N.Y. Yankees: Bronx Bombers Continue Befuddling Boston

From the desk of:  BLAME CARLOS MAY

Yankees lead series 3-0

I - NYY 4; BOS 2

II - NYY 9; BOS 2

III - NYY 6; BOS 4

SUNDAY NIGHT BASEBALL

Boston Red Sox

vs.

New York Yankees

FROM

South Bronx Grounds

You can forget what happened last weekend at Fenway.  Look what the Yankees did to the Red Sox ... again!  That's three straight; a double-header sweep on Saturday; with one more game to play in front of a national TV audience this Sunday evening - ESPN broadcast scrubs withstanding.

GAME ONE: The Boston Meltdown

Everything is fine through the first three innings.  The Yanks and Sox trade runs on solo dingers by DJ LaMahieu and Andrew Benintendi respectively.  Then comes Boston's fourth inning meltdown. Both Chris Sale and manager Alex Cora are ejected for arguing balls and strikes but not before Sale surrenders eight earned runs on nine hits - including LaMahieu's second home run of the game - with no walks and four strikeouts en rout to his eleventh loss of the season against just five victories.  All told the Yanks get four RBI from LaMahieu, two each from Edwin Encarnacion and Brett Gardner, and one from Breyvic Valera.  Domingo German yields just two earned runs on five hits (two home runs) with no walks and seven strikeouts through seven innings pitched.  He improves to 14-2 on the season with a staff leading 3.98 ERA.  Jonathan Holder pitches two scoreless innings in relief of German with three strikeouts.

GAME TWO: Boone's Bullpen and Gleyber Torres Dingers

Boston establishes two separate leads in the game and fail to protect either.  And therein lies the narrative of Red Sox Nation's disappointing season.  The Yankees complete a sweep of Saturday's twin bill at the Stadium.  Boston meanwhile are now losers of seven in a row.  Aaron Boone opts to bullpen game two, employing seven different pitchers whom join together in yielding four runs on eight hits and eight walks with ten strikeouts.  Starter Chad Green is limited to the first inning.  Tommy Kahnle earns the victory for his scoreless effort in the seventh.  Aroldis Chapman earns his 29th save of the season.  Gleyber Torres hits two home runs giving him three for the series.  Cameron Maybin and Mike Tauchman getting the start in right each drive in a pair of runs.  Rafael Devers connects on his 22nd home run of the season in the third off Nestor Cortes Jr. pitching in relief of Green.

• Chris Sale reveals to reporters in between games the Red Sox held a team meeting.  The Red Sox now trail the Yankees by 13.5 games.  But with a 59-54 record Boston is just five games back of the second Wild Card with 49 games left to play.  
• At 71-39 the Yankees are more than 30 games above .500 and are just one of three MLB teams to reach the 70 win mark to date.

N.Y. Yankees: Trade Deadline Silence is Deafening

From the desk of:  BLAME CARLOS MAY

Nothing Ventured; Nothing Gained

I'm sure Brian Cashman spent the weeks, days, hours, and minutes, leading up to Wednesday's MLB trade deadline negotiating very earnestly.  Cashman has been serving in his present capacity a long time and to coin a recent Aaron Boone quip, he's a savage in his general manager's office.  If Cashman feels teams were being unreasonable in negotiations, he's entitled to that opinion.  After all, the Yankees are dealing from a position of strength.  And so in his view preventing the Yankees from getting ripped off is justified.

Unfortunately, reasonable minded thinking makes fans break out in a rash.  They don't wanna hear that crap when the competition is making deals all around them.  Yankee bugs wanted a starting pitcher or two, if not another relief pitcher.  Coming out of this empty handed was completely out of the question, and at one time considered unfathomable.  Bewildered fans will spend the next few nights talking in their sleep asking themselves what in the name of Col. Jacob Ruppert were they thinking.

LUIS SEVERINO IS NOT WALKING THROUGH THAT DOOR

Cashman leaves Aaron Boone to press forward with starters Masahiro Tanaka, James Paxton, C.C. Sabathia, J.A. Happ, and Domingo German.  The five account for 95 starts over the Yankees 107 games played to date.  Chad Green accounts for another eight other starts.  Not one of them presently sport an ERA below four.  Domingo German is their best at 4.08 through 17 starts and 97 innings pitched.  He also leads the staff with a 1.11 WHiP.  Here is the Yankees problem: Sabathia, Tanaka, Paxton, and Happ, together combine for a 4.88 ERA.  The Yankees offset that with a +119 run differential.  However, in a short playoff series we know the dynamics of baseball play out very differently.

When the Mets acquired Marcus Stroman they somewhat cornered the market on high end movable starters (if you include Noah Syndergaard and Zack Wheeler).  However, the biggest news to impact the Yankees occurs when Houston acquires pitcher Zack Greinke from Arizona.

Brian Cashman is essentially telling Aaron Boone he had better win with what he has.  Thus the manager's toughest assignment lay dead ahead; negotiating his deep and effective bullpen through the next 55 games of the season and getting them to October all in one piece.  In other words prepare for more Sunny Gray days ahead. 

And don't @ Cashman if someone gets injured.  

Call Scranton.

Mets vs. Yankees: 2019 Subway Series II

From the desks of: 

HEAD-BUTTING MR. MET  and  BLAME CARLOS MAY

Mets/Yankees Split Series 2-2

I - Rain Out

II - NYY 12; NYM 5

III - NYM 10; NYY 4

IV - NYM 4; NYY 2

V- NYY 5; NYM 1

SUBWAY SERIES

New York Yankees

vs.

New York Mets

FROM

41 SEAVER WAY

QUEENS

Welcome back to the second installment of Subway Series featuring the American League's best team taking on the National League's third worst team.  The Bombers are coming off a weekend wherein they score 29 runs on 32 hits through two games against the Red Sox at London Series.  On Sunday, the Mets won their first game in a week and are 3-7 over their last ten games.  With any luck the moribund Metropolitans face a flight fatigued jet lagged sleep deprived strung out Yankees squad when both teams meet Tuesday evening at Citi Field.  Better yet, maybe the entire Bombers line-up all pull their hamstrings considering they're just one day removed from another seven hour return flight back home.  The Mets need all the help they can get considering they're blowing more than half of their save opportunities.

Mets All-Stars:

• Jacob deGrom; selected.
• Jeff McNeil; selected.
• Pete Alonso; selected.

Yankees All-Stars:

• DJ LeMahieu; voted
• Gary Sanchez; voted
• Aroldis Chapman; selected.

AMAZIN'

• During an otherwise stellar ceremony celebrating the 50th anniversary of the 1969 New York Mets Saturday at Citi Field, the organization incorrectly included two members of the '69 roster into their video tribute to those no longer with us whom are still very much alive.  The Mets front office apologized.  How does this happen?

HOLY COW!

• ICYMI: LONDON SERIES Recap and Pics.

GAME ONE

Yankees  2

Mets       4

FINAL

I do not buy into the notion Zack Wheeler was auditioning for the Yankees Tuesday evening at Citi Field.  The teams still strike me as very unlikely trade partners.  That said, Wheeler toes the rubber in game one of Subway Series II.  He throws 116 pitches with 75 (65%) going for strikes, yielding two earned runs on five hits and just one walk with eight strikeouts.  He leaves the game after 6.1 innings with the Mets trailing 2-1 through seven.  The Mets finally break through for three runs in the eighth on a two RBI double from Michael Conforto, and JD Davis's double scoring Pete Alonso to give the Mets a 4-2 lead.  Just as the rains begin falling down upon Citi Field, Edwin Diaz pitches a scoreless ninth and strikes out Brett Gardner to end the game.  Seth Lugo - the latest hard luck pitcher of note - earns his fourth victory.  Edwin Diaz records his 18th save of the season.  Mets pitching issues two walks all game.

Playing left field, JD Davis is 2 for 4 with a double and his ninth home run in the sixth.  Robinson Cano, finally moved out of the three spot and hitting fifth, goes 2 for 3 with a walk and run scored.  Jeff McNeil and Amed Rosario also register multi-hit games.

Aaron Hicks strokes the Yankees lone extra base hit of the game.  Starter James Paxton yields just one run on eight hits and two walks with three strikeouts through six innings pitched.  Adam Ottavino earns his third loss for his work in the eighth.

The Yankees record setting streak of hitting at least one home run in 31 consecutive games ends at Queens.

GAME TWO

Yankees  5

Mets       1

FINAL

Domingo German out-pitches Jason Vargas.  There's your game.

The Yankees starter yields one run on five hits and no walks with six strikeouts through six innings.  He improves his record to 10-2 with a 3.67 ERA.  Jason Vargas surrenders three runs on seven hits and two walks wit six strikeouts through 5.1 innings.  Steven Matz makes a relief appearance in the seventh.  The Yankees get home runs from Didi Gregorious and Gio Urshela.  Jeff McNeil's home run accounts for the Mets only run.