Boston going to WS. Defeats defending Champ Houston, 4 games to 1.

There will be no repeat champ. Boston beat Houston (and Justin Verlander, aka as Mr. Kate Upton) Thursday evening, 4-1, to advance to the World Series as the AL Champion.

Jackie Bradley was named ALCS MVP. For David Price, finally, a postseason win.

The last time a team repeated as WS Champion was when the Yankees won three in a row from 1998-2000. As we know, they were one inning away from making it four in a row in 2001.

Tonight the Dodgers try to wrap up the NL pennant in Game 6 of the NLCS. The Red Sox and Dodgers met once in the WS, in 1916 (the Dodgers were known as the Brooklyn Robins then). Boston, led by 21-yr. old Babe Ruth (known for his pitching, not hitting) beat Brooklyn in that Series. The Dodgers that year had Casey Stengel as a starting OF.

The Red Sox and Brewers have never met in a postseason series.

Turning to the Arizona Fall League. The Yanks have some prospects playing for the Glendale Desert Dogs, who are currently 0-8.

1B Steven Sensley
OF Estevan Florial
SS Thairo Estrada
P Jordan Foley
P Hobie Harris
P Matt Wivinis
P Kyle Zurak

 

 

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Minor League Report. SWB loses final game of AAA Championship, 6-2.

SWB lost the final game of the International League Series (the Governor’s Cup) by a score of 6-2 . Durham wins the Governor’s Cup, 3 games to 2.

Ironically, after the game, the Yanks’ brought up to the big club the two pitchers who lost the game===Domingo German and Justus Sheffield.

3B Gio Ushela 2 hits.
DH Mike Ford a 2-run HR.

SWB struck out 14x. Both here, and at the major league level, guys have to make more contact and not just worry about hitting HR.

German (L)  2 2/3 IP, 3 R, 3 H, 1 W,  2 K. Gave up 1 HR.
Sheffield 1 IP, 3 R, 0 ER, 2 H, 0 W, 2 K.
Rosa 1 1/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 2 W, 0 K.
Lail 1 2/3 IP, 0 R,  2 H,  1 W, 4 K.
Diehl 1 1/3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 1 K.

Minor League Report. SWB forces 5th and Deciding Game 5 for International League Championship.

SWB won Game 4 of the Governor’s cup, 5-2, to force a fifth and deciding game for the International League Championship, which is to be played Saturday at 4 PM.

Even though the game will be at SWB’s home field, Durham, just like in Games 3 and 4, will be the home team. Games 3, 4 and 5 have had to be played at SWB instead of Durham b/c of the Hurricane hitting the Carolinas.

3b Gio Urshella 2 hits, solo HR.
DH Mike Ford 2 hits, 4 RBI, inc. a 3-run HR.

Bollinger 5 2/3 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 1 W, 6 K.
R. Espinal 1 2/3 IP, 2 R, 5 H, 1 W, 3 K.
Harvey (S) 1 2/3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 1 K.

Minor League Report (SWB loses Game 3) and some Yankees’ observations.

AAA: SWB lost Game 3 of the AAA International League Finals, 3-0, Thursday night and are now down 2 games to 1 in the best-of-five series.

LF Mark Payton 2 hits.

King (L) 6 2/3 IP, 3 R, 7 H, 2 W, 4 K. Gave up 1 HR.
Diehl 1/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 W, 1 K.
Sosebee 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 2 K.

Interesting stuff on the Yanks today. Hitting just .214 on the road since the All-Star break. Ouch. Stanton 8 for last 71 with 31 strikeouts. Joel Sherman in the NY Post saying Stanton could become another lightning rod like A-Rod was when he failed. I hope not.

They miss Judge. We can see that. Some of Boone’s decisions are being criticized right now, but he doesn’t have Judge or Chapman. The lack of OF depth, esp. since people like Gamel, Fowler, Cave, McKinney, Austin were traded (and with the injuries to Frazier and Ellsbury) hurt right now. Gardner, Stanton, Hicks all slumping.

It’s looking like Chapman may be coming back, but how late and how rusty? Same with Judge.

As far as next free agent class goes, and as much as I’d like Machado and as much as Machado may want to come to NY (moving Andujar where? DH (Stanton to LF?) 1B? LF?) I am thinking more and more that getting Bryce Harper may be the better fit. Here is why.

Gardner. Yanks can pick up his option at $12.5 MM for 2019 or buy him out at $2mm. He is 35 and hitting .238. The buyout is looking likely.

So who to replace him in LF? Ellsbury isn’t reliable with the injuries, nor is Frazier after the concussion. Both could serve as backup OF.

So replace Gardner with Harper? Let’s look at lineup balance.

Righty bats: Sanchez, Voit, Torres, Andujar, Judge, Stanton.

Lefty bats (in a stadium built for lefties): Hicks (switch hitter), Didi, Bird.

So if Gardner is paid off, where does the lefty power come from? Bird has been disappointing.

Looking at that imbalance, as much as I’d like Machado, Harper could be the better fit.

Imagine this in 2019.

Hicks CF S
Judge RF R
Harper LF L
Stanton DH R
Didi SS L
Sanchez C R
Andujar 3B R
Bird/Voit 1B (platoon?) L/R
Torres 2B R

A little more balance, and we can always dream, can’t we?

 

Minor League Report. SWB loses Game 2. International League finals series tied at 1 game apiece.

 

SWB lost Game 2 of the Governor’s Cup, the International League Finals, by a score of 5-2. The series is tied at a game apiece.

3B Gio Urshela 2 doubles.
1B Mike Ford a 2-run HR.

Cortes (L) 6 IP, 2 R, 2 H, 3 W, 6 K. Gave up HR.
It was ex-Yankee Rob Refsnyder with the 2-run HR off of Cortes in the first.

Lail 2 IP, 1 R, 3 H, 0 W, 4 K.
Coshow 1 IP, 2 R, 1 H, 1 W, 1 K. Gave up 1 HR.

 

 

Minor League Report. SWB takes Game 1 of International League Finals, 3-2.

Before the game report, some news about the Governor’s Cup (the International League Finals) between SWB (the Yankees’ AAA affiliate) and Durham. All of the games in the best-of-five series have to be played at SWB because of the hurricane about to wreck havoc (if it hasn’t done so already) to the Carolinas.

So SWB will be the home team for Games 1 and 2 and the “away” team for Games 3, 4 and 5 (4 and 5 if needed).

SWB took Game 1 last night, 3-2, in a game that had its own long rain delay.

Durham got a run in the fifth, but SWB came back with three in the bottom of the fifth. Bruce Caldwell with a 2-run double, Ryan McBroom an RBI single.

Ex-Yankee Rob Refsnyder homered for Durham in the seventh.

Caldwell 2 RBI
Zack Zehner 2 hits

German 3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 5 K.
Sheffield 3 IP, 1 R, 3 H, 1 W, 2 K.
Sosebee (H) 1 IP, 1 R, 1 H, 0 W, 0 K. Gave up HR
Coshow (H) 1/3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 1 W, 0 K.
Harvey (H) 2/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K.
Kontos (S) 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 W, 0 K.

Game 144. Sanchez and Happ key Yanks’ 7-2 win.

I advocated dropping Gary Sanchez down in the lineup, it was done (to 6) and it worked as Sanchez hit a 460 foot home run and had three hits in the Yanks’ 7-2 win over the Minnesota Twins Monday night.

Just like Masahiro Tanaka did a few nights earlier, J.A. Happ put in his bid to start the wild card game with a great performance.

Sanchez broke open a scoreless game with his HR (16) in the sixth. 1-0 Yanks.

The Yanks broke open a tight game with six runs in the seventh. McCutchen and Hicks walked, and Andujar doubled in both runs. 3-0. Stanton doubled in Andujar. 4-0. Gregorius doubled in Stanton, 5-0. Sanchez singled and Bird walked. Bases loaded, no one out. Gardner struck out, but McCutchen hit a SF, 6-0. Hicks walked to re-load the bases but Andujar lined out to end the inning.

The Twins got two in the bottom of the eighth.

Final 7-2 Yanks.

The win is the Yanks’ 90th of the season (90-54). They are 8 GB of Boston with 18 to go. The tragic # for Boston to win the AL East is 11. The magic # for the Yanks to win the top wild card spot is 16, and the magic # to make the playoffs as the second wild card team is 9. The Yanks lead the A’s by 3 games for the top wild card spot.

The Yanks drew 10 walks in the game.

McCutchen, RBI, 3 walks
Hicks 2 walks
Andujar 2 RBI
Sanchez 3 hits, solo HR.
Gardner 2 hits.

Happ is 6-0 as a Yankee.

Happ (16-6, 3.75 Tor/NYY) 6 IP, 0 R, 6 H, 0 W, 3 K.  1 WP
Cessa 2 IP, 2 R, 4 H, 0 W 2 K.  5.35  1 WP
Holder 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K.  3.15

SWB will host Game 1 of the International League (AAA) finals tonight, Tuesday evening vs. Durham.