J.A. Happ

New York Yankees Previews: Yankees, tonight at Fenway Park look for their 10th win in a row

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New York Yankees, J.A. Happ

The New York Yankees will try to win their tenth win in a row facing the Boston Red Sox tonight, at Boston’s Fenway Park. Winning ten games in a row is historically difficult.  The Yankees won nine in row last year. They won ten in a row in 2012, under Billy Martin,  11 in a row in 1985. The Yankee record for the most wins in a row is 19 straight games, in 1947, under manger Buck Harris, when I was one year old.

The Yankees won the last game of a Blue Jays series at Buffalo. They then went on to sweep a four game series away from the Baltimore Orioles, followed by a sweep of the Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium. Last night at Fenway Park the Yankees acheieved their ninth win, and tonight will look to have that historic 10 game winning streak.

Tonight’s game at Fenway Park in Boston, will be televised on the YES Network and NESN in New England. The game will be played under clear skies, with no chance of showers.  The temperature will drop during the game to just 50 degrees, with a light chilling north breeze. The chill last night, might have been a factor in Chapman’s dropped velocity.

To accomplish a tenth win, the New York Yankees will send forth Yankee pitcher J.A. Happ. Happ, after having a slow start in the season, has pitched very well for the Yankees, he has pitched brilliantly in his last two starts.  In a September 8 start, he stuck out 10 Blue Jays, but lost the game due to a Yankee error. In his September 13th start, he allowed just one run into the seventh inning, while striking out five. Happ won the his last seven games in a row at the end of the 2018 season.  The Yankees hope he will show that type of dominance in tonight’s game.

The Red Sox, basically having no pitching this year. They have used all kinds of pitchers to start games. The result is that they are last in the East. Tonight will be no exception, as the Red Sox will start a reliever that has been forced into a starting role. Chris Mazza is 1-1 with an ERA of 5.57.  Mazza has kicked around in the minors for years, playing for the Minnesota Twins, the Miami Marlins, and the New York Mets. Now the 30-year-old righty, is starting games for the Red Sox. The Yankees have faced Mazza before, as a releiver in a game on August 16, when he gave up four runs in three ininnings, in the Yankee loss. Mazza is coming off of two loses, one with the Rays and the last one to the Miami Marlins.

As a side note, Mazza is believed to be a first cousin, twice removed, to New York Yankee great Joe DiMaggio. When Mazza was six years old he met DiMaggio at a family reunion.

“Honestly, I don’t really remember it,” he said. “And I definitely didn’t understand who he was at the time. Our family is so big in the Bay Area,” he said. “I’ve got cousins everywhere. I went to high school with cousins who I didn’t even know were my cousins. There were so many of us, it’s hard to be close with everyone, especially ones that live on the other coast (like Joe DiMaggio did).”

After tonight, the New York Yankees will have one more game against the Red Sox, a matinee game on Sunday, before going back to Buffalo for four games against the Blue Jays, before finishing up the regular season at home, against the Miami Marlins.  The Yankees starter for the last game of the Boston series will be Yankee’s pitching sensation, Deivi Garcia.

The New York Yankees Starting Rotation: 2021 and Beyond

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The New York Yankees are looking into Cleveland Indians pitcher, Trevor Bauer.

For the last decade, there have always been questions surrounding the New York Yankees starting rotation. That has been the one flaw in the team that has hindered them from getting over the hump and capturing a 28th World Series championship.

The Yankees made a big step in the right direction signing Gerrit Cole last offseason. Cole has been very good so far this year pitching to a 5-3 record with a 3.20 ERA and striking out 12.1 batters per nine innings. Masahiro Tanaka has been good, but the rest of the rotation has been hit or miss.

Jordan Montgomery hasn’t been sensational so far. The Yankees have had solid outings from J.A. Happ, but the bombers are hoping he’s not part of their 2021 plans given his optional salary. The Yankees have had one pleasant surprise this year, and that’s been Deivi Garcia.

I started thinking about the Yankees beyond this odd COVID season. What is the Yankees rotation going to look like beyond this year, and what are the Yankees going to do this offseason to address the starting pitching? Let’s take a dive into the options.

The Yankees Internal Options

Realistically there is only one guarantee for the Yankees rotation to start the season and that’s Gerrit Cole. Luis Severino will of course be a part of the rotation, but we really don’t know when he will return from his recovery from Tommy John surgery.

I would think that the Yankees would be willing to give Domingo German a spot in the rotation. Last year’s 18 game winner was suspended for the shortened season due to a Domestic Violence case. If those three are in, that leaves questions around the other two spots.

Deivi Garcia sure looks like he deserves a full-time spot in the rotation. The 21 year old has looked sensational through three starts for the Yankees pitching to a 3.06 ERA. However, given the small sample size, his spot isn’t guaranteed.

Jordan Montgomery could get one of the final two spots, but his inconsistent performances could give the Yankees pause. Clarke Schmidt is another option, but he was never given an actual look in the starting rotation, so I’m not convinced they’d go with him.

As things stand, the Yankees could go into the 2021 season without doing a thing and they could field a starting five if Severino is ready to start the year which might be unlikely. If Severino isn’t ready, the Yankees could give Schmidt a chance or look at the starting pitching market.

Options in the Market

The Yankees do have a few starting pitchers that will be hitting the free agent market. The Yankees will do what they can to make sure J.A. Happ’s option doesn’t vest while James Paxton and Masahiro Tanaka are both set to become free agents after the year.

If the Yankees were to sign someone in the market, the likely signing would be retaining Masahiro Tanaka. While resigning Tanaka would certainly not be the sexy option for fans, this will probably be the most likely avenue GM Brian Cashman goes down.

If I were running things, I would take a shot at Trevor Bauer. Bauer is having a career year for the Reds. How nice would it be to pair him and Gerrit Cole? Yes there’s personal friction, but money and championships talk.

The Yankees could also look at retaining Paxton, but given the injury concerns, this likely won’t be an option unless they get him dirt cheap. The Yankees could also explore the trade market, but with Cashman’s history, this is also unlikely because of his unwillingness to deal top prospects.

There are plenty of avenues the team can go down to finish off the rotation next year. I would caution fans to not dream of a Bauer scenario. Instead, prepare yourselves for more of a underwhelming offseason like retaining Masahiro Tanaka.

New York Yankees Recap: Yankees make it five in a row with 3-1 win over the Orioles

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New York Yankees, Gleyber Torres

The New York Yankees won their fifth straight game yesterday and swept the Orioles series. J.A. Happ had another good outing, pitching a game that he allowed just one run, his fourth game out of five giving up two or fewer runs. It was a day that Gleyber Torres had a productive day off from the lineup. He came in, to pinch-hit and drove in two runs, winning the game for the Yankees.

At the top of the second inning, J.A. Happ would give up a home run to Renado Nunez just past the glove of Clint Frazier, it would be the only run Happ would allow in the game. At the bottom of the frame the Yankees Tyler Wade would answer, sending a long ball almost into the exact same spot as the Nunez homer, off of Orioles starter John Means, and the game was tied at one.

At the bottom of the fourth inning, the Yankees would load the bases with just one out, and blow a big opportunity to blow the game open, as Kyle Higashioka and Thairo Estrada both popped out, leaving the bases loaded with Yankees. At the bottom of the fifth inning, Happ got out of a men on the corners jam with a strike ’em out, throw ’em out double play. In the sixth, Adam Ottavino who hasn’t pitched well of late, came in to replace Happ and allowed a hit and a walk, before being replaced by Jonathan Holder who got the final out of the inning.

At the top of the eighth inning Zack Britton, the Yankees setup man came in and with the score still tied at one, pitched a clean inning. Helping Britton was DJ LeMahieu, he made his second spectacular defensive play of the game.  At the bottom of the frame, manager Aaron Boone sent in Gleyber Torres, who had the day off, to pinch-hit for Brett Gardner. Torres with two on base, hit a long single bouncing off the right-field wall, driving in Aaron Hicks and Clint Frazier for the Yankees 3-1 win. At the ninth Yankee closer, Aroldis Chapman shut down the Orioles to seal the deal.

The winning pitcher was Zack Britton, the loser was Dillion Tate, and Aroldis Chapman got the save, his second in a row. Unfortunately for J.A. Happ, it was his second game in a row that he pitched well dominating the opponent, but failing to get the win.

The New York Yankees have now won five games in a row, reversing their slide earlier in the month, that put them back to only third in the East. But then the Yankees started to play good baseball, pitching well and hitting well, with a mixture of long balls and small ball play. A good example of it is when Torres singled in two Yankee runners in last night’s game. The win put the Yankees just a half-game behind the Toronto Blue Jays for second place in the East.

The New York Yankees will have the day off today, before meeting the Blue Jays for a three-game set at the Stadium, that will decide who is in second place.  After that the will have a weekend set with the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, before moving on to another meet up with the Jays.  The Yankees will then end the season back at home, up against Derek Jeter’s Miami Marlins.

In a separate story, that became news during the game, I explain how Clint Frazier has finally earned his spot in the Yankee lineup.

 

If the playoffs started today, who would start game 3 for the New York Yankees?

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New York Yankees, J.A. Happ

After an extremely rough and depressing stretch, the New York Yankees finally look like themselves again. The bombers have won four straight games to pull within a half game of the second place Toronto Blue Jays.

A week ago, people were starting to wonder if the Yankees would even make the playoffs. Now, everything is starting to click for the Yankees from their hitting to their starting pitching and bullpen. Now, I’m starting to think about the playoffs and this Yankees rotation.

For the Yankees, the first two games are relatively easy choices. Gerrit Cole would obviously get the ball in game one, and likely Tanaka would get the ball in game two. However, game three isn’t very clear. Who would the Yankees start in a game 3 in the playoffs this year?

The Yankees Options?

Fortunately, the Yankees do have a few options for a third playoff game. If they were in a be in a do or die game three in the wild card round, Aaron Boone has three guys that he could look to for a solid start. None would probably give the Yankees fan base an extreme amount of confidence.

J.A. Happ

The first option would be the veteran lefty J.A. Happ. Happ has started six games this year for the Yankees and he’s pitched to a 1-2 record with a 4.31 ERA. Now, he has been much better over his last four starts. Happ has pitched to a 2.59 ERA since his August 16th start.

While Yankees fans aren’t extremely comfortable with Happ, he honestly might be the safest choice. He’s pitched in the playoffs, and when he’s on, you know what he’s going to give you. Given the experience, I wouldn’t be shocked to see Happ get the ball.

Jordan Montgomery

The next option would be the big lefty, Jordan Montgomery. There were high expectations for Montgomery entering the season given what he did as a rookie, but he’s seen a mixed bag of results so far in his 2020 campaign for the Yankees.

Montgomery has pitched to a 2-2 record with a 4.76 ERA in eight starts this year. Montgomery looked really good yesterday against the Orioles, but this comes just two starts after he couldn’t get out of the first against the Rays. Montgomery is a solid pitcher, but I’m not sure I’d trust him with the ball in a game 3.

Deivi Garcia

The final option for the Yankees would be the rookie, Deivi Garcia. I can honestly say that Garcia has far surpassed my expectations in his first three starts, Garcia has pitched to a 1-1 record with a 3.06 ERA.

His last start blew me away. With the Yankees sputtering, Garcia went out and pitched seven strong innings against the Blue Jays leading the Yankees to a win that snapped their losing streak. Garcia has proven that he belongs in the rotation. Would Boone give him the ball in a game 3 is the question.

The Yankees Decision?

I think that ultimately we are going to need to watch how these three pitch the rest of the season. If things ended today, I think that the Yankees would probably lean towards a rotation of Cole-Tanaka-Happ in the playoffs. While many would love to see Garcia get that start, I think Boone values the experience of Happ.

New York Yankees Previews: Today the Yankees go for the sweep of the Baltimore Orioles

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New York Yankees, J.A. Happ

The New York Yankees took a doubleheader from the Baltimore Orioles on Friday, scoring 16 runs over the two games. Yesterday, in the Bronx, the Bronx Bombers squeaked out a one-run walk-off win against the O’s, in the tenth inning of a pitcher’s duel.  The Yankees have now won three straight from the Orioles, and today will go for the sweep of the four-game series.

After going 5-20, for a really bad stretch, the Yankees have improved both pitching and the offense. Last week, they saved the finale of the Blue Jays series in Buffalo. They then moved on to a four-game series against the Baltimore Orioles at Yankee Stadium. In the series, the Yankees have scored 16 runs to the Orioles 2 runs.  Gerrit Cole, on Friday, pitched a complete game, allowing only two hits while striking out 9. It was the first complete game pitched by a Yankee since Masahiro Tanaka’s complete-game shutout, on June 19, 2019, against the Tampa Bay Rays. Masahiro Tanaka and Jordan Montgomery followed in the subsequent games, both pitching stellar games.

Today will be another beautiful day for baseball at the Stadium in the Bronx. It will be a little more cloudy, and a bit more humid than yesterday, but still a great day for baseball.  The 1:05 pm game-time temperature will be about 72 degrees with only a slight chance of a passing shower. The game will be televised on the YES Network and MASN2 in Baltimore.

Today, at Yankee Stadium the Yankees will wrap up the four-game set with the Baltimore Orioles, by sending out fourth in the rotation J.A. Happ. Happ has had a mixed season, pitching poorly at the start of the season.  However, he pitched well in his last two starts. In his last start, he had one of the better-pitched games by any Yankee pitcher this season, going into the seventh inning allowing two runs while striking out 10 Blue Jays. The Yankees ended up losing the game when the bullpen failed.

Happ is 1-2, with an ERA of 4.31 and 25 strikeouts over six starts. Happ, going into the game with the momentum of two good outings behind him, anything can happen today. Happ has been known for going on a winning tear. In 2018 Happ at the end of the season, won all seven of his last seven starts.

The Yankees will face John Means of the Orioles.  Means, on the season, is 1-3, with an ERA 6.58 over seven games.  The Orioles lost the first seven of Mean’s starts this season. His best game of the season came last week in a win against the lowly New York Mets. He pitched six solid innings, allowing only one run. Means has only faced the New York Yankees once this season, and it was back on July 30, when he lasted only 2.1 innings, giving up five Yankees runs. Last year, in his All-Star season, he allowed the Yankees three home runs in two games.  Several Yankees players have seen Means several times. Brett Gardner hits quite well off of Means in five at-bats against him, Gardner was hitting .400. In lesser at-bats, Kyle Higashioka and Luke Voit have hit .500 off him.

After today’s matinee with the Orioles, the New York Yankees will host the Toronto Blue Jays at the Stadium. Pitching sensation Deivi Garcia will pitch the first game of the three-game series.  After that, the Yankees go to Fenway Park for three-game series with the Boston Red Sox, then on to a four-game series in Buffalo and come back home to the Stadium to face the Maimi Marlins, ending the shortened 2020 regular season.

New York Yankees Recap: J.A. Happ’s 113 pitch game spoiled by no Yankee offense

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New York Yankees, J.A. Happ

The New York Yankees lost a second game to the Toronto Blue Jays last night in Buffalo, 2-1. In that game, J.A. Happ made a herculean effort to win a game for the Yankees, by throwing 113 pitches over 6.1 innings allowing only 4 hits while striking out 10 Jays.  He made one mistake in the game, allowing Jonathan Davis to homer to deep left-center, scoring Joe Panik at the bottom of the second inning.  Other than that you can only describe Happ’s performance as terrific.

On a day that started with General Manager Brian Cashman, just hours before the game making a rare appeal to the team in a meeting, to get going with only  19 games remaining in the season. Because there was no offense in the game, I won’t do a play by play, but try to figure out what is wrong with a team that suffered similar injuries last year, and rose to the occasion.

This year when the Yankees pitch well, they don’t hit.  When they hit, the pitching fails, either from the starters or the bullpen or both.  The Yankees just can’t get it together, and not from a lack of trying. Manager Aaron Boone works with players, coaches are working with players, and nothing is clicking.  It is unexplainable how a team that was favored to take it all, has just plain collapsed.

Even when they do hit, they can’t bring runs home and continually leave men on base. Last night in the first five innings they put 11 men on base, but could only score once.  They left the bases loaded twice. After that, the offense just wasn’t present, the last 10 Yankee batters all went quietly into the Buffalo night, all outs. The only run scored was in the bottom of the fifth inning.  With Luke Voit on base, Mike Tauchman hit a sacrifice fly, driving in Voit. Other than the Yankees went 0-7 with runners in scoring position.

It is getting painful to watch these games, and even more painful to watch manager Aaron Boone, in after-game interviews, try to explain why the Yankees aren’t winning games.  There is no question that the absence of key players, like sluggers Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton has had a very detrimental impact on the offensive lineup.  Timely hitters like Gio Urshela being on the IL doesn’t help either.

What makes this so confusing is that last year the New York Yankees had an unprecedented number of injuries, but the “next man up” mentality stepped up and got the job done, winning 103 games. This year with mostly the same group the offense has failed miserably. The pitching from starters to the bullpen have been sub-par. There are injuries there as well, but plenty of arms to make up for it, but when they do perform they get no run support. The Yankees have also lost the last four starts of ace Gerrit Cole.

I could be that a key player in the middle of that lineup, just isn’t performing at all.  One of the most impactful players for the club should be the slugging Gary Sanchez.  He is batting only .130 and has left more Yankees on base than another player.  The Yankees that highly support Sanchez, even sat him for two games, so he could work on this hitting and get his mind right. In his first game back last night he went 0-4.  Watching him flail at balls, is like watching a deer in the headlights.

This is too talented of a team to be going 5-15 in their last 20 games.  They have slipped behind the Blue Jays and are now a .500 team that has gone 2-8 in their last ten games. They are presently holding down the 8th spot in the AL postseason. But any combination of two Yankee losses and two Baltimore Orioles wins, and they will slip from a postseason appearance.  Just like the Yankees performance is unexplainable, they have to have an equally unexplainable and magical string of wins during these last 19 games of the season.

Tonight, the New York Yankees will face the Blue Jays again, with sensation Deivi Garcia on the mound. After tonight’s game, they will travel back to the Stadium for four games against those Baltimore Orioles. Along with a series against the Tampa Bay Rays and the Miami Marlins, they still have seven more games to play against the Blue Jays.

New York Yankees Previews: After a horrid loss last night, the Yankees meet the Blue Jays again

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New York Yankees, J.A. Happ

The New York Yankees are playing again tonight at Sahlen Field in Buffalo, against the Toronto Blue Jays. This after losing 14 of their last 19 games. The Yankees lost to the Jays last night in a disturbing 12-7 loss. The Yankees are coming off of three straight losses to the Baltimore Orioles and last night’s loss to the Jays when the bullpen failed to hold a Yankee lead in the game.

Tonight at Sahlen Stadium, in Buffalo it should be a nice night for baseball. The game-time temperature will be in the upper ’60s, and the game will be played under partly cloudy skies with only a slight chance of a shower. The game will be televised on the YES Network and on SNET in Canada.

In the first inning, the Yankees will face Taijuan Walker, the same Walker that the Yankees were interested in before the trade deadline.  Instead, Walker went with the Blue Jays. The Seattle Mariners and the Blue Jays have won every one of Walker’s seven starts this season, including his last start for the Blue Jays in a 6-2 win against the Red Sox.

The 6′ 4″ righty Walker is 3-2 with an ERA of 3.26 of the season. Walker has several pitches, but he used his cutter 25 times in his 6 scoreless innings, in his last game against the Red Sox. Walker had this to say:

“I feel like I was mostly just fastball and changeup,” he said while being introduced as a Blue Jay on Friday. “Now, this year, with all of the new pitching technology that’s out there, I was able to turn my cutter into more of a true slider. I really worked hard with that. My curveball, too, just having more confidence in it. I’m able to throw it for strikes in any counts.”

The Yankees will send out J.A. Happ to hopefully turn things around for the beleaguered Yankees team. With Happ, you never know for sure what you are going to get, as he has been quite inconsistent this season. He has pitched several poor games for the Yankees, and at the same time, he has pitched one of the best starts for any Yankee pitcher this season. On August 29th he pitched 7.1 scoreless innings for the Yankees, allowing only three hits while striking out 5 New York Mets in the Yankee win.

The lefty Happ is 1-1 with an ERA of 4.68 in his five starts for the Yankees.  If Happ gets on a tear, he can be a shut out pitcher, when acquired by the Yankees from the Blue Jays in 2018, he went 7-0.  What Happ shows up on the mound today, will tell whether the Yankees improved offense last night can be built upon, for the Yankees first win in their last four games.

When the Yankees take to the field tonight, they will do so against a team that has taken their second-place standing in the East away from them.  The Yankees are now 6.5 games behind the East-leading Tampa Bay Rays. The New York Yankees need this win tonight to prevent falling further away from a postseason spot.  Right now they are holding that 8 positions, but the Tigers and Orioles are right at their heals. The Yankees have got to start winning games.

After tonight’s game, the Yankees will face the Blue Jays once more tomorrow night before returning to Yankee Stadium for a four-game set with the Baltimore Orioles.  Then at the Stadium, they meet up with the Blue Jays again. Nine of the Yankees 19 games remaining games are against the Blue Jays.

New York Yankees Recaps: Yankee Bullpen fails late, Mets have walk-off win in the 10th

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New York Yankees, Albert Abreu

The New York Yankees went into yesterday’s late afternoon start, hoping to win an important makeup game from the Mets. But that was not to be, as the Yankees failed to maintain the lead in that game that they had twice. Although I am totally unbiased in my writing, I am a life long Yankees fan, and It pains me to write negatively about my team, but this game was just horrible in so many ways.

At an unusual start time of 4:10 pm, J.A. Happ took the mound for the New York Yankees and pitched a clean first inning. At the bottom of the second inning, Happ got all the support he needed, as the bottom of the lineup loaded the bases for the 9th man, Tyler Wade. Wade hit a single driving in Gio Urshela for the 1-0 Yankee lead. Two batters later Luke Voit hit a double to far left, and two runs scored, including Wade that motored the 270′ dash all the way from first base, making it 4-0 Yankees. At that point, it looked as though Happ would have all the ammunition he needed to have another excellent game.

At the home half of the second ex-Yankee, Todd Frazier powered a long ball over the right-field fence, as the Mets got one run back.  But at the bottom of the fourth, everything fell apart for Happ. With a man at third Marisnick hit one to the left-field wall and the Mets had another run. Rosario singled driving in Marisnick, McNeil later batted in Rosario and the Mets tied up the game at 4. That did it for Happ, who pitched through the fifth inning.

Adam Ottavino and Chad Green combined for two scoreless innings in the sixth and seventh. At the bottom of the seventh, the backend of the Yankee lineup came through again. Gio Ushela drove in Aaron Hicks, allowing Mike Ford to go to third. Brett Gardner singled down the 1st baseline driving in Ford, and it was 7-4 Yankees.

Then came triple trouble, setup/closer Zack Britton, who had been excellent all season, gave up three hits and two runs to the Mets. At the ninth, Aroldis Chapman that has not been effective since returning from the coronavirus, gave up two hits and another run, a home run to J.D. Davis, tying up the score again. In a somewhat unusual move, manager Aaron Boone brought in AAA Albert Abreu in the bottom of the tenth inning. Pete Alonso hit a two-run homer off Abreu, for the final score of Mets 9 and the Yankees 7. Ewin Diaz got the win and Albert Abreu the loss for the Yankees.

The Good Stuff:

There wasn’t much good news in this game, however, it can’t go without saying that the New York Yankees bottom of the lineup really went to work for the Yankees in the game.  Both Adam Ottavino and Chad Green put down the Mets nicely in their innings. The Yankees also got the news that Gleyber Torres would be returning to the lineup sometime over the weekend in Baltimore.

The Bad Stuff:

J.A. Happ continued to be a mystery for the Yankees, as his inconsistent pitching continued. After one of the best starts by any Yankee, he really bombed in this one. The top of the lineup bats were mostly silent in the game.  The real bad news was that the Yankees closers of Zack Britton and Aroldis Chapman just couldn’t get the job done, giving up three runs. Albert Abreu failed miserably in his second appearance of the season and should be sent to the alternate site, and kept there. With Tyler Wade at second starting out the 10th, he made a running mistake and was picked off.

On the injury front with only 24 days left in the regular season, there still is no timetable for the return of sluggers Aaron Judge or Giancarlo Stanton.

 

 

New York Yankees Previews: Struggling Yankees start eight game road trip tonight at Citi Field

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New York Yankees, J.A. Happ

The New York Yankees, coming off a disappointing series at the Stadium against the Tampa Bay Rays, will start an eight-game road trip at Citi Field, tonight. The Yankees will play a makeup game tonight against the crosstown Mets.  Following the one game tonight, they will travel to Baltimore for four games and then another three-games in Buffalo against the Blue Jays.

The Yankees have been struggling mightily to not only stay above .500 but to regain the lead in the East Division. Their nemesis Tampa Bay Rays have kept them at bay, and not allowed them to advance in the East. The Yankees and Rays have met ten times this season, and the Yankees could only win two of those meetings, causing the Rays to separate themselves from the Yankees by 4.5 games.

After a controversial game, in which Rays manager Kevin Cash claimed that Yankee closer Aroldis Chapman purposely threw at the head of Michael Brosseau, Brosseau returned the favor by hitting two home runs in a game last night, that the Yankees lost in the first inning.  Jordan Montgomery had a very bad night when he gave up four runs in just 2/3 of an inning. Brosseau also got another home run in the fourth inning.  The game was played without either team’s managers, as they were both suspended for one game.  MLB suspended Chapman for three games. He is appealing the suspension. The Yankees will not meet the Rays again during the regular season.

The game tonight at the Met’s Citi Field will be 4:10 pm. The field temperature will be in the high ’80s, and the game will be played under mostly cloudy skies, with only a slight chance of a passing shower.  The game will be televised on the YES Network and SNY.

Tonight, the Yankees will make up a game that was postponed when the Mets had two positive coronavirus tests.  Robert Gsellman will face the New York Yankees at the first inning at Citi Field. Gsellman is 0-0 with an ERA of 5.19. In four games this year Gsellman has only gone 8.2 innings and is not stretched out, so he probably will only be out there for about 60 pitches.  The last time the Yankees faced the Mets, they did so with Gsellman on the mound in the Mets loss.

The Yankees hope to come back from last night’s loss when they send J.A. Happ to the mound. Happ is coming off one of the best-pitched games by any Yankee pitcher, in his last outing. Happ threw 90 pitches in his 7.1 inning effort. He allowed three hits, no walks, and did not allow a run while striking out five. Happ’s first two outings were underwhelming, but his last two games have been promising, and the Yankees hope he will continue where he left off against the Mets on August 29th.

If the Yankees have any chance of regaining first place in the East, they must win tonight and at least win both of the following series.  If the Rays go 4-4 in their next eight games, and if the Yankees win tonight and take the following series, the Yankee will still be 2.5 games behind the Rays. After this road trip, the Yankees will have only 10 games left in the season. Three with the Boston Red Sox, four with the Blue Jays, and then close their regular season on the road, with the Miami Marlins.

The time for the New York Yankees to improve their play is quickly slipping away. For a team that was supposed to be a shoo-in for a 28th World Championship, now struggles to maintain a postseason spot.

 

New York Yankees Recaps: Yankees snap losing streak with nailbiter in the Bronx (video)

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New York Yankees, Luke Voit

Yankees win with one of the team’s best pitching performances of the year

The New York Yankees after losing seven straight games, which hasn’t been done since Joe Girardi’s 2017 team, the Yankee stopped the slide.  J.A. Happ who has been the worst link in the pitching rotation, came out last night, determined to show that he could make an impact, and a huge impact, he did make. He pitched 7.1 innings of scoreless ball.  He induced 13 ground ball outs, allowing only three hits, and striking out five.

The game started out with Happ having a one, two, three inning in the top of the first inning, against the New York Mets. That set the tone for his pitching all night. In the bottom of the first, Luke Voit continued his home run hitting ways when he pounded a bullet to the right-field stands.  It was Voit’s seventh home run in the last ten games. As it turned out it would be the only run produced by the Yankees in the game that they won 2-1 against their crosstown rivals.

The New York Mets pitcher Robert Gsellman was tough on the Yankees, he allowed just the one run in four innings while striking out four Yankees.  But the key to holding down the lately quiet bats of the Yankees was the Mets bullpen. A combination of five Mets pitchers held the Yankees hitless until their closer Delin Betances entered the game, at the bottom of the ninth inning.  Betances walked Clint Frazier, newly acquired Jordy Mercer singled, moving Frazier to third. Erik Kratz squared up to bunt and Betances hurled one past his catcher, and Frazier scored on the wild pitch for the Yankees 2-1 win.

Major takeaways from the game

First, the good points: Brett Gardner while continuing his hitting slump, may have saved the game for the Yankees, when he athletically caught a line drive while tumbling to the wall in the left field. One of the most impactful players in the game was Erik Kratz. He worked with Happ like they had been pitching catching counterparts for years, working seamlessly together, and contributing to Happ’s success in the game. They embraced in the dugout after the game. He also had two amazing putouts at second while providing excellent defense. The New York Yankees enjoyed DJ LeMahieu’s return to the lineup last night, but he was not impactful in the game’s outcome.

Although the Yankees stopped the slide, there were some blemishes in the game. Most notable was Adam Ottavino’s entrance into the game in the top of the eighth inning. He immediately allowed a home run to Willy Ramos to tie up the game at one. This is the fourth game in a row that the New York Yankee bullpen has given up the lead in a game.  The Yankees also had a couple of running mistakes. Both in the bottom of the fourth inning.  Both Mike Tauchman and Clint Frazier were called out at home plate trying to score.

One of the most telling moves of the game came in the bottom of the ninth inning. With the tie game on the line, manager Aaron Boone, with slugger Gary Sanchez holding a bat in this hand, chose to send out catcher Erik Kratz instead of the more obvious choice of Sanchez. This may have been a signal to Sanchez to step up his game or Boone’s complete lack of faith in his supposed star catcher.  Whatever the case, the move turned out to be the correct one. After the game, Boone was questioned on the move, and he pretty much skirted the question, just saying he liked the matchup.