Vic Davalillo, who started a big ninth-inning rally in Game 3 of the 1977 NLCS, passed away December 6 at the age of 84.
Davalillo played for the Cleveland Indians (1963-1968), California Angels (1968-1969), St. Louis Cardinals (1969-1970), Pittsburgh Pirates (1971-1973), Oakland A’s (1973-1974) and Los Angeles Dodgers (1977-1980). He won a Gold Glove Award in 1964 and was an All-Star in 1965, when he finished 21st in MVP voting after hitting .301-5-40 with 26 SB.
He won WS rings in 1971 and 1973. He wasn’t with the A’s in the postseason when they won the 1974 WS. Davalillo also was on the 1977 and 1978 pennant winning Dodger teams.
His 162-game average was .279-4-37 with 14 SB. From 1969 on, he was mostly used as a platoon player or pinch-hitter.
In Game 3 of the 1977 NLCS, the Phillies had a 5-3 lead with two outs in the top of the ninth. The series was tied at one game apiece. Davalillo beat out a drag bunt to start a three-run rally and the Dodgers shockingly won the game 6-5 and went on to win the pennant the next night. After Davalillo’s bunt, a managerial mistake and two errors, along with a controversial umpire’s call, doomed the Phillies.
In 22 postseason games, Davalillo hit .323-0-2, including going 5 for 8 in the 1973 ALCS.
Also passing away recently were:
Dave Wehrmeister, 71. RHP for the Padres (1976-1978), Yankees (5 games in 1981), Phillies (7 games in 1984) and White Sox (1985) He was 4-9, 5.65 in his career in 76 games, 10 of them starts. He was not on the AL pennant-winning Yankees’ 1981 postseason roster.
Joe Hicks. Lefty hitting OF for the White Sox (1959-1960), Senators (1961-1962) and Mets (1963). In 212 MLB games he hit .221 with 12 HR. Most of that was in 1962 when he hit .224-6-14. In 1963 he hit .226-5-22. He only got in six games for the AL Pennant-winning White Sox in 1959 and wasn’t on the WS roster.
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.
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.
Nestor Cortes wasn’t the Nasty Nestor we’ve known during the past few starts. One concerning thing was that his ERA for the first 4 innings was great at 1.97, but it was over 16 from the fifth inning on.
Cortes rectified that tonight in the Yankees (26-20) 4-2 win over Toronto, going six strong innings.
The Yanks bullpen was shorthanded due to overwork, but Ryan Weber, Albert Abreu and Ron Marinaccio combined to do the job.
Cortes got backing from the Captain and the Kid.
Gleyber Torres led off the game with a single, and Aaron Judge homered (12) to make it 2-0 right away. Judge just killed the Blue Jays in this four-game series with four HR.
Cortes gave up a HR to Bo Bichette in the bottom of the first, and the score was 2-1.
It stayed 2-1 until the seventh. In the top of the seventh, Oswaldo Cabrera doubled, and Aaron Hicks got an RBI single to make it 3-1.
Cortes left after a leadoff walk in the bottom of the seventh, and Ryan Weber gave up a single and a walk. Things didn’t look good as Toronto had the bases loaded with one out. But Weber got a flyout with no advance. PH Vlad Guerrero, Jr., always scary, was held to a SF to make the score 3-2 but Weber got a flyout for the third out to preserve the Yankees’ lead.
In the top of the ninth, Anthony Volpe homered (7) off the foul screen to give the Yanks an insurance run. 4-2 final.
Volpe, just 22, is only hitting .215, but he does has 7 HR and 13 SB in 46 games. Imagine what he could do if he can raise that average 50 points.
Besides his HR, Judge also had a double that just missed being a second HR of the night by about a foot.
Cortes (W, 4-2) 6+ IP, 2 R, 5 H, 1 W, 6 K. Gave up 1 HR. 5.21 Weber (H, 1) 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 1 W, 0 K. 4.26 Abreu (H, 2) 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 2 K 4.71 Marinaccio (S, 1) 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 0 K. 4.50
Josh Donaldson had a setback, slicing a thumb in a home accident. Jose Trevino to the 10-day IL with a strained hamstring. Ben Rortvedt called up. Ian Hamilton will be out 4-6 weeks.
Clarke Schmidt got his first MLB win as a starter in the Yankees’ (20-17) 10-5 win over Oakland last night.
Prior to last night, Schmidt was 5-3 in relief, but 0-6 as a starter.
Schmidt gave up a run in the top of the second but got out of more trouble.
The Yanks exploded for five runs in the bottom of the third. Jose Trevino and Aaron Hicks led off the inning with walks, and Trevino moved to third on a flyout by Anthony Volpe. Aaron Judge, back off the IL, reached on an error that allowed Trevino to score and tie the game. Anthony Rizzo singled to make it 2-1, Judge going to third. Gleyber Torres singled in Judge, Rizzo going to second. Harrison Bader, who has been a big spark since coming off the IL, singled in Rizzo to make it 4-1, Torres going to third. Jake Bauers then hit a SF to make it 5-1.
In the top of the fourth, Schmidt gave up a HR to Jordan Diaz, the first of THREE HR Diaz would hit in the game. 5-2, Yankees.
Torres hit a 2-run HR (6) in the bottom of the fifth to put the Yanks up 7-2.
Diaz homered for the A’s in the top of the seventh. 7-3.
Bauers hit a 2-run HR (2) in the bottom of the seventh. 9-3 Yankees.
Diaz’ third HR of the game, a 2-run shot, cut the Yanks’ lead to 9-5 in the top of the eighth.
In the bottom of the eighth, Volpe led off the inning with a triple, then scored on a SF by Judge.
Aaron Hicks had to leave the game early with hip tightness.
The Yanks have an afternoon game today, starting at 12:30. Jhony Brito is the starting pitcher.
Judge 2 RBI Rizzo 2 hits, RBI. Torres 2 hits, 3 RBI. 2-run HR (6). Bader 3 hits, RBI. Bauers 3 RBI. 2-run HR (2). Both his hits this year (2 for 12) are HR.
Schmidt (W, 1-3) 6 IP, 2 R, 5 H, 2 W, 7 K. gave up 1 HR. 1 WP 5.35 Abreu 2/3 IP, 1 R, 1 H, 1 W, 1 K. Gave up 1 HR. 4.86 Peralta 1/3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 1 W, 0 K. 2.03 Weissert 1 IP, 2 R, 3 H, 1 W, 2 K. gave up 1 HR 5.06 Holmes 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 W, 3 K. 3.46
The Yankees (19-17) blasted 4 HR in beating ex-Yankee J.P. Sears and the Oakland A’s 7-2 Monday night.
Oswaldo Cabrera started the scoring with a 2-run HR (2) in the bottom of the fifth. This followed a Harrison Bader triple. Up to that point, Isiah Kiner-Falefa made two great defensive plays at 3B.
The A’s came right back in the top of the sixth and tied the game up.
The Yanks went ahead to stay in the bottom of the sixth. A HR by Gleyber Torres (5), single by Anthony Rizzo and HR by D.J. LeMahieu (4) put the Yanks up 5-2.
Aaron Hicks’ first HR of the season, a 2-run shot in the bottom of the seventh, closed out the scoring. 7-2 Yankees.
This hurts. It is the difference between being 8 back as opposed to 10 back.
The Yankees (18-17) had a 6-0 lead with Gerrit Cole on the mound. They wound up losing 8-7 in ten innings.
Cole hadn’t given up a HR this season after giving up a MLB leading 33 last year, but he gave up two yesterday.
The Yanks got three runs in the third inning on an Anthony Rizzo solo HR (6) followed by a two-run HR by Harrison Bader (2).
In the top of the fourth, Aaron Hicks got an RBI double to make it 4-0. It was Hicks’ first extra base hit of the season. Gleyber Torres later doubled in Hicks to make it 5-0.
In the top of the fifth, Bader tripled and scored on a SF by Oswaldo Cabrera. 6-0. With your ace, Cole, on the mound, you thought you were good. It didn’t turn out that way.
With one out in the bottom of the fifth, Cole gave up his first HR of the season. The Rays added another run with help from an error by Torres. 6-2.
Then in the sixth, Cole lost it completely. Back-to-back doubles made it 6-3. A walk. Then a 3-run HR that tied the game. Jimmy Cordero came in. A walk, then a WP. Then a bouncer back to Cordero while the runner was moving. Cordero didn’t do a good job checking the runner and the runner scored all the way from second on a 1-3 groundout. Inexcusable.
The Yanks tied the game in the top of the seventh. Bader sparked things again with a leadoff single. One out later, Cabrera hit a ground-rule double, then a groundout by Jose Trevino tied the game.
With one out and Hicks on third in the top of the tenth, Hicks, going on contact, got trapped in a rundown on a grounder by Torres. The Yanks failed to score.
While the Yanks failed with their ghost runner (I hate that rule) in the top of the tenth, Tampa Bay didn’t, getting a walk off single to win the game 8-7.
The Yanks were 1 for 15 with RISP.
Anthony Volpe 0 for 5, 3 strikeouts. He had a tough weekend in Tampa. Torres 2 hits, RBI. Rizzo solo HR (6). LeMahieu 2 hits. Bader 3 hits, 2 RBI. 2-run HR (2). Cabrera 2 hits, RBI.
Cole 5 IP, 6 R, 5 ER, 8 H, 2 W, 6 K. Gave up 2 HR. 2.09 J. Cordero 1 IP, 1 R, 0 H, 1 W, 1 K. 1 WP 3.55 Holmes 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 2 K. 3.75 Peralta 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 2 K 2.08 King 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 3 K 1.35 Abreu (L, 1-1) 1/3 IP, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 W, 0 K. 4.50
Side Note: Vida Blue, who almost became a Yankee in June 1976 (the sale was voided by Bowie Kuhn) died yesterday at the age of 73. Blue won 209 games, mostly for the A’s and Giants. He was a 6x All-Star and 3X WS Champ.
Harrison Bader didn’t start yesterday’s game, but he decided it.
His 2-run eighth inning single was the game winner in a 3-2 Yankees (18-16) win.
Yankees’ starter Domingo German gave up two first inning runs (more on that in a moment), then settled in. But the way the Yankees’ offense has been, you wondered if those two runs were going to be two runs too many.
Getting back to the bottom of the first. With two on and two out, German threw a nasty 2-1 pitch that was strike two. Catcher Kyle Higashioka started to go toward the dugout as if it were strike three. On the next pitch, German gave up a two-run double that ate up Yankees’ 3B D.J. LeMahieu. After the inning, Anthony Rizzo had a good talking-to with the embarrassed Higashioka. The wipeout pitch that was used to hopefully get out of the inning was already used and now the batter was ready for it if it was thrown again. Higgy’s mistake may have been the cause for the next pitch being the one that gave up two runs. You don’t know, but Higgy heard about it in the dugout after the inning.
Higgy made up for it later in the game with a key caught stealing at a crucial moment in the game. It turned out to save a run.
Jake Bauers later made a fine defensive play, throwing out a runner at third. These plays enabled the Yanks to stay in the game and proved crucial in their comeback win. Tampa Bay threatened a few times after the first inning but couldn’t add on.
Meanwhile, the Yanks offense wasn’t doing anything. But in the top of the eighth, Rizzo singled with one out. Gleyber Torres followed with a single, moving Rizzo to second. A double by LeMahieu cut the Rays’ lead to 2-1. After another out, Bader, who didn’t start the game, flared a 2-run single to give the Yanks the lead, 3-2, and they hung on for the win.
After Bader’s single, Isiah Kiner-Falefa doubled, but for the second time in the game, Aaron Hicks left men on second and third. Even though the game was in Tampa, Hicks heard a lot of boos from the Yankees fans who were at the game. The Yanks are going to have to something about Hicks. It’s like the Gallo situation they had last year.
Getting the save wasn’t the struggling Clay Holmes, but instead Ian Hamilton.
The win was huge. It meant being 9 back instead of 11 back, and with ace Gerrit Cole going today for the Yanks, hopefully they can shave another game off of Tampa Bay’s lead. The rest of the division looks tough, even the Orioles, who are playing good ball. Boston, who most people had finishing last in the division this year, has won eight in a row. The Yanks need to keep pace.
It looks like Aaron Judge will return to the lineup on Tuesday. Luis Severino is headed to SWB to begin rehab.
LeMahieu RBI double. Bader 2 for 2, 2 RBI, and didn’t even start the game. Kiner-Falefa 2 hits.
German 5 IP, 2 R, 4 H, 2 W, 5 K. 1 HBP. 4.35 Peralta 2/3 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 0 W, 0 K. 2.25 Marinaccio (W, 1-1) 1 1/3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 1 K. 1.76 Holmes (H, 1) 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 0 K. 4.09 Hamilton (S, 1) 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 1 K. 1.42
Side note: Yesterday was Willie Mays’ 92nd birthday. The legend is the oldest living Hall-of-Famer.
The less said about this one the better. The only thing Nasty wasn’t Nestor Cortes, but the final score. Texas clobbered the Yankees (15-14) 15-2. Nestor wasn’t on, and neither were his relievers.
Kiner-Falefa 2 hits, Hicks 2 hits.
Cortes (L, 3-2) 4 2/3 IP, 7 R, 5 H, 4 W, 7 K. Gave up 3 HR. 4.91 Abreu 1 IP, 6 R, 2 H, 4 W, 1 K. Gave up 1 HR. 5.40 Nick Ramirez 2 1/3 IP, 2 R, 4 H, 0 W, 2 K. 4.15
Franchy Cordero rejoined the team to replace Jake Bauers, who had to go on the IL.
Aaron Judge has a mild hip strain, and the Yanks will decide by Monday if he is day to day or needs to go on the IL.
Meanwhile, without Judge (and also Stanton and Donaldson, both on the IL, along with rehabbing Harrison Bader, also on the IL) the Yankees (15-13) offense is struggling.
Tonight, they got only three hits while getting shutout by Texas, 2-0.
Rookie Jhony Brito hasn’t done badly this year, except for when he twice faced the Twins. He was good tonight, but made one mistake, giving up a 2-run HR to Ezequiel Duran. Duran was once in the Yanks’ farm system and was in the failed trade that brought the Yankees Joey Gallo.
That one mistake was enough to cost Brito and the Yankees the ballgame.
Jake Bauers, who was just called up while Franchy Cordero was sent down, didn’t even get to bat. He made a superb catch to end the bottom of the first inning and saved a run doing so. However, he crashed into the wall and bruised his knee and had to come out of the game.
In the bottom of the third, Aaron Hicks, Bauers’ replacement in LF, stole a HR away with a leaping catch. It saved three runs.
Brito (L, 2-3) 5 IP, 2 R, 4 H, 1 W, 5 K. Gave up 1 HR. 5.56 Marinaccio 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 2 W, 2 K. 2.31 Hamilton 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 0 K. 1.72 Peralta 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 0 K. 1 HBP 2.70
The Sommer Frieze 
