Games 34/35. Yanks split DH.

Game 1: The Yanks won the opener of a DH, 11-6, with a six-run seventh inning.

The Yanks went up 1-0 in the first on a double by Gardner and ground outs by Ellsbury and Holliday.

Severino got out of trouble in the first and second, but was knocked out in the third. He didn’t have it today. The unsung hero of the day is Chad Green, recalled when Chapman got put on the DL. With three runs already in, one out and the bases loaded, Green got a DP ball and pitched 3 2/3 scoreless innings.

With another game tonight, you don’t want to burn out your bullpen in game one.

The Yanks got back-to-back HRs from Castro (7) and Judge (14) in the fourth to go up 4-3. Castro’s slice to the RF porch was a 2-run HR and Judge’s went 441 ft., just right of dead center.

Adam Warren gave up 3 runs, 2 earned, in the top of the seventh to make it 6-4 Houston, but in the bottom of the seventh, the Yanks exploded, with the key blow being a bases-loaded triple by Chase Headley.

With one out, Gardner singled and Ellsbury doubled. Holliday singled in a run, Castro doubled to tie the game. Judge was intentionally walked to load the bases. After Didi struck out, Headley hit his triple to make it 9-6, and Carter doubled to make it 10-6.

Gardner homered (7) in the eighth for the final score of 11-6.

Gardner 3 hits, inc. the HR.
Holliday 2 RBI.
Castro 2 hits, inc. the HR, 3 RBI
Judge the HR.
Headley those 3 RBI.

Severino 2 1/3 IP, 3 R, 6 H, 3 W, 1 HBP, 2 K. 3.86
Green 3 2/3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 1 W, 3 K. 0.00. Unsung hero.
Warren (Bs, 1; W, 1-0, 1.29) 2 IP, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 H, 1 W, 1 K.
Holder 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K. 1.72

Game 2: After the Jeter #2 retirement ceremony which was great, the beginning of the game was a disaster, and you have to be wondering if something if physically wrong with Masahiro Tanaka, and the last thing the Yanks need after losing Chapman for a month is for something to be wrong for Tanaka.

Tanaka gave up HRs to both of the first two batters he faced, and later on in the first inning, he gave up a grand slam. The Yanks were down 6-0 before they even came to bat.

Tanaka gave up 2 more runs, and another HR, in the second inning. He didn’t make it out of the second inning, and in 1 2/3 IP, gave up 8 runs and 4 HR.

That is not Tanaka. The blowout on Opening Day. Now this. You really have to wonder if something is wrong with him—if that partially torn UCL in his elbow has blown out.

(Update: The postgame report said nothing is physically wrong with Tanaka. But…) 

I hope not. But tonight’s performance sets off alarms. His ERA is close to 6.00. That’s not him.

The reason Refsnyder was brought up and no corresponding move—if a surprise unexpected DH is necessary, teams can go to 26 players for the extra game. Still I wonder why Refsnyder, who unfortunately hasn’t distinguished himself too much, and not Ji-Man Choi, hitting .350 at SWB and who hopefully would be better than the so-far disappointing Chris Carter.

Giovanny Gallegos came in and was decent in his 2nd MLB game, keeping the game right there, giving up 1 run in the fourth.

The bullpen was great filling in for Tanaka, who was just brutal.

The Yanks got four runs in the fifth on an RBI single by Gardner and a 3-run HR by Holliday (7).

Houston got a run in the ninth, and the Yanks got 3 in the bottom of the ninth to make it respectable at 10-7. They had the tying run at the plate for the last out.

Tanaka (L, 5-2, 5.80) 1 2/3 IP, 8 R, 7 H, 1 W, 3 K. Gave up 4 HR.
Gallegos 3 IP, 1 R, unearned, 1 H, 1 W, 3 K. 0.00
Shreve 2 1/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K. 0.00
Layne 1 2/3 IP, 0 r, 0 H, 0 W, 2 K. 6.75
Betances 1/3 IP, 1 R, unearned, 2 H, 0 W, 0 K. 0.75

Gardner 3 hits, Sanchez 2 hits.
Holliday 3 RBI, HR.

Ex-umpire Steve Palermo died of cancer at the age of 67. He was not only a good umpire, but he lost his umpiring job due to being a hero. He was shot trying to break up a robbery, was paralyzed, busted his butt just to walk again and became director of umpires because he couldn’t umpire again. Courageous, a hero, and taken from us way too soon.

Saturday’s game rained out. Single admission DH Sunday.

Saturday’s Yankee game has been rained out. There will be a SINGLE admission DH on Sunday. Afternoon game at 2 pm.

The Derek Jeter retirement ceremony is scheduled to begin no earlier than 6:35 PM, with the second game scheduled for no earlier than 7:35 PM.

What this means is that the Yanks are biting the financial bullet on one game and only the fans who already had tickets for the Jeter night game will be allowed in for the afternoon game. People who had tickets for the Saturday game will be allowed to exchange them for a future game.

Game 31. Reds snap Yanks’ win streak at 6, win 5-3.

CC Sabathia had one bad inning, but that one bad inning cost him 5 runs and the ballgame as the Yanks’ six-game winning streak came to an end, 5-3, at the hands of the Reds.

Gary Sanchez put the Yanks up 1-0 in the first with his second HR of the season. Remember he missed a month.

Didi Gregorius, who also missed a month or so, hit his first HR of the year in the second to put the Yanks up 2-0.

Then CC gave up 5 in the bottom of the second. Reds’ star Joey Votto had 2 of the RBI.

Didi singled in a run in the fourth to make it 5-3 but there was no scoring after that.

I have to ask this question. Ronald Torreyes has done a decent job filling in, esp. when Didi was out. But there is a big flaw in his game. After tonight, in 84 plate appearances, Torreyes, who is small, 5’6″ or so, has only one walk. One. He needs to develop better plate discipline.

He came up with the bases loaded in the sixth. Foul, groundout. Only two pitches. You’d think with his small size, he’d crouch a little and try to draw a walk.

Just kidding as far as crouching, but you know what I mean. 1 walk in 84 plate appearances isn’t good, even if Torreyes is hitting .305. A mild criticism, but a legit one.

Sanchez came up in the ninth with two on and one out and hit a bullet, but the liner was caught and Hicks was doubled off of second. That’s baseball. He hit it hard, but….

Chad Green made his season debut.

CC struggled, and his ERA has gone from 2.70 to 5.77 in his past few starts. You can say he is the weak link in the rotation. He has to be fine and perfect. He can’t get away with stuff like he could have five years ago. He had only one bad inning but it cost him. He doesn’t have much of a margin for error with what he has right now.

Sabathia (L, 2-2, 5.77) 6 IP, 5 R, 7 H, 2 W, 2 K.
Betances 1 IP, 0 r, 0 H, 2 W, 3 K. 0.77. Walked the first two, struck out the next three.
Chad Green 1 Ip, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 2 K. 0.00

Didi was 3 for 4, HR, 2 RBI.

Hopefully Chris Carter wakes up soon and doesn’t keep hitting like Jimmy Carter. I still don’t know why Ji-Man Choi wasn’t brought up for a couple of weeks to platoon w/Carter at 1B while Bird is out. Choi is hitting like .350, playing 1B for SWB.

The Yanks are off Wednesday, then a four-game set against AL West leader Houston (inc. Beltran and McCann). Houston is playing well, so this will be a test. Sunday night’s game (Mother’s Day) is an ESPN night game, and the Yanks will be retiring Derek Jeter’s #2 that night.

Yanks ppd. Day/Night DH in Boston 7-16. And guess who might be the Marlins’ new owners?

The Yankees’ game vs. Boston was ppd. due to rain today in Boston and will be made up as part of a day/night DH in Boston on Sunday July 16. The first game will be at 1 PM and the second, probably an ESPN game, at 8 PM.

A conglomerate led by Jeb Bush and Derek Jeter won the auction to buy the Florida Marlins. Now to baseball and the owners to approve the sale. Price? $1.3 billion.

Yankees to retire Jeter’s #2 on 50th anniversary of Mantle’s 500th HR.

On Mother’s Day, May 14, 1967, a Sunday, Mickey Mantle hit his 500th HR off of Baltimore’s Stu Miller at the original Yankee Stadium.

Exactly 50 years later, on another Sunday and Mother’s Day, the new Yankee Stadium across the street will see another historic event: the retirement of #2 for Derek Jeter.

With the retirement, all single digits will be retired, unless someone decides to shine in #0 or #00 or so.

You wonder if #13 (A-Rod) could be next….

Big move by Boston today, trading 4 prospects, Moncada being the top one, to the White Sox for Chris Sale.

A big deal is brewing, as the Cubs are close to trading OF Jorge Soler to KC for reliever Wade Davis. Well, now that Chapman is probably leaving….

WS Game 1 goes to KC in 14, 5-4.

If the rest of the World Series is as good as Game 1, we’ll have a great one. An inside-the-park HR (first since 1929), a HR in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game, a 14-inning, 5-4 KC win. Wow.

Kansas City won Game 1 5-4 in 14 innings over the Mets. Game 2 is tonight. deGrom vs. Cueto. May the best hair win.

Apparently Derek Jeter is now engaged to model Hannah Davis.

C Gary Sanchez has been raking in the Arizona Fall League. 8 games, has hit in all 8, 5 HR.

Sorry for the late postings. Overtime, computer problems, and now sick.

Sorry, again. I should add that the Royals’ starter lost his father before the game and didn’t find out until after he was removed from the game.

Game 67. A-Rod’s 3000th is a HR as Yanks win 7-2.

Alex Rodriguez joined the 3000 hit club in style, becoming the third player to have his 3000th hit be a home run, following Wade Boggs and Derek Jeter.

Meanwhile, Adam Warren made a strong statement to stay in the rotation. The Yanks will have a difficult decision to make when Ivan Nova is ready to come back. How do you pull your #3 starter and send him to the bullpen?

Before the game, the Yanks made some moves. They DL’d Sergio Santos after just two appearances as a Yankee with elbow inflammation. They also sent Chris Martin down to AAA. To replace them, they brought back Brandon Pinder (poor guy has been a yo-yo this season) and brought up Bryan Mitchell.

The Yanks beat Detroit 7-2, went to 37-30 on the season and stayed one game behind the surprising and resilient Rays.

A-Rod hit the first pitch he saw last night for a home run to RCF. Hit #3000 was HR #13 on the season and #667 of his career.

Warren gave up two runs in the second to put the Tigers up 2-1, but Didi Gregorius tied it in the bottom of the second with a HR (3).

In the bottom of the fifth, Brett Gardner’s two-run HR (7) put the Yanks up 4-2. Gardner went 4 for 5 for the evening, scored two runs and drove in three.

A nice play by John Ryan Murphy on a tag at the plate saved the Yanks a run.

The Yanks broke it open late,. scoring two in the seventh on a WP (the ball didn’t get far away, and Gardner’s speed let him score, great play by Gardy) and a Teixeira single.

Gardner’s single in the eighth made it 7-2, the final score.

Warren pitched 8 strong innings. It’ll be hard to remove him from the rotation. Should they?

Also, considering the way Pinder has pitched, maybe he should stay instead of being yo-yo’d?

Warren 8 IP, 2 R, 7 H, 0 walks and 7 K. (W, 5-4, 3.62)
Pinder 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 walks and 0 K. 1.93.

Today’s game is a night game. It’s Old-Timer’s Day and the Yankees will be honoring Willie Randolph with a plaque in Monument Park.