Yankees Come Back Three Times; Still Lose to Blue Jays 5-4

Usually when a team blows multiple leads in a single game, they don't muster up the confidence to later emerge victorious.

Obviously, when you keep going ahead only to fall apart you get kind of down, something that often tends to ruin the entire contest.

Despite that, the Yankees did find a way to lose this afternoon's rubber game to the Blue Jays, tying things three different times only to eventually fall 5-4.

Going into today's bottom of the fifth, surprisingly, the recently-good Yanks' offensive was getting shutout by J.A. Happ 2-0, but after back-to-back solo homers by Chase Headley and Francisco Cervelli in that frame they appeared to be on their way to another W.

Unfortunetaly, though, that wouldn't prove to be the case, with Shane Greene (5 1/3 IP, 3 ER) surrendering an RBI Double to Colby Rasmus in Toronto's half of the sixth.

Yes, Greene would still get a No Decision after New York evened things up again in their next turn, although since Dellin Betances still committed a throwing error that led to an unearned run in the eighth and David Robertson allowed one more trip around the bases in the ninth his decent outing didn't prove relevant.

In between those two mistakes by the bullpen, interestingly, struggling Yanks DH Carlos Beltran did make it 4-4 in the bottom of the eighth with a single, but again, that didn't end up mattering, with New York later losing in spite of all the excitement.

For example, in Roberton's inning of work, Headley robbed Jose Bautista of an RBI Double with a diving stop that led to a fielder's choice, appearing to end the threat with Dioner Navarro coming up.

Instead, though, Bautista stole second and Navarro knocked him in, finally finishing off the frustrating defeat.

The Daily Dozen - July 26, 2014

THE DAILY  DOZEN
(Twelve Takeaways from Today's Game - July 26th, 2014)

1. What's with Jeter hitting the ball to left lately?  I mean...heck it's good that he is, but isn't he supposed to only hit away since he's 40?  Jeter went 2 for 4 today with a walk and now has 3,416 hits on his career resume for those counting at home.

2. Capuano shut out the Blue Jays for 4 innings.  In those 4 innings he only gave up 2 hits but sprinkled in a scary first inning.  I'm sure the crowd at Yankee Stadium was getting uneasy having the bases loaded in his Pinstripe debut. He recorded the first two outs before plunking JoeyBats, giving up a shallow single, and then a walk to the power hitter known as Steve Tolleson.

3. Remember Wayne Tolleson?  He was a utility player for the Yankees from 1986 to 1990 batting .223.  He also wore the #2.  "Now batting...#2...Wayne Tolleson...#2..."  Well, his boy batted better than .223 today and had a key sacrifice fly in the 5th to tie the game.  I wonder if he's going to be sad that his number is being retired?

Nice mustache!

4. The only hit through 3 innings was to Dioner Navarro, a former Yankee.  Enter the former Yankee curse.  Of course, Navarro only played in 5 games for the Yanks back in 2004.  Since then he has played for six other big league teams.

5. The Yankees have a 37% chance of making the playoffs.  According to MLB.com's Postseason Probabilities Chart, on June 6th the Blue Jays had a 84% chance of making followed by the Yankees at 34% and Orioles at 19%.  As of June 25th, those numbers are 69% Baltimore, 37% New York, and 29% Toronto...wow have the Blue Jays fallen off a cliff.  Interestingly, the defending World Series Champs have a 2% chance of making it.  I guess Ellsbury made the right choice!

The Yankees holding steady at 37%. (Source: MLB.com)

6. Ellsbury's Defense.  That is all.

7. Acquisitions in the offseason and during this last month did just about everything in the 4th.  Ellsbury made a spectacular play on defense, Beltran walked, McCann jacked a 2-run bomb, and Headley got a single.  Maybe Cashman is a genius?

8. The Melk-man delivereth.  Enter the curse of Past Yankees 2.  In the 5th, Melky got the Blue Jays on the board with a double scoring good ol' JoeyBats.  Cabrera has 12 home runs and 52 RBI, which would easily lead the Yankees outfield if he was still a Yankee.  But hell, that was a LONG time ago and I definitely prefer Gardner over PED-boy.  Since the 5 year stint with NY, Melky has played for 4 teams in 5 seasons...ouch.

"Man...Canada really sucks..." (Source: Yahoo Sports)

9. Whitley the Reliever << Whitley the Starter.  Chase has been great over the past few starts for the Yankees.  His first opportunity as a reliever was an absolute stinkfest!

10. Hindsight is 20-20.  Anyone think the Binder would have preferred to keep Capuano in after Kelley, and Thornton, Whitley, and Francis gave up 4 runs out of the bullpen?  I believe I have come up with a new dictionary term by the way called Thorntoned.

11. Toronto had lost 17 in a row at the Stadium prior to today.  That streak went all the way back to August 29, 2012.  Man that was a long time ago...wait...no it wasn't...oh that's right...they play each other 18 or 19 times a season.  Still that's a pretty impressive streak.  And Beltran got the Yankees close to extending it in the 9th.

12. Dan Johnson played the role of Yankee Killer this afternoon.  He was 2 for 5 with a home run and 4 RBI.  Coming into the game he was batting .217 with 0 HR and 3 RBI.  Only in Baseball.

Yankees Come Back From 6-0 Deficit, Still Lose to Blue Jays

When a team goes through these kinds of losing streaks, it's important for us to remember that things can get better.

Can, not will. 

Unfortunately, that negative philosophy is one we'll have to use when looking at tonight's game, as the Yankees fell to the Blue Jays 7-6, their fourth consecutive loss.

In the last three, as you probably already know, the Yanks never fell by less than five, at first appearing to make this contest an improvement.

However, after a quick look at the boxscore that belief is revealed as a misconception, as everything from the Bombers' hitting with RISP to their starting pitching struggled in this evening's defeat. 

To start things off, David Phelps gave up six earned runs in just 5 innings of work, with a long three-run home run from Dioner Navarro and a two-run single from Colby Rasmus highlighting his bad outing.

On that hit by Rasmus, a failed rundown by Derek Jeter allowed a third run to score, bringing the Jays' lead to 6-0 and again making the Yanks look done.

Fortunately, that wouldn't quite be the case, as the Pinstripes would rally to tie it up in the sixth and seventh when Jeter somewhat made up for his earlier mistake with a shot to left, Brian Roberts drove in a pair with another homer off Mark Buehrle (6.2 IP, 4 ER), Jacoby Ellsbury singled home Brett Gardner, and a two-out, two-run throwing error by Jose Reyes made the score even at 6.

Still, none of that would matter due to a disastrous ninth from the Bombers, in which they failed to get Gardner in from third and lost in the Jays' half of the frame, when Yangervis Solarte threw a Melky Cabrera sac bunt into foul territory.

Prior to that error, Adam Warren allowed a lead-off double to the aforementioned Reyes, causing him to take the loss, his fourth already this season.

Besides him, though, the Pinstripes' bullpen was actually pretty good (getting a combined three scoreless innings from Matt Thornton and Dellin Betances), a fact that can only make this defeat more painful, as the Yanks are now 3.5 games out of first place.

Whitley Loses For First Time in His Career As Blue Jays Top Yankees, 8-3

Since he was called up in April, Chase Whitley has only done good things. 

In his first 7 major league starts, the rookie prospect has helped the Yankees go 6-1, with the one loss not at all being his fault.

Because of that interesting stat, it seemed logical that he'd at least compete tonight in Toronto, something that surprisingly didn't happen, as Whitley surrendered 8 earned runs in just 3.1 innings as the Yanks fell to the Blue Jays, 8-3.

In the game's bottom of the first, Whitley escaped a jam down just 1-0, making his early struggles appear to be nothing. 

However, that belief was completely destroyed in the Jays' next AB, when #39 was hammered for six trips around the bases, a three-run shot from Adam Lind highlighting the onslaught.

The homer by Lind, his fourth of the year, raised his RBI total to 4, with teammate Dioner Navarro also driving in a pair.

Because of all those runs, which caused Whitley's ERA to skyrocket from 2.56 to 4.07, a top of the fourth blast to straightaway center off the bat of Mark Teixeira didn't matter, with a ninth inning RBI Double from Kelly Johnson also falling into that category.

As for the Yanks' one other scoring play, it was actually somewhat fun to watch, as it came in the form of a routine base hit from Yangervis Solarte.

Solarte, who hasn't gotten a knock since June 8, was riding an 0-for-28 slide going into the AB, probably making the single productive on a phychlogical level.

As for the contest, though, it wasn't all that amazing, as it only made an 8-1 game 8-2 and didn't help the Yanks come back from a brillant performance from Toronto Starter Marcus Stroman, who impressively got through 8 innings allowing just the Teixeira homer.

McCann's 5 RBIs Help Yankees Blowout Blue Jays, 7-3

Since May 23's walk-off loss to the White Sox, Yankees Catcher Brian McCann hasn't collected a home run. 

The $85 million backstop, hitting .220 going into tonight, has arguably been the team's biggest disappointment so far this season, recording just 28 RBIs.

Despite that, the veteran came out and brought that total up to 33 this evening, as the Yanks beat the Blue Jays again, 7-3.

To start off his impressive performance, McCann lined a two-run shot to right in the bottom of the fourth (surrendered by Mark Buehrle, who gave up 3 runs/2 earned over 6 innings), giving the Bombers a 3-2 lead. 

The advantage obtained by #34's eighth homer of the year was added onto four more times in the seventh, when Ichiro Suzuki (pinch hitting for Alfonso Soriano) walked with the bases loaded and McCann drove another offering from Brett Cecil into the right-center field gap.

At first looking like a routine out, the ball ended up carrying past the glove of the diving Colby Rasmus, giving McCann 3 more RBIs and allowing him to reach third.

At that point, the Bombers were up 7-2, helping Chase Whitley eventually collect his third consecutive win.

Whitley, who's gotten at least 21 outs in each of his last two starts, lasted just 5 innings in this one, giving up 2 earned runs and 5 hits.

In the top of the fourth, with two on and two out, Whitley surrendered a pair of singles to Dioner Navarro and the before-mentioned Rasmus, blowing a 1-0 lead Soriano gave him with a bottom-of-the-first single.

On that hit, interestingly, Brett Gardner scored easily from third, one of two runs he had in his 4-for-5, four single performance. 

Besides him, Adam Warren also contributed silently to this W, tossing perfect sixth and seventh frames while impressively striking out three. 

All Home Grown Yankees Team - The Bench

Continuing with our look at the Yankees all home grown team over the last 20 years or so we look at the prospects who did not quite make the cut for the starting nine and have been sent to the bench. On this team this is not necessarily something that should make you feel slighted as the Yankees have been pretty successful in bringing guys through their system and turning them into stars over the last couple of decades. 

Let's take a look at the Yankees bench they would send out with an all prospect team:

BN: Dioner Navarro

BN: David Adams

BN: Jimmy Paredes

BN: Jesus Montero

Dioner Navarro was signed as an amateur free agent by the New York Yankees back in 2000 and made it all the way to the major leagues in 2004. Navarro was sent to the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2005 with Javier Vazquez and Brad Halsey for Randy Johnson. The same day Navarro was sent packing to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Shawn Greene. Navarro has spent the rest of his career playing behind the dish for the Dodgers twice, the Tampa Bay Rays, Reds, and the Cubs. 

David Adams was brought up and spent a huge chunk of the 2013 season playing with the big league New York Yankees. Adams spent most of his time at second base, and injured, in the minor league system before being primarily a third basemen this season. Adams also spent time at second base and first base this season making him my utility player for lack of a better word on this team.

The New York Yankees signed Jimmy Paredes as a amateur free agent as a short stop before the 2007 season. Jimmy spent the next three seasons in the Yankees system, including a minor league All Star appearance for the Staten Island Yankees before he was sent to the Houston Astros along with Mark Melancon for Lance Berkman. Paredes is now a jack of all trades making his major league debut for the Astros as a third basemen and now spending most of his time in right field. 

Jesus Montero is one guy that I felt compelled to add as that last option on the bench. If this was a real team he would not be on the team obviously because he would give us two DH only types, unless you still think that he can catch for some reason, but this is pure nostalgia here. I can remember drooling over the thought of Baby Jesus in pinstripes ever since he was signed as an international free agent in 2006. Montero was traded to the Seattle Mariners for Michael Pineda before the 2012 season and has since lost his starting catching job, sent to the minors, and is now working out as a first basemen. I still love Montero so he gets the last spot and always had the last spot as soon as I came up with this idea.