Game 161. Yanks win 100, Stanton gets 100, and Yanks set a couple records.

In the next to last regular season game, the Yanks (100-61) beat Boston 8-5 for their 100th win of the season. It is the first time since 2009 that the Yanks have won 100 games in a season.

In so doing, they hit 2 HR which set a new single season record by HR by a team in a season.

Since Gleyber Torres, in the 9 spot, hit the HR for the new record, it meant that each spot in the lineup 1 through 9 contributed 20 or more HR, another MLB record.

Not only that, Miguel Andujar hit 2 doubles in the game, giving him 46 on the year, setting a new record for a Yankees’ rookie, breaking that of Joe DiMaggio in 1936.

In the first, Gardner reached on an error and two outs later, scored on a double by Stanton.

Boston tied it in the bottom of the second.

To the fourth. Didi singles and after an out, Bird doubles in Didi. After another out, Torres hits a HR (24) to make it 4-0. Torres’ HR, #265 on the season for the Yanks, sets the all-time record of HR by one team in one season. They weren’t and are not done.

Boston gets a run in the fourth, 4-2 Yanks after 4.

The Yanks get three in the fifth. Hicks and Stanton single, and after an out, Andujar doubles in two. After another out, Romine singles, 7-2 Yankees.

Stanton homers (38) in the seventh. It’s also RBI #100. Some jerk (hope you are reading this, asshole) throws the ball back and hits Stanton as he is rounding the bases. No harm, no foul, but what an asshole. He was kicked out, deservedly so.

Ugly eighth as Kahnle gives up a run. 8-3.

Ugly ninth with Holder before Chapman closes it out. Give up 2 runs, cut it to 8-5. Then Chappy.

McCutchen 2 hits.
Stanton 3 hits, HR (Yankees HR #266), 2 RBI.  RBI #100
Andujar 2 hits, (2 doubles) 2 RBI. Passes Joe D. for most doubles by a Yankees’ rookie in one season.
Bird 2 hits, RBI
Torres HR (he broke the record with HR #265, also set record of every position in lineup, 1-9, giving 20 or more HR) and 2 RBI

German 1 1/3 IP, 1 R, 3 H, 1 W, 3 K.   5.57
Tarpley 2/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K.   3.68
Lynn (W, 10-10, 4.77 Min/NYY) 3 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 1 W, 4 K.
Gray 2 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 3 K.  4.90
Kahnle 1 IP, 1 R, 1 H, 2 W,  0 K.  6.56
Holder 1/3 IP, 2 R, 3 H, 0 W, 1 K.   Gave up 1 HR.   3.14
Chapman (S, 32)  2/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 W, 2 K.    2.45

CC suspended first 5 games of next year for what happened Thursday. He is appealing. So if he retires (he is 38), what are they going to do, put him on house arrest?

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Game 157. The Kraken wakes up. Yanks win 9-2, lead A’s by 2 1/2.

This is the Gary Sanchez Yankee fans want and need to see. Not the .180 hitting imposter we have seen all year.

Sanchez homered, had two hits, and drove in four runs as the Yankees (97-60) beat Tampa Bay 9-2 on Tuesday night.

No passed balls by Sanchez, either.

Meanwhile, late in Seattle, the Mariners, down 8-5, scored two in the bottom of the eighth (thanks to two WP by Fernando Rodney. Stick that in your quiver, Rodney.), tied the game with two out in the ninth (thanks to an error), and PH Chris Herrmann hit a 2-run HR in the bottom of the 11th. Seattle 10, Oakland 8. The Yankees’ lead over Oakland is 2 1/2. The A’s loss also means that Houston now officially clinched the AL West. The A’s face the Yankees. There was a small chance the A’s could have caught Houston and that the Yanks might have to face the Astros next Wednesday night, either in NY or in Houston. Not so.

Meaning the Yankees’ magic # to host the wild card game against Oakland Wednesday October 3 is TWO. Any combination of Yankees’ wins and A’s losses equaling 2 and the Yanks host the wild card game.

The Yanks exploded for seven runs in the third inning.  Adeiny Hechevarria led off the inning with his sixth HR of the year, second as a Yankee. Brett Gardner tripled and Andrew McCutchen walked.

Aaron Judge then hit a 108 MPH rocket right back at the mound that was caught by Rays’ P Jake Faria. If Faria didn’t catch that, and it would have hit him in the head, ….. you shudder to think…. a very scary moment. He was taken out after that .

So a new pitcher. Luke Voit doubles in a run. 2-0 Yanks. Giancarlo Stanton is intentionally walked to load the bases. Neil Walker walks to force in a run. 3-0. Miguel Andujar hits a SF. 4-0. Sanchez then put the icing on the cake with a 3-run HR (17) to make it 7-0.

Maybe the long inning affected Luis Severino for he wasn’t right in the bottom of the third, giving up two runs. A bad base running decision cost Tampa Bay another run and a chance for more. The Rays hit the ball hard that inning.

In the fifth, a Stanton double and RBI single by Sanchez made it 8-2 Yankees.

Miguel Andujar hit his 26th HR in the ninth for the final tally of 9-2 Yankees.

Andujar HR, 2 RBI
Sanchez HR, 4 RBI
Hechevarria HR

The 3 HR give the Yanks 255 on the year. Nine behind the all-time single season record of 264 by the 1997 Seattle Mariners, with five games to go.

Severino (W, 19-8, 3.39) 5 IP, 2 R, 4 H, 3 W, 7 K.
Kahnle 1 1/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 3 K.  6.45
Tarpley 2/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K.  4.05
German 2 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 4 K.  5.55

Yankees pitchers combined for a five-hitter, with 15 K.

Angels’ rookie P/DH Shohei Ohtani will be undergoing Tommy John surgery and will Not be able to pitch in 2019. He may be able to return to hit.

Lee Stange, a pitcher for the Twins (1961-1964), Indians (1964-1966), Red Sox (1966-1970) and White Sox (1970) from 1961-1970, died on Sept. 21, age 81. He was a member of the 1967 Red Sox which won the AL Pennant.

Stange was a spot starter/long reliever who was 62-61, 3.56 (ERA+ 103) in his MLB career, 125 starts, 234 relief appearances. He was 8-10, 2.77, ERA+ 127 for those 1967 Red Sox (24 starts, 11 relief appearances). He got into one WS game that year, giving up 1 unearned run in two innings pitched. As a hitter, he hit .079 in his career. His 162 g. average was 50 games, 18 starts. 9-9, 3.56.

 

 

Game 155. Yanks lose, A’s lose, but do Yanks lose Didi for the year?

 

Oakland lost to Minnesota, meaning the Yanks’ magic # to secure the wild card game at home is reduced to 5 (Yanks hold the tiebreaker).

Meaning that today COULD have been the Yanks’ last game at Yankee Stadium for 2018 if they lose the wild card advantage to Oakland, travel to Oakland and lose the WC card game out there.

The Yanks, (95-60), blew at game to Baltimore (of all teams), 6-3, to ensure that the magic # was not reduced further.

The Yanks also found out, that in scoring the winning run of yesterday’s game, a run that ensured a playoff berth, that Didi Gregorius, in scoring the run, tore cartillage in his wrist that may end his season.

I have had no problems with Boone’s managing for most of this season. This month of September is different. Reliance on guys like Cole and Kahnle. If you couldn’t rely on them May-August, why the hell rely on them now?

The Yanks got three in the first, and then basically s**t the bed with the offense from there out, doing nothing after the first inning. Three walks (Baltimore starter Alex Cobb, because of injury, was pulled in the middle of facing the first batter), then a SF by Torres. Andujar singled in a run. With two out, Sanchez singled in a run. 3-0 Yanks and they didn’t do a damned thing after that.

J.A. Happ gave up a run in the second on a HR.

But after 5, his pitch count was up so he was replaced.

Excuse me, Boone. You still need to win this game because Oakland is breathing down your throat. You replace Happ with A.J. Cole? Cole isn’t that good. It is only a two run lead. Then you replace him with Kahnle, who also has stunk this year.

Cole gives up a double and back-to-back homers. Lead and game lost. Now Boone brings in Kahnle, who gives up a double, groundout that moved the runner up, and a SF. 4 runs. Ballgame over as Baltimore takes a 5-3 lead (they would get another run off Cessa and win 6-3).

No offense after the first inning. Going to Cole and Kahnle when you need to win and hold off the A’s.

The Yanks got only 4 hits in the game.

I’ve defended Boone and have thought he has done a decent job, but the last three weeks? Ugh.

Thankfully, the Yanks magic # to secure the home field for the wild card game was reduced to 5 because Minnesota beat Oakland today.

On top of all that, the Yanks received really bad news, as mentioned earlier. In scoring the winning run yesterday that secured a playoff berth for the Yankees, Didi Gregorius tore cartillage in his wrist. He had a cortisone shot but could be lost for the year. Oy Vey.

Also, Boone has apparently committed to Sanchez to start the wild card game. We all hope that Sanchez could do what he is capable of doing—-a 2 HR, 5 RBI game. But Sanchez is hitting .182 now. The fear is that in that game, he goes 0 for 4, strikes out twice, hits into a DP, and even worse, commits a PB that ends the Yankees’ season.

Boone’s faith in some guys is going a bit too far. (Cole, Sanchez, Kahnle, Bird, Gardner). You have to realize that at some point, this is a lost year for some guys and cut the cord for the year on them (and in some cases, cut the cord forever).

Andujar 2 hits, RBI.

Happ 5 IP, 1 R, 5 H, 2 W, 7 K. Gave up 1 HR. 3.57 (Tor/NYY) Set up for WC start 10/3.
Cole (BS, 1; L, 4-2, 6.32 Wash/NYY) 0 IP, 3 R, 3 H, 0 W, 0 K. Gave up 2 HR.
Kahnle 1 IP, 1 R, 1 H, 0 W, 1 K.  6.86
Cessa 3 IP, 1 R, 3 H, 0 W, 3 K.   4.79.

On Friday, Cole came in and in 1/3 of an inning, gave up 3 R, 2 H, 1 W, 0 K. and a HR.

Now today, he couldn’t get anyone out. 0 R, 3 R, 3 H, 0 W, 0 K.

So this weekend against the Orioles, 1/3 IP, 6 R, 5 H, 1 W, 0 K. Gave up 3 HR.

Really, Boone?

With expanded rosters, I’d rather have seen Loaisiga, Adams or Sheffield there. Even Tarpley.

But not Cole or Kahnle.

 

 

Game 154. Yanks clinch playoff spot with 3-2 win. Stay 1 1/2 up on A’s.

The Yanks (95-59) clinched a wild card spot in the playoffs with a 3-2, 11-inning, win over the Bad News Bears (oops, 44-110 Baltimore Orioles) yesterday, but whether the Yanks will be playing that one-game, sudden-death wild card game in the Bronx is very much still up in the air.

Oakland scored in the bottom of the ninth, thanks to a Minnesota error and a passed ball (hmm, Twins imitating Sanchez) that let in the winning run, and won 3-2. The A’s remain 1 1/2 games behind the Yankees for the top wild card spot.

The Yanks’ magic # over the A’s to ensure that the wild card game will be played in the Bronx is 6. Any combination of Yanks’ wins and A’s losses adding up to 6 and the game will be in the Bronx. The Yanks own the tiebreaker.

The Yanks got two runs in the second on homers by Aaron Hicks (26) and Luke Voit (12, 11 as a Yankee). They now have 251 HR on the season, on pace to tie the 1997 Seattle Mariners for the all-time single season record by a team (264).

Gary Sanchez continued his defensive woes, committing a PB and a throwing error in the third inning that allowed the Orioles to score a run. Besides a PB and an error, Sanchez also went 0 for 4, striking out twice, and his batting average dropped to .182. He was dropped to eighth in the lineup, and you really wonder if it’s just best right now to have Romine in there instead.

The Yanks could really have been in trouble except that Steve Wilkerson was twice thrown out at home.

Baltimore tied it in the fifth, and would have had more except for one of those times Wilkerson was thrown out at home (by Judge) and the fact they left the bases loaded.

After the Voit HR, the Yanks didn’t do too much offensively, and it became a battle of the bullpens.

Jonathan Holder got out of a huge jam in the top of the 10th. The Orioles left the bases loaded.

Finally, in the bottom of the 11th, Didi Gregorius singled, and Aaron Hicks double drove in Didi with the winning run.

Hicks 2 hits, HR, 2 RBI
Andujar 2 hits
Voit HR

Lynn 5 IP, 2 R, 1 ER, 7 H, 2 W, 4 K.  4.80 (Min/NYY)
Green 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 1 W, 1 K.  2.60
Chapman 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 2 K.  2.59  Encouraging outing since just off DL
Betances 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 3 K.   2.64
Britton 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 2 K.  3.26 (Balt/NYY)
Holder 1 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 1 W, 0 K.  2.97
Kahnle (W, 2-0, 6.75) 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 1 K.

MLBTR states that CC wants to return in 2019, even if not to the Yanks. Tough call. Questionable knee, doesn’t go too deep into games. 39 next July. Yanks may want to cut the cord, so to speak.

Also, MLBTR reporting that Yanks have interest in bringing back McCutchen (a free agent) if the price is right, but that probably means buying out Brett Gardner’s option at $2MM instead of bringing him back at $12.5MM. Also, you have Clint Frazier and Jacoby Ellsbury (both of whom missed most or all of this year due to injuries) to think about…

Then again, Bryce Harper is a free agent….

Game 148. Yanks’ comeback falls short, lose to Toronto, 8-7.

CC Sabathia had nothing, neither did Tommy Kahnle and a furious Yankees comeback came up short in an 8-7 loss to Toronto Saturday.

With the loss, the Yanks fell to 91-57. Tampa Bay beat Oakland, so the Yanks stay 1 1/2 games ahead of the A’s for the top wild card spot. They are 10 1/2 back of Boston with just 14 games left. Boston’s magic # for clinching the AL East is 4.

The Yanks’ magic # for that top wild card spot is 13, and possibly 12 since they currently hold a tiebreaker. Their magic # just to make the wild card game is 6.

CC gave up 5 runs and 3 HR in getting knocked out in the third inning.

Down 5-0, Didi Gregorius homered (25) for the Yanks in the sixth to make it 5-1. The Yanks loaded the bases with two out, but Andrew McCutchen struck out. McCutchen struck out four times in the game.

There are some decisions Aaron Boone is making that I don’t understand. Once again he batted .191 hitting Gary Sanchez fifth. In a normal year, yes. In a .191-hitting year, I don’t know why he is hitting ahead of say, Gleyber Torres (.280) or Miguel Andujar (.299). The rookies are doing better and should be hitting above Sanchez in the lineup.

Analytics be damned.

Another thing I can’t see is his bringing in certain relievers at certain times of the game. For the third time this month, Tommy Kahnle let a manageable deficit become an unmanageable one, and any comeback the Yanks had in them was wasted because the deficit to overcome got too large. On Sept. 2,  Kahnle came into a game and immediately gave up a HR to the first batter he faced.  Early last week, he came into a game in Minnesota, and the first batter he faced, Joe Mauer, hit a grand slam.

On Saturday he didn’t last an inning, giving up 3 runs in ballooning the Toronto lead from 5-1 to 8-1. This proved costly.

Why Boone is relying on guys in September who haven’t proven anything all year long is beyond me. Kahnle’s ERA is 7.11. Neither he nor Sanchez have performed to their capabilities all year long. Neither have others—Greg Bird for instance.

Those three runs Kahnle gave up helped to cost the Yanks the game, because the Yanks scored six runs in the bottom of the seventh. Stanton homered (34) to start things up. Didi hit his second HR of the game (26) to make it 8-3.

That second HR by Didi broke his own record for HR in a season by a Yankees’ SS, which he set just last year.

Then Miguel Andujar, who didn’t start the game, hit a grand slam later in the inning to make it 8-7. It was Andujar’s 24th HR of the season.

But the Yanks couldn’t close the gap completely and lost 8-7.

The HR are great, but it’s coming with a price. The Yanks struck out 16 times in the game.

In the second inning, the Yanks had loaded the bases with no one out, but three straight strikeouts by Walker, Voit and Gardner meant no runs scored. That helped cost them the game, too.

Sabathia (L, 7-7, 3.80) 2 1/3 IP, 5 R, 7 H, 0 W, 2 K. Gave up 3 HR.
Green 2 1/3 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 0 W, 3 K.  2.45
Holder 1 1/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K.  3.08
Kahnle 2/3 IP, 3 R, 3 H, 1 W, 1 K.  7.11
Tarpley 1/3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 0 K.  6.75
Betances 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 1 K.    2.52
Britton 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 1 K. 3.60 (Balt/NYY)

Billy O’Dell, a lefty pitcher who pitched against the Yanks in the 1962 WS for the SF Giants, died Sept. 12, age 85. O’Dell started and lost Game 1 of that WS, but got a save in Game 4. He also pitched in Game 7. O’Dell had won 19 games that year for the Giants. O’Dell pitched for the Orioles (1954, 1956-1959), Giants (1960-1964) Braves (1965-1966) and Pirates (1966-1967). He was a 2x All-Star (Orioles 1958 and 1959) who was 105-100 in his MLB career with an ERA of 3.29, ERA+ 109. His 162 g. average was 48 games, 20 of which would be starts, 11-10, 3.29.

 

Game 145. Yanks lose, 10-5. WC lead down to 2 over Oakland.

With an off day Thursday, and also next Monday, manager Aaron Boone wanted to give some starting pitchers more rest and also look to set up the rotation for the playoffs. Ok, I can see that. I get that.

The problem was that the guy who made the spot start, enabling him to do that was Sonny Gray. Once again, instead of attacking hitters, Gray was tentative and was once again the disappointment he has been all season.

And Jonathan Loaisiga picked a bad time to have his first MLB clunker.

The Yanks’ (90-55) 10-5 loss to the Twins Tuesday night means that the footsteps are getting louder. Oakland beat the Bad News Bears (um, the 41-103 Baltimore Orioles) and are now just 2 games back of the Yanks for the top wild card spot.  The Yanks have to start winning games and go on a winning streak. They can’t continue to play .500 ball as they are doing this September and hope teams like the Orioles help them out by beating Oakland.

The Yanks scored first, when in the second inning, Didi Gregorius tripled and scored on a SF by Gary Sanchez.

Gray, as he has done often this season, started strong but soon fell apart. He had a 1-2-3 first inning, got the first two batters in the second, but had to then work out of a bases-loaded jam in the second to get out of that inning unscathed.

He wasn’t so fortunate in the third, giving up three runs, two on a single by ex-Yankee prospect Jake Cave.

The Yankees loaded the bases with one out in the fourth, attempting to get back in the game, but Sanchez GIDP.

Jonathan Loaisiga replaced Gray, and in his sixth MLB game, delivered his first clunker, giving up a run in the fourth to make it 4-1, Twins. He came in with a 2.70 ERA, left with a 5.06.

Minnesota got six in the fifth to put the game away. A couple of walks hurt Loaisiga as a couple of runs scored. The Yanks then brought in Tommy Kahnle, who promptly gave up a grand slam to Joe Mauer.

I was at a game on Sept. 2 when Kahnle came in and gave up a HR to the first batter he faced. Now he did it again.

Didi hit a grand slam in the sixth, 10-5, but that was it. It was Didi’s 23rd HR of the season.

The Yanks only got 5 hits in the game, and GIDP 3x.

Andujar 2 hits
Didi triple, grand slam, 4 RBI.
McCutchen and Stanton each walked twice.

Gray (L, 10-9, 4.99) 3 IP, 3 R, 2 ER, 4 H, 3 W, 2 K.
Loaisiga 1 1/3 IP, 6 R, 4 H, 3 W, 3 K.  5.06
Kahnle 1 2/3 IP, 1 R, 4 H, 0 W, 2 K.  5.89. Gave up a grand slam.
Tarpley 2 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 1 W, 0 K.  7.36

 

 

Game 140. Severino, Sanchez, sloppy as A’s blast Yanks, 8-2.

Luis Severino threw two wild pitches and Gary Sanchez was charged with two passed balls as Oakland scored four runs in the first inning and went on to beat the Yankees, 8-2, Wednesday night.

The loss drops the 87-53 Yankees 9 1/2 back of Boston in the AL East with 22 games to go. The tragic # for Boston to win the East is 13. But the Yanks only lead the A’s by 3 1/2 for that top wild card spot. The Yanks’ magic # to get the top wild card spot is 19, and to make the playoffs, it’s 14.

The Yanks’ offense continued to be in their funk, getting only 5 hits all night. After the A’s scored their four in the first, they got two in the third, and one in the fourth, one in the sixth and were up 8-0.

The Yanks’ only 2 runs came when Sanchez hit a 2-run HR (15) in the seventh.

Meanwhile, more worries about Severino.

Severino (L, 17-7, 3.52) 2 2/3 IP, 6 R, 5 ER, 6 H, 1 W, 3 K.
Holder 1 1/3 IP, 1 R, 1 H, 1 W, 0 K.  3.20
Cessa 3 IP, 1 R, 3 H, 0 W, 2 K.  5.13
Tarpley 2/3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 2 K.  16.20
Kahnle 1/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K.  5.94

Clint Frazier won’t be back this year. Hopefully he recovers from those concussion issues over the offseason and is 100% and ready to go in 2019.

As for Luke Voit, is he this year’s Kevin Maas or Shane Spencer?