Winter League Playoffs 2020-2021: LIDOM Round-Up

From the desk: FANATICO DEL BEISBOL DE INVIERNO

⚾   JAN. 3, 2021   ⚾

LIDOM Liga de Beisbol Profesional de la Republica Dominicana

• BOXSCORE 1/3/2021: Cibao 4; Orientale 3

On Sunday, Los Gigantes del Cibao took a two games to none lead in their series against Los Estrellas Orientales.  Fernando Tatis Jr. homered in the first inning to give Orientale a prompt 1-0 lead.  Undeterred, Gigantes right fielder Moises Sierra led off the top of the second with a double and scored on a double-play.  Cibao then took a 2-1 lead in the third on left fielder Jose Siri's two-out home run to left.  Los Estrellas second baseman and Mets farmhand Gustavo Nuñez singled home the tying run in the fourth.  In the top of the seventh, Jose Siri connected on his second home run of the game, and first baseman Ronald Guzman tripled and scored, giving Cibao a 4-2 lead.  Los Estrellas rallied for a run in the ninth, but Ryan Kussmaul was able to secure the save.  Los Estrellas designated hitter Robinson Cano was 2 for 4, with a double. 

⚾

• BOXSCORE 1/3/2021: Este 2; Cibaeñas 0

Los Toros del Este outlasted Los Aguilas Cibaeñas to take a two games to none lead in their semifinal series.  Aguilas starter Carlos Martinez allowed no runs on just two hits and two walks with six strikeouts through six innings pitched.  Los Toros starter Raúl Valdés through five innings yielded no runs on three hits, and no walks with four strikeouts.  Both exited with no decisions.  Los Aguilas rallied for a run in the eighth, but not before Los Toros designated hitter Yasiel Puig (from the dugout) is ejected from the game.  When play resumes, Cibaeñas scores on consecutive hits from Juan Lagares and Melky Cabrera.  In the bottom half of the eighth, Los Toros immediately load the bases.  Left fielder Miguel Andujar's sacrifice fly to center plates the tying run.  Shortstop Jorge Mateo then scores the go-ahead run on a force play at second.  Southpaw Fernando Abad pitches a scoreless ninth for the save.  Right-hander Jairo Asencio earned the win in relief. 

⚾  JAN. 4, 2021  ⚾

• BOXSCORE 1/4/2021: Cibaeñas 3; Este 1
• SERIES: Toros del Este lead Aguilas del Cibaeñas; 2-1

Los Aguilas de Cibaeñas claim their first victory in game three.  Facing Los Toros del Este starter  Jenrry Mejia in the bottom of the first, Melky Cabrera, Mets farmhand second baseman Robel García, and first baseman Rangel Ravelo, each drove in a run apiece.  Cibaeñas starter Yoanner Negrín allowed just one hit and four walks with six strikeouts through six scoreless innings for the win.  Southpaw Gregory Soto picked up the save.  Right fielder Yasiel Puig drove in Los Toros' lone run of the game with a double in the eighth, and Miguel Andujar went hitless in three at-bats.

 

⚾

• BOXSCORE 1/4/2021: Cibao 3; Orientale 2 (10-innings)
• SERIES: Gigantes del Cibao lead Estrellas del Orientales; 2-1

Los Gigantes del Cibao strike first.   Shortstop Oneil Cruz's home run off major league veteran Ervin Santana in the second inning lasted through the seventh.  That is, until Robinson Cano's two-run home run in the top of the eighth gave Los Estrellas Orientales a 2-1 lead over Los Gigantes.   In the bottom half of the eighth, Cibao center fielder Jose Siri hit a home run (his third of the series) to send this game into extra innings.   Facing Matt Pobereyko in the home tenth, Gigantes' second baseman Abiatal Avelino draws a lead-off walk and promptly steals second.   Jose Siri follows with his third hit of the game, driving home Avelino with the game-winning run.   Right-hander Domingo Tapia earns the victory.

N.Y. Yankees: Bombers at the Gates

From the desk of:  BLAME CARLOS MAY

Just when you thought the coast was clear, 

here come the Red Sox.

New York Yankees: Bombers Season Starts Now

April of last year I was road tripping in Boston the weekend following the Yankees/Red Sox series - the one featuring the rather un-cordial exchange of pleasantries between Alex Cora and third base coach Phil Nevin.  While there I listened to a pair of WEEI-radio guys say among other things that Aaron Boone had no pulse.  Their comment stuck with me all summer, then into Fall.  After what transpired in the post-season I continued pondering this throughout the off-season still not sure of its merits. 

Now when I compare Aaron Boone's demeanor so far this season versus all of last season, I would agree the Bean Town talkies may have been on point.  But only insofar as last season.  One year later Boone seems far more comfortable in his pinstriped skin.  He's blown his top a few times and received some well deserved ejections.  Call it window dressing, but at least it demonstrates a confidence of character.  At the same time it instills either by design or otherwise a sense urgency into a young group.

In any event, Adversity and Defeatism since day one have been sitting in the Yanks dugout spitting out seeds with hardly a glance from the skipper.  As we know this year's 25-man roster has been decimated by injury after ruinous injury.  To borrow a phrase: it was getting late really early in the season.  Or so everyone imagined when the Yankees opened the season minus Didi Gregorius and Aaron Hicks; or after March 31 when both Giancarlo Stanton and Miguel Andujar went down; or after April 3 when Troy Tulowitzki followed suit; or after April 13 when Greg Bird joined them; or after April 20 when even Aaron Judge got overruled; etc., etc. 

Yet, thanks to their baby Bomber reinforcements, the Yanks own a 14-6 (.700) record since Judge went down 20 games ago.  Moreover, with Sunday's victory over the Rays they closed out the week eight games above .500 and are now within one-half game of first place.  So, yeah, Aaron Boone has a pulse.  In fact, he's very much alive and doing quite well - calm, cool, and delightfully less collected than ever.

But for how long?

The baby Bombers are doing things well, like limiting their strikeouts to sixth least in the American League, rating fourth in average, and sixth in OPS.  But what's going to happen when Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge are reunited in the middle of the lineup with Gary Sanchez?  We're speaking of anywhere from 550 to 600 strikeouts a season between the three.  If you do not believe this poses a potential negative affect to the present dynamic, I'll agree to disagree.

On May 12, 2018, the Yankees owned a 27-12 record.  One year later, they enter Monday's action with a 24-16 record.  It's been a remarkable story to date replete with kids, comebacks, and competitiveness.  There's a case to be made this season is now New York's to lose.  That said, Aaron Boone knows somewhere out there lurks an undetected iceberg ready to slice a huge gash into all this smooth sailing.

Just don't look now because here come the Red Sox whom seem to be over their World Series hangover.  After sleepwalking through a 7-13 start, the Sox have since gone 14-6, improving to 22-19 and creeping back into the mix just three games back of the division lead.  Not until May 8 did they reach the .500 mark for the first time this season.

And by no means are the Rays to be overlooked.  They won 90 games last season.  Make no mistake.  They're a good team and presently in first place for a reason.  They'll continue proving a troublesome Yankee foe just as they've done throughout their existence.  After their upcoming three game against the Orioles, the Yankees host the Rays next weekend.

The Red Sox are due to arrive in town at the end of the month.

Steady as she goes.

N.Y. Yankees: Chris Sale Silences Bombers and Critics

From the desk of:  BLAME CARLOS MAY

AMERICAN LEAGUE DIVISION SERIES

GAME ONE

YANKEES   4

RED SOX    5

FINAL

New York Yankees: Move to bring in Rick Porcello saves the day.

Chris Sale is arm weary; Chris Sale is fading; Chris Sale is just not a good second-half pitcher.  All these maladies are based in truth.  Sale's history as a starter says so.  He indeed suffered shoulder inflammation this season.  To what extent, we don't know.  But his regular season speaks for itself.  After making 18 starts from March/April through June, he is limited to just nine starts from July through September.  His velocity goes from upwards of 98-mph in the first half, down to the low 90's by September.

However, Alex Cora continually downplays Sale's condition throughout the second-half.  As I wrote yesterday, no one person understands his own team better than Cora - Dave Dombrowski included. He put both the Red Sox and Yankees through a comprehensive audit last season while serving as bench coach with the Houston Astros.  Last year's post-season experience makes him a veritable treasure trove of information with unique insight into his own club, the Yankees, and the defending champion Astros.

For as long as the Red Sox maintain a somewhat commanding regular season lead over the Yankees, Cora is afforded an opportunity to utilize Chris Sale sparingly, and massage him back into the post-season rotation.  Friday against the Yankees, Aaron Sale is charged with two earned runs on five hits through 5.1 innings pitched, with eight strikeouts for the victory.  He tops out at 96-mph.

The Red Sox lead the Yankees 5-0 through the fifth.  With two on and one out in the sixth, Cora removes Sale.  That's when the fun stops.  Boston's bullpen goes on to surrender four earned runs (two charged to Sale) on five hits and three walks.  Despite their overall inefficiencies, Cora's move to bring in Rick Porcello proves brilliant.  Utilizing him on his throw day, Cora gets fifteen pitches and two important outs from his Game Three starter.

Aaron Judge's home run off Craig Kimbrel leading off the ninth cuts the Red Sox lead down to one.  But Kimbrel regroups to strike out the next three Yankee batters and complete a four out save.

So much for J.A. Happ's career success against the Red Sox - the very reason why Brian Cashman acquired him in the first place.  Happ surrenders a three-run home run to J.D. Martinez in the first inning, and is removed before recording an out in the third.  For the record, Happ allows five runs on four hits and a walk over two innings pitched for the loss.

Giancarlo Stanton goes 1 for 5 with four strikeouts.  The bottom four of the line-up (Didi Gregorius, Miguel Andujar, Gary Sanchez, Glayber Torres) go 2 for 13 with four strikeouts.  Yankee batters total 13 strikeouts for the game; the Red Sox fan seven times (three by Ian Kinsler).  On that note, the Yankees leave ten runners on base, and go just 1 for 7 with RiSP.  The Red Sox are 3 for 6 with RiSP, and leave just six runners on base.

Yet, the Yankees out-hit the Red Sox by a 10-8 margin, and more importantly make Boston pitchers throw 182 pitches, versus just 127 pitches thrown by the Yankees.  They were able to piece together three runs before Aaron Judge's blast in the ninth, which is important for a team that generally lives and dies with the long ball.  Meanwhile, Judge appears healthy as ever, going 3 for 5 with an RBI and run scored.

The Yankees bullpen throws six scoreless innings of four-hit ball, issuing just two walks and fanning five.  Although called upon to pitch more innings than anticipated, Sunday is an off day as the series shifts to Bronx.  For the moment, Aaron Boone should be able to absorb the tax.

Overall, the margin of difference in this game proves very slim.

The move bringing in Rick Porcello to pitch the eighth saves the day.

But make no mistake, the Yankees can easily escape Boston with a split.  Masahiro Tanaka faces off against Yankees pinata David Price in Game Two, Saturday night at Fenway Park.

N.Y. Yankees: Competition Getting High and Tight

From the desk of:  BLAME CARLOS MAY

Red Sox lead series 2-0

I - BOS 15; NYY 7

II - BOS 4; NYY 1

GAME THREE

New York Yankees

vs.

Boston Red Sox

FROM

FENWAY PARK

New York Yankees: Look What the Boston Red Sox Did to the Bombers, Again.

If not for Miguel Andujar's lead-off home run in the top of the fifth, Boston starter Rick Porcello throws a no-hitter.  No chance of pitching a perfect game, though, as Porcello plunks the very first batter of the game, coming in high and tight to Brett Gardner whom absorbs an errant 0-2 fastball in the arm.  Gardner glares at Porcello as he begins a deliberately slow stroll towards first base.

The rest of the Yankees seemingly do not take this lightly.

Or do they?

In the bottom half of the frame, Luis Severino with his very first pitch comes in high and tight to Red Sox lead-off batter Mookie Betts.  For a few fleeting seconds things move right along, that is, until neophyte home plate umpire Adam Hamari issues delayed warnings to both clubs.  Alex Cora comes darting out of the Red Sox dugout fuming at Hamari, whom immediately tosses Boston's irate manager from the game.  All the while, Aaron Boone remains docile in the Yankees dugout.

And so begins Game Two at Fenway Park.

When play resumes Andrew Benintendi's double to right brings up Steve Pearce who continues decimating Yankees pitching, this time launching a Severino offering high over the Green Monster for his fourth home run in his last six at-bats.  With two outs, Severino then issues a base on balls to Ian Kinsler.  The Red Sox continue running like thieves in the night, as Kinsler swipes Boston's fifth base of the series.  Eduardo Nunez singles Kinsler home giving the Red Sox an early 3-0 lead.

Miguel Andujar leads-off the third with a home run.  It turns out being the Yankees lone run and only hit of the game.  Rick Porcello retires the next 21 batters in order for a complete game one-hit victory over the American League's top slugging team.  Porcello pounds the strike zone, facing 28 batters; one over the minimum; throwing an incredibly economical 86 pitches with 68 (80%) going for strikes, including an unforgiving 23 first pitch strikes.  He issues no walks and strikes out nine Yankees en route to his fourteenth victory of the season against just four losses.

The Red Sox are presently having their way, not just against the Yankees, but with every team in baseball.  Now with two victories over the Yankees, they seem to have effectively sidestepped Chris Sale's missed start.  As I've eluded to twice over the last two games, perhaps the Yankees are presently too docile, too complacent, and third base coach Phil Nevins sensed this heading into Boston.  With Alex Cora banished to his office Friday evening, cooler heads did prevail.  But perhaps Aaron Boone is being too cool.  It's worth noting that at no time during the entirety of game one or two did the Yankees ever attempt to unsettle Steve Pearce at the plate with a purposeful pitch.

Boone's crew now enters Saturday's game trailing the Red Sox by 7.5 games.  Getting out of Boston with a split might have just turned into a matter of A.L. East survival.  With 54 games left in the regular season, the Yankees have time to recover.  Plus, they still have two more games left to play in this series, and six more games against the Red Sox still to come.  However, they are leaving themselves little margin for error.  The calendar reads dog days of summer, which means that time and wins are of the essence.

They are tasked today with slamming the brakes on a three game skid, and preventing any further damage to their widening second place standing.  Of course, easier said than done.  With Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez missing from the line-up, Giancarlo Stanton is presently a one-man gang.  The rest of the line-up has gone missing.  The Yankees have been doubled up through their last three games by a 13-26 margin against the stripped down Orioles and Red Sox.

They're also facing a sudden lack of pitching, if only for a day, or so the Yankees hope.  Called up from Scranton, Chance Adams will make his major league debut in the heat of a pennant race against the Red Sox.  Between Sunny Gray's ineffectiveness, J.A. Happ landing on the disabled list, Lance Lynn being pressed into action during Friday's debacle, and the overall tax being extracted from the bullpen, the Yankees face little choice.  Adams will oppose veteran Nathan Eovaldi, Boston's trade deadline acquisition from Minnesota.

N.Y. Yankees: Much Machado About Nothing

From the desk of:  BLAME CARLOS MAY

"He's a bluffin' bluffer ... Bluff!" - Ed Norton

New Yor Yankees: Why is Brian Cashman even remotely interested in acquiring Manny Machado?

... And why are the Red Sox seemingly expressing interest, for that matter?  At least Manny is a somewhat better fit with Boston than here in Bronx.  The Red Sox are unlikely to intrude on Xander Bogeart's space.  But depending on your opinion regarding Rafael Devers and Eduardo Nunez manning third base, acquiring Manny Machado might be worth investigating - for them.

But if you're an older Yankees fan, this may wreak of the 1980s all over again.  For the moment, though, this appears to be nothing more than scuttlebutt.  Otherwise, I just can't see the Yankees being serious about acquiring Manny Machado when they have Didi Gregoreous, Gleyber Torrez, Miguel Andujar, and a seeming glut of young emerging talent already in hand.

What the Yankees need is a starting pitcher.  Everyone knows that.

But this is just a theory: Brian Cashman is sly like a fox, and knowing how Red Sox general manager Dave Dombrowsky ran the Tigers and the mess he left behind at Detroit, perhaps Cashman is merely driving up Machado's price in the hopes Boston Sox both depletes their farm system, then fail in retaining the looming free agent.

Then again, the Yankees trail the Boston Red Sox by 4.5 games heading into the All-Star break.  And neither the Yankees nor the Red Sox want the end the season hinging on a one game Wild Card playoff.

No wonder Yankee fans sound as if they're in a panic ...

N.Y. Yankees: Bronx Bombers Go Boom

From the desk of:  BLAME CARLOS MAY

Greg Bird Rounds Bases After Hitting Fourth Inning Home Run

GAME ONE FINAL

Red Sox    1

Yankees     8

New York Yankees: Bombers Earn Slim Percentage Points First Place Lead Over Red Sox.

I was in attendance for Friday night's series opener between the Boston Red Sox and Bronx Bombers, and can testify to the high voltage coursing through Yankee Stadium's veins.

Starter C.C. Sabathia set the tone early by retiring the Red Sox in order to start the game.

In the bottom of the second, the young Yanks inflicted early damage against Boston starter Eduardo Rodriguez.  Batting fifth, second baseman Gleyber Torres led-off with a triple off the center field wall.  Next up, third baseman Miguel Andujar blooped a hit where they aint, driving home Torres with the game's first run.

The Yankees then flexed their muscle in the fourth.  After Giancarlo Stanton drew a lead-off walk, Didi Gregorious struck a double to deep center.  Stanton would soon score on a sac-fly by Gleyber Torres.  After which, Miguel Andujar deposited a Eduardo Rodriguez offering into the left field seats for a two-run home run.  Greg Bird made it back-to-back home runs with an opposite field launch to left giving the Yankees a 5-0 lead.

With one out and Greg Bird on first base in the bottom of the seventh, Aaron Judge hit his 21st home run of the season.  And in the eighth, Greg Bird capped off the scoring with his second home run of the game, giving the Yankees an 8-1 final margin of victory.

C.C. Sabathia pitched very well in earning his fifth victory of the season.  He threw 97 pitches through seven full innings pitched, with 62 (64%) going for strikes.  He limited the Red Sox to just one run on six hits and a walk, while fanning five.

Relievers Chad Green and Chasen Shreve each contributed an inning of no hit scoreless ball, with three strikeouts.

GAME TWO MATCH-UP

Chris Sale

vs.

Sonny Gray

C.C. Sabathia deals in second inning.

YANKEES MUSEUM