Four Angry Mets Fans on Another Metsian Podcast

From the desk of: HEAD-BUTTING MR. MET

With SAM, RICH and MIKE

GUEST

John Coppinger aka METSTRADAMUS

The season is 38% done.  Last time Mets were above .500 was July 28.  It's now mid August and they own a 9-14 record.  Steven Matz is 0-4 with a 9.00 ERA, and the Polar Bear is wilting in the dog days of summer.  

We rant.

#LGM

A Mushroom Cloud Rises Over Flushing on Another Metsian Podcast

From the desk of: HEAD-BUTTING MR. MET

with SAM, RICH, and MIKE

!! GIMMIE SHELTER !!

DEALING WITH THE FALLOUT

Joined by 

Jeff Cohen from Baseball And BBQ

NEW YORK METS

• First Ten Games: 3-7 (.300)
• Five Game Losing Streak
• 19 for 94 (.202) with runners in scoring position
• Team ERA: 5.52
• YOENIS CESPEDES EXITS STAGE LEFT

And the rant begins...!

Give a Listen

#LGM

N.Y. Mets: One of These Starters is Not Like the Others

From the desk of: HEAD-BUTTING MR. MET

One of these performances just wasn't the same...

With Jacob deGrom's second start of the season underway against the Red Sox at Boston, the Mets starting rotation officially begins its next go-around.

First Time Around:

• Game One vs. ATL: Jacob degrom throws 72 pitch gem through five scoreless innings of one-hit ball, with eight  strikeouts.

• Game Two vs. ATL: Steven Matz throws 93 pitches through six innings, while limiting the Braves to one run on just two hits, with one walk and seven strikeouts.

• Game Three vs. ATL: Rick Porcello does not make it out of the third.  He yields seven runs (six earned) on seven hits, with three walks, before manager Luis Rojas summons relief.

• Game Four vs. BOS: Michael Wacha faces twenty batters, allows one run on just five hits and one walk, with five strikeouts.  Unlike deGrom and Matz whom exit to no-decisions, Wacha earns his first victory of the season.

• Game Five vs. BOS: With injuries to Noah Syndergaard and Marcus Stroman, Dave Peterson is a victim of baptismal by fire.  The Mets 24-year old first round (20th overall) draft pick makes his major league debut on Tuesday.  He responds with two earned runs allowed on seven hits and just two walks, with three strikeouts over 5.2 innings pitched, to earn first major league victory.

All told the rotation's first five starters allow fourteen earned runs, on twenty-two hits and nine walks, with 23 strikeouts, through twenty innings pitched.  That equates to a 3.87 ERA, and 1.551 WHIP, and an average of four innings per start.

But we well realizes these stats are skewed because of what occurred on Sunday.  In truth there is no escaping that out of the aforementioned five starters, one respective performances didn't turn out like the others - one of those five starts just isn't the same (.. if that reference doesn't trigger a childhood memory, then too bad for you).  But the point remains: after a disappointing first start with the Mets, Rick Porcello will soon feel the heat of having all eyes beaming upon him.

N.Y. Mets: Sunday Night Blech Ball

From the desk of: HEAD-BUTTING MR. MET

THREE GAMES DOWN ~ FIFTY-SEVEN TO GO

WEEKEND OPENING SERIES REVIEW

I - STARTING PITCHING

Jacob deGrom opens the 2020 season with a gem.  Alas, his first start of the season only lasts five innings.  Luis Rojas sends in the relief corps after just 72 pitches.  However, I do not begrudge the freshman manager (better safe than sorry) as deGrom had in recent days experienced a small measure of back discomfort.  Otherwise, deGrom throws five scoreless innings of one-hit ball, with one walk and eight strikeouts.

On Saturday Steven Mats looks every bit like the mature 29-year old craftsman Mets fans have been hoping for.  The rotation, the team, needs him more than ever.  If the Mets are to achieve post-season contention, much less success, then Steven Matz - not Marcus Stroman - must step up alongside Jacob deGrom to form a formidable one-two punch.  Matz throws 98 pitches with 58 (62%) going for strikes.  He allows just one run on a mere two hits with one walk and seven strikeouts over six innings pitched.  But like deGrom, he exits to a no decision.

Atlanta takes out all their frustrations against Rick Porcello on Sunday.  The Mets off-season acquisition fails to make it out of the third inning, allowing seven runs (six earned), on seven hits and three walks in only two innings pitched.

I wrote this three days ago:

I'm hopeful Rick Porcello will pitch effectively but I'm only somewhat confident he will.  I like Rick Porcello, I really do.  I'm (also) a Red Sox fan since the mid 1970's.  Back then outside of the World Series inter-league play is nonexistent.  Having a favorite American League team is a non-issue.  And the answer to your next question .. NO .. I was in no way conflicted in 1986, for I am an orange/blue bleeding Mets fan.  Back to the matter at hand: I have a lot of respect for Rick's body of work with Boston.  The man exuded cool, calm, and clutch.  I'm just not sure that success follows him to Flushing.  His best seasons are 2014 when he posts a 3.43 ERA and 1.231 WHiP, and his Cy Young award winning 2016 campaign when posts a league best 22-4 record, with a 3.15 ERA, and fine 1.001 WHiP.   But that's six and four years ago respectively.  Outside of a 3.96 ERA during his rookie season, at no other time during his eleven year career does his season ERA dip below four.  He also has yielded more hits than innings pitched in two of his last three seasons.  Essentially what Mets fans need most from Rick Porcello is a classic baseball comeback season.  To his credit he is a mature, poised, intelligent 30-year old craftsman.  If anyone can bounce back, he can.  However, anything resembling his last three seasons with Boston simply will not do.

II - THE BULLPEN

With regards to Edwin Diaz, I already made my opinion quite clear. 

At some point Luis Rojas (although we all know BVW won't have it..) needs to rethink the ninth inning.  Diaz has proven wholly ineffective given ninth inning responsibilities.  His resume since becoming a Met speaks for itself.  Rojas must open the ninth inning to other members of his bullpen, or continue being victimized by Edwin's 5.37 ERA and 1.379 WHiP in just 60 innings since his arrival in Flushing.

Through three games, the bullpen can be separated into two lists: the Good & the Bad.

• GOOD:  Seth Lugo; Jeurys Familia; Justin Wilson;Dellin betances; Drew Smith.
• BAD:  Edwin Diaz; Hunter Strickland; Corey Oswalt; Paul Sewald.

In three games against the Braves, the bullpen yields ten runs on sixteen hits and three walks, with sixteen strikeouts through twelve innings pitched.  With a 7.50 ERA, strikeouts mean nothing to me -not after witnessing so many hurlers through the years pitch to contact all the way to Cooperstown and the baseball Hall of Fame.


III - AT THE PLATE

The Braves out-hit the Mets by a 28-20 margin; they outscore the Mets by a troublesome 19-5 margin.  As a team the Mets are 21 for 98 for a .214 batting average.  They make Atlanta's triumvirate of Mike Soroka, Max Fried, and Sean Newcombe, look like the 1970 Baltimore Orioles rotation.  Twice they are limited to a single run.

*          *          *

Everything is fine on Friday.  Come Saturday in the ninth inning the continental plates beneath Queens shake and quake.  By Sunday a Flushing Bay tsunami inundates Citi Field.

Time to get on a bus and head to Boston.

The Good, Bad, and Ugly, of Opening Day Weekend on Another Metsian Podcast

From the desk of: HEAD-BUTTING MR. MET

with SAM, RICH, and MIKE

GUEST

John Strubel 

of METS REWIND

forty-seven minutes

OPENING DAY WEEKEND

"SUNDAY NIGHT BLECH BALL"

Complete breakdown of 

Braves versus Mets

N.Y. Mets: Welcome to Flushing's First Socially Distanced Opening Day in July

From the desk of: HEAD-BUTTING MR. MET

PLAY COVID BALL !!

Late Sunday afternoon; September 29, 2019; the Mets trail the Atlanta Braves 6-5 in the last game of the regular season; with two runners on base and two outs in the eleventh inning Dominic Smith deposits a Grant Dayton offering deep beyond the right field fence giving the Mets a dramatic walk-off 7-6 victory.  After which the off-season starts like any other.  However, with the onset of winter arrises news of a globe-trekking virus heading our way.  By the end of February and early March, the tristate area of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, becomes America's epicenter of coronavirus.  By mid-March major league baseball shuts down all activities as state after state begins implementing COVID protocols.  Near 300 days have passed since Dominic Smith's season ending at-bat.  Today, after much haggling and public harangue, MLB is finally set to resume play, albeit operating under conditions and circumstances never before experienced by sports, barring the Spanish Flu of a century ago.  I am on record (Metsian Podcast) saying baseball should have cancelled the season outright, and I stand by it.  Nevertheless, here we are, time to play ball.  I bid health, safety, peace, and a measure of luck, to every player, coach, manager ... every single person involved with the execution of this upcoming season, and likewise to respective families.

deGROM AND MATZ, THEN PRAY FOR RAIN

Sadly, I do not foresee the Mets being top contenders in the absence of strong performances first and foremost from Steven Matz, and Marcus Stroman second.

Welcome to the 2020 season?  Or should I say welcome to the new, and still transient normal?

In any event, here's something you'll find quite familiar: The Mets have problems.

The much anticipated "Five Hurlers of the Metropolis" were never able to join forces and become the super heroes we thought they'd be.  Injury and overall front office negligence are largely to blame.  The dream rotation of Matt Harvey, Zack Wheeler, Noah Syndergaard, Steven Matz, and Jacob deGrom, unfortunately fail to synchronize their talents for any substantial length of time.  Thus the opposition never fully experiences what fans imagine to be the rotation's full wrath.  Instead, the rotation frustratingly is a perpetual revolving door of those returning from surgery with those requiring surgery, and other like physical issues.  Jacob deGrom aside, you might loosely file what transpires since 2015 as a Generation-K type Redux.  But at least we get a National League pennant out of these guys - most of them - so there's that.

"FIVE HURLERS OF THE METROPOLIS"

Matt Harvey ~ Zack Wheeler ~ Jacob deGrom ~ Noah Syndergaard ~ Steven Matz

2012 - Harvey

2013 - Harvey; Wheeler

2014 - Harvey; Wheeler; deGrom

2015 - Harvey; Wheeler; deGrom; Syndergaard; Matz

2016 - Harvey; Wheeler; deGrom; Syndergaard; Matz

2017 - Harvey; Wheeler; deGrom; Syndergaard; Matz

2018 - x-Harvey; Wheeler; deGrom; Syndergaard; Matz

2019 - x-Harvey; Wheeler; deGrom; Syndergaard; Matz; Stroman

2020 - x-Harvey; x-Wheeler; deGrom; Syndergaard; Matz; Stroman; Porcello; Wacha

I enter this COVIDIAN compromised 2020 regular season with only a small fraction of the confidence I once harbored regarding this team's rotational strength.  Of course Jacob deGrom is the great one, winner of back-to-back Cy Young awards.  He takes the ball on Friday for Game One of sixty.  But who and/or what follows deGrom is very troublesome for me.

I'm not at all pleased Zack Wheeler is a member of the Philadelphia Phillies.  Wheeler in March 2019 made it very clear he welcomed free agency and that the Mets would need to meet his price.  I was hoping against hope they would re-sign him.  Instead the front office let the regular season play out and apparently were dissatisfied with Wheeler's performance.  That's the soft core version of the story.  The harder, colder truth, as we well know, ownership is flat broke.  After all, Zack posted a fair 3.96 ERA and 1.259 WHiP through 195.1 innings pitched.  Now 30-years old, I believe Wheeler's arm is finally sound and that his best days are still ahead.  Over the last two seasons he's made 60 starts with 374 strikeouts through 377.2 innings pitched.  Fangraphs had his 2018 velocity pegged at 95-mph, while last year's velocity remained steady at 96-mph.  Be that as it may the Mets make him no offer.  Wheeler winds up signing with Philadelphia for $118 million over five seasons.  The inner general manager within me would have been agreeable to a $100 million offer, and chewing him down from the other $18 million.  But I certainly would not have let that stop me.  I also have a hunch Wheeler and his agent, just for sake of staying in NYC, would have been amenable to a small compromise.  Lastly, Zack Wheeler I feel is/was better than any of the available replacements, namely Rick Porcello and Michael Wacha.  For these reasons alone I believe the Mets enter 2020 with a weakened rotation - period, exclamation point.

Noah Syndergaard ((( 😔 ))) as we know is out due to Tommy John surgery/recovery.  Who didn't see that coming..?

But here's something whereon Brodie Van Wagenen needs to keep his eyes fixed.  Marcus Stroman, who talks a real good game, is presently out with a calf injury which is an ailment BVW must consider within the context of a 60-game season.  True calf injuries do not heal well; they're habitually time consuming; and without extensive rest they tend to nag for entire seasons.

I'm hopeful Rick Porcello will pitch effectively but I'm only somewhat confident he will.  I like Rick Porcello, I really do.  I'm (also) a Red Sox fan since the mid 1970's.  Back then outside of the World Series inter-league play is nonexistent.  Having a favorite American League team is a non-issue.  And the answer to your next question .. NO .. I was in no way conflicted in 1986, for I am an orange/blue bleeding Mets fan.  Back to the matter at hand: I have a lot of respect for Rick's body of work with Boston.  The man exuded cool, calm, and clutch.  I'm just not sure that success follows him to Flushing.  His best seasons are 2014 when he posts a 3.43 ERA and 1.231 WHiP, and his Cy Young award winning 2016 campaign when posts a league best 22-4 record, with a 3.15 ERA, and fine 1.001 WHiP.   But that's six and four years ago respectively.  Outside of a 3.96 ERA during his rookie season, at no other time during his eleven year career does his season ERA dip below four.  He also has yielded more hits than innings pitched in two of his last three seasons.  Essentially what Mets fans need most from Rick Porcello is a classic baseball comeback season.  To his credit he is a mature, poised, intelligent 30-year old craftsman.  If anyone can bounce back, he can.  However, anything resembling his last three seasons with Boston simply will not do.

I have much less, or little to no confidence in Michael Wacha as a starter.  He and Porcello during the off-season are originally signed to be complimentary depth pitchers, and now intense pressure is suddenly being pumped into both their respective right arms.  Cross your fingers in the hope all their gaskets are sealed tight.  Otherwise, this rotation is gonna leak hits, runs, deficits, and losses, all over the place.

Alas Steven Matz is the Mets X factor.  The day has come .. the hour is near .. this must be the season when Steven Matz seizes the role of Number Two behind Jacob deGrom.  The Mets situation necessitates it.  If they are to compete in a 60-game season against modified opponents such as the Yankees and Rays, along with fellow N.L. East members, they'll need an effective and reliable one-two punch.  The recently turned 29-year old Matz is due for a breakout season, or not.  A veteran of four full seasons in the majors, he owns a career 4.05 ERA through 103 appearances and 101 career starts.  He is coming off back to back seasons of at least thirty starts, while 2019 is the first time he achieves double digit wins.  However, since 2016 when he posts a 3.40 ERA in 132.1 innings pitched, his ERA has since failed to dip below four.  He additionally has yet to pitch 200 innings in a single season.  Therefore I say he needs to make this season his line of demarcation.  Will he mature and elevate as a pitcher and craftsman, or not?

THREE ALARM FIRE STILL RAGES

Edwin Diaz is 26-years old and a veteran of four full major league seasons, during which he's averaged 67 innings per season.  Therefore his shelf life is far from approaching its expiration date.  But 15 home runs in 58 innings pitched?  Not to mention all 15 home runs are surrendered in the ninth inning thus setting a new major league record.  His 99 strikeouts and 15.4 K/9 average are outstanding.  No arguing that.  But a 2-7 record, seven blown saves, a 5.59 ERA, 4.51 FIP, and 1.379 WHiP, are indefensible.  His fastball and change-up are not necessarily the issue.  His slider, however, often resembled a cement mixer, and it cost the Mets a huge price in the standings.

FLUSHING's CORE FOUR?

Pete Alonso; Michael Conforto; Amed Rosario; Jeff McNeil: is this a core four capable of elevating the Mets to higher ground?  Last season was certainly a good start.  Unfortunately, the upcoming 2020 season in and of itself still leaves us with too small a sample size.  And so the question remains to be answered; collective next level performance remains to be seen.  For now the best we can do is monitor the competition and paint a game by game picture until a clearer vision materializes.

LET'S GO METS

ICYMI

Wednesday, July 21, 2020

GUEST

Mets Beat Writer for NEWSDAY, 

Tim Healey

!!!!! WEAR A FREAKIN MASK !!!!!

A Metsian Podcast 2020 Season Preview in July Special

From the desk of: HEAD-BUTTING MR. MET

THE NATIONAL PASTIME RETURNS

OPENING DAY IN JULY!?

GUEST 

  Mets Beat Writer 

NEWSDAY'S TIM HEALEY

2020 COVID NEW YORK METS

SEASON PREVIEW

seventy-minutes

N.Y. Mets: No Baseball For You

From the desk of:  HEAD-BUTTING MR. MET

WE INTERRUPT SPRING TRAINING AND THE

2020 REGULAR SEASON DUE TO THE COVID-19 OUTBREAK 

No baseball for you  - at least not yet, or the foreseeable future.  With coronavirus running wild, Take Me Out to the Ballgame certainly takes on a different tune.

However, the Trolley rolls on ... 

I - Starting Pitching

• Starting Rotation Weaker Without Wheeler 
• Stop Matzing Around With Starting Rotation

Noah Syndergaard will turn 28-years old this season.  It's time for him to step it up.  My most serious criticism against Noah through the years has been his lack of craftsmanship.  Last season he exceeded 30 starts for the first time in three years, fanning 202 batters and walking only 50 through 197.2 innings pitched.  However he surrendered a career high 24 home runs which contributed greatly to his career high 4.28 ERA.  That must change.  With health presumably back on his side there will be little excuse should he fail to elevate his game.  We Mets fans wish and hope for him to become an elite pitcher.  But he is not there yet.

Rick Porcello has to date yielded 15 hits and just one walk with eight strikeouts through 10.2 innings pitched.  I was in complete agreement with this acquisition.  However, the signing of Michael Wacha, not so much.  Wacha has surrendered eight hits and four walks in just 7.2 Grapefruit League innings pitched.  In 2019, Wacha's first full season back from injury, he yielded 143 hits and 55 walks for a 1.563 WHiP through 126.2 innings.

II - Bullpen

Looks like Dellin Betances will have all the time he'll need for amping up that velocity.  He says he's a slow starter.  Time is now on his side.  Meanwhile a slimmed down Jeurys Familia is performing well, but the troubled Edwin Diaz is not - four hits allowed and just one strikeout in three innings pitched.

As we know the Mets staff is short on left-hand pitching.  In fact, Justin Wilson is the only bullpen southpaw whom I would qualify as reliable.  That's why I've been rooting for Chasen Shreve to win a seat on the bus back to Flushing.  A potential power arm, Shreve to date has yielded five hits (two home runs) and two walks with five strikeouts in six innings pitched.  Not exactly what I had in mind.

Seth Lugo wants to start, but his performance betrays him.  Compare 2017, his last season as a full time starter, versus his last two seasons as a full time reliever.  As a starter he yielded 114 hits in 101.1 innings.  As a reliever these last two seasons, he has allowed just 137 hits over 181.1 innings pitched.  As a starter he posted a 10.1 H/9, 2.2 W/9, and 7.5 K/9.  Last year he posted a career low 6.3 H/9 and 1.8 W/9, and a career high 11.7 K/9.  The Mets need to utilize him to the best of his ability.  If that means putting their foot down, so be it.

#washyourhands

N.Y. Mets: Rotation Weaker Without Zack Wheeler

From the desk of:  HEAD-BUTTING MR. MET

Although Zack Wheeler last March made it very clear to all that he welcomed free agency and that the club would need to meet his price, I was hoping against hope the Mets would re-sign him.

In turn the Mets let the regular season play out and apparently were dissatisfied with his performance.  Granted, Zack posted a somewhat unsightly 3.96 ERA and 1.259 WHiP through 195.1 innings pitched.  However, despite turning 30-years old this coming May, I believe health is finally on Wheeler's side and that his best days are still ahead.  Over the last two seasons he's made 60 starts with 374 strikeouts through 377.2 innings pitched.  Fangraphs had his 2018 velocity pegged at 95-mph, while last year's velocity remained steady at 96-mph.  Be that as it may the Mets made him no offer, qualifying or otherwise, electing instead to let him walk.

Wheeler signed with Philadelphia for $118 million over five seasons.  The general manager within me would have been agreeable negotiating a one hundred million package.  However I would have tried chewing him down from the other $18 million.  I'm inclined to believe Wheeler and his agent just to stay in New York would have agreed to a five year $105 million dollar deal.

Moreover, Zack Wheeler at the time I feel was better than any available replacement sans Gerrit Cole.  Simply put, the acquisitions of Rick Porcello and Michael Wacha have yet to sway my opinion, which is the starting rotation has been weakened.

Starting Depth: Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Marcus Stroman, Rick Porcello, Steven Matz, Michael Wacha.

vs.

Impacting the N.L. East: Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Zack Wheeler, Steven Matz, Marcus Stroman, and adding Rick Porcello.

Of course, I could be wrong.

But I doubt it.

ARod, Mad Man Manfred, and Other Great Stuff on Another Metsian Podcast

From the desk of:  HEAD-BUTTING MR. MET

Show Date: 16 February 2020

A METSIAN PODCAST

with SAM, RICH, and MIKE

94 minutes

Mad Man Manfred's Wacky Playoff Proposal  ~  Spring Training Experience

Zack Wheeler vs. Brodie Van Wagenen  ~  Trolling Noah Syndergaard

Rick Porcello  ~  Michael Wacha  ~  Pete Alonso

Mets to Wear #43  ~  Who Is Jerry Girard  ~  Al Lang Stadium

Florida Geography  ~  Things and Stuff  ~  The $57 Million Dollar Question

A-Rod and J-Lo  ~  so much more!

Another Metsian Podcast: Talking Pitchers and Catchers with Gary Mack of MetsMusings

From the desk of:  HEAD-BUTTING MR. MET

Unpack the Truck!

Pitchers and Catchers Have Arrived

A METSIAN PODCAST

with SAM, RICH, and MIKE

With Special Guest

Gary Mack of MetsMusings.com

74 minutes

Let's Not Make a Deal ~ Grading the Off-Season ~ Spring Training Invitees

PITCHERS and CATCHERS

#42

A Most Metsian Time of the Year Holiday Podcast

From the desk of: HEAD-BUTTING MR. MET

A METSIAN PODCAST

with SAM, RICH, and MIKE

WITH SPECIAL GUEST

Greg Prince of 

FaithAndFearInFlushing.com

sixty-seven minutes

Peace on Earth

N.Y. Yankees: Bronx Bummer Leave Bombers on Brink

From the desk of:  BLAME CARLOS MAY

Red Sox lead series 2-1

I - BOS 5; NYY 4

II - NYY 6; BOS 2

III - BOS 16; NYY 1

GAME THREE

RED SOX   16

YANKEES    1

FINAL

Boston Red Sox Hand Bronx Bombers Worst Defeat in Franchise Post-Season History.

Featured prominently across the front of Boston's warm-up jersey reads their post-season mantra: Do Damage.  Monday at Yankee Stadium the Red Sox do just that, handing the Bronx Bombers their worst post-season defeat in their 115-year history, and pushing them to the brink of elimination.

Already lost upon Bomber fans' collective memory is Gary Sanchez becoming the first Yankee catcher to hit multiple home runs in one playoff game, or that Aaron Judge becomes the first Yankee since Reggie Jackson to homer in three consecutive playoff games.  With one more loss in this ALDS, all fans will remember is a 100-win regular season spiraling counter-clockwise down the toilet; rookie manager Aaron Boone's failure to get out of the first round a year after Joe Girardi leads them within one game of the World Series; and something a little closer to their heart, getting eliminated yet again by the rival Red Sox in their own yard.  Nothing short of two straight victories changes that narrative now.

This much, however, for the moment remains true as ever: the Yankees live and die by the home run.  Through two Yankees losses, they total just one home run - an Aaron Judge blast in the ninth inning of Game One.  In their Game Two victory, Judge hit his second of the series, and Gary Sanchez adds two.  From a Red Sox perspective, they trade home runs in Game One, and win; get out homered in Game Two and lose; then hit one home run versus zero for the Yankees in Game Three, and win.

Boston had already scored 14 runs on 17 hits before Brock Holt's two-run jolt in the ninth.  As an aside, he becomes MLB's first player to hit for the cycle in a post-season game.  Cycling back, the Yankees have hit four home runs versus Boston's three, but the Red Sox have now out-hit the Yankees 31-23, and outscored them 23-11, through three games of the ALDS.

Luis Severino's very first offering of the game clocked in at 95-mph.  Leading off for Boston, Mookie Betts hits said pitch 405 feet away to the base of the center field wall for a very long out.  After which, the route is on.  Severino faces 18 batters through three innings, allowing six earned runs on seven hits and two walks, with two strikeouts.  The Yankees bullpen (Austin Romine aside) allows eight more runs on ten hits and five walks, with just two strikeouts.

In a tale of two acquisitions, the Yankees acquire J.A. Happ, who through his career has pitched very effectively against the Red Sox.  In Game One, Boston knocks him out of the box after just two innings upon allowing five earned runs on four hits and a walk.  In turn, the Red Sox acquire Nathan Eovaldi, a one-time Yankee, whom likewise has a reputation for pitching well against his former club.  In Game Three at Yankee Stadium, Eovaldi pitches a gem, allowing just one earned run on five hits, no walks, with five strikeouts, through seven full innings pitched.  In the seventh he pops the radar gun at 100-mph.

With another victory on Tuesday, the Red Sox clinch a trip to the ALCS, but not before making a complete mess of the visiting locker room at Yankee Stadium for a second time this season.  If you're the Yankees, there's all the motivation you need.

Game Four features C.C. Sabathia versus Rick Porcello.

Sabathia last pitched twelve days ago against Tampa, in which he pitches five scoreless innings of one hit ball, with no walks and five strikeouts before being ejected.  Sabathia is afforded a similar break coming out of the all-star break, when he goes two full weeks between starts.  Upon his return, he allows two earned runs on six hits and two walks, with eight strikeouts against Kansas City.  Over his last five starts, however, C.C. has allowed 13 earned runs over 21.2 innings pitched for a 5.51 ERA.

In Rick Porcello's last start against the Yankees on Aug. 3, he tosses a one-hit complete game victory at Yankee Stadium.  Porcello's last appearance against the Yankees comes in relief, when he records two game critical outs on 15 pitches in the eighth inning of Game One at Fenway.

Should the Yankees win, another match-up between J.A. Happ and Chris Sale awaits in Game Five.

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: Losing Ground and Their Bearing

From the desk of:  BLAME CARLOS MAY

GAME TWO

New York Yankees

vs.

Boston Red Sox

FROM

FENWAY PARK

New York Yankees: Everything That Could Go Wrong Went Completely Awry.

After that Game One debacle at Fenway Park, one thing is very clear: Phil Nevins issued a premature evisceration.  You can't read players the riot act twice in the same week without completely diminishing its affect. That said, he should have waited till after Thursday's game because the Yankees were just plain bad in every conceivable way.  Perhaps Phil Nevin saw this coming, i.e., a team mentally unprepared heading into Fenway.  But that in turn makes me wonder why in the name of Casey Stengel is a third base coach doing the manager's dirty work?  And sure enough, Aaron Boone indirectly answered that very question.  During Friday's pre-game, Boone reiterates that he's not inclined to get emotional.  Instead, he will temper the game's highs and lows, and aims to be a model of managerial consistency for his players.

Okay ...

The fact remains, Aaron Boone was completely out-managed by Alex Cora in this particular game, while his team was utterly embarrassed on the field.

Then came the opening act of Game Two ...

Boston's Rick Porcello hit the very first batter of the game, when he came high and tight to lead-off batter Bret Gardner.  In the bottom half of the frame, Luis Serverino came in high and tight to Red Sox lead-batter Mookie Betts.  Both sides shouted their opinions from the dugout.  Only then did the home plate umpire issue a warning.  That's when Red Sox manager Alex Cora let him have it, and subsequently got ejected.

Aaron Boone remained silent the whole time.

Before the inning was through, the Red Sox propped up Rick Porcello with a 2-0 lead on Steve Pearce's fourth home run in his last six at-bats against the Yankees.

Strategy and proper implementation of the brush back pitch is a lost art ....

Stay tuned.