ALCS Game 1. Tee-Time! Tanaka and Torres lead Yanks to 7-0 win.

Masahiro Tanaka came into the game with the rep of being a big-game postseason pitcher with a 1.54 ERA.

That ERA was lowered Saturday night with a brilliant, one-hit, shutout performance over six innings as the Yankees beat the Astros in Game 1 of the ALCS, 7-0.

Gleyber Torres continues to remind people of Derek Jeter when it comes to his poise, maturity, and delivering in a key moment at such a young age. Torres drove in five of the Yankees’ seven runs.

The Yanks scored first in the fourth inning when D.J. LeMahieu singled, went to second on a WP and scored on a Torres double.

In the bottom of the fifth, Aaron Judge caught a liner and doubled off the runner on first. Great defensive play.

Home runs by Torres and Giancarlo Stanton in the sixth made it 3-0 Yankees.

With two out in the seventh, Gio Urshela and D.J. singled. Judge singled to load the bases and Torres dunked in a single to make it 5-0.

In the ninth, Urshela homered to make it 6-0. An out later, LeMahieu walked and Judge singled him to third. Judge stole second, and Torres’ RBI groundout made it 7-0.

LeMahieu 2 hits, scored 3 runs.
Judge 2 hits, made the great defensive play for a DP
Torres 3 hits, HR, 5 RBI
Stanton 2 hits, solo HR
Urshela 2 hits, solo HR

Tanaka (WINNER) 6 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 1 W, 4 K.  Brilliant
Ottavino 1 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 0 W, 0 K.
Britton 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 W, 2 K.
Loaisiga 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 0 K.

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In the NLCS Game 2, St. Louis is in trouble. They lost both Games 1 and 2 at home and are down 0-2 in the series. In the two games the Cardinals have a TOTAL of four hits. They lost Game 2, 3-1. Max Scherzer 7 IP, 1 H, 11 K. Adam Wainwright pitched well for St. Louis, 11 K in 7 1/3, but the Cards bats are dead.

Adam Eaton 2 RBI for Washington, and a solo HR for Michael Taylor.

 

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ALDS Game 2: Yanks up 2-0 after Didi slams, Tanaka tames Twins, 8-2.

One thing about the postseason. A player can be struggling at the end of the regular season, then one postseason at bat can make him a hero.

Such is the case with Didi Gregorius in Game 2 of the ALDS. Didi, who was struggling badly at the end of the regular season, and also in Game 1, hit a grand slam that broke Game 2 open, and the Yanks beat the Twins 8-2 to take a two games to none lead into Minnesota on Monday for Game 3 of the best-of-five series.

Masahiro Tanaka continued to be a postseason force, improving his record to 4-2, 1.54 in the postseason. The YES network showed a graph of people with postseason ERAs under Tanaka’s (minimum five starts). That list was headed by Sandy Koufax, Christy Mathewson and Eddie Plank (although the YES network screwed up. The picture shown was of Lefty Grove, not Eddie Plank). Wild Bill Hallahan was in there too. Koufax, Mathewson and Plank are all hall-of-famers.

The Twins made a curious decision, starting a rookie, Randy Dobnak, making only his SIXTH start in the majors, and who had only 28 1/3 innings of major league experience. This, in Game 2 of the ALDS, in a game you NEED to win to avoid going down 0-2 in a best of five series. Strange decision indeed.

Not only that, the kid got married last Saturday. So his focus lately hasn’t been 100% on baseball.

Tanaka got out of a jam in first, being the back end of a nifty 3-6-1 DP to end the inning. Tanaka helps himself out when he pitches by holding runners on well and also by fielding his position well. Here his fielding helped him out.

The Yanks got to Dobnak early, scoring one run in the first. D.J. LeMahieu led off with a double and Aaron Judge walked. A flyout by Brett Gardner moved D.J. to third. Edwin Encarnacion, looking hot and nothing like a guy just off the IL, singled to make it 1-0 Yanks.

Then came the third inning. The Yankees tied their postseason record by scoring seven runs in the inning.

Judge led off with a single and Gardner walked. Encarnacion singled to load the bases and Giancarlo Stanton hit a SF to make it 2-0. Gleyber Torres singled in a run, 3-0. Gary Sanchez was HBP to reload the bases and then Didi hit his grand slam. 7-0. After Gio Urshela struck out, D.J. walked and Judge singled. Gardner singled to make it 8-0, and the game was basically over.

Tanaka did give up a run in the fourth, and the Twins also got a run off of Jonathan Loaisiga in the ninth.

Judge 2 hits, 2 walks
Encarnacion 2 hits, RBI
Gregorius 2 hits, 4 RBI. Grand slam. (1st by Yankee in postseason since Robbie Cano 2011)
Urshela 2 hits.

 

Tanaka (WINNER) 5 IP,  1 R, 3 H, 1 W, 7 K.  Brilliant.
Kahnle 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 2 K.
Ottavino 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 1 K.
Lyons 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 2 K.
Loaisiga 1 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 0 W, 2 K.

Yankees’ pitchers combined for 14 strikeouts. Meanwhile, besides getting 11 hits, the Yankees drew 8 walks.

 

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No offense to other good teams in the AL, like Oakland, Tampa Bay and Cleveland (who didn’t make the playoffs despite winning over 90 games) or the Twins, but for months it has appeared that, unless there is an upset, that the ALCS would be the Yankees vs. the Astros.

That possibility became even more of a certainty Saturday night when Houston beat the Tampa Bay Rays 3-1 to go up two games to none in their series. Gerrit Cole struck out 15 in 7 2/3 innings. The only pitchers to strike out more in a postseason game were Bob Gibson and Kevin Brown (yeah, I still wretch when I think of Kevin Brown). Houston pitchers combined for 17 strikeouts and Alex Bregman hit a HR.

Cole is a free agent after the season. The Yanks drafted him in 2008 but he went to college instead. The Yanks tried to trade for him but wouldn’t give up Miguel Andujar in the deal.  So the interest is clearly there. Cole went 20-5, 2.50 with 326 K this season. He led the AL in ERA and the majors in strikeouts. You can guess how much I want Hal Steinbrenner to break open the piggy bank and sign Cole (who, obviously, won’t come cheap) in this upcoming offseason. Not only to help the Yanks but to hurt Houston.

Can you imagine a rotation of Cole, Severino, Tanaka, Paxton and Happ (sorry to the youngsters).

Cole is 29. A three-time All-Star who will get CYA consideration for the third time this offseason (and who may win it, unless he loses to teammate Justin Verlander). His 162 g. average is 17-7, 3.22, ERA+ 127.

Look at that rotation again. You can buy Happ out after 2020 and maybe a youngster like Deivi Garcia is ready in 2021 (and I didn’t even mention Jordan Montgomery).

8 years, $250 million?

It isn’t my money, obviously. But I can dream about spending Hal’s, can’t I?

Game 160. Yanks blast 6 HR in 14-7 win. Overtake Twins. Will play Twins in ALDS.

With a nickname like the Bronx Bombers, you would expect the Yankees to be proud of the team HR record they had for years (240 in 1961 stood a long time) and regained last year with 267. You would expect they would want to keep it in house.

It appears they came out pretty mad after two games of offensive ineptitude against the Rays, where they scored just one HR (a Maybin HR) in 21 innings.

Last night the Yankees (103-57) hit 6 HR in a 14-7 win over Texas, and in this season where the ball seems like an oversized golf ball, overtook the Twins 305-303 in the race to see who sets the new record.

The Yanks also found out that with Houston beating the Angels last night, that they are locked into the #2 seed in the AL and will be facing those Twins in the ALDS. Houston will be the #1 seed. The Yanks will have Games 1 and 2 at Yankee Stadium next Friday and Saturday. Game 3 will be in Minnesota Monday. Game 4, if necessary, in Minnesota on Tuesday and Game 5, if necessary, will be back in the Bronx on Thursday, Oct. 10.

With two games left in the season, if the Yanks do make the WS, the Yanks are one game behind the Dodgers (the NL’s best team). The Yanks do hold the tiebreaker if both teams finish in a tie.

Giancarlo Stanton got things started with a HR (3) in the top of the first. It was the Yankees’ 300th HR of the season.

James Paxton gave up a two-run HR in the bottom of the first and left after one inning with a tight left glute. He says he could have continued but that he was pulled for precautionary reasons. Hopefully he is OK, since his next start will most likely be Game 1 or 2 of the ALDS.

The Yanks came right back in the second when Cameron Maybin tied it with his 11th HR of the season.

The Yanks got three in the fourth and didn’t look back. Brett Gardner led off the inning with his 28th HR of the season. Gio Urshela doubled and was forced at second by Maybin. Mike Ford then forced Maybin at second. D.J. LeMahieu doubled Ford to third and both runners scored on a single by Stanton. 5-2 Yanks.

The Yanks got three in the sixth when Urshela led off the inning with his 21st HR of the year. After a walk to Maybin, Ford hit his 12th HR. 8-2 Yankees.

They scored three more in the seventh to make it 11-2. With one out, Gardner singled. After Urshela struck out for the second out, Maybin singled Gardner to third, the Ford walked to load the bases. LeMahieu cleared the bases with a double and was thrown out trying for three. The three RBI put LeMahieu over 100 RBI for the season, at 102.

Gary Sanchez came off the IL, played, didn’t do too well at the plate, but said he felt fine. Edwin Encarnacion was on the bench, but didn’t play. He probably will today.

Update: Encarnacion probably not back until the postseason.

Texas got an unearned run in the eighth off of Mike King, who was making his MLB debut to make it 11-3.

The Yanks got three more runs in the top of the ninth. Austin Romine led off the inning with his 8th HR of the season. Clint Frazier walked and was forced at second by Urshela. Maybin singled. Ford doubled in both runs. 14-3.

Chance Adams continued to disappoint, giving up two HR and four runs in the bottom of the ninth to make it 14-7.

LeMahieu 3 hits, 3 RBI. Now at .331-26-102.
Stanton 3 for 3, 2 walks. Solo HR (3).
Torres 2 hits.
Voit 0 for 5, 3 strikeouts. SEE BELOW.
Sanchez 0 for 3, 3 strikeouts in return from IL.
Romine solo HR (8)
Gardner 2 hits, solo HR (28)
Urshela 2 hits, solo HR (21)  .316-21-74
Maybin 3 hits, solo HR (11)
Ford 2 hits, 4 RBI HR (12)

Voit is 1 for his last 30 and in danger of losing a postseason roster spot to Ford.

Paxton 1 IP, 2 R, 3 H, 0 W, 1 K. Gave up 1 HR.  3.82
Heller 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 1 K.  1.42
Tarpley (W, 1-0, 6.93) 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 2 K.
Loaisiga (H, 1) 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 W, 1 K.  4.55
Gearrin (H, 14) 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 1 K.  4.14
Lyons 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 2 K.  6.75
King 2 IP, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 H, 0 W, 1 K.  0.00   MLB DEBUT
Adams 1/3 IP, 4 R, 4 H, 0 W, 1 K. Gave up 2 HR.  8.53
Cortes, Jr.  2/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 0 K.  5.45

Win #103 matches the 2009 squad. To find a year where the Yanks had more, you have to go back to 1998 (114).

NOTE: I WILL NOT HAVE A RECAP OF SATURDAY’S GAME #161. I WILL BE OUT OF TOWN ATTENDING A NIECE’S WEDDING AND STAYING IN A HOTEL OVERNIGHT, AND WON’T BE BACK IN TOWN UNTIL LATER SUNDAY AND THEN HAVE A HIGH SCHOOL REUNION TO ATTEND SUNDAY. BUSY WEEKEND.

Game 158. Yanks lose in 12th, 2-1.

Cory Gearrin gave up a HR to the first batter he faced, Ji-Man Choi, in the bottom of the 12th as the Yanks lost to Tampa Bay 2-1 in a game that featured 20 pitchers.

Thank God for the changes coming next year regarding September callups. Ridiculous. Gearrin was the eleventh pitcher the Yanks used in the game.

When you use all those pitchers, eventually you find the guy who has nothing on that given night.

The only Yankees’ run came on a HR (10) by Cameron Maybin in the third inning. The bats were silent. In 12 innings, the Yanks got only 7 hits, and struck out 13x.

Maybin is the 14th Yankee with 10 or more HR this season, a MLB record.

CC Sabathia came out of the bullpen and pitched a 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts.

The Yanks escaped a disaster when X-rays on Gio Urshela’s hand came up negative after he was HBP.

Kevin Kiermaier homered in the fifth for the Rays to tie the game, and it stood at 1-1 until Choi’s walkoff HR.

Maybin’s HR was #299 for the Yanks this season. The Twins didn’t homer, so they are still at 297 in the race for the new team HR record in a season. The Twins have one more game to play than the Yankees do.

With the loss, the Yankees (102-56) fall 1 1/2 behind Houston for the majors’ best record with just four games to play. Houston has the tiebreaker. It doesn’t look like the Yanks can catch Houston for the best record in the majors. Rather, it looks like they’ll be the AL’s #2 seed and play the Twins in the first round, with the Yanks having the home field advantage. With all those homers between the teams, it could be a shootout. Should the Yanks make it to the WS, they are 1/2 game ahead of the NL’s best team, the Dodgers, and the Yanks hold the tiebreaker over LA.

Maybin solo HR (10)

Montgomery 2 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 0 W, 3 K.  6.75
Heller 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 1 K.  1.69
Sabathia (H, 1) 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 2 K.   4.95
Tarpley (BS, 1) 1 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 0 W, 1 K. Gave up 1 HR.   7.43
Lyons 0 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 W, 0 K.   7.36.  Faced one batter, walked him.
Cessa 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 2 W, 2 K.  3.62
Kahnle 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K.  3.45
Britton 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K.  1.94
Ottavino 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K.  1.79
Green 2 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 5 K.  4.24
Gearrin (L, 1-3, 4.25) 0 IP, 1 R, 1 H, 0 W, 0 K. Faced one batter, gave up HR.

Yankees’ pitchers struck out 17.

 

Game 152. Successful Seve return as Yanks shutout Angels, 8-0. Betances tears Achilles, done for season. Torres hits #38; Magic # 1.

Good and bad news healthwise. Stanton to be activated today or Thursday. Encarnacion feels like he’ll be back. Now, no news yet on Sanchez, but

tonight, Luis Severino finally came back off of injury and in his season debut pitched four scoreless innings as the Yanks (99-53) beat the Angels, 8-0.

We’ll see how he feels tomorrow and how he comes through this. But very encouraging.

The magic # is 1 to make the playoffs, and also is 1 to win the AL East. Houston won so the Yanks remain tied with Houston for best record in the AL (Houston has the tiebreaker). The Dodgers are one game behind both the Yanks and Houston (Yanks hold tiebreaker over LA). The Yanks have a 10 game lead over Tampa Bay in the AL East with 10 games to go.

The bad news is that Dellin Betances is done for the year with a partially torn Achilles tendon.  He is a free agent after the season, and a bad year to miss the whole year. We’ll see what happens in the wintertime.

The Yanks got two runs in the second inning when Gleyber Torres singled and Luke Voit walked. One out later, Gio Urshela singled in one run and then Cameron Maybin doubled in another to put the Yanks up 2-0.

They broke the game open with six runs in the fourth. With one out, Urshela singled. Cameron Maybin singled, then after another out, all six runs scored with one out. D.J. LeMahieu singled in a run to make it 3-0. Aaron Judge walked to load the bases. Didi Gregorius doubled in two runs to make it 5-0. Torres then hit a 3-run HR (38) to cap things off at 8-0.

LeMahieu 2 hits, RBI  .329
Gregorius 2 RBI
Torres 2 hits, 3 RBI; 3-run HR (38)
Urshela 2 hits, RBI.  .328
Maybin 2 hits, RBI

Severino 4 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 2 W, 4 K.  0.00
Loaisiga (W, 2-1, 4.23) 2 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 W, 3 K
Tarpley 1 1/3 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 0 W, 4 K.  7.71
Gearrin 2/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 0 K.  4.18
Adams 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 1 W, 2 K.  7.20

In the race for the new team MLB record, the Twins have 289, the Yankees 287. The Twins have played one less game.

UPDATE: Breyvic Valera was DFA’d.

UPDATE 2: From the NY Post.

The Yankees have let go of five minor league staff members.

According to minor league head Kevin Reese, the team didn’t renew the contracts of hitting coordinator Edwar Gonzalez, field coordinator Jody Reed, pitching coordinator Scott Aldred, Trenton hitting coach Ty Hawkins and Charleston hitting coach Greg Colbrunn.

Aldred’s departure follows the departure of fellow pitching coordinator Danny Burrell, who left to take the pitching coach job at Georgia Tech.

Hate seeing Aldred go.

Game 150. Yanks hit 5 HR (2 by Gardy) in 13-3 win.

I remember seeing Brett Gardner over 10 years ago when he played in AAA, before coming up to the majors. Speedy. If you would have told me then that he’d make the majors and lead the league in SB with 49, I certainly would have believed you.

If you would have told me that he’d have a season where he’d hit 25 HR, I wouldn’t have. I didn’t think at that time he’d have a season where he’d hit 10. When I saw Gardner then, I was thinking he was another Brett Butler (who never hit more than 9 HR in a season in his career).

Things have certainly changed. Gardner hit 2 HR yesterday, giving him 25 for the season–at age 36—as the Yankees (98-52) hit five HR in a 13-3 win over Toronto.

With the win, the Yanks stay 9 up on Tampa Bay with 12 games to go. The magic # to win the division outright (no tiebreakers) is 4.

The magic # just to make it into the playoffs is 2.

They remain one game ahead of Houston for the AL’s best record (Houston has the tiebreaker) and two games ahead of the Dodgers (Yanks have tiebreaker).

They have 285 HR this season, two more than the Twins in the race for the new MLB record, but the Twins have played two less games.

The Yanks got a run in the second inning when Luke Voit walked, Gio Urshela singled, and Gardner doubled home Voit.

In the third, D.J. LeMahieu and Aaron Judge both singled, and after a fielder’s choice in which LeMahieu was out in a rundown, Voit doubled in a run to make it 2-0.

In the fourth, Gardner hit the first of his two HR for the game (24) to make it 3-0.

His three-run HR in the fifth (25) made it 6-0.

In the bottom of the fifth, he made a great catch up against the fence. Toronto did get a run that inning to make it 6-1.

In the top of the sixth, Gleyber Torres (37) and Luke Voit (21) went back-to-back with homers to put the Yanks up 9-1. Torres’ HR being a 2=run blow.

The Yanks got four runs in the top of the ninth. Kyle Higashioka led off the inning with a double. Thairo Estrada singled him home to make it 10-1. After an out, Clint Frazier doubled Estrada to third. Tyler Wade had an RBI groundout to move the runners up, scoring Estrada, to make it 11-1. Mike Ford then hit a PH HR (11) to make it 13-1.

Toronto got two runs off of Ryan Dull in the bottom of the ninth for the final score of 13-3.

LeMahieu 4 hits (.329).
Torres 2-run HR (37)
Voit 2 hits, 2 RBI. Solo HR (21)
Ford 2-run PH HR (11)
Urshela 2 hits (.326)
Gardner 3 hits, 2 HR (25) 5 RBI
Estrada 2 hits, RBI

Paxton (W, 14-6, 3.88) 5 IP, 1 R, 3 H, 2 W, 3 K.
Gearrin 1 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 0 W, 1 K.  4.24
Loaisiga 2 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 2 K.  4.56
Dull 1 IP, 2 R, 3 H, 1 W, 3 K.  13.50

Jordan Montgomery and Dellin Betances come off of rehab and join the team on Sunday.

 

Game 149. Ain’t “Lyons”, Yanks fall to Toronto in 12, 6-5.

The Yankees (97-52) lost to Toronto 6-5 in 12 innings when Tyler Lyons gave up a walkoff HR to Bo Bichette, Dante’s son.

With the loss, the Yankees’ magic number remains at 5, both to just make the playoffs, and also to clinch the AL East. The lead over Tampa Bay is 9 with 13 games to go.

The lead over Houston for best record in the AL is down to one game. Remember that Houston has the tiebreaker. In the NL, the Dodgers have the same record as Houston, one game behind the Yankees, but the Yankees hold the tiebreaker there.

Starter Masahiro Tanaka was not sharp, as he gave up a HR in the second inning to Randal Grichuk to put Toronto up 1-0. Grichuk has killed the Yankees this year.

In the fourth, Tanaka gave up two runs, both with two out, to put the Blue Jays up 3-0.

The Yanks scored all of their runs in the fifth. Brett Gardner led off the inning with a double and scored on a double by Clint Frazier. Frazier went to third on an error. Austin Romine singled in Frazier to cut Toronto’s lead to 3-2. D.J. LeMahieu singled and Gleyber Torres hit into a forceout, putting runners on first and third with one out. Luke Voit reached on a fielder’s choice, tying the game. A WP moved the runners up, then Gio Urshela singled in two runs to put the Yanks up 5-3.

Tanaka gave a run right back in the bottom of the fifth as the first two batters doubled and singled off of him. 5-4.

Adam Ottavino balked home a run in the seventh that tied the game. It stayed tied until the bottom of the 12th, when Lyons served up the gopher ball that cost the Yanks the game.

LeMahieu 2 hits, .325.
Urshela 2 RBI  .326
Romine 2 hits, RBI

Tanaka 5 IP, 4 R, 8 H, 0 W, 6 K.  4.60.   Gave up 1 HR.
Kahnle (H, 27) 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 0 K.  3.30
Ottavino (BS, 7) 1 IP, 1 R, 1 H, 2 W, 1 K.  1.85  Balked in tying run.
Britton 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K.   2.01
Cessa 2 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 0 W, 1 K.   3.71
Lyons (L, 1-2, 7.27)  1 IP, 1 R, 1 H, 0 W, 1 K. Gave up GW walkoff HR.

Notable baseball passing: Wally Westlake, 98. OF/3B. Westlake played for the Pirates (1947-1951), Cardinals (1951-1952), Reds (1952), Indians (1952-1955), Orioles (1955) and Phillies (1956). He was a platoon OF for the Indians team that won the 1954 AL Pennant, and a teammate of Hal Naragon on that team. Naragon just passed away himself at the age of 90 on Aug. 31.

Westlake hit 20 or more HR 1949-1951, and was an All-Star in 1951 when he split time with the Pirates and Cardinals, hitting .266-22-84, OPS+ 108. He drove in 104 runs for the 1949 Pirates. In 1952, his production dropped and he became more of a platoon player.

For the 1954 Indians, he hit .263-11-42, OPS+ 114. In the WS that year, he was 1 for 7 in two games.

His 162 g. average was .272-21-91, OPS+ 111. He played in 958 games, hitting .272 with 127 career HR.