Roger Craig, who was the ace of the horrible 1962 and 1963 Mets who later became a successful pitching coach and manager teaching pitchers the split-fingered fastball, died at the age of 93.
Craig pitched for the Dodgers (1955-1961), Mets (1962-1963), Cardinals (1964), Reds (1965) and Phillies (1966). He was on three WS Champs (1955 and 1959 Dodgers, 1964 Cardinals). He also was on the 1956 NL pennant winning Dodger team.
He went 5-3, 2.78 for the 1955 WS Champ Dodgers in his rookie season. In 1956 he was 12-11, 3.71 for the pennant winning Dodgers. In 1959, 11-5, 2.06 for the WS Champ Dodgers, and he led the NL that year with 4 shutouts. He also finished 13th in MVP voting that year.
With the 1962 Mets, Craig was 10-24, 4.51 for a team that went 40-120. He led the majors in losses. The following year, Craig went 5-22, 3.78 and once again led the majors in losses.
In 1964, Craig was 7-9, 3.25 for the WS Champ Cardinals.
For his career, he was 74-98, 3.83, ERA+ 104. Take away those two years with the Mets, and he was 59-52.
His 162-game average was 9-12, 3.83.
In seven WS games, four of them starts, he went 2-2 with a 6.49 ERA.
Craig managed the Padres in 1978 and 1979. In 1978 San Diego went 84-78 and finished 4th, but they slipped to 68-93 in 1979 and Craig was let go.
He took over as manager of the Giants from 1985 to 1992 and led them to a division title in 1987, losing the NLCS to the Cardinals. Two years later, he led the Giants to the NL pennant, but they were swept by the A’s in the World Series, one interrupted by an earthquake.
Jake Bauers hit two two-run homers, but it was Aaron Judge who stole the show in the Yankees’ (35-25) 6-3 win over the Dodgers last night.
The Yanks made a few moves before the game. Minor league C Jose Godoy was traded to Baltimore. P Ryan Weber and OF Greg Allen were placed on the IL, and Nick Ramirez and Oswaldo Cabrera flew cross-country to join the Yanks in LA. Cabrera would later HR in the game.
Both Weber and Allen will have MRIs. Weber’s injury is the most concerning. It’s his pitching forearm and you hope it doesn’t mean TJ surgery.
The Yanks got on the board in the top of the second when D.J. Lemahieu hit what appeared to be a single, but the Dodger CF misplayed it into a triple. Bauers followed with the first of his two HR on the evening to put the Yanks up 2-0.
The Dodgers came right back with a run in the bottom of the second when with two out, Yankees’ starter Gerrit Cole hit a batter then the next batter hit one down the LF line that found grass near the foul line despite three Yankees surrounding it.
Bauers hit his second two-run HR (5) of the game in the top of the fourth to put the Yanks up 4-1.
In the top of the sixth, Judge homered (19) to put the Yanks up 5-1.
After six innings, Cole was removed from the game. At first, I was wondering what was going on, since Cole was only at 80 pitches, and was texting friends and asking what manager Aaron Boone was doing. I didn’t see Cole hurt or anything. Here I found out later that Cole was suffering from leg cramps, thus the removal. But it sure seemed scary and confusing at the time because normally you wouldn’t pull an ace who was cruising (1 run, 4 hits) after just 80 pitches over six innings.
It looked worse when Cole’s replacement, Wandy Peralta, had nothing. A single to start the inning, then a ball misplayed in the corner by Cabrera, who had just replaced Bauers in LF for defense. Instead of a double, a run-scoring triple. 5-2. After a walk, Michael King came in for Peralta. King gave up a single that made it 5-3, and the Dodgers had men on first and second, no one out and you were wondering why the pitching change away from Cole (as I mentioned, didn’t know why until later). But King got two lineouts and a strikeout to get out of the inning.
In the bottom of the eighth, King got a strikeout to start the inning, but the batter reached on a passed ball by Jose Trevino. Judge then made a play that may have saved the game. J.D. Martinez lined one to RF and Judge made the catch while crashing into the fence, saving a double and possibly a run. The bullpen gate broke open upon Judge colliding with it, and the runner was given second because of Judge leaving the field of play (although it wasn’t his fault). Anyway, a tremendous play that probably saved a run and possibly the ballgame. Hopefully Judge is OK for tonight’s game. He said he felt discomfort in a toe (the base of the fence had a couple inches of concrete) and it sure made your heart flutter when he crashed into that fence. The Yanks are just getting back Stanton and Donaldson, have lost Allen and Bader for a while, and don’t need to lose their best player.
In the top of the ninth, Cabrera homered (4) to give the Yanks a 6-3 lead, which was the final score.
The Yanks only had six hits in the game, but four were HR.
Judge solo HR (19) and incredible catch. Bauers two two-run HR (5), 4 RBI. Cabrera solo HR (4)
Isiah Kiner-Falefa hit a walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the tenth to give a sellout crowd (including me) a happy ride home. The Yanks (31-23) beat San Diego, 3-2.
Luis Severino was fabulous in just his second outing since coming off the IL. In just his second outing of the season, Sevy gave up just one hit in 6 2/3 IP.
The Yanks got on the board right away in the bottom of the first inning. With one out, Aaron Judge singled. He got a bad break when the ball didn’t bounce into the stands for a ground rule double. It was hit so hard down the LF line that he was held to a single. Anthony Rizzo followed with a single that moved Judge to third. D.J. Lemahieu then doubled down the line, scoring Judge. From my seat in Section 205 in RF I was hollering “Hold!” but I didn’t scream loud enough, I guess. Third base coach Luis Rojas sent Rizzo as well, and it was a bad send. Rizzo was a dead duck.
In the top of the fourth, Severino gave up his only hit of the game, a game-tying HR to Fernando Tatis, Jr. Tatis had homered the night before, and Tatis was peppered with boos throughout the game because of his suspension last year and part of this year for steroids.
In the top of the seventh, Sevy got the first two outs, then gave up a walk. He lobbied for one more batter to finish the inning, and got a grounder, but Gleyber Torres booted it for an error. Sevy was then taken out, having thrown 82 pitches and because he had just recently come off the IL. Reliever Michael King gave up an RBI single to put the Padres up 2-1 before getting a strikeout to finish the inning.
LeMahieu homered (6) in the bottom of the seventh to tie the game.
The game went into extra innings, with that ghost runner I hate.
Clay Holmes got a short flyout to RF for the first out, and the runner could not advance. A strikeout for out #2. Then a slow roller to Lemahieu and the batter was originally called safe, moving the runner to third, but replay overturned the call for the third out.
Greg Allen PR for Rizzo in the bottom of the tenth. LeMahieu was intentionally walked. Harrison Bader put down a bunt that didn’t exactly work as planned. San Diego got a force on LeMahieu at second, but the main job, getting Allen to third, was accomplished. Bader advanced to second on defensive indifference, then IKF grounded one sharply down the LF line and past the dive of ex-Yankee Roughned Odor for the game-winning hit.
The season is now 1/3 over, with the Yanks 31-23. They are in third place in the AL East, 7 games behind Tampa Bay and 3 behind Baltimore. If the season ended today, they would have the sixth and final playoff spot (they lead Boston by two for that spot) and play the Twins in a best-of-3 (all games in Minnesota) in round one. But that’s a long way away. Keep doing what you are doing, and get people back, healthy and productive. First off, Donaldson, Stanton, Trevino and Kahnle, then Rodon, then maybe at the end of the year Montas and Loaisiga.
Not to mention maybe a trade at the deadline for more help.
Because I am leaving soon on a bus trip to today’s Yankees game, this will be the only report. There will be NO minor league report on Friday’s games in the Yankees farm system. Sorry, but this one is all the time I have before I have to leave and catch the bus.
Randy Vasquez, the Yankees’ #14 prospect, made his MLB debut last night and did well for four innings before losing it in the fifth, giving up a long upper-deck HR to Juan Soto that gave San Diego a 2-0 lead. Unfortunately for Vasquez and the Yanks, those runs would be all the Padres would need in a 5-1 win.
The Yankees’ offense struggled again, getting only the one run on seven hits. They struck out 11x.
Ron Marinaccio gave up an upper-deck HR to Fernando Tatis, Jr. in the top of the sixth and it was 4-1 Padres.
The Yanks got their only run in the bottom of the sixth when with one out, Gleyber Torres singled and Aaron Judge followed with a double. Anthony Rizzo got an RBI groundout.
San Diego got a run in the top of the ninth. Ex-Yankee Roughned Odor got the RBI single.
Before the game, Aaron Hicks, previously DFA’d, was given his outright release.
Rizzo 2 hits, RBI.
Vasquez (L, 0-1) 4 2/3 IP, 2 R, 4 H, 3 W, 6 K. 2 HBP. Gave up 1 HR. 3.86 MLB DEBUT. Marinaccio 1 1/3 IP, 2 R, 1 H, 1 W, 1 K. 1 HBP Gave up 1 HR. 4.26 Weber 3 IP, 1 R, 4 H, 0 W, 3 K. 3.48
Aaron Boone didn’t manage the game, having been suspended for a game by MLB because of recent ejections.
The Yanks only got three hits—two by Willie Calhoun—in losing 3-1 to Baltimore Thursday night.
Clarke Schmidt pitched well, getting out of a bases loaded jam in the first, and also a two-on jam in the third. After the top of the third, manager Aaron Boone was ejected for arguing balls and strikes.
Schmidt gave up a run in the top of the fifth. The Orioles got a couple of runs in the eighth when Wandy Peralta put a couple of runners on then Clay Holmes gave up a 2-run double.
Calhoun got an RBI double with two out in the ninth to drive in the Yanks’ only run.
After the game, Nick Ramirez was sent back down to make room for Randy Vasquez. Vasquez, the Yankees’ #14 prospect, will pitch Friday. It will be his MLB debut.
With the loss, the Yanks are 30-22, 3rd in the AL East. They are 7 games back of Tampa Bay and 4 behind Baltimore. Long way to go, but at present they would be the second wild card team.
Calhoun 2 hits, RBI.
Schmidt (L, 2-5) 5 IP, 1 R, 5 H, 2 W, 4 K 5.58 N. Ramirez 1/3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 0 K. 2.00 J. Cordero 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K. 3.63 Peralta 1 IP, 2 R, 0 H, 2 W, 1 K. 2.61 Holmes 2/3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 1 K. 3.15 Abreu 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 0 K. 3.86
Aaron Judge homered to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth, and rookie SS and #1 prospect Anthony Volpe hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the tenth to give the Yankees (30-20) a 6-5 come from behind victory over Baltimore Tuesday night. It was the Yankees’ fifth straight win.
Gerrit Cole got his 2,000th career strikeout, but otherwise wasn’t sharp last night. With two out in the top of the first inning, Cole walked two straight batters, then gave up a two-run double and the Yanks were down 2-0.
He gave up solo homers in the third and fourth to put the Yanks into a 4-0 hole.
Harrison Bader homered (5) in the bottom of the fourth for the Yanks to cut the lead to 4-1, then the Yanks scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game.
Oswaldo Cabrera led off with a single and went to second on a single by Gleyber Torres. After Judge lined out, Anthony Rizzo doubled in one run. A single by D.J. LeMahieu brought home Torres, and Rizzo scored on a Bader SF.
Cole probably should have been pulled at that point, but he started the top of the sixth and gave up two singles to start the inning. Ron Marinaccio relieved him, and things got hairy. One run did score to give the Orioles a 5-4 lead, and the final out was Cedric Mullins (who homered earlier) just missing a grand slam, as he flied out deep to Judge in right.
In the bottom of the seventh, with one out and runners at the corners, D.J. LeMahieu twice tried to bunt the runner home. Instead, Torres was out at home. Manager Aaron Boone said D.J. was doing that on this own. There is a time for that, but that didn’t seem to be the time. Try it first, ok (he fouled that one off) but not a second time. That was a real head-scratcher.
With one out in the bottom of the ninth, Judge tied the game up with his fourteenth HR of the season.
Michael King stopped Baltimore and its ghost runner in the top of the tenth, leaving the runner at second. In the bottom of the tenth, Isiah Kiner-Falefa was the ghost runner for the Yankees, as he PR for LeMahieu. Bader grounded out, and that moved IKF to third. Willie Calhoun was intentionally walked as the Orioles hoped for a DP to get out of the inning, but Volpe flied to CF for a game-winning sac fly.
Torres 2 hits. Judge solo HR (14). HR tied game in bottom of 9th. Rizzo 3 hits, RBI. Bader 2 hits, 2 RBI. Solo HR (5) Volpe GW SF
Cole 5+ IP, 5 R, 6 H, 3 W, 2 K. Gave up 2 HR. 2.53 2000th Career K. Marinaccio 2 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 1 W, 2 K. 3.75 Peralta 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K. 1.83 King (W, 1-1) 2 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 W, 3 K. 1.95
Off night for Cole, but five scoreless IP by the bullpen.
Luis Severino pitched 4 2/3 innings, giving up only one disputed run in coming off the IL. It was Sevy’s first start of the season. Now we continue to wait on Rodon’s return.
The Yanks beat the Reds, 4-1, Sunday in a game that started at 11:35 AM Eastern Time. With the win, the Yanks swept the three-game series from Cincinnati. Tomorrow (Monday) is an off day for the Yanks. It was the fourth win in a row for New York, sixth in the last seven games and 11th in the last 14 games. After ending April at 15-14, the 29-20 Yanks have gone 14-6 so far this month.
Aaron Judge was given the day off so that with the off day on Monday, he’d have two days off before the Yanks take on Baltimore and San Diego in the upcoming days.
Severino gave up his only run in the bottom of the first inning. A leadoff walk, then two outs, but then a fly ball down the RF line was originally ruled foul but then overturned to fair. The umpires ruled the runner to score and placed the batter on second. Manager Aaron Boone argued against the run scoring and was ejected. (Reds’ manager David Bell would be ejected later in the game). The runner was going on the pitch with two out, so he probably WOULD have scored, but once the ball was incorrectly called foul, everyone stopped. I think Boone’s argument was that if they were going to overrule the call with the correct call and give a double and two bases, then the runner should not be given the run but be stopped at third.
The umps must have had a tough time waking up for the early start. Sevy picked off a runner only after the original call was overturned, and Anthony Volpe was called out on strikes on a pitch a replay clearly showed was high for a ball.
The 1-0 score stood until the top of the fifth, when Harrison Bader hit a 2-run HR (4) to give the Yanks the lead. That trade of Montgomery for Bader doesn’t look too bad now. Monty is doing OK with the Cardinals, 4.21 ERA but only a 2-6 record to show for it. Since the deal he is 8-9, 3.60. Looks like he isn’t getting much help over there. It’d be nice to have Monty but boy, can Bader go get them in CF and he is showing more power than we thought (5 HR in last year’s postseason and 4 already this year). Bader is bringing a great deal of energy.
Gleyber Torres upped the lead to 3-1 in the top of the sixth with his seventh HR of the season.
In the top of the seventh, Jake Bauers walked with two out, and newly acquired Greg Allen ran for him. Allen stole second and went to third on a WP. Anthony Volpe doubled home Allen to make the score 4-1.
Clay Holmes gave us a scare in the bottom of the ninth by loading the bases before closing out the game.
Because Sevy was coming off the IL and had a pitch limit, he was pulled one out away from earning the victory.
In my post regarding Game #47, I mentioned how the Yanks traded for Greg Allen. Allen was added to the major league team right away and in order to make room for him, the Yanks DFA’d Aaron Hicks, eating the rest of his contract.
It may have been a surprise move to some, that the Yanks would eat that much money remaining on the contract (I’d guess about $28MM and the rest of this year plus two more years?) but it was a long time coming. Hicks was hitting just .188-1-5 this year with an OPS+ of only 46 (100 is average). Since his best year of 2018 (.248-27-79, OPS+ 127 and 22nd in MVP voting), Hicks only hit .218 with an OPS+ of 92 whiles being frequently injured. His defense also has suffered, and the former CF was moved to LF what with Harrison Bader taking over the CF job. From 2017-2020, Hicks’ OPS+ was 120, but injuries hurt his 2017 and 2019 seasons, and Covid shortened the 2020 season to 60 games. The big drop-off in Hicks’ production started in 2021 when more injuries limited him to 32 games. He hasn’t been the same since.
Allen doesn’t have the power Hicks does, but does have more speed and unlike Hicks, who has been a starter, has been a bench player for his whole career, so he doesn’t have to adapt to the role like Hicks has had to this year. Like Hicks, Allen is a switch-hitter.
As for the game, the Yanks rode Aaron Judge and Anthony Rizzo to a 7-4, 10-inning win. Catcher Ben Rortvedt made his Yankees’ debut and got hits in his first two plate appearances.
Jhony Brito struggled and was sent down to AAA after the game to make room for today’s starter, Luis Severino, who will be coming off the IL and will be making his season debut today. It will be a strange starting time today (Sunday) of 11:35 AM.
The Reds struck first in yesterday’s game, getting a run in the bottom of the first. Brito hurt himself with a walk and a balk before giving up an RBI single.
The Yanks came right back in the top of the third to tie the game. Rortvedt doubled in his first ever Yankee at bat and was brought home on a single by Judge.
The Reds took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the third. Once again, Brito hurt himself. After getting the first two hitters out, he walked the next three batters then gave up an infield single.
In the bottom of the fourth, Brito once again couldn’t close things out with two out. He got the first two hitters, then gave up a single and a 2-run HR and the Yanks were in a 4-1 hole.
They came right back to tie the game at four each with three runs in the top of the fifth. Isiah Kiner-Falefa hit a solo HR (2) with one out in the inning. Rortvedt and Gleyber Torres followed with singles. Judge doubled in a run to make it 4-3. Rizzo singled to tie the game, but Judge was thrown out at the plate on a bad send by third base coach Luis Rojas. It hurt at the time because D.J. LeMahieu singled right afterward. You think, hey, Judge would have then scored, but then you have the fallacy of the predetermined outcome. Oh, well.
The game stayed tied and went into the tenth inning. Allen, who arrived in the middle of the game, pinch-ran for Rortvedt as the ghost runner in the top of the tenth. He was moved to third on a flyout by Torres, and you thought that Cincinnati would then walk Judge to try to get out of the inning by making Rizzo GIDP. Instead, they pitched to Judge, and Judge broke the tie with an RBI single—his fourth hit of the day—to give the Yankees a 5-4 lead. But it didn’t matter if the Reds would have walked Judge, for (but once again, the fallacy of the predetermined outcome) Rizzo homered (11) to give the Yanks a cushion with a 7-4 lead, and that is the way the game ended.
The Yankees are 28-20 (3rd in AL East, 6 1/2 out), and even with some guys still out (most notably Stanton, Donaldson, Rodon, Montas, Loaisiga, Hamilton, and I won’t list guys who won’t even be back at all this year like Trivino and Effross) are 13-6 this month.
The AL East is one tough division. Toronto is 25-21, which isn’t a bad record, but they are in LAST place in the division.
Torres 2 hits. Judge 4 for 4 with a walk, 3 RBI. Rizzo 2 hits, 3 RBI. 2-run HR (11). Kiner-Falefa solo HR (2). Rortvedt 2 hits. (First two at bats as a Yankee, two hits. Yankee debut).
Brito 4 IP, 4 R, 4 H, 4 W, 6 K. Gave up 1 HR. 1 balk. 5.58 Sent to AAA after game. Marinaccio 2 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 W, 3 K. 4.09 King 2 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 3 K. 2.10 Holmes (W, 2-2) 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 W, 1 K. 3.44 Weber (S, 1) 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K 3.68
The Yankee bullpen tossed six shutout innings, giving up just one hit.
Kyle Higashioka was 0 for 3 with three strikeouts in the game at that point in the top of the ninth inning. In the top of the seventh, with men on second and third and just one out, he had struck out instead of helping the Yanks add on to a 3-2 lead. He had pounded the bat into the bat rack in frustration at that point.
It was time to redeem himself, and he did, hitting a two-run double to ensure the Yankees’ win. The Yanks (3rd in AL East, 27-20, 6 1/2 out) beat Cincinnati 6-2 Friday night.
Aaron Judge, hot as all heck, gave the Yanks an early lead with a solo HR (13) in the first inning, and Anthony Rizzo upped that lead to 3-0 with a 2-run HR (10) in the top of the sixth.
In the middle of the game, the Yanks got a scare. Already playing one man short because of the suspension of Domingo German, Clarke Schmidt caused a controversy by being checked out by the umpires. It turned out he was ok with the amount of rosin on his hand, but that the fuzz from inside of his glove was sticking to and making a black mark on this non-pitching hand. He was told to wash it off, and he complied. All good. But Cincy manager David Bell thought that Schmidt deserved the German treatment (which REALLY would have screwed up the Yankees), argued too long about it, and got ejected.
Anyway, Schmidt then ran into trouble in the sixth, giving up a single and double. Jimmy Cordero came in for Schmidt and gave up a two-run double to make the score 3-2. He walked the next batter while there was an SB. So first and third, 3-2 game but Cordero escaped without any more runs scoring.
Then came the ninth and Higgy’s redemption. Gleyber Torres walked, and two outs later, Oswaldo Cabrera walked. Higgy then doubled both runners home to give the Yanks a 5-2 cushion. After a walk to D.J. LeMahieu, Harrison Bader gave the Yanks more insurance with an RBI single. 6-2.
After the game, it was announced that the Yanks traded a minor league pitcher to Boston for OF Greg Allen and cash considerations. Allen, 30, was previously with the Yanks for 15 games in 2021. He has played for Cleveland (2017-2020), San Diego (2020), the Yankees (2021) and the Pirates (2022). He hasn’t played in the majors this season yet, but is expected to join the team in Cincy. We will see what the corresponding moves will be. The switch-hitter can play all three OF positions. He is just a .232 career hitter with an OPS+ of just 71 and I don’t like his BB/K ratio, but he is best for his speed (45 of 53 in his career in SB) and defense.
In return for Allen, the Yanks gave up minor league P Diego Hernandez, who is just 18 and who was 4-2, 2.10 in the Dominican Summer League last year in 12 games, five of them starts.
There has been a lot of B.S. in Toronto the last few games. In hitting his second HR of the game on Monday night, Aaron Judge was caught glancing into the dugout shortly before hitting the HR. People accused him of picking up a sign and cheating. Judge, as well as manager Aaron Boone, explained that Judge was looking over to see who was still chirping at the umpire after Boone had gotten ejected for arguing a bad call on Judge—a strike that once again, was too low for Judge. Judge wanted to also give a signal that “hey, shut up now, I am hitting here.”
Of course, not everyone bought that explanation, and instead wanted to state that Judge, one of the most loved and respected players in the game—a decent player who doesn’t show up anyone—was cheating.
Judge answered those people with a 2-run HR that broke open a tie game and was the winning blow in a 6-3 Yankees (25-19) win over Toronto last night. This time his eyes didn’t move off the pitcher. Take that!
The game wasn’t above other controversy though. And besides controversy, other problems for the Yanks. Both teams sniped at each other for where their base coaches were standing. It was so petty. One thing is for sure. If I were a third base coach and Judge was at bat, I would not be in the coaches’ box but as far back as legally possible. A foul liner off of Judge’s bat, if it hit me in the head, could kill me. The B.S. about where the coaches were standing was juvenile.
The scoring started when the Yanks scored two runs in the top of the third. Isiah Kiner-Falefa (IKF), who had a huge night, walked to start off the inning. Jose Trevino, who also had a big night, singled IKF to third. Gleyber Torres singled in a run. After Judge struck out, Harrison Bader hit a grounder that turned into a DP (Torres’ baserunning last night left something to be desired) but Trevino scored before the out on Torres at third so the Yanks were up 2-0.
Yankees’ starter Domingo German retired each of the first nine batters he faced but was ejected before the bottom of the fourth inning due to having too much stickiness on his hand. This is similar to the situation Max Scherzer of the Mets had last month, and Scherzer got a 10-game suspension out of it along with the ejection. We can expect the same for German. German had trouble with this same umpiring crew regarding rosin last month. Now it happened again. German claimed it was rosin on his hand. The umpires claimed it was something else that was stickier than rosin. One thing is for sure, and that is that German crossed the line, but MLB needs to define better what the line is as far as rosin is concerned. David Cone, a former pitcher, had a good video recently showing that in trying to wipe off rosin, that alcohol with water (I may be wrong here as far as what all it was) made the rosin even stickier in trying to get rid of the rosin. There is something going on, and MLB has to be better at defining what the line is, and in having something to remove rosin without making things worse.
Anyway, no German for a while. While the Yanks will be getting Luis Severino back shortly (see my minor league report for how Sevy did last night), the Yanks were shorthanded in the rotation to begin with, and a German suspension doesn’t help. You can’t call up someone from the minors just because of a suspension. Expect a couple of bullpen games while German is out.
To make matters worse, the pitcher who replaced German in the game was Ian Hamilton, who had to be pulled a bit later because of right groin tightness, and he is bound for the IL. I’d expect Greg Weissert to be recalled. If not him, then maybe Matt Krook or Nick Ramirez.
Back to the game. In the top of the fifth, IKF, not one for power, hit his first HR of the season to give the Yanks a 3-0 lead. But Ron Marinaccio gave up the lead as the Blue Jays scored three times in the bottom of the fifth.
That led to Judge answering the critics with his 2-run HR (11) in the eighth. The Yanks added another run in the ninth on a double by IKF, who came around on a couple of flyouts, with Torres getting the SF.
The win moved the Yanks into a virtual tie for third in the AL East with Toronto (Toronto is percentage points ahead), 7 1/2 back of Tampa Bay.
Yankees’ ace Gerrit Cole is on the mound tonight for the Yankees.
Torres 2 hits, 2 RBI but also out twice on the basepaths with baserunning mistakes. Judge 2-run HR (11) Take that, critics! Kiner-Falefa 2 hits, RBI. Solo HR (1). Trevino 3 for 3.
German 3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 2 K. 9 up, 9 down. but ejected & 10-game suspension coming up. 3.75 Hamilton 2/3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 2 W, 2 K. 1.23 IL stint coming up. Marinaccio (BS, 3) 1 IP, 3 R, 4 H, 0 W, 1 K. Gave up 1 HR. 4.74 Weber (W, 1-0) 2 1/3 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 0 W, 0 K. 5.06 Holmes (H, 3) 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 1 K. 3.86 Peralta (S, 3) 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 W, 0 K. 1.65 Has he replaced Holmes as closer?
Quick notes: Great job by Weber. Also, Bader’s defense is unreal.
The Sommer Frieze 
