Yankees Get Their House in Order Against Blue Jays

The Yankees rallied to win the final two games against the Blue Jays to not only take this series, but also the season series which ends with the Yankees holding the same 7-6 advantage they finished with against the Rays. They’re just 22-23 against the AL East, and overall their home record against all teams is not great, and that has to get fixed in these last two months heading into the postseason. Lets get to it.

After all the problems the Yankees had in June and July, granted against a pretty tough schedule, they were able to stay neck and neck at the top of the AL East mostly because the Orioles went through some struggles of their own which allowed the Yankees to linger.

Now, counting this series against the Blue Jays which ended in a walkoff 4-3 victory Sunday, the Yankees play nine series in August and seven of those are against teams currently under .500 on the season, so as Aaron Boone loves to say, “It’s all right there in front of us.”

I hate when he says that, especially when he wore that mantra out while the Yankees were losing almost every night for six-plus weeks, but the reality is that it is right there for them. They have emerged from their coma with seven wins in their last eight games, they’re tied with the Orioles for first at 67-46, and they have a great chance against lesser opponents to take some big strides this month.

If that is going to happen, though, they have to play better at home. Perhaps beating Toronto in two of three is a sign of better days and nights to come in the Bronx because, believe it or not, this was the first series they’ve won at Yankee Stadium in two months. Seriously, they had not won any of their previous seven series in their park - six losses, one split - since they swept the Twins three straight between June 4-6.

With a terribly mundane home record of 28-24, it’s the worst among the other teams currently inside the AL playoff bubble - the Orioles (34-25), Guardians (35-17), Twins (32-21), Mariners (33-24), and Royals (36-22). That doesn’t bode well for the postseason. True, the Yankees’ 38-22 road record is the best in MLB, but we all know the playoffs are a different beast and you have to win your home games or it’s going to be a short October.

“We’re playing good baseball and we’re getting rewarded for it, so it’s best to keep our heads down and keep doing what we’re doing,” said Gerrit Cole, who pitched Sunday and gritted it out without his best stuff.

Aug. 2: Blue Jays 8, Yankees 5

The Lead: Gleyber Gets Mid-Game Benching

Well, Boone finally took issue with some of the bullshit that has pervaded this team when it comes to lack of hustle. Throughout his nearly seven years at the helm, he has let an awful lot of stuff go because, as he said after this lousy performance, “The reality is I have a ton of grace,” Boone said.

But not even Boone could excuse Torres for what happened in the second inning. With one out, Torres thought he homered to left and he briefly pimped it, then realized - as Josh Donaldson so often did in New York - that it wasn’t out as it banged off the wall and he wound up with a single when he absolutely should have had a double.

With two outs, Anthony Volpe ripped a liner into the left-field corner and Torres was thrown out at home, preventing the Yankees from tying the game at 3-3. It was brutal and Boone - who has allowed numerous players to get away that shit - put his foot down and sent Oswaldo Cabrera to play second in the fourth.

“I just felt like in that moment I felt like I needed to do that. Simple as that,” Boone said. “Hopefully this is a great learning moment for all of us.”

To his credit, Torres did not duck reporters after the game, and he owned up to the mistake. “I think he did the right thing, especially in the moment,” he said of Boone yanking him. “As a professional, you have to take the consequences. For one second, I thought it was a homer. Unfortunately, just a single. I have to get better. I feel really sorry for whatever I (did) tonight, especially for the fans and also for my teammates.”

Game notes and observations:

➤ Ultimately, that lost run didn’t mean much because Marcus Stroman flat out sucked, which has become a growing trend for him. This was a horrible outing - 2.1 innings, seven runs on eight hits and a walk. He had nothing, his fastball velocity was the lowest it has been all year, and the Blue Jays teed off on him. “The offense did enough today to get a win,” Stroman said. “To put us in that position is very disappointing and unacceptable.”

➤ In 10 starts since the beginning of June, Stroman has a 6.32 ERA and 1.680 WHIP in 47 innings and the opponents are batting .309 with a .919 OPS against him. Basically, he’s a batting practice pitcher. “Heart of the plate, especially with some of the secondary pitches,” Boone said after Stroman allowed eight hits and walked one. “Really struggled I think with the profile of his fastball, with his sinker too.”

➤ He gave up three in the first on a triple, two singles, and the big hit, a two-out, two-run double by Rochester’s own Ernie Clement. Then after Aaron Judge nearly got it all back with a monster 477-foot two-run homer in the bottom half, Stroman gave up four in the third on four more hits and a walk. He wasn’t helped by Michael Tonkin who came in and quickly gave up and allowed two of Stroman’s inherited runs to score on a single. It could have been worse but on another hit off Tonkin, who clearly is starting to decline, Alex Verdugo gunned down the runner at the plate as Austin Wells made a great scoop and tag.

➤ The Yankees put up three in the fifth as Volpe hit a two-run homer and after Juan Soto walked, and Judge singled, Wells had an RBI single. But the Jays scored in the sixth as Tonkin gave up a single and his man ended up scoring on a single by Spencer Horwitz off Tim Hill. That was the end of the scoring as the Yankees did not nothing in the last four innings off four relievers, the last of which was ex-Yankee Chad Green who pitched the ninth and earned the save by whiffing Verdugo, Soto and Judge in order.

Aug. 3: Yankees 8, Blue Jays 3

The Lead: Rodon Continues Crawling Out of the Abyss

A good bounce back for the Yankees as they played long ball with two-run homers by Judge, Trent Grisham and Volpe, and Carlos Rodon once again delivered a strong start. That’s three in a row following that hideous stretch from mid-June to mid-July when it was 2023 all over again for him.

His pitch count ran up during a long fourth thanks to an 11-pitch walk to Horwitz so he ended up going just 5.1 innings, but he left having allowed just one run on three hits and two walks. However, there were men on second and third and Jake Cousins came in and gave up a two-run single to Alejandro Kirk so those runs were tacked onto Rodon’s line. As I always say, inherited runs scored is a key stat for relievers, and just like Tonkin on Friday, Cousins did the departed starter no favors.

In his last three starts, Rodon has allowed just six earned runs in 18.2 innings with 25 strikeouts and five walks. “That’s why we went out and got him a couple years ago,” Judge said. “He’s an incredible pitcher.”

As usual, Judge aimed way too high on his praise, but that’s what he does. Rodon has been anything but incredible since he joined the Yankees, but if he can keep pitching like this, that would certainly be helpful on a team whose rotation is very suspect right now.

Game notes and observations:

➤ Rodon gave up a solo homer to Guerrero in the first, starting yet another great day for him against Yankees. It really is crazy how some guys just own other teams and Guerrero sure owns the Yankees as he had three hits in this game on top of the two he had Friday.

➤ However, just as Judge homered in the first inning Friday after Toronto took a quick lead, he mashed another home run, this one giving the Yankees a 2-1 lead. It was his 16th first-inning homer of the year, tying him with Babe Ruth for the most in a season in Yankees history, Ruth doing it in his historic 60-homer season in 1927. In MLB history, only Alex Rodriguez (19 in 2001) and Mark McGwire (17 in 1999) have more.

➤ More fun with the numbers: Judge also became the fifth player in MLB history to hit at least 41 homers through his club's first 112 games of a season multiple times, as he also did that in 2022 when he set the AL record with 62. The others are Ruth (1920, 1921, 1928, 1930), Mark McGwire (1998, 1999), Sammy Sosa (1998, 1999) and Mickey Mantle (1956, 1961).

➤ In the second, after Grisham hit a two-run homer off Jose Berrios to make it 4-1, Judge came up with two outs and no one on base and Blue Jays manager John Schneider told Berrios to intentionally walk him. “I honestly didn’t feel like seeing him swing,” said Schneider who is such a breath of fresh air straight shooter with the media. “He’s in a different category, I think, than anyone else in the league. He can flip the script of a game with one swing.”

➤ Volpe continued his hot streak since the All-Star break as he had two more hits and three RBI including a two-run homer to left in the fifth off Berrios that made it 6-1. Volpe added an RBI single to left in the seventh. It looks like Volpe is trying to pull the ball a little more after he spent most of the season trying to go the other way with pretty lousy results, though he denied that when he was asked after the game. OK.

➤ After Cousins gave up the Kirk single he was able to get the last two outs of the sixth, and then Luke Weaver and Tommy Kahnle each threw a scoreless inning. In the ninth, Boone brought in Mark Leiter and it did not go well for the newest Yankee. He gave up three singles to load the bases with two outs so Clay Holmes had to come in to save it which he did by striking out George Springer on four pitches. In his first 2.2 innings for the Yankees Leiter allowed seven hits and a walk which is untenable. He needs to get it figured out quick.

➤ As for Torres, he was back in the lineup and batting fifth. He singled in the fifth and scored in front of Volpe’s homer.

Aug. 4: Yankees 4, Blue Jays 3 (10)

The Lead: DJ Walks it Off For Series Win

Boy, I sure love a Sunday afternoon rain delay. Obviously, I’m kidding. Having Sunday afternoon games are very good for me because I’m able to get the newsletter done later that day and not have to worry about it in the morning, outside of some last-minute editing and headline writing.

When the nearly two-hour rain delay happened, all that did was lengthen my day - which began early at Bills training camp - so yeah, I was not thrilled. However, at least it was worth the wait. In the 10th inning, Leiter put up a zero despite the free runner at second which is so critical with the extra-innings rules. You have to put up that zero because if you do, your chances to win jump precipitously.

And sure enough, the Yankees won. Volpe started at second base in the bottom of the 10th and Grisham, who certainly owed his teammates after a terrible error in the eighth inning, laid down a perfect sac bunt to get Volpe to third. All the Yankees needed was a ball hit to the outfield, and of all guys, DJ LeMahieu came through with a hard single up the middle through a five-man drawn-in infield to win it.

“We’re excited, it was a great win,” LeMahieu said. “It was one of those games we felt we had some chances, and we just finally put it away. It was a good win for us. I was able to work on a few things, and I’m taking some pretty good swings. I’m feeling much better at the plate.”

Game notes and observations:

➤ Cole is still trying to find it. It was commendable that he got into the sixth inning allowing just two runs on four hits, but he clearly was laboring and struck out only four against a Toronto lineup that is Guerrero and a bunch of guys most of us have never heard of. The Blue Jays hit several balls on the nose and Cole was fortunate they didn’t do more damage. “I thought the stuff got better as the game went on,” said Cole, who was scratched from his scheduled start last Wednesday because of body fatigue. “We were particularly better with our pitch selection. I felt pretty good stamina-wise. I made enough good pitches today. Certainly I’m in a better spot physically than I was the other day. It was definitely beneficial to have a few extra days.”

➤ As happens way too often with the Yankees, some no-name pitcher with a four-plus ERA dominated them. Yariel Rodriguez pitched 4.2 scoreless innings allowing four hits and a walk, that one being intentional to Judge, one of three the MVP frontrunner had to endure on the day, something he’s going to be dealing with more and more, too. “It sucks. You want him at the plate,” Soto said of the intentional walks. “To see them pass him over, it makes me mad. I don’t like that. I want them to challenge him and see what he can really do. But it is what it is. It’s part of the game and they are trying to win, too. You respect that.”

➤ It was such a frustrating day for the offense until LeMahieu’s big hit as the Yankees left the bases loaded three times, shades of their six-week nightmare when no one outside of Judge and Soto could get a big hit. It happened in the first, fifth and eighth innings with Giancarlo Stanton failing in those first two situations. He also left two men on base when he grounded out to end the fourth. The Yankees finished 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position and left 14 men on base, so winning this game was a pretty fortunate result.

➤ The Blue Jays scored twice on Cole in the second inning as he gave up two doubles and two singles, the second of those by Clement who had a great series for the Blue Jays (5-for-13 with four RBI). The Yankees were able to tie it with two runs in the sixth when Jazz Chisholm and Volpe singled, they executed a double steal, and then each scored on outs made by Grisham and LeMahieu.

➤ Soto homered in the seventh for a 3-2 lead, but then Grisham, playing his typical nonchalant style, just dropped a routine fly ball for a two-base error because the batter was hustling out of the box - I hope Torres and the Yankees were watching how that’s done. And of course the error burned the Yankees because Kahnle issued two walks and then Holmes came in and gave up the tying run on a sac fly by Kirk for his ninth blown save. An awful unearned run.

➤ That’s when the rain delay started, and when the game resumed, the Yankees loaded the bases in the last of the eighth and failed again, this time with Green intentionally walking Judge to pass the baton to Wells, who he then retired on a fly to right.

The Yankees get Monday off before they continue their nine-game homestand with three against the Angels.

Los Angeles just took two of three at home from the Mets, winning 5-4 Saturday and 3-2 Sunday, but this is a team with a record of 49-63 and there’s no excuse for the Yankees not to, at minimum, win this series, but they should sweep it. The Angels have been playing out the string ever since Mike Trout got hurt, and the news last week that he reinjured himself while rehabbing and is now out for the year was yet another blow to their psyche.

The Angels rank 25th in team OPS at .680 and their 450 runs scored are the fifth-lowest total in MLB. On the mound they have a staff ERA of 4.54 which is fourth-worst though they rank 14th in batting average against at .239 which is at least passable. Their pitching issue revolves around the 133 home runs they’ve allowed, tied for seventh-most with the Yankees.

The pitching matchups are as follows: Tuesday at 7:05 on YES it’s Luis Gil (3.20 ERA) against Davis Daniel (4.91); Wednesday at 7:05 on Amazon Prime, it’s Nestor Cortes (4.16) against Carson Fulmer (3.69); and Thursday at 7:05 on YES it’s Marcus Stroman (4.10) against Tyler Anderson (3.05).