it would take me all day, but I finished before lunch. I started with "Baseball has no halftime."

-- Thomas Boswell, The Washington Post.

The great baseball columnist had a point. Unlike soccer, no one can really describe baseball with the words so often used to describe soccer: "A game of two halves." But that's pretty much what the Yankees played last night, in the opener of a 2-game series against the Atlanta Braves at Yankee Stadium.

The Yankees wasted little time. DJ LeMahieu led off the bottom of the 1st with a hit. After an Aaron Judge lineout, Aaron Hicks tried to bnt DJ over, but Braves starting pitcher Dany "Touki" Toussaint threw the ball away for an error. And then Luke Voit crushed a home run to make it 3-0 Bronx Bombers. They picked up 3 more runs in the 3rd inning, and 2 more in the 5th, including yet another homer by Judge.

(Toussaint is from the Fort Lauderdale area, and is of Haitian descent. His nickname is a combination of his parents' surnames, Toussani and Kiti.)

An 8-0 lead should have been plenty, and Jordan Montgomery was pitching like it. He got into trouble in the 2nd and 3rd innings, but kept the shutout going through 5. He allowed a 2-run homer in the 6th, and Aaron Boone decided not to take chances, bringing David Hale in to pitch the 7th. He began that inning by allowing 2 singles, and then got a strikeout.

And then Boone took him out, and brought in Adam Ottavino. This made absolutely no sense: The Yankees still led by 6 runs, Hale had gotten the previous hitter out, and he, Adam Ottavino, and the next batter, Dansby Swanson, were all righthanded hitters. It wasn't like he made the Boone Logan "Lefty-one-out-guy" move (which should never be done, ever).

Well, we can't exactly blame Ottavino for what happened next. Swanson hit a grounder that LeMahieu mishandled, everybody was safe, and a run scored. Despite allowing a walk (which, as we have seen, can be deadly to a team's chances of winning), Ottavino got out of the inning with just the 1 run being scored. The Yankees still led, 8-4, and got the run back in the bottom of the inning.

Not letting Ottavino pitch the 8th was understandable. Bringing in Luis Cessa, who should not even be pitching in the major leagues, was not. The inning opened with shortstop Gleyber Torres mishandling a ball that Didi Gregorius probably would have been able to handle.

(Until Torres helps the Yankees win a World Series, then, no matter what he does that's good, I will still insist that Brian Cashman's moves to accommodate him, including getting rid of Aroldis Chapman, Starlin Castro and Gregorius, were stupid.)

But the error unnerved Cessa, which is hardly an achievement. He bracketed a flyout with 2 doubles, driving in 2 runs. Boone took Cessa out, and replaced him with Chad Green, who got a strikeout and a groundout to end the threat. Zack Britton bounced back from a bad last outing, and pitched a 1-2-3 9th to end it.

Yankees 9, Braves 6. WP: Montgomery (2-1). SV: Britton (6, although it could be argued that Green really saved the game). LP: Toussaint (0-1).

The series continues tonight. It will continue without Judge, whom Boone says he is holding back due to "lower body tightness." Just say his legs don't feel good. There will be a day off tomorrow, and then the Boston Red Sox come in.

Tonight's starting pitchers are Masahiro Tanaka for the Yankees, and Huascar Ynoa, a 22-year-old Dominican righthander, for the Braves. A pitcher the Yankees have never seen before is usually a bad sign.

Yanks Drop 3 of 4 to Tampa Bay

I hate losing. I especially hate losing to a bad team. But to lose to a classless organization like Tampa Bay Rays? That is infuriating.

On Saturday, the Yankees had to play one of those COVID-forced not-so-traditional (7 innings each) "traditional doubleheaders" at the Stupid Dome in St. Petersburg. The opener went far better for the Yankees. They scored 4 runs in the top of the 3rd inning, including a home run by Mike Ford. Giancarlo Stanton added a solo homer in the 5th.

(Of course, he did. A solo homer when we're already 4 runs up.)

That should have been enough for Gerrit Cole to cruise, and he did so through the 1st 4 innings. But he got shaky in the 5th, allowing 3 runs, and Aaron Boone took no chances, taking him out 1 out short of qualifying for the win. (Even in games limited to 7 innings, the rule is that the starting pitcher can't be the winning pitcher if he doesn't go at least the 1st 5.)

Chad Green ended the inning. DJ LeMahieu singled to lead off the 6th, and Aaron Judge homered, pretty much ending the Tampa Bay threat for this game. The Rays scored in the bottom of the 6th, the Yankees did so in the top of the 7th, and that was it.

Yankees 8, Rays 4. WP: Green (2-0). No save. LP: Tyler Glasnow (0-1).

*

Mike King, who had exactly 2 innings of big-league experience entering this season, started the 2nd game, instead of the out-for-the-season Luis Severino and the chased-out-of-baseball Domingo German. He had nothing, and didn't get out of the 4th inning. In the 1st, he walked the bases loaded and walked home a run. Cliche Alert: Walks can kill you. (UPDATE: Since the 2021 season, Mike King has usually been referred to as "Michael King.")

Albert Abreu wasn't much better in relief. The Yankees mounted a rally in the 7th, but wasn't enough, and limiting the games to 7 innings ended the threat.

Rays 5, Yankees 3. WP: Pete Fairbanks (2-1). SV: Nick Anderson (2). LP: King (0-1). 

*

The Sunday game will be one of those games where, if the Yankees don't win the Division and end up losing in the Playoffs, will stick in our memories as being a sign that it wasn't meant to be.

The Yankees loaded the bases in the top of the 1st, and Charlie Morton -- one of those cheating 2017 Houston Astros -- hit Mike Ford with a pitch. Since that gave the Yankees an early lead, it almost certainly wasn't intentional. But the Rays are still a dirty team, as they were when Joe Maddon was their manager (Kevin Cash has been since 2015), so you never know.

The Yankees added 2 runs on a Rays error in the top of the 5th. Going to the bottom of the 7th, it was still 3-0, and James Paxton was cruising. But he ran out of gas, allowing back-to-back home runs to Mike Brosseau and Brandon Lowe, tying the game.

This was a single game, so it was set to go a full 9 innings. But John Curtiss struck out the side for the Rays in the 8th, and the Yankees went down 1-2-3 in the 9th as well. Zack Britton had done a great job for the Yankees so far, in place of the COVID-recovering Aroldis Chapman. Not this time: In the bottom of the 9th, he allowed double, fielder's choice, wild pitch, walk, groundout, single. Game over.

Rays 4, Yankees 3. WP: Ryan Thompson (1-0). No save. LP: Britton (0-1).

That was 3 out of 4 in Tampa Bay. The Yankees are now 10-6, still in 1st place in the American League Eastern Division, but they need to win games like Sunday's.

Also, Stanton was injured. It's a hamstring injury, which could be 6 weeks -- most of the rest of the regular season. Which could mean the return to the roster of Clint Frazier, he of the million-dollar bat, the two-bit glove and the five-cent head.

Tonight, they start a home series against the Atlanta Braves. Jordan Montgomery starts against Touki Toussaint

Yanks Waste Tanaka Effort, Get Shut Out By Rays

Met fans get really pissed when I tell them that Jacob deGrom would only be the 4th starter, at best, in the Yankees' rotation. They especially don't like it when I tell them that Masahiro Tanaka is better.

Well, last night, at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Tanaka was deGrom's equal: He pitched great, but the Yankees didn't hit for him.

The Yankees opened a 4-game weekend series with the Tampa Bay Rays by embarrassing themselves. Here's all their baserunners, all night:

* 1st inning: D.J. LeMahieu started the game by drawing a walk. The Cliche Alert was not necessary this time: A leadoff walk did nothing to hurt the Rays. Aaron Judge, Aaron Hicks and Giancarlo Stanton all struck out.

* 3rd: Gary Sanchez, currently the target of a lot of abuse from his own team's fans, led off with a walk. He got to 2nd on a wild pitch. But no hits.

* 6th: LeMahieu singled with 1 out, to break up the no-hitter. Judge ended the inning by grounding into a double play.

* 7th: The Yanks' only real threat. Hicks and Stanton walked to put men on 1st & 2nd with nobody out. But Luke Voit and Gleyber Torres both flew out. Gio Urshela walked to load the bases. Then Sanchez struck out.

* 8th: Mike Tauchman led off with a double. The score is still 0-0 at this point. The Yankees are a hit away from maybe having the game won. But LeMahieu grounded into a fielder's choice. That put Tauchman on 3rd with less than 2 outs. But Judge struck out, and Hicks grounded out.

In the bottom of the inning, it was time for the Cliche Alert about walks: Adam Ottavino walked 2 batters, threw a wild pitch, and allowed a sacrifice fly. The Yankees went down quietly in the 9th. Rays 1, Yankees 0. WP: Chaz Roe (2-0). No save. LP: Ottavino (2-1). This is the Yankees' 1st 2-game losing streak of the season.

Today, the Yankees play an old-fashioned doubleheader. At 2:10 PM, Gerrit Cole starts against Tyler Glasnow. The starting pitchers for the game scheduled to begin at 5:10 PM have not yet been announced. Under COVID conditions, both games will be limited to 7 innings.

Hopefully, the Yankees won't limit their hitting.

Yanks Drop Series Finale to Powder Blue Phillies

 

So a weird series, in a weird season, got a little weirder last night at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. The Yankees, as the visiting team, or their road gray uniforms. But the host Philadelphia Phillies wore throwback uniforms, the powder blue road uniforms that they wore from 1972 to 1988. So both teams were wearing road uniforms.

Jordan Montgomery continued his comeback from injury. Intending to be careful, the Yankees might not have let him pitch more than 4 innings anyway. But allowing 5 runs in 4 innings made the decision easier.

The Yankees gave him 2 runs in the 2nd inning, and scored 2 more in the 7th, as Gary Sanchez, off to a terrible start at the plate this season, shook off the rust with a home run. And, between them, David Hale and Jonathan Holder, who both also spent significant time on the Injured List last season, pitched 4 scoreless innings.

But it was not to be enough. Phillies 5, Yankees 4. WP: Deolis Guerra (1-0). SV: Hector Neris (2). LP: Montgomery (1-1).

The Yankees close the series at 9-3, leading the American League Eastern Division by 4 games each over the Baltimore Orioles, the Tampa Bay Rays and the now-Buffalo-based Toronto Blue Jays. The hated Boston Red Sox are 5 back.

The Yankees begin a 4-game series in Tampa Bay tonight, including a traditional, if 7 innings each, doubleheader tomorrow. Tonight, Masahiro Tanaka starts against Blake Snell.

Yanks, Phils Split Twinbill Honors

One thing that living within close range of the New York media has taught me is how to speak -- and, much more, to write -- tabloidese. Rather than say, "Yesterday, the New York Yankees lost the first game of a doubleheader to the Philadelphia Phillies, but won the second game," I can say, "Yanks, Phils split twinbill honors."

This setup was forced by the previous day's tropical storm-induced rainout. Despite both games being played at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, the 1st game was, officially, the game that was supposed to be played the night before at Yankee Stadium II. Therefore, the Yankees were designated the home team, wore their home Pinstriped uniforms, and batted in the bottom halves of the innings, while the Phils wore their road grays in their own house.

The Phils didn't seem to mind. Despite being staked to a 3-0 lead, including a home run by Brett Gardner, former Phillie J.A. Happ was hapless, allowing 4 runs on 3 hits and 6 walks in just 3 innings. Cliche Alert: Walks can kill you.

But it was only 4-3 Philly when he left. The real disaster was Nick Nelson, who allowed 6 runs in the top of the 6th. A 4-run 7th, including yet another home run from the smoking hot Aaron Judge, wasn't enough.

Phillies 11, Yankees 7. The Yankees outhit the Phillies 12-11, but it's runs that count. WP: Former Met Zack Wheeler (2-0). SV: Hector Neris (1). LP: Happ (0-1).

After a 35-minute turnaround -- which was about normal in the days when Major League Baseball scheduled true doubleheaders, on holidays and often on Sundays -- the 2nd game got underway.

It is true that Yankee Stadium II is a good hitter's park, and fans of other teams mock the Yankees for playing in one. But CBP is also a good hitter's park, and the fact is that the Yankees can smack the ball around any yard.

Luke Voit "used the Force" to hit one out in the top of the 2nd inning, but the Philies tied it 1-1 in the bottom half. But in the 7th, a Mike Tauchman double and a Gio Urshela single gave the Yankees the runs they needed.

The Yankees used 5 pitchers, as Jonathan Loaisiga has become this season's "Chad Green," starting but only going into the 3rd inning, even though he used to be a starter. Adam Ottavino threw only 3 pitches, to 1 batter, but because he was the last pitcher the Yankees had used when they took a lead they never relinquished, he was officially the winning pitcher.

Yankees 3, Phillies 1. WP: Ottavino (2-0). SV: Zack Britton (5). LP: Tommy Hunter (0-1).

So the doubleheader was split, and the Yankees, who started off 8-1, are now 9-2.

Speaking of relief pitchers named Tommy, Tommy Kahnle underwent Tommy John surgery. He might be back for the 2021 run-in, but Opening Day 2022 sounds more likely -- if, that is, it's with the Yankees. We saw how Brian Cashman dumped Nathan Eovaldi -- and that came back to bite the Yankees.

The Yanks and Phils play in Philly again tonight, with a first pitch scheduled for 6:05.

Cole, Urshela Shine for Yanks vs. Phils

For Coronavirus-related reasons beyond their control, the Philadelphia Phillies hadn't played in 8 days. Now, they were set to play the Yankees, who have been hitting the tar out of the ball, at Yankee Stadium II, which is even more of a hitters' park than the Phils' Citizens Bank Park.

For the 1st time in 6 games, Aaron Judge did not hit a home run, although he did go 2-for-4. But Gio Urshela led off the bottom of the 1st inning with an opposite-field home run. In the top of the 3rd, Jay Bruce tied it with a solo home run, off Gerrit Cole, in his Yankee Stadium home debut. But Brett Gardner led off the bottom of the 3rd with a home run. After groundouts by Tyler Wade and LeMahieu, Aaron Judge and Aaron Hicks hit back-to-back doubles, and it was 3-1 Yankees.

Urshela hit another home run in the bottom of the 6th, a 3-run job, to make it 6-1. Then the rain came, and, after the delay, Cole's night was finished. Brooks Kriske allowed a run in the top of the 7th, and Luis Avilan allowed one in the 8th, before Zack Britton pitched a 1-2-3 9th.

Yankees 6, Phillies 3. WP: Cole (3-0). SV: Britton (4). LP: Jake Arrieta (0-1). The Yankees are now 8-1, with the best record in Major League Baseball. And, beyond any reasonable doubt, Gerrit Cole was the best pitcher for a New York team last night. (Jacob deGrom pitched for the Mets last night, but Cole had a better night.)

What was supposed to be the 2nd game in the series, tonight, has been postponed, due to Tropical Storm Isaias, which drenched the Tri-State Area last night (including the rain delay) and today (although, at this writing, while the winds are still stronger than usual, the clouds have parted and the Sun in shining).

The current schedule is as follows, and, as always, especially these days, is subject to change:

* Tomorrow, 4:05 PM: The game that was supposed to be played at Yankee Stadium II tonight will be played at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, 108 miles to the southwest. This will be confusing, because the Yankees will be designated the home team, and will bat in the bottom half of the innings.

* Tomorrow, 7:05 PM: The game that was supposed to be played at Citizens Bank Park will be played on schedule. This could turn out to be one of those twi-night doubleheaders where both games get limited to 7 innings. Hopefully, that won't be done again after this season. Hopefully, that will also apply to the dumb "start an extra inning with a runner on 2nd base" rule that's been put into place for this shortened season. (I know, it sounds like the season should have an asterisk, but as long as every team is playing by the same rules, we can't complain that much.)

* Thursday, 6:05 PM: Yankees vs. Phillies in Philly again.

* Then the Yankees head for the Coronavirus State itself, Florida, to play 4 weekend games against the Tampa Bay Rays, including a twi-night doubleheader on Saturday.

Under normal circumstances, playing in that dome is not something to look forward to. After all, inside that dome, there are no normal circumstances. But playing in there, in this situation? Pardon me for using a technical term, but... Hoo, boy.

Aaron Is Judge, Jury and Executioner as Yanks Sweep Sox

Find yourself someone who will love you as much as Aaron Judge loves beating the Boston Red Sox.

It's getting to the point where you cannot stop him, and even "You can only hope to contain him" might be going by the boards.

And that whole debate with Met fans that Pete Alonso might be better? Yeah, that's over. This is not Mickey Mantle vs. Willie Mays: Alonso is in full "sophomore jinx" mode, while it's beginning to look like Elvis Presley was the Aaron Judge of music.

Aaron is being Judge, Jury, and definitely Executioner.

The Auld Enemy did not want to get swept at Yankee Stadium this weekend, and, last night, they showed up as if the pharmacist and the Apple Watch repairman had both arrived. Xander Bogaerts went 4-for-4, including home runs in the 1st and 5th innings. Thanks to him, the Sox had 2 runs before the Yankees even got to bat.

But Judge hit one out as well, in the bottom of the 1st, giving the Yankees a 3-2 lead. That was his 5th straight game with a home run. The major league record is 8, shared by a Yankee (Don Mattingly in 1987), a player who would go on to become a Yankee (Dale Long of the 1956 Pittsburgh Pirates), and a player who refused to become a Yankee (Ken Griffey Jr. of the 1993 Seattle Mariners).

The Sox retook the lead in the top of the 3rd, going up 5-3, and ending James Paxton's night. But in the bottom of that inning, back-to-back doubles by a finally-waking-up Gary Sanchez and an already-wide-awake Gio Urshela tied it, 5-5. This was beginning to look like a typical Yanks-Sox game at Fenway Park, but it was at Yankee Stadium II.

The teams traded home runs again in the 5th, Bogaerts for them, Luke Voit for us, to make it 6-6. Rafael Devers hit one out in the 7th, to make it 7-6 Boston. Mike King gave up both of those home runs. Out he went, in came Adam Ottavino.

In the bottom of the 8th, the Yankees staged a good-old-fashioned 2-out rally. Cliche Alert: Walks can kill you. Or, if you're the team whose players are drawing them, they can save you. Mike Tauchman drew a walk, and stole 2nd base. DJ LeMahieu singled him home to tie the game.

And then Judge hit one 468 feet to left center. Had this one been hit at the old Yankee Stadium, this would have been over Monument Park. That's 6 home runs in 5 games for him.

On the ESPN broadcast, Matt Vasgersian went nuts. And he's no kid: He's about to turn 53. Nor is he a New Yorker or a Yankee Fan: He was born in Oakland, and grew up in nearby Moraga, and may be an Oakland Athletics fan. But he acted like he was a kid who had never seen one of these before.

One of these days, Judge is going to hit one so far, whoever is broadcasting it is simply going to say, "Holy shit," on the air, and no one will fine him for it, because they'll understand.

Zack Britton closed it out. Yankees 9, Red Sox 7. Sweep. WP: Ottavino (1-0). SV: Britton (3). LP: Matt Barnes (0-1).

The Yankees are now 7-1. Next-best in the major leagues are the Minnesota Twins and the Chicago Cubs at 7-2. In the American League Eastern Division, the Baltimore Orioles are 5-3, the Buffalo Blue Jays are 3-4, the Tampa Bay Rays are 4-6, and the Red Sox are 3-7. The Mets are also 3-7, including a couple of embarrassing losses to the Atlanta Braves this weekend. The only team with a worse record than that is the Pittsburgh Pirates, at 2-7.

So, with the rearranged schedule, the Yankees start a home series with the Philadelphia Phillies tonight -- further COVID-19-connected rulings permitting. The intended starting pitchers are Gerrit Cole for us, Jake Arrieta for them.