Yankees Conclude Big Homestand Against Royals, Red Sox With 5-2 Record

Given the brand of baseball the Yankees so often play, it’s almost inconceivable that they’re closing in on the AL East title after a big weekend at Yankee Stadium as they won three of four against the Red Sox in a series that certainly had its moments. Lets get to it.

There’s always something to complain about here at Pinstripe People as you have all become acutely aware. I am nothing if not demanding of the Yankees, and for a damn good reason: They haven’t come close to winning a World Series for 15 years and for a team that has so many financial advantages, that’s simply unacceptable. We can agree on this, I believe.

Obviously, the complaint I had this past weekend centered on the ridiculous scenario that played out in the Saturday game - the only one they lost - when Gerrit Cole intentionally walked the face of evil, Rafael Devers, in a spot no team should ever imagine doing so. Not surprisingly, it turned that game around and cost the Yankees any chance for a potential victory. I’ll get to that in full down below in the game recap.

That aside, there was a lot of good that came out of this Boston series as the Yankees took three of four and pretty much eliminated the rival Red Sox from playoff contention which is always a wonderful thing. More important, because the Orioles continue to stumble, the lead in the AL East is now three games, the largest it has been since June 14 when the Yankees beat the Red Sox and improved to a season-best 28 games over .500 at 50-22.

Since then, you all know the mediocrity that has vexed this team, yet here they are, three games up with 12 to play despite having gone 37-41 since that night at Fenway. It really is pretty crazy that the Yankees have taken control of the division playing the way they have the past three months, but a 5-2 homestand against the Royals and Red Sox coupled with Baltimore stumbling to a 2-4 mark means the division is now New York’s to lose.

And yes, i’s still possible that Aaron Boone’s team could lose it. They now have to go on the West Coast to play Seattle, a team fighting for its postseason life, and then pesky Oakland which has been a much tougher opponent than anyone thought possible when the season started. All that before the three-game set in the Bronx early next week against the Orioles which will almost certainly decide the division.

My worry remains the same with the Yankees: While the pitching was very good last week, particularly the bullpen which seems to have settled down a bit, the offense wasn’t great and against a Mariners’ pitching staff that is outstanding, that could be problematic.

Juan Soto had the walk off hit Thursday, but he’s currently in a 3-for-24 slump; Anthony Volpe is borderline unplayable right now in a 4-for-37 rut; Jazz Chisholm is 8-for-40 with no homers; Giancarlo Stanton is 4-for-34 and Sunday drove in his first run in 10 games; Austin Wells, who had really started to hit the last couple months, is 6-for-38; and Anthony Rizzo has been awful since his return, 8-for-42 without a home run before being benched Sunday in favor of Oswaldo Cabrera who should be the starting first baseman moving forward.

Unless they start getting more production from guys not named Soto and Aaron Judge, the offense remains a big concern this week, next week, and then in the postseason.

Sept. 12: Yankees 2, Red Sox 1 (10)

The Lead: Soto Walks It Off

It’s a little hard to believe that as great as Soto has been since he first arrived in the majors in 2018, this was just the second time that he has delivered a walk-off hit. That’s crazy, and obviously it came at a very good time.

“So many things; the crowd, my teammates and everybody,” Soto said when asked what he was thinking after his first walk-off hit since Opening Day 2021 for the Nationals. “Those guys were running hard at me. That’s one of the biggest things I’m going to remember. Wellsie was coming in and I just didn’t know where to go. It was definitely a fun way to finish the game.”

This was yet another maddening game on offense as the only run the Yankees scored in the regulation nine innings was Gleyber Torres’ leadoff homer in the first inning. Then it was eight innings of nothing, thanks in large part to Volpe who could not have been less clutch.

But because the pitching was outstanding - the Red Sox had only four hits - the Yankees got it into the 10th and Soto wasted no time, singling on the fifth pitch from Josh Winckowski, sending pinch runner Jon Berti home with the winning run.

“We all know how fun October is,” Soto said. “I think we’re carrying that in the last month of the season and try to take it all the way to November.”

Game notes and observations:

➤ Nestor Cortes returned to the rotation and he was very good, again. He gave up one run on three hits and three walks with nine strikeouts. The only run came on Danny Jansen’s solo homer leading off the fifth. That god damn guy is amazing. He is historically a terrible hitter, a .222 career average with 74 home runs. He’d be a lot worse if he hadn’t played 44 games against the Yankees through Thursday, a .279 average and 10 home runs. That’s right, 10 of his 74 homers have come against the Yankees.

➤ Great night for the bullpen as it produced five scoreless innings from Ian Hamilton, Tim Hill, Tommy Kahnle and, if you can believe this, Clay Holmes who got the final two outs in the 10th.

➤ I couldn’t believe Boone called in Holmes with the automatic runner on second and one out in the 10th. I mean, didn’t we all just assume the Red Sox were taking the lead there? Alas, he needed only six pitches to get the two outs.

➤ Not a great night for Volpe. My God, he was awful. Two men on base in the second, he grounded out. Bases loaded in the fourth, he flied out. Bases loaded in the sixth, he flied out. Nice job, but his incompetence led us to the exciting moment for Soto in the 10th so, I guess, thanks are in order?

Sept. 13: Yankees 5, Red Sox 4

The Lead: What A Moment

Judge has obviously had an incredible season, one that should easily result in him winning his second AL MVP. But I’d have to say what happened Friday night was his signature moment of the year.

The Yankees were dead, their offense shitty yet again, shut out for six inning by some guy named Richard Fitts who was making just his second career MLB appearance and start. You’ll love this: Fitts went to Boston in the trade that brought the nightmare of Alex Verdugo to the Yankees.

Fitts was an emergency fill-in starter for Red Sox ace Tanner Houck who was scratched just before the game and he blanked the Yankees on two hits and three walks. It never ceases to amaze me how the Yankees struggle with nobodies as often as they do.

And then suddenly, down 4-0 in the seventh and Fitts out of the game, out of nowhere, Volpe and Verdugo walked, Torres had an RBI single, Soto walked to load the bases, and Judge launched a go-ahead grand slam and that decided the game. It was incredible, and Chisholm - who had known nothing more than playing in the mausoleum that is the Marlins home park before being trade to New York - was blown away.

“Jazz came up to me after Judge hit the homer,” Boone said. “Just to see our dugout erupt, to see Yankee Stadium erupt, he was like, ‘This is pretty sick.’ That was one of those really cool regular-season moments you get at Yankee Stadium.”

Game notes and observations:

➤ Judge had gone 16 games and 75 plate appearances without a home run, both the longest droughts of his career. He claims he wasn’t paying attention, but Clarke Schmidt called bullshit on that. “Judge is very aware of stuff like that. It’s hard to ignore it,” Schmidt said with a smile. “It feels like if he has two games in a row where he doesn’t get a homer, something’s going on.”

➤ Schmidt pitched well in his second start back - five scoreless innings before Jarren Duran led off the sixth, and then after he got Devers and Tyler O’Neill, Boston’s two most dangerous power hitters, he gave up a two-run homer to another royal pain in the ass, Masataka Yoshida who also salivates when he plays the Yankees. That ended Schmidt’s night.

➤ Mark Leiter got the last out in the sixth, then went back to sucking in the seventh as he gave up a two-run homer to Trevor Story and at 4-0, this one looked over. But in yet another case for why pitcher wins are a useless stat, Leiter wound up as the winning pitcher because of the Yankees’ five-run seventh. Pretty ridiculous when you think about it, and that’s exactly why the analytics people pay no attention to wins, and on that point they are correct.

➤ How about Luke Weaver? He pitched the final two innings, and in 35 pitches retired six of the seven men he faced, struck out five, and earned his second career save. What a joy it was to not watch Holmes come in and blow the game. Weaver might be the guy, and who could have possibly figured that when the season started?

Sept. 14: Red Sox 7, Yankees 1

The Lead: The Dumbest Decision Ever

I cannot believe what I watched in the fourth inning of this complete shit show of a game, and man, did I lose a little respect for Cole.

With one out and no one on base and the Yankees leading 1-0, Devers - who has owned Cole throughout his career - stepped into the box and Cole looked at the ump and said, “Nope, not pitching to him.” Cole, Boone and pitching coach Matt Blake decided to intentionally walk Devers, one of the dumbest, chicken shit things I’ve ever seen in baseball.

It was simply inexplicable. Late in the game, protecting a lead, maybe, maybe, I could see doing it. But in the fourth inning, with no one on base, up a run? As I said, inexplicable. If Devers homers, OK, that sucks and it’s 1-1. Big deal. All Cole and the Yankees did by walking him was light a fire under the Red Sox collective ass and before you knew it, Cole disintegrated right before our eyes. Ten of the next 12 men he faced reached base before Boone yanked him with the Yankees down 7-1.

After the game, the explanations were just as stupid as the decision, but at least Cole recognized the stupidity when he said, “Clearly that was a mistake. I think I bought into the plan going into it, but afterwards it was the wrong move.” Then he backtracked a little by saying, “Look, I’m just trying to win the game. I’m trying to get behind whatever we believe is the best strategy to win the game. I mean, he’s cost us games in the past.”

Boone said this was his fault because he didn’t communicate to Cole that this wasn’t the situation to walk Devers, but Cole said he looked into the dugout before he put up four fingers telling the ump they wanted to walk the face of evil. Who do we believe?

“Once we scored the run, my preference would have been, ‘Let’s attack him,’” Boone said. “But obviously, I didn’t communicate that well enough. I think Gerrit was a little indecisive out there and rolled with it. At the end of the day, I certainly pride myself on communicating at a really high level. We didn’t do it well enough, and that falls on me. So we’re going to learn from it. We’re going to grow from it. And hopefully make sure we can eliminate those gray areas.”

What a mess Saturday was.

Game notes and observations:

➤ Three straight singles, the last by Torres who has been terrific in the leadoff spot for close to a month now, gave the Yankees a 1-0 lead in the third. At that point it kind of felt like the Red Sox were in trouble, still smarting from what happened the night before and knowing their chances of making the playoffs were basically nil. Alex Cora even said that is his team pulls off a miracle and gets to the playoffs, they would look back and thank Cole for the gift he gave them.

➤ But cue the folly. Cole retired Jarren Duran on a fly ball, then gave Devers the free pass. Devers couldn’t believe it. No one could, but he trotted down to first and immediately, Cole’s body language changed. It was so weird. It was like he knew this was the wrong play, and it impacted him as he felt apart. O’Neill walked, Yoshida doubled in a run, and Wilyer Abreu singled in two to make it 3-1. When he walked off the mound, he went right down the tunnel and Boone followed him in to try and calm him down. Cole should never have come back out.

➤ He loaded the bases with one out in the fourth, and guess who came up? Yep, Devers, with nowhere to put him. Naturally, he singled home two because he is now so deep in Cole’s head he’ll live rent free there for as long as these two face each other. Then Cole hit O’Neill, and Yoshida singled home two more to make it 7-1. Cole left the mound to boos which probably wasn’t warranted, but hey, it’s the Bronx and he was terrible. It’s gonna happen. These people were booing Judge back in April.

➤ Wells, who had no idea of the intentional walk strategy, said, “I think it gave them momentum. It fired them up. Teams use whatever they can to get going. I definitely feel like it got them going.”

➤ The Red Sox were just as baffled as the rest of us, and Cole’s reputation sure took a hit in their eyes. The most telling quote came from winning pitcher Brayan Bello who said, “I don’t know what to tell you. I feel like he showed a lot of weakness in that move.” Ouch. Cole’s next start will be very interesting.

Sept. 15: Yankees 5, Red Sox 2

The Lead: Nice Bounce Back Caps Series

After what happened Saturday, Carlos Rodon was under some pressure because he needed to get the Yankees back on track in order to close out the series and homestand on a winning note, and he did his part. Rodon had one shaky inning, but he held the Red Sox to two runs and ultimately went 5.1 solid innings to get his 15th win of the season.

“We’ve had our share, I feel like, of some gut-punch losses and tough losses,” Boone said. “These guys have done a great job of really bouncing back in a lot of cases.”

This win gave the Yankees the season series over Boston 7-6, which was the same mark they had against Toronto and Tampa Bay. They are 4-6 against Baltimore with three to play so all in all, it hasn’t been a great performance in the division at 25-24 so far when you consider three of the teams are at .500 or below.

Game notes and observations:

➤ Rodon started great as he retired the first seven me he faced, then walked Jansen. Ceddane Rafaela grounded into a force, then stole two bases on noodle-armed catcher Jose Trevino before Rodon left him stranded at third.

➤ Meanwhile, the Yankees took a 1-0 lead in the second when Chisholm singled and came around to score on a Stanton double down the line in left. Here, Jasson Dominguez - who so far hasn’t made a strong case to replace Verdugo - singled so it was first and second with no out and a chance to put up an early crooked number. Instead, Kutter Crawford struck out Volpe, Cabrera and Trevino. God damnit, so frustrating.

➤ In the third, the count jumped to 4–0 as Torres homered, Soto singled, and Judge crushed his 53rd homer, a 445-footer to dead center. Judge has now reached base 300 times this season, and he’s had 94 games where he reached at least twice. The last Yankee to get on base at least 300 times was Mickey Mantle in 1957. Think about that.

➤ Rodon’s rocky fourth came when Devers singled and O’Neill homered, but after Connor Wong and Yoshida singled and a big inning seemed imminent, he retired the next two men to escape further damage.

➤ The only other run came in the seventh as Torres singled, Judge walked, Chisholm reached base on second baseman Romy Gonzalez’s error to load the bases, and Stanton hit a sac fly.

➤That was the only other scoring because the bullpen - Ian Hamilton, Tim Hill, Holmes, Jake Cousins and Kahnle - shut out the Red Sox over the final 3.2 innings on two hits and a walk. Cousins tried to get the save, but he hit a batter and walked another in the ninth, so Kahnle came in and he promptly got the speedy Duran to ground into a game-ending double play.

The Yankees head to the West Coast where in the past things haven’t always gone great, but it sure did in late May-early June on their only other trip to the left side of the country. On that one they played three games each against the Padres, Angels and Giants and went 7-2. Of course that came when the Yankees were playing their best ball of the season during their 50-22 start when it looked like, finally, this team was a legitimate World Series contender. I’m not sure that’s the case anymore.

After traveling Monday, they meet the Mariners for three, a team that is in a fight for its playoff life. Seattle sits 4.5 games behind Houston in the AL West, but is only 2.5 games out of the third wild-card spot, so these games are every bit as huge as they are for the Yankees.

Seattle’s offense has struggled all season as it ranks 26th in MLB in runs per game at 4.09, but it’s pitching staff is elite and ranks second in MLB at 3.79 runs allowed per game, and the Yankees will be facing three of Seattle’s best starters. Had this team hit at all this year, it would easily be leading the AL West.

The pitching matchups are as follows: On Tuesday at 9:40 on YES it’s Luis Gil (3.18 ERA) against Bryan Woo (2.38); Wednesday at 9:40 on Amazon it’s Nestor Cortes (3.90) against Bryce Miller (3.12); and Thursday at 4:10 on YES it’s Clarke Schmidt (2.41) against Logan Gilbert (3.24).