Yankees Cap Big Week by Taking Down Blue Jays

The Yankees continued their steady climb back to the top of the AL East and they are now just two games behind the Blue Jays thanks to a big series win at Yankee Stadium. They are now back to their high point of the season, 17 games over .500, a place they haven’t been since May 28. Three weeks left, and making the postseason now seems like a lock, but they’re aiming higher. Lets get to it.

I’ll be the first to admit that I did not think the Yankees were going to win either of these two big series they just wrapped up Sunday afternoon, first against the AL West-leading Astros in Houston, and then against the AL East-leading Blue Jays in the Bronx.

It was one thing to beat the hell out of the Nationals and White Sox, but an entirely different animal facing the Astros and Blue Jays.

Proves that while I like to think I know everything, I don’t. They won two of three in each series, so I am perfectly happy to say I’m glad I was wrong because after all the bullshit we went through with this team since the end of May when they were seven games ahead in the division and cruising, through Aug. 23 when they got blown out 12-1 at home by Boston and were 6.5 games behind Toronto, they are peaking at the right time.

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Since that day when the Red Sox won their third straight in a four-game set in New York, embarrassing the Yankees every step of the way, Aaron Boone’s team has won 11 of 14 games including the final two against the Blue Jays, another team that has had their number all season. The Yankees are now just two games out of first place with 19 left to play, and in terms of the wildcard chase they lead the Red Sox by 1.5 games and that’s very important.

If the Yankees don’t complete their comeback and steal the division from the Blue Jays over these final three weeks, securing the first wildcard spot is vital because that means they would host the best-of-three series against the second wildcard, and right now that’s the Red Sox. The Yankees have been awful against Boston all season with a 2-8 record, but both of the wins came at Yankee Stadium.

Ultimately, I don’t think homefield advantage means much of anything in baseball, but I think we’d all agree that Fenway is a house of horrors for the Yankees and they’d have a much better chance of winning that series if it was at home.

“I feel at this point, every win is pretty big,’’ Cody Bellinger said.

He’s not kidding. And it won’t get much easier this week because after a day off Monday, they host the AL Central-leading Tigers for three, and then have to go to Boston for three next weekend.

Rarely is it pretty with these Yankees - they were brutal Friday night, and then Saturday and Sunday there were definitely moments in each victory where it looked like the games were going to flip in favor of Toronto, but credit where credit is due and the Yankees stood up and delivered in some key situations. Hell, even Devin Williams helped!

“We know what’s at stake,” Boone said. “We know how important these games are. But you also can’t make them bigger than what they are. It’s a game - we’ve got to go play well, and that’s what we’re trying to do. We have a chance to be a really excellent club. And the one thing I know is we’re pretty healthy, and I feel like we have a lot of guys that are in a good place. We are in a position to go get it. Now we gotta go do it, but I’ve felt that way for a long time.”

Sept. 5: Blue Jays 7, Yankees 1

➤ Look, the Yankees were clearly at a disadvantage in this game because they had to play a late game Thursday night in Houston and some players didn’t get home until 6 in the morning. Meanwhile, the Blue Jays were off Thursday and were in New York chilling. So much for homefield advantage. However, the one guy who was rested because he had been sent back to New York early was starting pitcher Cam Schlittler, and unfortunately, he was the Yankees worst player.

➤ Schlittler found out the difference between pitching against a lineup full of stiffs like the ones he faced in his last four outings - Twins, Rays, Nationals and White Sox - and the relentless lineup of the Blue Jays. The Jays may be the best team in MLB at grinding pitchers into dust and they made mincemeat of Schlittler. He lasted just 1.2 innings and gave up four runs on five hits and two walks, throwing a whopping 66 pitches because of never-ending foul balls which sucked the life out of him.

➤ And what was so maddening is he struck out the first two men in the first inning before friggin’ Vladimir Guerrero started all the trouble with a single, and then it all fell apart. Bo Bichette doubled him home to end an eight-pitch at bat, Daulton Varsho singled and stole second, Alejandro Kirk walked to load the bases, and Nathan Lukes singled home two runs. And on that play, we saw exactly how compromised Aaron Judge was in his return to the outfield. If he could throw, he would have nailed Varsho at the plate, but he lobbed the ball to Chisholm in the cutoff position, and no throw was made.

➤ Schlittler got worked again in the second including a 10-pitch at bat by Addison Barger that ended in a walk, and Bichette’s sacrifice fly made it 4-0 and ended Schlittler’s night. Bad night for the rookie, and now you wonder if he’s going to be up to the task in October when he’ll obviously be facing good teams.

➤ Ryan Yarbrough made his first appearance since June 18 and he really saved the Yankees’ bullpen on a night when they weren’t going to win anyway because Boone didn’t have to waste anybody useful. Then again, is anyone actually useful in the Yankees’ bullpen right now? Yarbrough went 5.1 innings and gave up just one run, a homer by Guerrero who was doing his imitation of Houston’s Yordan Alvarez who destroyed the Yankees the previous two nights. Mark Leiter and Camilo Doval each pitched an inning, and each gave up a run which I’m sure surprises no one. It’s a bad bullpen, folks.

➤ As for the offense, non-existent as it was dominated by Kevin Gausman who went eight innings and gave up a Giancarlo Stanton among four hits and a walk.

What they said in Friday’s clubhouse

• Judge on whether he can throw at 100%: “I wouldn’t be in the outfield if I wasn’t able to make that throw. The ball dropped in there and I threw it to the cutoff man. My first thought was to get it into Jazz, get it into whoever, just for them to make that throw. Because my first thought was trying to make the play, and it just kind of died before it got to me.”

• Boone on Judge: “He’s playing. He’s in there. He’s good enough to be in there. And hopefully it will continue to improve. He's a great right fielder, so we weigh it and make a decision based on how he’s doing and what we think gives us the best chance to win.”

Sept. 6: Yankees 3, Blue Jays 1

➤ Luis Gil makes you sweat almost every time out because his command remains questionable, and if you’ll remember, this is nothing new because that was an issue last year when he won the AL rookie of the year award. This year, he’s even more scatter-armed as his walks per nine innings has gone from 4.6 to an ugly 5.8. But he really battled against a tough lineup and allowed only one run in six innings because despite four walks, he yielded only three hits.

➤ The only run came in the fourth because he walked the first two batters before retiring the final three, but one of those outs was an RBI grounder by old friend Isiah Kiner-Falefa. Gil’s day ended at 90 pitches because the game was delayed nearly two hours by rain, and he wound up the winner for two reasons: First, Bellinger - who was in right field in Judge’s place - gunned down Bichette at home with a magnificent throw, and Austin Wells made a terrific tag to complete the play which ended the sixth just before the tarp came out.

➤ And second, when the game resumed, the bullpen didn’t blow it. Luke Weaver, Fernando Cruz and David Bednar covered the final nine outs with only minimal drama thanks to the Blue Jays going 1-for-10 on the day with runners in scoring position.

➤ Not much on offense again, which was a theme for the series as the Yankees scored only eight runs. They scored twice in the second, helped by a Guerrero error with Jasson Dominguez singling home one and Wells hitting a sac fly. The last run came in the sixth when Dominguez drew a two-out walk, Anthony Volpe made his only meaningful contribution of the weekend with a double, and Wells hit another sac fly.

What they said in Saturday’s clubhouse

• Boone on Bellinger’s throw: “That was a great play. Off the bat, I didn’t even think of having a play there.”

• Cruz on the bullpen: “We’re in the (position) of identifying the best position possible for everyone to succeed. As soon as we put the switch where it needs to go, it’s going to be scary. I don’t think there’s a bullpen better than us. If you put the names together, it’s impossible. We just need to come together and identify who needs to pitch when and it’s over. It’s gonna be a short game.”

Sept. 7: Yankees 4, Blue Jays 3

➤ During the second and third innings, I was pissed off listening to this game on the radio as I wan driving to Buffalo for the Bills game. Max Fried was handed a three-run lead when Ben Rice put together a spectacular first-inning at bat which culminated in a three-run bomb off Max Scherzer, but then Fried proceeded to give it all back.

➤ He started the second inning by walking Kirk after he’d gotten ahead 0-2. Then Ernie Clement doubled and after a pop out, Kiner-Falefa hit a grounder to Volpe who, surprise, surprise, couldn’t make the play in the hole so a run scored. And Volpe’s misplay also allowed Clement to get to third from where he scored on a sac fly to make it 3-2. Then in the third, George Springer doubled, Volpe made a throwing error on a routine play, and Guerrero doubled to tie it. But here’s where the game turned. With men on second and third and no outs, Fried got three straight infield outs to escape still tied, and Toronto never scored again.

➤ Fried wound up going seven innings, the Jays did not have more than one baserunner in any of his last four innings, and he retired the final seven men he faced. Then we had to sweat out the eighth inning because Boone gave the ball to Williams for the first time in the series. Naturally, he scared the shit out of us as Barger led off with a pinch single and immediately stole second. Williams somehow struck out Guerrero who finished the series with eight hits, and he got Kirk on a groundout. He walked Ernie Clement but then got Ty France on a grounder to McMahon at third.

➤ In the ninth, Bednar gave up a one-out single to Lukes, but then he made a brutal mistake by getting thrown out stealing, and Bednar got a grounder to McMahon to end it.

➤ The first inning was huge for the Yankees. Judge drew a one-out walk and Bellinger singled. Rice fell behind 0-2, got back to 3-2, then fouled off three pitches before crushing Scherzer’s 10th pitch of the at bat for a 380-foot homer to right. And then the deciding run came in the third when Judge walked, stole second and scored on Bellinger’s double off the wall in right-center. From there, the Yankees never managed another hit, drawing only three walks with none of them scoring.

➤ The Yankees finished 5-8 against the Jays this year, and they are still a poor 19-23 against the AL East.

What they said in Sunday’s clubhouse

• Rice on the series win: “It’s huge. And with that being said, we’ve got more work to do, so we’re going to keep going.”

• Fried: “It’s a really good team over there; they don’t give up much. You’ve got to really go out there and make sure you’re on top of it. We were able to win two and win the series. All parts of the game are a lot sharper. Whether it’s pitching, hitting, defense. Just making the plays when we need to, getting the big hits when we need to. Now we’re looking forward to the Tigers.”

The Yankees are off Monday and then start a tough three-game series against the Tigers Tuesday. Detroit has stumbled a little lately and at 82-62, they are 8.5 games ahead of the Royals in the Central, but they now trail the Jays by a half-game in the race for the best record in the AL. In fact, they are only 1.5 games ahead of the Yankees in that race.

Here are some of the Tigers top players to watch:

➤ LF Riley Greene: He leads the Tigers with 32 homers, 103 RBI and an .827 OPS, though he does lead the AL with 179 strikeouts.

➤ 2B Gleyber Torres: The ex-Yankee made the All-Star team, but he has cooled off in the second half and is now sitting on 15 homers, 66 RBI and a .758 OPS

➤ 1B Spencer Torkelson: He is finally living up to being the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 draft as he has 28 homers, 72 RBI and a .786 OPS.

➤ 3B Zach McKinstry: His .342 on-base trails only Torres (.362) among the Tigers regulars.

➤ RP Will Vest: he took over as the closer and he has 20 saves in 26 opportunities and has a 2.66 ERA and 1.113 WHIP.

The pitching matchups are scheduled to be:

• Tuesday, 7:05, YES: Will Warren (4.28 ERA) vs. Casey Mize (3.87) who faced the Yankees on April 7 and gave up one run in six innings.

• Wednesday, 7:05, Amazon Prime: Carlos Rodon (3.12) vs. Jack Flaherty (4.85) who returned to the Tigers in free agency and has been their worst starter with an AL-high 13 losses and a 1.302 WHIP.

• Thursday, 7:05, YES: Cam Schlitter (3.24) vs. TBD, and the good news is that it probably won’t be AL Cy Young frontrunner Tarik Skubal who pitched Saturday for Detroit.