Game 152. Yanks blanked, 2-0.

Gary Sanchez can’t come to the rescue and hit a HR every day. He didn’t on Thursday night and his teammates couldn’t step up as the Yanks lost to Tampa Bay 2-0.

Luis Cessa pitched well, giving up a run in the first and a solo HR in the sixth, but with no offensive support….

The loss drops the Yanks to 79-73. They are almost eliminated (E #1) as far as winning the division goes. They are 3 out of the final wild card slot with 10 games to go, and need to jump 4 teams.

Before the game, the Yanks sold Phil Coke to the Pirates.

Masahiro Tanaka will miss his next start because of a forearm strain. If the Yanks are completely out of it, they should then just shut him down for the season.

Cessa (L, 4-3, 4.30) 6 IP, 2 R, 6 H, 2 walks, 6 K.
Severino 2 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 walks, 3 K. 5.70.

Game 150. Sanchez does it again! Yanks win 5-3.

Forgive me for a moment as I play devil’s advocate.

If you are the manager of another team, and the score is tied, and the other team has runners on 2nd and 3rd with two out…

and the HOTTEST hitter in baseball is up at the plate…

do you pitch to him? Or walk him to load the bases for the next hitter, hoping for a force at any base?

And if you are the owner of a manager who decides to pitch to him anyway, only to see that batter hit a 3-run homer that wins the game, do you fire that manager?

For that is exactly what happened in the Yankees’ 5-3 win over Tampa Bay Tuesday night.

Of the 16 outs Michael Pineda recorded for the Yanks tonight, 11 were by strikeout. He gave up a two-run triple in the third to put the Yanks in a 2-0 hole.

Mark Teixeira hit a HR in the fourth to cut it to 2-1. Teix’s 13th HR of the year was #407 of his career, tying him with Duke Snider on the all-time HR list.

In the seventh, Ronald Torreyes and Mason Williams each singled. 1st and 3rd, one out. As I mentioned before, I think the Yanks should look at dealing Gardner for a decent starting pitcher and look into giving the LF job to Williams in 2017. He might platoon with Frazier (Williams vs. RHP,  Frazier or Hicks vs. Lefties).

Gardner singled to tie the game, Williams going to third. Gardner stole 2nd while Hicks (just off the DL) stuck out.

So 2 out. Men on 2nd and 3rd, tie game. Sanchez up and 1st base open. Would you pitch to the hottest hitter in baseball or walk him?

Fortunately for us Yankees fans, Tampa Bay manager pitched to Sanchez. He should be fired for his decision. Sanchez hit a 3-run HR (17) to the delight of us Yankees fans.

Was he kidding? Pitching to Sanchez right now?

Thank you very much, Kevin Cash.

In the 8th, a triple and WP let the Rays score a run.

Pineda 5 1/3 IP, 2 R, 5 H, 1 walk, 11 K. 4.89
Layne 1/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 walks, 1 K. 3.24 (Bos/NYY).
Once again, Girardi uses Layne for just 1 batter. AAAARGH! At least THIS time, it didn’t burn him.

Severino (w, 3-8, 5.88) 1 1/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 walks, 1 K.
Clippard (H, 23)  1 IP, 1 R, 1 H, 0 walks, 2 K. 3.22 (AZ/NYY)
Betances (S, 12) 1 P, 0 R, 0 H, 0 walks, 1 K. 2.79.

Anthony Swarzak was called back to the Yanks, the other day.

The win puts the Yanks at 78-72 with 12 games left.

 

The Minors. SWB evens series with “wild” finish; Trenton loses.

AAA: Heading into the bottom of the ninth, SWB was down 1-0 and facing a 2 games to none deficit in their best-of-five International League Championship Series. Worse yet, they had only gotten one hit. Many of their stars from this year were with the big club as the Yankees try to push for a playoff spot. Even Mason Williams wasn’t with SWB anymore, since he was brought up to the Yanks yesterday to replace the injured Aaron Judge.

Five batters later, SWB had a 2-1 win, without the benefit of a hit. They got just the one hit all game long.

A walk, walk, HBP, walk to tie the game and yet ANOTHER walk to win it. All without an out being recorded. Talk about winning a WILD one!

The win evens the series at a game apiece.

Phil Coke 7 1/3 IP, 1 R, 3 H, 0 walks and 9 K.Cito Culver got SWB’s only hit, a PH double in the 8th.

AA: Trenton lost 4-2 and finds their backs against the wall, down 2 games to none in the best-of-five Eastern League Championship Series. Billy McKinney 2 hits, double and triple. Sebastian Valle 3 for 3 with an RBI.

Game 145. Yanks blanked, 2-0.

I am going to compare two pitchers for you. Each pitcher is over a six year period of his career.

A. Average year over the six year period: 22-8, 2.19. 272 IP, 286 K.

B. Average year over a six year period: 17-7, 2.24, 222 IP, 244 K.

Both are lefties. Both were and are Dodgers.

Pretty damn close, right? The big difference is that A pitched in a 4-main rotation, B in a five-man.

Pitcher A is Koufax, 1961-1966. Pitcher B is Kershaw, 2010-2015.

The Yanks of course, faced Kershaw on Wednesday. No easy feat.

Rain and a recent back injury kept Kershaw to only 5 innings vs. the Yanks, but in those 5 innings, he gave up 0 runs and only 1 hit. The bullpen for the Dodgers was just as good as the Dodgers beat the Yanks, 2-0.

The Yanks got just 3 hits and struck out 14x.

Both Dodger runs came in the top of the ninth, and both runs were unearned due to errors by Castro and Betances.

Before the game, the Yanks called up Mason Williams to replace the injured Aaron Judge. After the game, the Yanks signed recently released Billy Butler (1B/DH) to a contract. Butler was previously with KC and Oakland in his career.

The Yanks fall to 77-68. 17 games left in the season. They have an 11 game road trip that starts with 4 in Boston.

Pineda 4 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 2 walks, 5 k. 4.94.
Layne 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 walks, 0 k. 3.40 (Bos/NYY)
Severino 2 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 walks 1 K. 5.98.
Clippard 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 walks, 2 K. 3.02 (AZ/NYY)
Betances (L, 3-5, 2.33) 1 IP, 2 R, BOTH UNEARNED, 1 H, 0 walks, 1 K.

Game 136. Ellsbury & Austin lead Yanks to 5-3 win.

Jacoby Ellsbury homered, had three hits and drove in three runs, and Tyler Austin had two hits (both doubles) and 2 RBI as the Yanks beat Toronto 5-3 on Labor Day afternoon.

The win puts the Yanks at 71-65, 5 1/2 out of first in the AL East, still in 4th place, and keeps them 3 1/2 out of the second wild card spot. They still need to jump teams and probably have to go 18-8 against a tough schedule to make the playoffs.

But they aren’t going down without a fight.

Masahiro Tanaka, the Yanks’ best player this year (according to WAR on baseballreference.com) didn’t have his best stuff, giving up 10 base runners in 6 1/3 IP, but he gave up just two runs in improving to 12-4.

Because of some no-decisions early in the season due to the Yanks’ lack of hitting, Tanaka doesn’t have as many decisions as you’d think. He probably should be something like 17-6 or so. If he were that, he’d probably get CYA consideration. Maybe he still will. He has had an excellent season.

Tanaka gave up a run in the first, but the Yanks got two in the bottom of the inning on Ellsbury’s 2-run HR (7).

In the third, Austin doubled and scored on Ellsbury’s single to make it 3-1.

Austin doubled in two in the fourth to make it 5-1. Toronto made it close with two in the seventh.

Aaron Judge is still striking out too often, as he was 0 for 3 with 3 strikeouts today and has some 35 strikeouts in 65 at bats. He didn’t take his offensive frustrations out to the field however, as he saved two runs defensively. His diving catch saved one run, and he robbed another of a home run. At 6’7 1/2″, he hardly had to jump to bring back a potential home run ball from clearing the 8′ high fence.

Tanaka (w, 12-4, 3.11) 6 1/3 IP, 2 R, 7 H, 3 walks,  4 K.
Holder 1/3 IP, 1 R, 0 H, 2 walks, 0 K. 6.75
Heller 0 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 walks, 0 K. 6.00. Faced one batter, gave up a hit for 2 runs, one charged to Tanaka, the other to Holder.
Layne (H, 8) 1/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 walks, 0 K. 3.32 (Bos/NYY)
Clippard (H, 20) 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 walks, 1 K. 3.25 (AZ/NYY)
Betances (S, 9) 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 walks, 2 K. 2.05

We are still awaiting word on Wednesday’s starter, now that Green is out.

BTW, have you noticed how little Teixeira and McCann are being used during these important games?

Game 132. Yanks win in 13, make some deals.

The Yanks beat KC in 13 Wednesday night, and were busy making deals.

There is a lot of news here, including some passings, so bear with me.

Ben Gamel, just named International League MVP, was dealt to Seattle for two minor league pitchers, 18 year old Juan De Paula and 19 year old Jio Orozco, both righties. Gamel was 1 for 8 for the Yanks this year, and the 24 yr. old OF was .308-6-51 with 19 SB at SWB. De Paula has been down in the rookie leagues, and in 25 games in the minors, is 6-6, 2.58 with 121 K in 118 2/3 IP. Orozco, in 20 minor league games, is 5-3, 3.73 with 87 K in 70 IP. Both are young and a long way away, so we’ll see.

The Yanks sent cash to the Brewers for OF Eric Young. Young, 31, has played for Colorado, the Mets and Braves in his career. He led the NL in SB in 2013 with 46. He can play all 3 OF positions and 2B.  His 162 g. average is .247-2-26 with 42 SB and an OPS+ of 74. It appears he will be used as a pinch-runner in September with the expanded rosters. Young could get more playing time than expected, since Aaron Hicks left last night’s game with a hamstring strain.

The Yanks also announced that Greg Bird, Tyler Wade, Gleyber Torres, Miguel Andujar and Brody Koerner to the Arizona Fall League.Three others are to be announced. For Bird, a good sign that he is coming along and to get him a few at bats this year as he rehabs from that shoulder surgery.

Now for the game. The Yanks came back from a 4-0 deficit to win 5-4 in 13 innings. They are now 69-63, in fourth place in the AL East, 6 1/2 out, but now only 2 1/2 out of the final wild card spot and have to jump three teams.

Luis Cessa struggled early, giving up two runs in the first inning, a run in the second and another in the third. Kendrys Morales hit a 2-run HR off him in the first, and Eric Hosmer a solo shot in the third.

The Yanks got three in the sixth to get back in the game. Ellsbury singled, went to second on a walk to Sanchez and to third on a fly ball by Teixeira. After Gregorius’ SF brought in one run, Castro hit a 2-run HR (19) to cut it to 4-3.

The Yanks tied it in the seventh. With one out, Hicks walked, Gardner singled him to third and Ellsbury tied the game with a SF.

In the 13th, Gregorius singled, was doubled to third by Castro and scored on a SF by McCann.

Ben Heller got his first MLB win.

The Yankees bullpen pitched seven no-hit, shutout innings. Combined with Cessa’s last three innings, the Yanks shut out KC for the last 10 innings of the game.

Cessa 6 IP, 4 R, 3 ER, 6 H, 1 walk, 2 K. 4.17. Gave up 2 HR.
Shreve 2 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 walk, 3 K. 4.85.
Layne 1/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 walks, 0 K. 3.38 (Bos/NYY)
Warren 2/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 walks, 0 K. 5.22 (Cubs/NYY)
Parker 2 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 wlk, 1 K. 3.60 (Sea/NYY)
Heller (W, 1-0) 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 walks, 0 K. 6.00
Betances (S, 7) 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 walk, 0 K. 2.12.

Juan Bell, brother of 1987 AL MVP George Bell, and an infielder in the early 1990s for the Orioles and Phillies, along with the Brewers, Expos and Red Sox, passed away at the age of 48. He was a .212 hitter, OPS+ 60, from 1989-1995.

Joe DeMaestri has passed away at the age of 87. The SS was best known as the SS for the Philadelphia and KC A’s from 1953-1959. Before that he played for the White Sox and Browns. He ended his career by playing for the 1960 and 1961 Yankees. A .236 hitter, OPS+ 62, he made the 1957 All-Star team.

The Minors.

Dietrich Enns at AAA, and Chance Adams at AA, both of whom have been exceptional this year, have been moved to the bullpen and basically shut down due to innings limits.

AAA: SWB won 4-0. Combined 3-hitter. Nestor Cortes 5 2/3 IP, no hits. Luis Severino 2 1/3 IP, 5 K. Enns 1 IP. Donovan Solano 2 hits, 2 RBI. 2 hits, RBI for both Mason Williams and Rob Refsnyder.

SWB’s Magic # for clinching the division is 3.

Earlier in the day, OF Ben Gamel was named International League MVP.

AA: Trenton won 6-4. Mark Payton 2-run HR. 2 hits Miguel Andujar, 2 RBI Tyler Wade. 2 hits, rbi for Abiatal Avelino. Trenton stays 1 1/2 back of Reading for the division, and have already clinched a wild card spot.

High A: Tampa had already won the first-half title. They were scoreless in the second inning when rain suspended the game. It should be completed today.

Low A: Charleston had already won the first-half title. they lost 2-0, getting just 3 hits.