Sunday, July 8, 2018

Life's a Gardy Party...

Photo Credit: Getty Images
Yanks Vet lead Bombers past Blue Jays….

Brett Gardner may be the oldest position player on the Yankees roster, but age didn’t slow him down on Saturday. He took the first offering from Toronto Blue Jays starter J.A. Happ and deposited it into the right center field stands, much to the chagrin of the Blue Jays crowd. Not to be outdone, Aaron Judge followed Gardy with a homer to right. Back-to-back jacks are a very nice way to start the day (unless the guys play for the other team, of course).

Photo Credit: Getty Images (Tom Szczerbowski)

The first inning continued with walks of both Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Hicks. Happ was able to strike out both Miguel Andujar and Didi Gregorius, and might have been able to get out of the inning without further damage if not for Brandon Drury. Drury laced a double to center which bounced in front of Jays center fielder Kevin Pillar and up off his glove to score both Stanton and Hicks. The Yankees had a 4-0 lead and Luis Severino had yet to throw a pitch. It looked like Kyle Higashioka was going to get a hit for extra bases but a great diving catch to end the inning was made by former Yankee Curtis Granderson. Grandy’s way of keeping Higgy’s homer streak intact although Higgy would later blow it with an eighth inning single.

It looked like the second inning might be another big one for the Yankees. A couple of walks and an infield single had the bases loaded against Happ and only one out. Happ was able to escape the jam when he struck out both Aaron Hicks and Miguel Andujar.  

Kevin Pillar made an atonement for his inability to get to Drury’s hit in the first inning when he blasted a two-run homer in the bottom of the second inning to bring the Jays within two of the Yankees.

Didi Gregorius led off the third inning against Happ with a walk.  He advanced to second on a two-out steal, although Greg Bird took a walk that would have pushed Didi to second anyway. The Bird walk ended Happ’s not-so-pretty audition for the Yankees. The Jays brought in reliever Jake Petricka to face Brett Gardner. With the two men on base, Gardy tripled to deep center to add two more runs.  He scored when a Petricka pitch got by Jays catcher Luke Maile for a passed ball. The Yankees led the Blue Jays, 7-2.

The Jays got to Luis Severino again in the fourth inning when Randal Grichuk homered to left, a solo shot.  

In the bottom of the fifth inning, the Yankees made some defensive changes with Clint Frazier, called up earlier in the day after David Hale had been DFA’d, entering the game in left and Brett Gardner sliding over to center to replace Aaron Hicks. The Hicks exit was later described as cramping and not considered serious.  

Severino exited the game after completing the fifth inning. It was not one of his better performances but he was in position for the win. For five innings  of work and 97 pitches, he gave up five hits and three runs. He walked a couple of batters and struck out five. The two uncharacteristic homers increased his season ERA to 2.12 which is still very, very good.  

Photo Credit: Getty Images (Tom Szczerbowski)

Jonathan Holder replaced Sevy in the sixth and was greeted by a double from Justin Smoak when Brett Gardner was unable to make the backhanded catch in center. Kendrys Morales singled to put runners at the corners for Kevin Pillar. Pillar lofted a fly to center that was deep enough to score Smoak and it was 7-4. Holder was able to retire the next two to get out of the inning. All things considered, it could have been worse.

The Yankees had the bases loaded again in the top of the eighth inning with two outs but Clint Frazier grounded into a fielder’s choice at short to strand the runners. I had really been hoping that Red Thunder could come up big in that spot but it was not meant to be.

In the top of the ninth, Miguel Andujar led off with a ground rule double to left that bounced off the chalk line into the stands against Jays reliever Rhiner Cruz. It was Andujar’s 25th double of the season. A single to left field by Sir Didi brought Andujar home with the Yankees’ eighth run. With two outs and two men on, Cruz left the game with an apparent injury but John Axford came into retire Brett Gardner on three consecutive strikes to prevent the Yankees from adding any further insurance runs.

For the Jays’ last swings, Manager Aaron Boone made the curious decision to bring in Aroldis Chapman in the non-save situation. Chapman had been warming up in the bullpen along with Chasen Shreve. Not that I wanted to see Shreve enter a game, but with a double-header against Baltimore coming up on Monday, I wanted to make sure that Chapman was rested and ready. Boone had other thoughts, but after Chapman struck out Randal Grichuck, he appeared to land poorly on his left knee (has been dealing with tendonitis in the knee). Boone opted not to take any chances (was observed mouthing it was “not worth it”) and pulled Chappy.  Chasen Shreve came in and was able to retire Luke Maile with a come-backer to the mound for the second out. But then Aledmys Diaz blasted a ‘no doubt about it’ shot to left center to make it a three-run game again. Thoughts of “Chasen Shreve, you suck!” started seeping into my mind but fortunately he was able to strike out Teoscar Hernandez to end the game.  Yankees win, 8-5.  

My frustration with this game was the continued problem with men in scoring position. The Yankees ended up leaving eleven men on base and were unable to score two separate times with the bases loaded. Fortunately, the offense was strong enough to withstand the comeback by the Blue Jays.  

Even if it was not one of Luis Severino’s better performances, he picked up his league-leading 14th victory of the season. At 14-2, this is reminiscent of the great season posted by Ron Guidry in 1978 when he finished 25-3 with 1.74 ERA. I liked Aaron Boone’s quote that he didn’t mind if Sevy started the All-Star Game…but was pulled after an inning. I hear ya, Skip.  We need this dude for the second half.  

Nice job by Dellin Betances yet again. I love it. I am so glad to see the big guy back on track and pitching like the perennial All-Star he is.  An inning of work.  No hits, no runs, two strikeouts.  Just another day at the office.  He has owned the eighth inning for months and it does not bode well for American League hitters.  

The Yankees (57-29) remained two games behind the Boston Red Sox in the AL East. The Red Sox spotted the Kansas City Royals an early 3-0 lead and then pounded them into submission with a 15-4 drubbing. It was a costly victory for the Sox as they lost their starting catcher, Christian Vasquez, with a broken pinky. It is unclear how much time Vasquez will miss, but he’s headed for the 10-day DL so he’ll be out for at least ten days dependent upon the severity of the injury. I hate to see anyone get hurt and I always believe in playing the best team possible so it is my hope that Vasquez is able to rebound from the injury very quickly.  

Looking at the pitching lines for the most rumored Yankees targets yesterday were mostly forgettable, but one stands out. I think I know which pitcher I want. Blake Snell is a guy that I’d gladly trade a boatload of top prospects for. 



Photo Credit: Associated Press

Listening to the Blue Jays TV announcers yesterday (which included former Yankee Pat Tabler), they were speculating that the pitcher (or pitchers) GM Brian Cashman will acquire by the trading deadline are most likely name(s) we are not currently hearing associated with the Yankees. It makes sense. After all, Cash did legitimately earn his Ninja nickname. I remain hopeful that he’ll bring in a top arm or two, leaving all of us flabbergasted at how he did it…once again.  

The best Tweet on Twitter yesterday was the one by the fake Ken Rosenthal reporting the Yankees had traded Sonny Gray to the Oakland A’s for a glazed doughnut. One commenter said the most disappointing part was realizing the tweet was fake and the Yankees weren’t really getting glazed doughnut back. Nice…

It’s Domingo German Day. A great day to end the latest Canadian visit with a win. Go Yankees!