While Yanks rest, the other series are all going the distance.

The Yanks will have four days off before Game 1 of the ALCS begins on Saturday. While they have swept the Twins, all of the other series are going the distance.

The NLDS’s will wrap up today. St. Louis at Atlanta, Game 5 at 5 PM Eastern, and Washington at the LA Dodgers at 8:30.

Meanwhile, Tampa Bay forced a Game 5 in Houston  7 PM  Thursday night by beating the Astros and Justin Verlander 4-1 last night. The Rays scored three in the first inning. Tommy Pham (3 hits) homered in the first for the Rays, and Willie Adames homered later. Avisail Garcia had four hits. Tampa Bay used an “opener” and went through six pitchers in the win.

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Gleyber Torres reminds me of Derek Jeter, and in a good way. Derek hit for a higher average and stole more bases, while Gleyber has more power. But both at a young age show and showed an incredible amount of maturity and poise. You can see Torres becoming, like Jeter was, a long-time Yankee star, and maybe future captain and Hall-of-Famer. Hopefully his career follows the same great path Jeter’s did.

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If the Yanks have to play Houston in the next round, it’ll be difficult ot beat them, but the Yanks did beat a trio of great pitchers in 1996 and 1999 when they beat the Braves’ HOF trio of Maddux, Glavine and Smoltz. But could this Astro trio of Verlander, Cole and Greinke be even better? Let’s see.

2019 Astro trio. Combined record (inc. Greinke’s overall record, time w/AZ this year)
59-16, Combined ERA+ 518

1996 Braves: 54-29, Combined ERA+ 458

1999 Braves: 44-28, Combined ERA+ 376.

It does look like, should Houston win Game 5, that the Yanks of 2019 may have a tougher battle.

But Houston’s overall team ERA of 3.66 was 2nd in the AL…. to Tampa Bay’s. Despite its unconventional use of “openers”, the Rays’ team ERA was 3.65, barely better than Houston’s.

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Game 98. Yanks fall to Rockies, 8-4.

Sorry for a late posting. I was up in Cooperstown yesterday for the HOF induction ceremony. Up at 3:45 AM, bus leaves at 5 AM. Sit for hours in brutal sun, home in pouring rain. But for Mo? Worth it. Home around 9:30 PM.

But I don’t take the heat well. Sorry, Derek, I don’t think I’ll be going up next year, but will watch on TV.

Anyway, the Yanks’ (64-34) five-game win streak was snapped by the Rockies on a hot Sunday afternoon, 8-4. James Paxton didn’t have a good day.

Charlie Blackmon hit Paxton’s second pitch of the game for a HR. Blackmon had 4 hits on the day.

In the bottom of the first, D.J. LeMahieu hit the first pitch for a HR (14). Tie game.

But Colorado scored three times in the third to go up 4-1 (3 unearned runs due to a Luke Voit error), then got two more in the fourth, 7-1.

Mike Tauchman homered (6) in the fifth to cut it to 7-2.

A passed ball by Gary Sanchez in the eighth enabled Colorado to go up 8-2, then Aaron Hicks hit a 2-run HR (10) in the bottom of the eighth to make it 8-4, the final score.

The Yanks still lead Tampa Bay by 9, and Boston by 11.

LeMahieu solo HR (14) .333
Hicks 2-HR (10).
Tauchman solo HR (6).

The Yanks only had 4 hits in the game. You may say they were tamed savages yesterday.

Paxton (L, 5-5, 4.20) 3 1/3 IP, 7 R, 4 ER,  5 H, 3 W, 6 K.
Green 2 1/3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 3 K.  4.62 (ERA was 16.43 when sent down in April).
Ottavino 1 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 0 W, 1 K.  1.62
Tarpley 1 1/3 IP, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 H, 2 W, 1 K.  6.59
Chapman 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 W, 2 K.  2.39

 

 

 

S.T. Game 3. Tulo homers, Yanks one-hit Jays 3-0 and Andy joins front office.

Troy Tulowitzki and Kyle Higashioka homered, and the Yankees one-hit Toronto 3-0 to go to 2-1 on the spring training schedule. Aaron Judge added a double.

Tulo, who was let go by Toronto and picked up for minimum wage by the Yankees, so far looks good after missing all of 2018 and after playing just 66 games in 2017. We’ll see if it continues. The Yanks are only picking up half a million of his $20MM contract, with the Blue Jays paying the rest.

If Tulo can get anywhere close to where he was before the injuries, the Yanks may have a steal to fill in at SS until Didi Gregorius returns from his injury. Tulo is a 5x All-Star, 2x Gold Glove winner and 2x Silver Slugger winner. He got MVP votes in six different seasons and finished in the top 10 3x (2009-2011).

He’s 34 and after having missed all of 2018 and most of 2017, will need to be monitored carefully. But people are being blown away by how good he looks. Hopefully it isn’t a mirage, and Tulo puts a good bid in for Comeback Player of the Year.

He is a .290 career hitter (granted, most in Colorado) but has hit 20 or more HR in seven different seasons, and has a career OPS+ of 118.

Like I said, if he can come somewhat close to what he used to be, the Yanks got a steal.

The Yanks’ pitching was great today.

Paxton 2 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 2 W, 2 K
German 2 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 3 K.
Cessa 2 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 2 K.
Chad Green 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 0 K.
Diehl 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 2 K.
Holder 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K.

Combined one-hitter, 2 walks, 10 K.  Cessa and German are battling for one of the few bullpen spots available. Betances, Chapman, Britton, Ottavino and Holder more or less have spots sewn up. You also have Loaisiga (who I think will continue to start, but at AAA), Farquhar, Colombe, etc. battling for those few spots also.

Andy Pettitte has agreed to join the Yankees’ front office as a special advisor, and yes, the Yankees’ great was approached by Derek Jeter to do the same for Jeter with the Marlins. At least the Yanks kept Andy. Just recently, Jorge Posada agreed to help out his old buddy Derek.

 

 

Posada to work for Marlins and Jeter. Yanks’ pitchers and catchers report today.

Jorge Posada will be working for Derek Jeter and the Marlins. The former Yankees’ great will work as a special adviser to CEO Jeter. Just like with Jeter last year, it’ll feel funny to see a Yankees’ great working for another team.

Pitchers and catchers report today for the Yanks.

No logo for Mussina; Umpire McKean dies.

As what could be expected for someone who spent his HOF career almost even split between two franchises (10 years with Baltimore, 8 with the Yankees), Mike Mussina has decided to not have a logo on his cap on his HOF plaque.

The late Roy Halladay won’t either. In a somewhat surprising decision, his family decided no logo either. It was expected that Halladay may have a Blue Jay logo on his cap since he spent 12 years in Toronto, and 4 with the Phillies.

Mariano Rivera and Edgar Martinez only played for the Yankees and Mariners, respectively.

It was mentioned that Rivera will be the eighth HOF whose playing career was solely with the Yankees (Derek Jeter will be #9 next year). The others are Whitey Ford, Bill Dickey, Lou Gehrig, Phil Rizzuto, Earle Combs, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle.

Veterans’ Committee choices Harold Baines and Lee Smith, both of whom played for various teams, will both be representing Chicago: Baines the White Sox, Smith the Cubs.

Former MLB umpire Jim McKean passed away at the age of 73. He umpired in 3 WS, 1979, 1985 and 1995.

Mariano is unanimous! Joins Halladay, Edgar and Mussina in HOF class

Mariano Rivera made history by becoming the first player unanimously elected by the writers to the baseball Hall of Fame.

Should others have been unanimous before? Sure. But what an honor.

The writers also elected the late Roy Halladay, along with Edgar Martinez and Mike Mussina.

The vote: You needed 75.0% or more. Mussina barely snuck in by seven votes. Under 5% and you are off the ballot. Fortunately, Andy Pettitte stays on.

Mariano Rivera: 425 votes (100%) — 1st year on ballot
Roy Halladay: 363 (85.4%) — 1st
Edgar Martinez: 363 (85.4%) — 10th
Mike Mussina: 326 (76.7%) — 6th
Curt Schilling: 259 (60.9%) — 6th
Roger Clemens: 253 (59.5%) — 7th
Barry Bonds: 251 (59.1%) — 7th
Larry Walker: 232 (54.6%) — 9th
Omar Vizquel: 182 (42.8%) — 2nd
Fred McGriff: 169 (39.8%) — 10th
Manny Ramirez: 97 (22.8%) — 3rd
Jeff Kent: 77 (18.1%) — 6th
Billy Wagner: 71 (16.7%) — 4th
Todd Helton: 70 (16.5%) — 1st
Scott Rolen: 73 (17.2%) — 2nd
Gary Sheffield: 58 (13.6%) — 5th
Andy Pettitte: 42 (9.9%) — 1st
Sammy Sosa: 36 (8.5%) — 7th
Andruw Jones: 32 (7.5%) — 2nd

——————— Falling off the ballot are:

Michael Young: 9 (2.1%) — 1st
Lance Berkman: 5 (1.2%) — 1st
Miguel Tejada: 5 (1.2%) — 1st
Roy Oswalt: 4 (0.9) — 1st
Placido Polanco: 2 (0.5) — 1st
Rick Ankiel: 0 –1st
Jason Bay: 0 –1st
Freddy Garcia: 0 –1st
Jon Garland: 0 –1st
Travis Hafner: 0 –1st
Ted Lilly: 0 –1st
Derek Lowe: 0 –1st
Darren Oliver: 0 –1st
Juan Pierre: 0 –1st
Vernon Wells: 0 –1st

I’d like to know who the hell voted for Placido Polanco. Really? Turn in your credentials, please.

A brief summary of the four new Hall of Famers.

Rivera. A record 652 saves. 13x All Star. 5x WS Champ. 1999 WS MVP. 2003 ALCS MVP. Led the majors in saves 3x. 2.21 career ERA. Record 205 ERA+. Record 42 postseason saves. 8-1, with an amazing 0.70 ERA in the postseason, and that too, is a record for someone who threw an x amount (I believe it’s 30 or more) postseason innings. 1995-2013 NY Yankees. 6x CYA consideration, runnerup once. MVP consideration 9x, including two top-10 finishes.

Edgar Martinez. Probably the toughest batter Mariano ever faced. 1987-2004 Seattle Mariners. 7x All Star. 5x Silver Slugger. 2 batting titles. Mostly a DH. .312 career batting average. Led league in runs scored once, doubles twice. RBI once. 100 or more RBI in a season 6x. Hit .300 or better 10x. 309 career HR. 147 career OPS+. 5x MVP consideration, twice in the top 10. .266 in the postseason with 8 HR.

Halladay. 203 career wins. CYA in each league. 2x CYA winner, 2 more runnerup finishes. 8x All Star. Perfect game. Postseason no-hitter. 3x 20-game winner. 3.38 ERA. ERA+ 131. Led league in wins 2x, games started once. Complete games 7x. Shutouts 4x. Innings pitched 4x.  7x CYA consideration, 2x top-10 MVP. 3-2, 2.37 in the postseason. 1998-2009 Blue Jays, 2010-2013 Phillies. Killed piloting his plane at the age of 40 in November 2017. I would think he would enter the HOF as a Blue Jay, since he had much more time with them.

Mussina. 270 career wins. Orioles 1991-2000, Yankees 2001-2008. 20 game winner once, in his final season, when he also led the league in games started (He did that twice). 5x All Star. 7 Gold Gloves. Led league in wins once, winning % once. Shutouts once, innings pitched once. ERA+ of 123, ERA 3.68 pitching in the AL East in home parks that were home run havens. 9x CYA consideration, runnerup once. MVP consideration 3x. 7-8, 3.42 in the postseason. He has said that he can’t decide between the Orioles and Yankees and may go in with a blank cap out of respect for both franchises.

If I missed something on the four above, forgive me. Just a brief thumbnail highlight for each. Can’t write forever!

The HOF tracker got about 55% of the vote that was publicized. Of the 45% not publicized, those writers were tougher and numbers went down. They also weren’t as kind to the steroid guys like Clemens, Bonds and Manny Ramirez. The 55% publicized had Schilling, Clemens and Bonds around 72%. You can see they all wound up with about 59-60%. Larry Walker was around 65%, wound up with 54.6%. Numbers are usually lower than what the tracker shows, steroids or no steroids. Halladay and Martinez were running on the tracker at 94 and 90%, both got 85%. Mussina was running at 81% and made it by seven votes at the 76.7%.

Of course, Mo stayed consistent, getting every vote.

With Bonds and Clemens gaining little from last year, it appears that neither will get in via the writers, and the veterans committee of former players years down the road may be a tougher row to hoe because those players may have an even bigger axe to grind against players who cheated against them.

Now will Derek Jeter next year be the SECOND unanimously elected player?

In other news…. Al Leiter is leaving the YES network to spend more time with his family. He will still do work for the MLB network.

Game 143. Yanks go 2 for 15 w/RISP, lose, 3-2, see WC lead shrink to 2 1/2 games.

The Yanks (89-54) are hearing footsteps.

By losing to Seattle, 3-2 today, the Yanks lead over Oakland for the top wild card spot shrunk to 2 1/2 games.

Time to get nervous, Yankees fans.

What killed the Yanks today was that they were 2 for 15 w/RISP.

This team doesn’t bunt, as I mentioned at our recent Lehigh Valley Yankee Fan Club Meeting. 10 sacrifices all year. I mentioned that in the old days, Phil Rizzuto would have had that many at the All-Star break.  (Rizzuto led the majors 1949-1952).

In 1930, Babe Ruth (BABE RUTH!) had 21 sacrifice bunts. Lou Gehrig had at least 10 each season from 1925-1930, including 21 for the great 1927 squad. Joe DiMaggio had 6 in 1939.

As recently as 2004, Derek Jeter had 16. That is 6 more than the WHOLE YANKEES TEAM has this season.

The game has changed, and not for the better. Instead of a well-rounded team, you have teams that rely strictly on the HR, don’t hit-and-run, can’t steal bases and don’t bunt runners over. Sound familiar?

MeanwAnhile, Seattle won the game because they DID bunt a runner over.

The Yanks scored in the top of the first when Stanton and Andujar had back-to-back doubles.

But after getting the first two guys out in the bottom of the first, CC gave up four straight singles. Two runs. Seattle up 2-1.

Now, for a rookie manager, I think Boone has done a good job. How can you argue with 89-54? But….

I realize he was hired to project more calm as opposed to Girardi’s tenseness. But still, there are times when you have to light a fire under the team and bitch them out if necessary.

Girardi’s strength was bullpen management. Some of Boone’s bullpen decisions I question.

But I think the most questions I have regarding Boone is his lineups. Nothing consistent, and the biggest problem I have is this:

Why does he continue to bat Gary Sanchez 4th (as he did today) or 5th in the lineup? Sanchez is now hitting .181 on the season. What other manager bats a guy hitting .180 something 4th or 5th in the lineup? When will Boone ride the hot hand and have Voit cleanup, Torres 5th and have Sanchez and Walker 6th or 7th, instead of Sanchez 4th and Walker 5th?

Here are the numbers and today’s lineup. Batting averages as of the game’s finish.

4th. Sanchez .181 (PR for by Wade later, Romine finishing the game).
5th. Walker .221
6th. Voit .306
7th. Torres .280

Now, based on that, who should be batting 4 and 5, and who should be hitting 6 and 7?

Really?

Three singles and a bases-loaded walk to McCutchen tied the game in the fourth. But they had the bases loaded, no out and only scored that one run. No bunt by Hechevarria or Gardner with the bases loaded, and Stanton grounded out.

Voit doubled to lead off the sixth. He was left stranded. Torres nor Hechevarria with a bunt.

In the bottom of the eighth, a walk, steal, sac bunt and fielder’s choice brought in the winning run for Seattle.

Littleball, which the Yanks need to employ.

You can’t just rely on the HR. They didn’t get any today, and lost 3-2 as a result.

Andujar 2 hits, RBI
Voit 2 hits (once again, why him 6th, and .181 Sanchez 4th?)

Sabathia 5 IP, 2 R, 7 H, 1 W, 4 K.  3.54
Green 2 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 3 K.  2.54
Betances (L, 4-5, 2.56) 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 W, 2 K.