Monday, September 25, 2017

Judge Overruled by the Blue Jays...

Credit:  Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports
Blue Jays 9, Yankees 5...

Despite two home runs by Aaron Judge, the Yankees couldn't overcome shoddy pitching and lost the rubber game of the three-game series on Sunday to the Toronto Blue Jays.

Pardon me if I don't get excited when Jaime Garcia is on the mound. I know that he did a decent job last time out, but he's a subpar starter at best and a future ex-Yankee. Unfortunately, he played to form on Sunday. I don't know if it was the hangover from Saturday's celebration or simply the usual dismal performance from Garcia that put the Yanks in a hole early.

I suppose I shouldn't blame Garcia for the home run he allowed Teoscar Hernandez to lead off the game. Hernandez's home run to the second deck of the left field stands on the second pitch of the game was his third against the Yankees in three games. Both Masahiro Tanaka and Sonny Gray felt Garcia's pain. The Jays up early, 1-0.

Credit:  Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports

It didn't take the Jays long to add to their lead. Kevin Pillar led off the bottom of the 2nd inning with a double to the left field wall. With Russell Martin batting, Pillar easily stole third. Martin struck out, but Darwin Barney took advantage of the runner in scoring position to loft a sacrifice fly to center when he punched a low Garcia pitch. Pillar scored and it was 2-0.

In the bottom of the 3rd inning, Justin Smoak hit a one-out double to deep center between Jacoby Ellsbury and Brett Gardner. Garcia walked the next two batters, Jose Bautista and Kendrys Morales, to load the bases. Manager Joe Girardi had seen enough (of course, I had seen enough of Garcia when he was taking his warmup pitches before the game) and made his way to the mound.

Credit:  Getty Images

Garcia was pulled and replaced with Jonathan Holder. Holder got Pillar to pop up in foul territory (third base side) for the second out, but then Russell Martin hit a double to deep right that Aaron Judge couldn't get to. The double cleared the bases, and the Blue Jays were up 5-0.  

The Yankees finally got to Jays starter Marcus Stroman in the top of the 4th inning. Chase Headley and Aaron Judge both walked to start the inning.  Didi Gregorius singled to center to score Headley. Judge moved to second.  It was a 5-1 game. Starlin Castro hit into a fielder's choice that forced Gregorius out at second, with Judge moving to third. Unfortunately, Judge would stay at third as both Jacoby Ellsbury and Todd Frazier struck out against Stroman to end the potential scoring opportunity.

Bryan Mitchell was brought in to pitch the bottom of the 4th inning. No offense to Mitchell but he's not the guy I would have brought into the game at that point. I like Mitchell but he's been like gasoline poured on fire this season and not in a good way. Ryan Goins singled to left to get things started against Mitchell. After Teoscar Hernandez walked, Josh Donaldson singled up the middle to center field to score Goins, with Hernandez taking second. With Justin Smoak batting, Mitchell threw a wild pitch to advance the runners. It didn't matter as Smoak walked to load the bases. Jose Bautista singled to right, scoring Goins, and the bases were still loaded. Kendrys Morales singled to left, scoring Hernandez and Donaldson. Bautista also tried to score but was nailed at the plate. After Mitchell hit Kevin Pillar with a pitch, Girardi finally pulled the plug on Mitchell. Not quite sure what took him so long to make that decision. Ben Heller came in and got Russell Martin to hit into an inning-ending double play. The Blue Jays held a commanding 9-1 lead over the Bombers.

In the top of the 6th inning, Aaron Judge led off with a home run to left, on a fly just over the wall, off Marcus Stroman. It was Judge's 47th homer of the season.  

Credit:  Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports

With two outs, Jacoby Ellsbury hit a ground-rule double to deep center. A walk of Todd Frazier ended Stroman's day. Matt Dermody entered the game to face Greg Bird and exited when Bird doubled to deep right off the wall to score Ellsbury. Frazier moved to third. Ryan Tepera took over for Dermody and got Austin Romine to ground out to third for the final out.  

Chase Headley reached base on a single up the middle with one out in the top of the 7th inning against Tepera. Aaron Judge followed with a two-run blast to left center to cut the Jays' lead to 9-5. It was Judge's second home run of the game and his 48th of the season (one shy of the MLB Rookie Record held by Mark McGwire).  

From there, the Yankees couldn't really mount much offense against Blue Jays bullpen. Jays closer Roberto Osuna took over in the 9th inning. After Osuna struck out Brett Gardner, the Blue Jays sent Ezequiel Carrera to right field to replace Jose Bautista. Joey Bats, perhaps playing his final home game for Toronto, made his way off the field through a series of hugs with the on-the-field players and received congratulations in the dugout. It is a foregone conclusion that Bautista won't be back for the Blue Jays in 2018 given a $20 million mutual option that the team would be foolish to pick up for a player in the twilight of his career. It was a nice moment for the long-time Blue Jay.  

Credit:  Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports
Credit:  Jon Blacker-The Canadian Press

Osuna struck out the next two batters, Chase Headley and Aaron Judge, to end the game.  

The Yankees (86-69) lost further ground to the Boston Red Sox with their first series loss since being swept by the Cleveland Indians in late August. The Red Sox rallied to defeat the Cincinnati Reds, 5-4, and now hold a commanding five game lead in the AL East with seven games to play. The Minnesota Twins swept the Detroit Tigers with their 10-4 win on Sunday so they closed the gap in the Wild Card standings to 4 1/2 games. This definitely makes me wish that Jaime Garcia had been pitching for the Twins, and the not the Yankees, the last few weeks.  We would have had a much greater lead.

Aaron Judge was clearly the hitting star with the two home runs, but he couldn't do it all himself. God bless him for trying.  

Credit:  Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports

Dellin Betances looked good. Pitching the 8th inning, he did hit a batter (Justin Smoak) but otherwise retired the batters he faced. He ended the inning with a swinging strikeout of Kendry Morales. The Yankees really need to get this guy back to form and soon. Hopefully this was a step in the right direction.  

I was hoping for better results yesterday but the Yankees need to focus on the task at hand. Time to head back to Yankee Stadium and make a strong home stand to end the season.  

Next Up:  Kansas City Royals at Yankee Stadium, Bronx, New York...

The Yankees and Royals play one game which is a makeup for the rainout on May 25th. At the time, the Yankees had taken two of three games from the Royals when the fourth game was postponed. Mathematically, the Royals still have a chance for the second Wild Card spot but their days are numbered (literally and figuratively speaking).  

Here is today's scheduled pitching matchup:

Royals:  Jake Junis (8-2, 4.05 ERA)

Yankees:  CC Sabathia (12-5, 3.81 ERA)

The Yankees currently lead the season series with the Royals, four games to two. At the time of the rainout, the Yankees were 27-17.  

The Tampa Bay Rays will be in town for three games beginning Tuesday night.

Odds & Ends...

The Washington Nationals plan to activate RF Bryce Harper off the disabled list today to begin their series in Philadelphia Phillies. The Nationals, who already look like the best team in the NL with the recent collapse of the Los Angeles Dodgers, will try to get Harper in top form before October.  

Have a great Monday! Hopefully today is a royal success for the home team. Go Yankees!

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