Game 70. Up 5-1, Yanks’ miscues lead to 10-5 loss.

Since I am leaving early Saturday morning for vacation, and will be trying for sleep tomorrow night before my early morning flight, this will be my last post for a while.

Before the game, Refsnyder down, Tyler Webb, lefty reliever, up.

Ouch. Up 5-1, Yankees’ miscues contributed to a 10-5 loss.

Cameron Maybin  homered on the second pitch of the game from Luis Severino to put the Angels up 1-0.

In the bottom of the first, with two out, Judge and Holliday both walked and Castro blooped a single to tie it.

In the second, Carter doubled, Torreyes singled him to third, and Gardner drove him in on a forceout. Hicks singled and Judge hit a 3-run HR (25) to make it 5-1.

After that, it was all downhill.

Severino gave up 2 in the third.

He still had the 5-3 lead entering the seventh.

In the seventh, a leadoff single by the Angels. Then, the play that changed the game. A play that Castro needs to make. Instead of a DP, 1st and 3rd for the Angels, no out. This play was the turning point in the game.

If the Yanks ever make a move, I can see it here, like Torres taking over for Castro and Castro moving to third. There have been a few plays this week alone that Castro needs to make and he hasn’t, costing the Yanks some games. The bat has been great, but he has cost them two games this week because of the glove.

After the crucial Castro error, Betances came in. I was a bit concerned because Betances came in with a 0.40 ERA. A long baseball season is like the stock market. There are “corrections”. A pitcher with that low of an ERA is due for  a bad outing and that is what happened to Betances.

Betances wasn’t helped by an error on Sanchez. Then again, Betances threw a WP.

Domingo German, the rookie, didn’t help himself in the eighth with a WP and an error on a pickoff attempt.

Judge HR, (25) 3 RBI.  Carter had 2 hits.

Severino (L, 5-3, 3.30) 6 +IP, 6 R, 5 ER, 8 H, 2 W, 5 K, Gave up 1 HR.
Shreve (BS,1 ) 1 Ip, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 0 K. 1.80. Should have been out there longer.
Betances 2/3 IP, 2 R, 2 H, 1 W, 2 K. 1.16. Was due for a bad outing.
German 2 IP, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 H, 1 W, 3 K. 1.04

 

Game 69. Yanks snap losing streak, beat Angels 8-4.

The Yanks snapped their seven-game losing streak, beating the Angels 8-4 Wednesday night.

More woes for Tyler Clippard, though. The struggling Clippard faced two batters and gave up a double and HR. It’s looking like his role will be reduced.

The win puts the 39-30 Yanks back in first place by 1/2 a game over the Red Sox.

In the second, the Yanks jumped out in front 2-0 on a 2-run HR by Didi Gregorius (8).

Martin Maldonado hit the first of his two two-run HRs in the fourth to tie it up for the Angels.

Matt Holliday made it 3-2 Yanks in the fifth with his fifteenth HR of the season.

In the sixth, Sanchez singled, and Headley walked. Romine doubled in two runs, and Romine scored on a single by Hicks. 6-2 Yanks.

In the seventh, Holliday doubled and scored on a Castro single. Castro later scored on a single by Headley.

Put into a low leverage situation, up 8-2 in the ninth, Clippard faced two batters, gave up a double and HR, and was pulled. It has been a tough time for him lately. Aroldis Chapman then closed out the 8-4 Yankees’ win.

Holliday double, HR (15), RBI
Sanchez 2 hits.
Gregorius HR (8), 2 RBI
Romine 3 hits, 2 RBI.

Montgomery (W, 5-4, 3.74) 5 2/3 IP, 2 R, 5 H, 2 W, 5 K. Gave up 1 HR.
Green (H, 3) 1 1/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 W, 2 K. 2.31
Betances 1 Ip, 0 R,.0 H, 0 W, 2 K. 0.40
Clippard 0 IP, 2 R, 2 H, 0 W, 0 K. 3.77. Gave up 1 HR.
Chapman 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K. 3.07.

Ex-Yankees’ PR announcer James Hall passed away recently.

 

Game 68. Unlucky 7th loss in a row. Yanks battle back, but Clippard costs Yanks’ win.

Ouch. The Yanks fell behind 3-0, battled back to tie it at 3, and Girardi went “formula” bringing in his “seventh inning” guy, Tyler Clippard, who has been pitching poorly lately, and who blew the game.

The Yanks lost 8-3.

Those who know me know I hate managers who go by the book or binder. You aren’t hired to go by the book or binder. You are hired to USE YOUR BRAIN. To see what is going on and act accordingly by what you are seeing.

I consider managers who go by the book or binder lazy managers. If you have to go by that, and not by your gut, your eyes, what you are SEEING, then to me, you are a lousy manager. Sorry, but…

Michael Pineda gave up a run in the first and two more in the second to put the Yanks in a 3-0 hole. An error by Chris Carter led to the two runs in the second, both unearned.

In the fourth, Castro singled, Sanchez walked, and a couple of flyouts made it 3-1. SF for Headley.

Aaron Judge’s 24th HR of the year made it 3-2 in the fifth, and Gary Sanchez’ 12th HR in the sixth made it a 3-3 tie.

Then Clippard came in and gave up a HR, double, and flyout that was caught at the fence. At this point, I pull him. After all, three batters, a HR, double, and out that was close to being a 2-run HR. I pull him.

Instead, Clippard stays in to give up another double. Not that it would have mattered anyway, given the final score, but maybe a reliever here keeps it at 4-3 and the Yanks have a chance for a comeback.

Leaving Clippard in for that fourth batter and second double killed off any chance at a comeback.

Now, the Yanks only got 4 hits on the night, so blame has to be put on the offense, but please put away the binder, etc. and go by what you see. And if a guy gives up a HR, double and long flyout caught in front of the fence on his first three batters, then you know he doesn’t have it and get him the heck out of there.

With the loss, the Yanks fall to 38-30, 1/2 game back of Boston.

Here is what I mean. See below. Shreve faces ONE batter. Strikes him out. So why the bleep do you take him out to go to your “seventh inning guy”? Doing so takes a pitcher out who did well with the one batter he faced, puts in a new pitcher who stunk and cost you the game.

Whatever happened to riding the hot hand? Shreve here, was the hot hand. Pulled for NO GOOD REASON, other than you are going to your “seventh inning guy.”

What bullshit.

Please, Joe. Next time, go by your gut and what you are seeing. Throw the book away and get rid of that “7th inning guy” “8th inning guy” “9th inning guy” bullshit.

Use your eyes. Manage by what you see.

I blame modern baseball, and modern baseball managing, for this loss. Shreve faced one batter and got him out. Why pull him?

 

Pineda 5 2/3 IP, 3 R, 1 ER (Carter error), 7 H, 1 W, 7 K. 3.56
Shreve 1/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K. 1.83       Should have started the next inning.
Clippard (L, 1-4, 3.14) 1/3 IP, 3 R, 3 H, 0 W, 0 K. Gave up 1 HR.
Holder 2 2/3 IP, 2 R, 4 H, 0 W, 2 K. 3.77. Gave up 1 HR.

 

 

Game 65. West Woes continue as Yanks lose another close one, 7-6.

The Yanks (38-27) AL East lead is down to one after a 7-6 loss Friday night in Oakland. The West coast trip has been hellish.

Gary Sanchez and Aaron Hicks are day to day with the injuries, and Adam Warren was put on the DL, joining CC. Giovanny Gallegos was sent down, Mason Williams (for Hicks) and Kyle Higashioka (for Sanchez) were brought up. It’s hard to keep up with the moves lately.

Once again the Yanks had a lead, and once again the B-listers (anyone not Warren, Chapman, Clippard or Betances) of the bullpen blew it. Chapman is supposed to return Sunday (see the minor league report for his rehab stint), Warren is now on the DL and the others aren’t getting the ball to Betances.

In the four-game losing streak, the Yanks have lost three games by one run, and two in extra innings. Excruciating. The losses have been by Shreve, Herrera (MLB debut), Gallegos (rookie on the NYY-SWB shuttle with 9 MLB games under his belt) and now Holder, another rookie.

The close losses have really affected their Pythagorean record. According to runs scored vs. runs allowed, the Yanks should be five wins better than they are right now. But close losses like these and big blowouts like last weekend against Baltimore skew that Pythagorean record. It’s a sign of what a team should be doing, and after all it’s the real record that counts anyway.

Luis Severino had one bad inning, giving up four runs in the second.

But the Yanks came back, and took a 6-4 lead late in the game. Aaron Judge started the comeback with a 3-run HR (23) in the third.

Gardner and Didi were getting days off. Sanchez and Hicks are hurt, day to day. As a result, the lineup had Refsnyder in left, Mason Williams (20 MLB games before last night) in CF. Romine was catching and Torreyes was at SS. So half the lineup was backups, who did OK.

In the fifth, the Yanks tied it on Torreyes’ double and a single by Williams.

Chris Carter hit a HR (8) in the sixth to put the Yanks up 5-4.

In the seventh, Judge tripled, Holliday walked and Castro singled to put the Yanks up 6-4.

Then the roof caved in.

The A’s got a run in the seventh off Shreve to cut the lead to 6-5. They then got two off of Holder in the eighth to win the game 7-6.

When Holder ran into trouble in the eighth, I wondered if Girardi would turn to Betances for a multi-inning save. Nope, and the Yanks lost because of it, but I can see you can’t just burn Betances out. With Warren and Chapman on the DL, the rest of the bullpen isn’t picking up the slack, and some guys are a bit fried right now. Clippard has been in a slump.

Judge 2 for 3, scored 2, 3 RBI, HR, triple. Walked twice.
Castro 2 hits, RBI.
Torreyes 2 hits.

Severino 6 IP, 4 R, 4 H, 4 W, 6 K. Uncharacteristically wild, all 4 hits in same inning.
Shreve (H, 1) 1 IP, 1 R, 1 H, 1 W, 1 K. 1.86
Holder (BS, 2; L, 1-1, 3.49) 1 IP, 2 R, 2 H, 2 W, 0 K. First MLB loss.

 

Game 64. Road trip from hell continues as Yankees lose in 10, 8-7, more players hurt.

Before the game, the Yankees made moves, sending down Ron Herrera and putting CC Sabathia on the DL. They brought back Ben Heller  Domingo German (my mistake) and called up Luis Cessa.

After the game, an 8-7 Yankees’ loss in 10 innings, the Yanks may have to make more moves, like maybe bringing up Dustin Fowler, Kyle Higashioka and a reliever.

The road trip from hell continued with not only a Yankees’ loss,  their third in a row, but now more players may be headed to the DL.

In the minors, the Yankees have shut down Greg Bird, who now has a knee injury on top of trying to get over the ankle injury. Poor guy appears to be like Nick Johnson. So much potential, but injuries keep eating him up.

We don’t know when Ellsbury is coming back from that concussion. That’s important because last night Aaron Hicks had to be taken out of the game because of an Achilles injury.

Gary Sanchez had to be taken out because of an abductor muscle injury. Adam Warren wasn’t available because of a sore trap muscle in his pitching arm.

We’ll see if these injuries are day to day or if they require DL stints. But geez…

The loss puts the Yanks at 38-26, and they maintain a 2-game lead in the AL East. It was a tough loss, because the Yanks came back in the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth and took the lead in the tenth.

In the tenth, Giovanny Gallegos got the first two outs, then gave up two hits and an intentional walk before a blooper just extended past Starlin Castro’s reach, tipped off his glove, found grass, and gave the A’s their 8-7 walkoff win.

The Yanks left the bases loaded in the first, not scoring. They left two on in the fourth.

Jordan Montgomery gave up a solo HR in the first to Jed Lowrie and a 2-run double in the second to put the Yanks in a 3-0 hole.

The Yanks tied it in the sixth when with one out, Castro singled, Sanchez walked and Didi (17 g. hitting streak) singled to load the bases. Headley singled in two runs, Carter tied the game with a single.

The A’s got a run in the bottom of the sixth to go up 4-3 on a Yonder Alonso HR. The Yanks tied it in the seventh. With two out, Castro singled, stole second, and scored on a Gary Sanchez double.

The A’s scored in the bottom of the seventh, going up 5-4. The Yanks came back again to tie it in the eighth on a Chris Carter HR (7).

Once again, the Yanks couldn’t hold the A’s, as the A’s got a run in the bottom of the eighth. The Yanks tied the game at six in the top of the ninth when Castro doubled with one out and Sanchez singled him home. Sanchez was having a big game when he got hurt.

In the tenth, with one out, Gardner and Refsnyder (in for the injured Hicks) each singled. Judge walked to load the bases and Castro hit a SF.

Then came the bottom of the tenth when Gallegos got the first two batters but couldn’t salt the game away.

Gardner 2 hits.
Castro 3 for 5, scored 3, 1 RBI. (.328)
Sanchez 3 for 3, 2 walks, scored 1, 2 RBI. He raised his average to .297 before the injury.
Headley 2 hits, 2 RBI
Carter 2 hits, 2 RBI, HR
Montgomery 5 2/3 IP, 4 R, 7 H, 1 W, 5 K. 3.78. Gave up 2 HR
Green 1 1/3 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 0 W, 1 K. 2.70
Clippard 1/3 IP, 1 R, 1 H, 1 W, 1 K. 2.30
Betances 1 2/3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 2 W, 3 K. 0.42
Gallegos (BS, 1; L, 0-1; 7.15) 2/3 IP, 2 R, 3 H, 1 W, 1 K.

 

Game 63. Herrera’s MLB debut results in 7-5 Yanks’ loss.

That first game in the majors has to be exciting. Unfortunately for Ronald Herrera, it resulted in a loss.

Herrera was called up from AA Trenton earlier in the day when Ben Heller was sent back to the minors.  The Yanks needed a fresh arm. He gave up a late 2-run HR that doomed the Yanks as they lost 7-5 to the Angels Wednesday night. The loss cuts the Yanks’ (38-25) AL East lead to two games since Boston beat the lowly Phillies.

It started out good. In the first, Gardner singled, and with one out, Judge singled. Judge stole second and Matt Holliday just missed a 3-run HR as he hit a SF. After Castro was HBP, Sanchez hit a 3-run HR (11) to make it 4-0.

But Michael Pineda didn’t have much tonight, giving up a run in the first, two in the second and two more in the third. He did gut out six innings.

That run in the first that Pineda gave up could have been more. Aaron Hicks took a grand slam away from Luis Valbuena. It went as a SF instead.

In the second, the Yanks wasted a one-out triple by Rob Refsnyder. I would have loved to have had Gardner squeeze in a run, but as readers of this blog know, the one criticism I have of Girardi is that he never squeezes home a run. This, and other things, contributed to the loss. Instead, Refsnyder was left stranded.

Didi Gregorius (.337) extended his hitting streak to 16 games, but was hit by a batted ball on a single by Chase Headley in the fourth when the Yanks got three hits but no runs.

In the fifth, with two out, Judge reached on an error and Holliday and Castro both singled. Judge was thrown out at the plate however, on a bad send by 3B coach Joe Espada. Judge hadn’t even reached third when the LF fielded the ball and Judge was out easily.

The Yanks did tie the game in the sixth when Sanchez singled and went to second on an error. After Didi struck out, Headley singled to tie the game at five.

In the seventh, Hicks laid down a beautiful bunt for a hit. I wish Gardner had done that with Refsnyder on third in the second.

After Pineda went six innings, Girardi brought in Herrera. I was a little surprised at that because of the flight to CA (figure you’d give a guy a chance to rest a day after the flight before bringing him in… flight could take something out of you, esp. cross-country, and esp. after a 3:30 AM wakeup call to tell you you’ve been promoted) and also that Herrera was doing great as a STARTER at AA Trenton. You don’t know how he would do as a reliever. That’s a different area. Herrera gave up a 2-run HR to Andrelton Simmons in the seventh which decided the game.

It seems as if Girardi was looking long term (at least, according to a NY Post article) and willing to sacrifice one game for the long term benefit of his bullpen, which he described as “fried.”

The Yanks got a break in the ninth, when with two out, Hicks’ long drive seemed to be caught against the wall by the RF. The call was overturned and Hicks was given a double, meaning Judge was up as the tying run. Although he hit the ball hard, Judge grounded out to third to end the game.

Gardner 2 for 5. Hicks 2 for 5 (.314). Sanchez 3 for 4, scored 2 runs, 3 RBI, HR. Headley 2 hits, RBI.

Pineda 6 IP, 5 R, 10 H, 1 W, 2 K. 3.71. Gave up 1 HR.
Herrera (L, 0-1, 9.00) 2 IP, 2 R, 2 H, 1 W, 2 K. Gave up 1 HR.

CC was diagnosed with a Grade 2 hamstring strain. Still no word on how long he’ll be on the DL. CC says he feels good and hopes to miss just one start, but this could put him out until mid-August.

Aroldis Chapman is expected to return to the Yanks on Sunday after a couple of rehab stints.

 

 

 

Game 60. You have heard of Boston Massacre? How about Baltimore Blitz? Sweep. 38-8 over 3 games! Sanchez 450 and Judge 495 Ft. HRs in 14-3 rout.

You have heard of the Boston Massacre. What do you call this, the Baltimore Blitz? For the Yanks swept Baltimore this weekend 38-8 in three games, and during their five game winning streak, have scored 55 runs (11 per game).

Today, four more HR, and two were absolute bombs.

Once again, the Yanks jumped out early and put the game away in the very first inning. With the 14-3 blowout, they go to 37-23 on the season.

In the first, singles by Gardner and Judge. WP . A 2-run single by Castro. A 3-run 450 ft. HR by Sanchez (10). That 450 foot HR would look like nothing by the end of the game.

The Orioles mounted a comeback, getting 3 in the third. Chad Green started, but did not last long due to pitch count. 5-3.

In the fourth, Hicks walked, Judge doubled and Holliday singled in two. 7-3.

To the sixth. Judge homered, and #20 for Judge was something to behold. Over the LF bleachers and a fan reached over the walkway for it. 495 feet!

After that, Holliday reached on an error and then Castro HR’d (12) to make it 10-3.

In the seventh, with one out, Torreyes and Gardner walked. Hicks doubled in two, and Judge hit his second HR of the game (21) to make it 14-3.

Domingo German made his MLB debut (Tommy Layne was DFA’d) and did a great job in this 14-3 win.

As far as pitching, a job pieced together by Girardi.

Batting:

Hicks, 2 RBI.
Judge 4 for 4. Walk. Scored 4 runs. Drove in 3. 2 HR.
Holliday 2 RBI.
Castro 2 hits, HR and 4 RBI
Sanchez HR and 3 RBI.
2 hits for Didi.
2 hits for Carter.

Green 2 IP, 2 R, 2 H, 1 W, 3 K. 2.41
Shreve 1 IP, 1 R 2 H, 0 W 2 K. 1.08
Holder 1 2/3 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 1 W, 0 K. 3.04
Warren (W, 2-1, 2.30) 1 2/3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 1 K.
German 2 2/3 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 1 W, 1 K. 0.00   MLB DEBUT.

UPDATE: German was sent back down after the game. The Yanks are expected to call up Ben Heller.

 

 

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