I went upstate last night to hang with my niece and nephew–my bro’s family–so I missed the game. Mercifully, it turns out. I checked the score on my phone, of course, but turned it off when it was clear this was going to be another hard-luck loss for the Yanks and another hard-earned, well-played, fortuitous win for the Mets.

The Hell you want to sit through that for? Okay, I came back later to see how it ended–more pain. But I wasn’t going to let the Yankees’ misfortune get in the way of our good time so I let it go at: Fey.

Anyhow, I’ll be watching the game this afternoon, root, root, rooting for the visitors. It’s all about Big Mike. That dude shows up, I like the Yankees’ chances. If he’s not, we’re looking at the Yankees’ getting their asses swept. Go up to Toronto DOA and oy fuggin’ veh. Maybe Jacoby can show up to play, hah? And maybe Bird gets into one. How bout you, Headley?

Thor is not untouchable but he’s also no joke. The kid can dial it up.

Jacoby Ellsbury CF
Brett Gardner LF
Carlos Beltran RF
Brian McCann C
Greg Bird 1B
Chase Headley 3B
Dustin Ackley 2B
Didi Gregorius SS
Michael Pineda SP

Never mind the open sores:

Let’s Go Yank-ees!

Nothing is a lock. The Yanks making the playoffs is not a lock. They keep losing games like last night–not enough hitting, not enough pitching–and they can easily find themselves missing the wildcard altogether.

They’ve got to deal with Chris Archer tonight–good luck–and then the Mets and Blue Jays. Yup, it’s not hard to imagine the Yanks missing the playoffs if they don’t get their shit together.

Picture via This Isn’t Happiness

The Yankees didn’t get their first hit until the top of the 8th inning last night so you can imagine how we felt round these parts. In the words of Bob Gibson, “shitfuckpiss” about summed up the mood. No-hit by Erasmo Ramirez, believe it. Never mind the fine performance C.C. Sabathia delivered–one of his best of the year–this was pitiful. Or was it unlucky? The Yanks hit the ball hard, it found gloves. But our frustration was real. And it deepened when the Rays scratched together a run in the bottom of the 8th.

It peaked in the 9th after Dustin Ackley singled and then the slumping Jacoby Ellsbury hit the first pitch right at the first baseman who started a double play.

Worst loss of the year, I thought, though I didn’t say it out loud because I say that roughly a dozen times each season and the effect seems to be lost on The Wife. Self-pity doesn’t get me anywhere with the woman.

But there it was, a sure candidate for worst loss of the year. Then Brett Gardner walked and stole second. He came round to tie the game when Alex Rodriguez pounded a line drive to right center field, good for a double.

I got my ass off the couch, threw my fists around in the air like a spaz and clapped loud enough to clear the room of all cats.

Brain McCann was walked intentionally and then Slade Heathcott–who’d come in as a pinch-runner for Carlos Beltran in the 8th–swung at the first pitch he saw, a high fastball out over the plate. He hit it to left field and it kept going until it landed in the first row, a 3-run home run. Now, I was up again, and yelled loud enough to make my throat scratchy the rest of the night.

To celebrate improbable 4-1 win? It was worth it.

[Photo Credit: Brian Blanco/Getty Images]

I was at the barber shop this afternoon waiting to get my haircut when the game started. There are two big screen TVs at the barber shop and I watched the first couple of innings of the Yankee game with the other men. There were three barbers working and four guys waiting including a dude with a Mets shirt who said he was a Yankee fan.

There were two guys ahead of me which made me impatient. I wondered how the Jays were going to humiliate the Yanks today when Kevin Pillar answered my question with a diving catch to rob Carlos Beltan of a double in the first inning. By the time I got in the chair for a haircut the Yanks scored a run on a sacrifice fly with one out and now Didi Gregarious hit a fly ball to medium-shallow center. It didn’t look deep enough to score Alex Rodriguez from third but as soon as Pillar caught the ball Rodriguez tagged.

A sprint. An exercise Rodriguez has done thousands of times in his life. But now he’s an old man and he doesn’t have many of these left. He’s still a large, athletic man and he ran with his head down as fast as he could. Rodriguez slid head first into home, hands stretched out ahead of him, before the tag arrived, and he was safe.

He let out a whoop and everyone in the barber shop laughed and smiled. Those who’d missed it now looked at the replays. All of the barbers stopped cutting and watched. They smiled and laughed, then went back to what they were doing and didn’t talk again.

(In some ways, I bet Rodriguez will feel as good about that play as any all season–in all it was a memorable day for him).

I got home a few innings later, had lunch, then attended to the Sunday chores as Masahiro pitched 7 scoreless. There’s no doubt about it–Tanaka is the ace of this team and he pitched accordingly. There was no agita today as the Yanks beat the Jays without incident, 5-0. They’re 3.5 behind in the East, 3 ahead of Texas for the first Wildcard spot, 4 up in the Wildcard overall.

It was a weekend to forget but today’s win was a great relief.

And no, it wasn’t the Yankees doing the beating. It was them catching a beating. Twice, though somehow it seemed like more. You can’t say the Yanks don’t have it coming to them after owning the Jays for so many years but that doesn’t mean we have to like it.

Hey, you remember the series against the Jays in ’85? I sure as hell do. This feels just as bad (although now, of course, the Yanks have  wildcard to fall back on).

I guess the only way to make sense of it is that a) The Jays are the better team and b) everything that could did go wrong for the home team.

They had a 4-1 lead in the first game. Mike Pineda gave it up. They had a 1 run lead in the 8th–Dellin Betances gave it up. A lucky play by Chad Pennington prevented the Yanks from taking the lead in the bottom of the 8th. Never mind the Twilight Zone misery of the 11th inning when the Jays scored 4 runs on 1 hit (plus 5 walks, a wild pitch and hit batter).

In the second game, Ivan Nova couldn’t make it out the second. He lost control of his curve and Jays took bp off his fastball. It was 6-0 when he left. Course, the Yanks pulled to within 6-4, wasted a second and third, 1 out chance for more. The Jays scored 4 more runs after Chris Capuano couldn’t truckulate his wide ass to first in time. Yanks scored 3 more runs (Brett Gardner’s second 3-run shot of the game, his third homer on the day) but it wasn’t enough.

The second game was delayed by rain and a lot of Yankee fans cleared out. Which left a hearty–and happy–band of Blue Jays fans, who made plenty of noise. Hell, the Jays fans have been loud since Friday night. So, in the end, The Stadium was empty and the Jays thoroughly embarrassed our boys. So much for the biggest series in 3 years.

The Yanks showed some fight–I can’t blame their effort–but they just couldn’t get anyone out.

Chad Jennings has the gruesome details. 

Final Score Game One: Jays 9, Yanks 5

Game Two: Jays 10, Yanks 7

Here’s hoping they find a way to avoid getting sweep today.

The Yanks got their asses kicked but good on Friday night.

The Gashouse Gorillas now have a two-and-a-half game lead.

Two errors by Stephen Drew led to 3 runs for the Orioles who beat the Yanks 5-3. Less said about this infuriating loss the better. If the Yanks had won the last two games they’d be sitting in first place today. Then again, if a frog had wings he wouldn’t bump his ass a hoppin’.

Man, Brendan Ryan made my favorite fielding play of the year, a diving stop that started a 5-4-3 double play, but it might be harder to remember come winter cause the Yanks lost, 2-1. Masahiro Tanaka pitched a fine game with the Big Three relievers unavailable.

Solo home run in the 9th by Chris Davis sunk our boys. The Jays won in extra innings and now have a game-and-a-half lead in the East.

Nuts.

Big Mike had a shitty 4th inning and gave up 4 runs. Otherwise, he was decent, pitching 6 innings. The Yanks were down 4-1, then 4-2. Alex Rodriguez’s 29th homer of the season pulled them to within a run and J.R. Murphy’s 2-run home run gave them the lead. The Orioles tied it on a solo homer by Manny Machado before Greg Bird–that man, again–hit a 3-run home run which proved to be the difference. Impressed? Well, the shot came against a lefty on an 0-2 pitch. Not bad, rookie.

Things got weird for Dellin Betances and the Yanks in the 8th. He got ahead of Chris Davis 0-2 and then walked him. Followed that by walking Jimmy Paredes on 4 pitches. He struck out Jonathan Schoop and Nolan Reinhold on six pitches then walked Ryan Flaherty on 4 pitches. He’d throw 27 pitches before the inning was over, only one of them was hit—foul. Caleb Joseph came up with the bases loaded and Machado on deck. The count went full and then Joseph swung at a curve ball out of the zone to end the inning.

Andrew Miller gave up a run in the 9th but whiffed Paredes to end it.

Final Score: Yanks 8, O’s 6.

Another stirring victory. This one is especially pleasant because the Red Sox beat the Jays moving the Yanks back to within a half-game of first place in the AL East.

Drawing by Gil Kane.

Chris Archer was dominating the Yanks and a 3-0 6th inning lead looked daunting. Then Brian McCann hit a 3-run home run to tie it and the very next pitch Archer threw, a slider, was also hit over the fence–this time by Alex Rodriguez. That gave the Yanks the lead and they hung on for a 6-4 win. There were some tense moments late and much relief when Andrew Miller recorded the 27th out.

Course the Jays won. But the Yanks are sticking close to them and building their lead as the first wildcard team.

Picture by Bags

Every loss hurts now, some more than others. Yesterday’s loss was painful because the breaks didn’t go the Yankees’ way. They put men on base, they hit the ball hard, they hit into outs. 3-2 was the final.

The Jays won, their lead back to a game-and-a-half.

Nova’s gonna have to bring his A-game today cause the Rays have the formidable Chris Archer on the bump.

Jacoby Ellsbury CF
Brett Gardner LF
Carlos Beltran RF
Brian McCann C
Alex Rodriguez DH
Greg Bird 1B
Chase Headley 3B
Didi Gregorius SS
Stephen Drew 2B

Never mind the end of summer:

Let’s Go Yank-ees!

Picture by Bags

Well, that was an outstanding Friday night. Luis Severino pitched well, Alex Rodriguez, Brian McCann, and Greg Bird hit home runs and the Blue Jays lost.

Happy?

Final Score: Yanks 5, Rays 2. 

Picture by Bags

The Yanks get no style point credits for Wednesday afternoon’s win against the Sox. The Bombers had a big lead but the mop-up crew got shelled forcing Betances and Miller into the game. Miller got hit in the back of the leg with a line drive and we all gasped but he is okay and the  Yanks finally came away with an untidy  13-8 win.

Hey, some games are more painful than others. They ain’t all going to be efficient or smooth.

Never mind the teeth-gnashing, we’ll take it.

Picture by Bags

The Yanks got the breaks last night and survived a 13-strikeout performance from Rick Procello. Big Mike was all right, the bullpen was strong, Stephen Drew had a big hit, and Brett Gardner’s solo home run helped them to a 3-1 win over the Sox at Fenway Park.

Course the Blue Jays won again–this time in extra innings. More lousy news about Mark Teixeira, too.

Having fun?

Picture by Bags

Why? It’s spoiled. 

You know when someone–let’s say, my wife–takes out a container from the fridge, looks at it suspiciously, opens it and then pushes it in your direction and says, “Smell, this. Is this still good?”

That’s last night’s game. The Red Sox practically rolled out the red carpet for the Yanks to beat them and yet it did not happen. Didi Gregorious hit a deep fly ball to the warning track with the bases loaded for the final out and the Yanks wasted a chance to gain a game on the Jays.

The ball looked like it had a shot and the sinking feeling that ensued was as agreeable as  your wife asking you to smell a container of leftovers.

Fuck this fucking game.

I guess that’s the thing–even when Eovaldi’s disappointing he doesn’t get bombed. He wasn’t all that great today. Staked to a plump lead he couldn’t get an out in the sixth inning, and once again, his outing wasn’t nearly long enough. The good news is that it didn’t matter as the Bombers scored a week’s full of runs for him–as they’re wont to do–battering Atlanta, 20-6. Even Stephen Drew had a big game and is now over the Mendoza line.

Hey Now.

A sweep is just what the Yanks needed, especially considering the Jays ain’t slowing down for nuthin’.

[Photo Credit: MPD]

A man died at the ballpark last night. It happened when Alex Rodriguez was announced as a pinch-hitter in the 7th inning, Yanks ahead, 2-0.

The man–not yet identified–was said to be in his 60s. He fell from the upper deck and landed on the seats below. The announcers caught it and there was a brief shot of were the fan landed. My wife, who works in an hospital ER saw it before I did–“They’re doing CPR,” she said.

The Yanks won the game, 3-1, but it didn’t seem to matter much.

Painting by David Park.

Life was good from the get go last night as the Yanks scored 9 times in the first 2 innings on their way to a 15-4 win over the hapless Braves. I love Tanaka. Even when he doesn’t have his best stuff, he’s tough, he competes.

Sure am happy for Didi and McCann, too. Maybe the road is good for this act.

Let’s hope there’s more of the same tonight. Maybe lil’ Luis Severino pitches his best game yet. Imagine that.

Never mind the Crunk:

Let’s Go Yank-ees!

[Image Credit: Diebs via Bo Fransson]

These be the dog days. The Yanks are flat horseshit right now. They limp out of town on a down note after losing again, this time 6-2.

They’ve got a day off and then a weekend series in Atlanta, followed by a three-game set against the Sox in Boston. After that, they return home to face the Rays, O’s and then a big 4-game series vs. the Jays.

If you’ve got something sunny to offer, I’m all ears–well, almost all anyway.

Picture by Bags

The good news is that Brendan Ryan pitched 2 scoreless innings last night. The bad news is that he was the Yankees’ best pitcher.

Our boys got stomped, 15-1.

Make matters worse, the Rangers spit the bit in the 9th inning and the Jays came back and beat them.

Yanks a full game out of first.

[Photo Credit: Andrew Theodoraskis/N.Y. Daily News]