Game 162. Yanks win season/Jeter’s finale, 9-5.

The Yankees got off to a 9-0 lead and held on to win the season finale—also the last game of Derek Jeter’s career—9-5 on Sunday.

With the win, the Yankees ended the season at 84-78 and all alone in second place in the AL East (Toronto lost to Baltimore in their season finale and finished 83-79). The Yankees finished 12 back of Baltimore in the division, and 4 out of the final wild card spot.

In 2013, the Yanks finished tied for 3rd, but with 85 wins. So this year they finished better in the division, but with one less win. It was their worst record since 1992.

With the offseason moves (and lots of spending) on Ellsbury, McCann, Beltran, Tanaka, as well as the returns of Jeter and Teixeira, it was a disappointing season after a hopeful offseason.

Derek Jeter got an RBI infield single on a Baltimore chop in his last at bat to retire with 3465 hits (sixth all-time) and a .310 lifetime batting average. It was his 50th RBI of the season. He had lined to SS in the first. He was pinch-run for after his hit and finished his final game 1 for 2. His final season: .256-4-50 with 10 SB in 12 attempts. OPS+ 75.

The Yanks got four in the third on a two-run triple by Ichiro, Jeter’s single, and a SF by Teixeira.

They got five in the seventh on a two-run double by Jose Pirela, single by John Ryan Murphy, double by Austin Romine and single by Chase Headley.

Meanwhile, Michael Pineda was cruising. After he was pulled, the bullpen made things a bit sloppy by giving up five to Boston in the bottom of the seventh.

Pineda had an ERA of 1.89 this year. Too bad he only started 13 games and the Yanks didn’t give him much run support.

Pineda (W, 5-5, 1.89) 6 1/3, 1 R, 3 H, 0 walks and 10 K.

Rogers 1/3 IP, 4 R, 1 H, 2 walks, 1 HBP, 1 K. Overall ERA 5.72.

Warren 1 1/3, 0 R, 1 H, 0 walks and 2 K. 2.97.

Phelps 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 walks and 2 K. 4.38.

The postseason now begins for 10 teams. In the AL Oakland (who barely held on to make the postseason) will be at KC for the wild-card playoff game, winner gets the Angels. The other ALDS has Detroit vs. Baltimore.

In the NL, SF will be at Pittsburgh in the wild-card game with the winner getting Washington. The other NLDS will be the Cardinals vs. the Dodgers.

 

Game 160. “B Squad” Beats Boston, 3-2.

Using a lineup that looked like something out of one of those spring training games where you recognize no one because they are all minor leaguers wearing numbers in the seventies, the Yanks beat Boston Friday night, 3-2.

No Jeter, McCann, Teix, Beltran, Gardner, Headley, Ellsbury, Ichiro, Prado, etc.

Instead, you had Jose Pirela in his fourth MLB game. Eury Perez. John Ryan Murphy and Austin Romine. Zelous Wheeler and Antoan Richardson. Your #3 hitter was Cervelli.

But the Yanks did win, 3-2, to go to 83-77 on the season. With the win, the Yanks stayed one game ahead of Toronto for 2nd place in the AL East with two games to go.

Chris Capuano started and pitched great, although it must be pointed out that Boston’s lineup had some of their main people out as well (Pedroia, Ortiz, Napoli).

Capuano (W, 3-4) 6 2/3 IP, 1 R, 0 ER, 4 H, 0 walks, 5 K. Overall ERA 4.35.
Kelley 1/3 IP, 1 R, 1 H, 0 walks, 0 K. 4.53.
Warren 1 Ip, 0 R, 0 H, 0 walks, 2 K. 3.03.
Robertson (39th save) 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 walks and 2 K. 3.08.

Boston got an unearned run in the second but the Yanks came back with two in the third. A passed ball on a strikeout and another passed ball put Eury Perez on second. Cervelli singled in Perez and after Chris Young singled, Cervelli scored when John Ryan Murphy hit into a force but there was an error on the play.

The Yanks went up 3-1 in the sixth on a Zelous Wheeler SF.

Boston cut it to 3-2 in the seventh when Kelley gave up a HR but that was it.

 

Game 155. Gardner gets 15000th team HR in 5-2 win.

Brett Gardner hit the 15,000th HR in Yankees history, Brian McCann added two more, and Masahiro Tanaka got a win in his return from the DL (Chaz Roe was DFA’d) as the Yanks beat Toronto 5-2 on Sunday.

Mickey Mantle got HR #5000, Claudell Washington #10000 and now Brett Gardner #15000 in Yankees history.

For the fourth straight game, Derek Jeter got two hits. He came into the home stand on a bad slump, but in the last home stand of his career, has put together some nice games. He had two hits today, including an RBI double, raised his average to .255, and now has 3459 hits for his career. It was his fourth straight two-hit game, all on his final home stand.

Tanaka, limited in his # of pitches due to just coming off the DL, went 5 1/3 and looked, well, like TANAKA. 1 R, 5 H, 0 walks and 4 K. He improved to 13-4, 2.47. If only for those 10 weeks he missed.

He gave up his only run in the top of the first,  but McCann’s first HR of the game tied it in the bottom half of the inning.

Gardner’s 17th HR of the season (and who thought he’d hit THAT many this year?) made it 2-1 in the fifth, and the HR was the 15,000th in Yankees history. They are the first team to hit 15,000 HR in their history.

The Yankees got 3 in the 7th on doubles by Gardner and Jeter and McCann’s 2nd HR of the game. McCann’s 22nd HR gave him the team lead. With Ellsbury out, McCann’s 3 RBI gave him 71 for the season, and the team lead there as well.

Dellin Betances gave up a run in the 8th.

After Tanaka left,

Warren 1 2/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 walks and 3 K. 3.07

Betances 1 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 0 walks and 1 K. 1.42.

David Robertson picked up his 38th save. 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 walk and 1 K. 2.79.

The win put the Yanks 2 up on the Jays for 2nd place in the AL East at 80-75. Two more victories means a winning season. They haven’t had a non-winning season since 1992. They may still win less games than last year, when they won 85.

They are 4 1/2 out of the last wild card spot with just 7 games to go and must jump three teams. An almost impossible task to accomplish.

Game 153. Ellsbury leads Yanks to win, but may be done for the year.

Jacoby Ellsbury homered, doubled, and drove in three runs in the Yankees’ 5-3 win over Toronto Friday night but also strained his right hamstring and, with only nine games remaining in the regular season, may be done for the year.

Toronto took a quick 2-0 lead in the top of the first on an Edwin Encarnacion HR off of Yankees’ starter and winner Hiroki Kuroda.

The Yanks came back in the bottom of the first on a double by Ellsbury, single by Jeter and RBI single by McCann.

Ellsbury put the Yanks up 3-2 in the third with his 16th (and final? We’ll hear about the MRI results today) HR of the season.

The Yanks made it 5-2 in the fourth when Ellsbury hit an RBI force out with the bases loaded and reached first on a bad throw by Blue Jays’ SS Jose Reyes which enabled a second run to score on the play. In running down the line, however, Ellsbury strained his hamstring.

Derek Jeter got two hits to run his career total to 3455 and lift his batting average to .252.

Kuroda (W, 11-9, 3.77) went 6 2/3, 3 R, 2 ER, 0 walks and 7 K.
Outman (overall ERA 2.86) one batter, and he gave up a double.
Rogers 2/3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 1 walk and 0 K. Overall ERA 5.23
Warren (Save #3) 1 2/3, 0 R, 0 H, 0 walks, 3 K. 3.13.

The win puts the Yanks at 79-74, and two games up on Toronto for second place in the AL East. They are 4 1/2 games out of the final wild card spot with just nine games to go. Cleveland is also 79-74, and the Yanks would have not only better the Indians in the last nine games, but also jump over KC (83-69) and Seattle (83-70) to claim that final playoff spot.

HOF 1B Willie McCovey has been hospitalized. Get Well Soon, Stretch!

 

Game 149. Yanks’ offense disappoints again in 1-0 loss.

This has been the story of the Yankees’ season in 2014—a good pitching performance sabotaged by an underperforming, often non-existent offense. The OPS+ is 94, the ERA + 104. That more or less tells you a lot. (100 is average, the higher the better).

Tampa Bay scored with two out in the bottom of the 9th to beat the Yanks 1-0 Monday night.

Last time out, Chris Capuano only got one out. This time, he pitched six shutout, two-hit innings in lowering his overall ERA to 4.55. 6 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 4 walks and 4 K.

Adam Warren pitched two scoreless innings, 0 R, 0 H, 0 walks, 1 K, 3.21.

Shawn Kelley (L, 3-6, 4.20) took the loss. 2/3 IP, 1 R, 3 H, 1 walk and 1 K.

The Yanks got just six hits in the game. Derek Jeter, 0 for his last 24, was given the day off.

With the loss, and Baltimore’s win, the inevitable finally happened, the Yanks were eliminated from winning the division. As far as that final playoff spot goes, they are now six back with 13 to go and must jump over four teams to do so.  Although not mathematically eliminated yet, you can stick a fork in them. Just being realistic, here.

At 76-73, it is looking more and more likely that the Yanks won’t match last year’s record of 85-77, and will wind up with their worst season since 1992, which was their last season under .500. They have to win six of the remaining 13 games to finish above .500.

If they can get hot, they could pass Toronto (and yes, the Yanks do have games left against the Blue Jays) for second place in the division. Small consolation, since the second place won’t come with a wild card berth.

In related news, Mark Newman is stepping down as Farm Director, and Masahiro Tanaka threw five innings in instructional league. Tanaka may be back this weekend.

Games 145/146. Yanks get swept.

The Yanks’ very remote playoff chances were basically killed off on Friday when they scored only one run in 20 innings of a DH and lost both games to the Baltimore Orioles, 2-1 in 11 innings, and 5-0.

With the losses, the Yanks fell to 75-71, and are in 3rd place, 12 1/2 behind division leader Baltimore, and are five games out of the final wild card spot with just 16 to play.

In the first game, the game was scoreless until Thursday night’s hero, Chris Young homered in the top of the 11th. Unfortunately, the Yanks weren’t playing at home like they were on Thursday night, so the HR wasn’t a GW walk-off. Instead, Adam Warren came in, hit one batter, walked two, then gave up a two-out, two-run single to blow the game, 2-1.

Antoan Richardson went 3 for 4 in the DH. (I correct myself from a previous version of this post. I thought it was his first MLB hit, but he went 2-4 for Atlanta in 2011. )

The Game 1 pitching line:

McCarthy 7 Ip, 0 R, 4 H, 0 walks and 6 K. Overall ERA  3.98 (as NYY, 2.54)
Betances 1 1/3, 0 R, 0 H, 2 walks and 2 K. 1.37
Robertson 1 2/3, 0 R, 0 H, 2 walks and 2 K. 2.68.
Warren (L, 3-6, 3.30) 2/3 IP, 2 R, 1 H, 2 walks, 1 HBP, 1 K.

The Yanks’ offense continued to struggle in Game 2 of the DH, since they lost that one 5-0, getting just four hits.

Rookie Bryan Mitchell made his first MLB start (second MLB game), and did well the first time through the order before the Orioles caught up to him.

David Phelps struggled in his return from the DL (rusty).

Mitchell 5 IP, 2 R, 6 H, 2 walks and 2 K. (L, 0-1, 2.57).
Outman 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 walks and 1 K. Overall ERA 3.00
Phelps 2/3 IP, 2 R, 1 H, 3 walks and 1 K. 4.38.
Hill 1/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 walks and 0 K. 1.93.
Roe 1 IP, 1 R, 1 H, 0 walks and 2 K. 9.00.

Derek Jeter didn’t play in the first game of the DH and went 0 for 4 in the nightcap. He stays at 3450 career hits as his career is winding down (just over two weeks to go). He is down to .253, and is hitting .181 since August 2nd, when his average was .278. Jeter, of course, missed most of last year (hitting just .190 in 17 games) recovering from the breaks in his ankle, and at the age of 40, you wonder if it is age, fatigue (after all, he missed most of last year) or a combination of age, deterioration of skills, fatigue, all the ceremonies and the realization this is the end, etc.

Whatever, the last five weeks or so have been tough to watch. Seeing him lose 25 points off his batting average, and getting to the point where we really have to wonder if he’ll stay above .250 for this season has been difficult. It’s sad to watch lately.

Game 143. Yanks come back to win 8-5.

Chris Capuano was terrible, getting just one out, but the Yanks came back from a 4-0 first inning deficit to win 8-5.

Capuano got just one out, a strikeout, but gave up 4 R on 4 H and 2 walks. His overall ERA went to 4.90.

The Yanks got one run back in the bottom of the first on a HR by McCann (18).

They got two more in the third on a two-run single by McCann to cut it to 4-3.

Chris Young hit his 9th HR of the year, and first as a Yankee, in the fourth to tie it up.

An Rbi triple (it should have been a double and error) by Teixeira (triple? by Teix?) and rbi single by Headley gave the Yanks two in the fifth to put them up 6-4.

Doubles by Ichiro and Young drove in two in the eighth. McCann had 3 RBI in the game, and Young had 3 hits and 2 RBI.

On the down side, Derek Jeter was 0 for 4 and his average slid to .256. The last five weeks have been tough to watch. It’s proof that yes, it’s time.

After Capuano was knocked out in the first, the pitching line went like this:

Whitley 2 2/3, 0 R, 1 H, 1 walk and 2 K. ERA 5.13.

Claiborne (W, 3-0, 3.20) 2 Ip, 0 R, 2 H. 0 walks and 1 K.

Warren 1 2/3, 0 R, 2 h, 0 walks and 0 K.  3.07.

Betances 1 1/3, 0 R, 1 H, 0 walks and 1 K. 1.39.

Rogers 1 IP, 1 R, 1 H, 0 walks and 0 K. Overall ERA 4.83.

The win puts the Yanks record at 74-69. They remain in 3rd place in the AL East (forget the division, they are 11 back and Baltimore’s magic # for clinching is down to 8). As far as the last wild card spot is concerned, they are 4 1/2 back with 19 to play.

Even if a miracle occurred and the Yanks did make the playoffs, the news isn’t good. While Masahiro Tanaka continued to progress in pitching a simulated game and there is a chance he may pitch in one or two games before the season is out, it is looking more and more like Brett Gardner will be shut down for rest of the year with an abdominal strain. Carlos Beltran’s elbow is acting up again. It looks like he’ll need offseason surgery, but can it hold up for 19 more games? It’s looking like the answer may be no and he may be shut down for the year. Martin Prado’s hamstring is preventing him from playing.