When Rafael Soriano got the final out of today’s ball game he untucked his jersey. This is his signature move but he didn’t do it with any vigor after his 3-1 pitch was grounded to Robinson Cano to end the game. He untucked it as if he’d just dragged his ass home at six in the morning–six in the morning–after a long night out.
It was a long, uneasy inning for him as the Jays loaded the bases and brought the tying run to the plate with nobody out. Two ground balls later, it was over and the Yanks completed a much-needed come-from-behind win to keep pace with the Orioles who beat the Red Sox again.
Things didn’t look good a few hours earlier. Phil Hughes and his peach-fuzz mustachio got chased from the game in the fifth, the score Jays 5, Yanks 1. The mood for Yankee fans was as glum as it’s been all year, fury giving way to resignation. Though since it’s football Sunday, prime time for the blood to be angried-up, I’m sure many fans were plenty pissed off too.
How were the run-challenged Yankees going to win this one? Well, they got a run in the sixth and then Eduardo Nunez hit a line drive single to start the seventh. He went to third when Derek Jeter dunked a ground rule double to right and scored on a sac fly by Ichiro. Alex Rodriguez had a good pass at a fastball and then waved at a slider and was in the hole. He worked the count full though and didn’t whiff. He walked.
A pitching change brought in a lefty and Robbie Cano also fell behind. But he wouldn’t go down and finally got a pitch to drive. He hit a liner to right and two runs scored. 5-4. Nick Swisher was next and a passed ball brought home Rodriguez to tie the game. Then Swisher hit one on the screws. Yunel Escobar, playing in, made a diving catch and Cano drifted too far off third and was doubled off to end the inning.
In the eighth, Curtis Granderson walked and Raul Ibanez singled. They were sacrificed over by Russell Martin and Granderson scored on a sac fly by Nunez. Then our man Jeter got busted inside with a fastball but muscled it passed the second baseman to an RBI hit. An inning later, Granderson doubled home a pair, and the four run lead was useful when Soriano looked far from stellar in the bottom of the ninth.
So, to recap. Most of the afternoon was spent being angry. Then hopeful, then happy, then tense again, and finally: relieved.
This was one enormous win. Yanks 9, Jays 6. Good for the boys.
“Good for the Wife!” says The Wife.
A split in Toronto was lousy but all considering it could have been worse. Three games left. It’s all tied up.
Yanks-Sox; O’s-Rays. Made to Order.
[Photo Credit: Libbre]
6am here, nice to read this recap. Hope to watch the game later, got A's - M's on now. These final 3 days are going to be fun!
I don't know about you guys, but I'm exhausted.
LOL
Can someone tell me our record against Texas? We have a real shot at taking best record (with Texas playing their final 3 in Oakland).
Yanks are 4-3 vs. Texas.
[4] That's what i counted. How come only 7 games? I thought it was 10? So.... if we tie for best record, we get Home Field?
I hope ESPN is fucking with my head. They say if the season was over today, O's Win the Division, and we are a WC. I thought if we TIED for the Division, we would have a 1 game tie-breaker with Baltimore. Can someone enlighten me???
[0] Six in the morning-six in the morning. We don't love the O's....
Fat to chew on:
William (and Mattpat as always) suggested we blow up the team if we miss the PS.
We are a 90+ Win team.
we are 5th in ERA (without Pineda, Mo and Andy and a poor year from CC). Texas is 7th.
We are 2nd is RS, behind Texas.
We are tied for 1st in OPS with Texas.
We are 3rd in Fielding Percentage. Texas is 4th.
I wonder if Teas fans want to blow up the Rangers.
OPS wise....
I would say Jeter and Chavy passed expectations.
I would say Cano, Swisher and Ibanez were about what we expected.
I would say everyone else was some level of disappointing.
So, with a lot of underperforming and a ton of injuries, we are right in the hunt. It seems like a frustating and disappointing year, but it really hasn't been so bad.
Somebody please answer [6]
[8] When you lay it out that way..it's hard to argue otherwise.
And yet, why is it so often a chore to watch their games?
[5] How come only 7 games? I thought it was 10?
Because baseball in its infinite wisdom has the Yankees play extra games against the Mets, so they don't play the same number of games against each inter-division opponent.
Apparently this will change somewhat next year.
[5] we are 5th in ERA (without Pineda, Mo and Andy and a poor year from CC)
OK, but can you expect improvement next year? That is, can you expect to get value from a pitcher coming off of a major arm surgery, a 40+ y.o. reliever coming off of a major injury, a 40 y.o. starter who got injured (albeit freakishly), and 32 y.o. starter with lots of mileage on his arm?
[6] In the current configuration, the tie breaker is head-to-head, followed by (I think) division record. A one game play-off is *only* played in circumstances when the losing team would not make the playoffs. It's the same situation as when the Yankees and Sox tied a few years ago, right?
Scioscia leaves in Ervin Santana a bit too long, Napoli with the long tater. Love seeing Napoli kill the Angels, I'm sure Scioscia still thinks Jeff Mathis is better.
[11] So if we tie Baltimore, we are the WC? THAT SUCKS!
I know that was the rule in previous years, but I thought with the new WC playout and importance of Winning the Division, I thought there would be a playoff game. THAT SUCKS!
That is, can you expect to get value from a pitcher coming off of a major arm surgery,
... Pineda is a crap shoot, but others have done it so I'm hoping
a 40+ y.o. reliever coming off of a major injury,
Are you talking about Mo? It's a non arm/elbow injury, and this IS Mo. My guess is he's still good. The rest might even have done him good.
a 40 y.o. starter who got injured (albeit freakishly)
Are you talking about Andy? How good was he this year?
and 32 y.o. starter with lots of mileage on his arm?
Are you talking about Aardsma? I'm guessing he will better then the average cast-off BP arm we usually pick up.
I think the 2013 Pitching staff will be better then the 2012 staff, unless CC has shit the bed.
[11] [13] That doesn't sound right, based on this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_League_Baseball_tie-breaking_procedures, or for that matter the MLB site. My impression is that the division titles are so much more important in the new system that tiebreakers are no longer used. A one game playoff happens regardless in case of a tie.
But maybe I'm particularly deluded on this one.
[13][14] Well, here is a link to an MLB.com article:
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120929&content_id=39210458&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb
The money quote:
[13] Andy has been great. Mo is Mo. And they're both 40+.
[15] So ESPN, per [6], was talking out of their rear. Which isn't new, but still...
[14] Bless you.
"One game tie-breakers are played between teams tied for a division championship or the second wildcard berth in either league."
I thought that was the story. Old Monkeypants was just fucking with my head again. So if we tie Baltimore for the Division, it's a 1 game tie-breaker in Baltimore.
Much better.
With LAA's loss, the AL Playoff teams are all but decided. LAA, TB and ChiSox all with a 1% chance.
[19]
Yabbut that's why they play the games on the field.
Until this year, an extra game was only for distinguishing a playoff team from a non-playoff team, and not a division-winner from a wild card team. But this year, because the different between winning the division and getting a wild card berth is so huge, they'll play a game for that too.
I was away this long weekend so missed every Blue Jays game except I did catch the end of today's at an airport. Man, stressful games.
different = difference
[21] Isn't there a remote chance that the tie-breaker game could result in the losing team not making the playoffs? What happens in that case?
Three game sprint. Lets get this done.
Congratulations to our Yankees. With the Angels loss to Texas, they have clinched a PS birth. It's still difficult to figure out all the permutations, but they're in.
So many questions. Will Boston lay down? Even the worst teams luck into a win before they lose eight in a row. Will the Rays play with intensity with the slimmest hope of the PS, or will their heads be thinking about home, the off season, an island vacation? Can the O's keep this run going, or will they be out of gas at the start of the PS? There's more, but the Yankees need to win the division first. But with the best record they will probably have to play the O's or A's. Better to play Detroit first?
And with that other local team in a different sport late loss, this would have been a miserable night and Monday morning if they Yankees didn't pull out the win today. I have to give them thanks.
[23] Not in the case of NYY-BAL; they're both in the playoffs no matter what. OAK-TEX can't end up tied. You could have a tie-breaker game between DET-CHW, and the loser would be out.
It's possible that NYY and BAL could end up tied with OAK or TEX for the 1st wild card slot. In that case, the loser of the division playoff between BAL/NYY would be the 2nd wild card team, and the AL West team would be the 1st wild card.
In the theoretical case (which can't happen this year) that there's a tied division, and there's another team tied with them for the 2nd wild card spot, they'd play the division tiebreaker game first. The loser then would play the other team for the right to be the 2nd wild card.
[25] If I were the Yankees (or Texas), I'd much rather play the O's or A's than Detroit, who have Justin Verlander all lined up to pitch games 1 and 5.
[27] I know, but which poison is more toxic? Verlander can shut the Yankees down, but both the A's and O's can take the life out of the Yankees giving them the appearance of an old tired team limping to the end. I'm not sure which is worse.
The Yankees have a nearly .300 batting average with four HRs against Verlander this year. If CC can start games 1&5 vs. Detroit, he actually has better stats agInst them then Verlander has vs. the Yankees this year. The mysteries are tantalizing.