Throw Strikes

Girardi has worked wonders with the talented pitchers in his bullpen. I thought Chapman was totally shot and now Chapman is back. Betances was given a very long leash ... until crunch time in September.

Other than referring to a grown man as "Chappy," I tip my cap to Girardi.

.239 batting average with 0 HRs in the World Series.

Naturally.

I know, I know, it's an honor for his career accomplishments.

Any other questions?

"Joe Girardi is placing his faith in Gary Sanchez behind the plate for the team’s likely do-or-die AL wild-card game on Tuesday night against the Twins.

'This is my catcher,' said Girardi, who has been critical of Sanchez’s defense — specifically his inability to block pitches in the dirt — this year.

But the manager defended Sanchez, 24, who has an MLB-high 16 passed balls along with 13 errors, on Friday. 

In the fifth inning of Thursday’s 9-6 loss to the Rays, Sanchez was charged with a passed ball and an error, both on plays in which runs scored. Tampa Bay ultimately scored seven runs in the frame, turning a 4-1 Yankees lead into an 8-4 deficit."

Sanchez starts, he will probably be replaced if the game is late and close.

Bird starts at first base.

Ellsbury starts.

Betances is benched.

I don't know who is DH.

Proved me wrong.

Ellsbury in September

.429/.543/.625.

"Diabolical."

"Even though the era of Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds is thankfully long since over, and even though Stanton had nothing to do with them and their diabolical cheating, and even though he himself presumably is not doping now, Stanton is stalked by them, linked to them and even diminished by them.

As the 2017 season reaches its final 10 games for the Marlins, Roger Maris’ record of 61 home runs in 162 games in 1961 is most definitely within Stanton’s reach. This should be one of the seminal achievements of the 2017 sports year.

But Maris’ record is buried under a mountain of syringes, pills and lies. Bonds is credited with the single-season MLB 'record' of 73, followed by McGwire with 70, Sosa with 66, McGwire with 65 and Sosa again with 64 and 63, all reached between 1998 and 2001, one of the most shameful periods in baseball history."

Are you saying Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa took performance enhancing substances?

Stop the presses! Stop the presses!

"Had MLB owners and players cared to at least try to catch their cheaters back then and instituted the drug testing and other protocols they should have had at the time, we could presume the notorious trio of McGwire, Sosa and Bonds would have gone the way of Lance Armstrong and Marion Jones: caught, punished and purged from the record books.

Had that happened, Maris would have moved from seventh place on the list back to first, where he belongs. And then, all these years later, along comes Stanton.

Can you imagine how we would be viewing his march toward Maris in that case? It would be a national quest transcending sports, bringing new glory and interest to the game throughout American life."

Nah.

In 2017, MLB has already set an all-time record for HRs and there are still two weeks to go.

The only discussion that would transcend sports would be accusations of a juiced ball.


I'm not rooting against Stanton. I'm rooting for him. I also hope he isn't taking steroids. But I don't know for sure that he isn't.

Gardner is one of the top 25 keys to Yankee playoff success.

Craftwork

Very nice sentence by Mike Lupica:

"If the Yankees don’t win the division, they will kick themselves all the way to the wild-card game for the games they kicked away after the trade deadline, one in particular, the worst lost of the season, after Chapman let the kid, Devers, take him out of Yankee Stadium, the opposite way, one Sunday night."

I dare any English teacher to attempt to diagram that monstrosity.

Didi RISP

RISP: .315/.333/.472

RISP 2 outs: .333/.368/.537

I don't know what Yankee fans are complaining about.

After Francona, Girardi might be the 2017 AL Manager of the Year. I thought the Yankees were going to be a last place team. Girardi’s two major strengths (bullpen management and handling youngsters) came to the fore this season. It blows my mind that he’s pulling starters with a lead after 4 2/3 innings … it’s the opposite of Torre, that’s for sure … and it’s absolutely working. Ride the hot hand of Chad Green and win September ball games. This is what we’ve been waiting for.

Can't rely on the pitcher who is 5-5 with a 6.14 ERA.

Remember that time the Red Sox beat the Yankees?

The LA Dodgers winning streak reminded Mike Lupica of the time the Red Sox beat the Yankees.

The Cleveland Indians winning streak reminded Mike Lupica of the time the Red Sox beat the Yankees.

Fake news.

In one sentence, Mike Lupica is 100% wrong:

"If Masahiro Tanaka and Jacoby Ellsbury — more than $300 million in Yankees — are ever going to act as if they were really worth the money, now would be a good time."

1. Tanaka: 50-27, 3.54 ERA, 12.7 WAR. So he has already earned his salary for 3+ years, despite stumbling in his most recent start.
2. Ellsbury: .263/.327/.384, 39 HRs, 197 RBIs, 257 R, 97 stolen bases, 8.6 WAR. Average player who has been paid too much money.

But lately? If "now would be a good time," please note that Ellsbury:

• has hit safely in 16 of his last 17 games.
• is hitting .440/.517/.560 in September.
•  is hitting .333/.415/.526 with 2 HRs, 13 RBIs, and several "big hits" in the last 28 days.

Unreliable.

"Masahiro Tanaka has failed to make it through the fifth inning seven times this season compared to three times in his first three years in the big leagues, according to baseball researcher Katie Sharp."

Weird.

"The Yankees will start Jordan Montgomery in Monday’s series opener in Baltimore. Jaime Garcia will skip a turn in the rotation and possibly be used out of the bullpen, according to Girardi, who favored Montgomery as a matchup against the Orioles."

Nobody asked why?

Other professional baseball teams also play professional baseball.

"Three hours before first pitch in the Bronx on Sunday night, the Orioles were celebrating a 12-inning walk-off win in a game against the Blue Jays they had tied in the bottom of the ninth with a home run by Wellington Castillo.

Yes, just in case you're thinking only about trying to catch the Red Sox, it should be noted: the Orioles are smoking hot, 9-2 in their last 11 games and swinging home run bats up and down the lineup.

Simply put, they're chasing hard in the wild-card race, not to mention getting a good night's sleep at home Sunday night, waiting for the Yankees to roll into town in in the wee hours, not long before Monday's 2 p.m. start at Camden Yards.

All of which is a way of saying:

While the Yankees were focused on an important swing game with the Red Sox Sunday night that would go a long way toward determining whether they had a realistic shot at winning the AL East, they were facing another reality as well:

That is, they are heading on a nine-game road trip that looms as the toughest part of their remaining schedule and figures to be equally pivotal in their chase of a division title -- more so in at least solidifying a wild-card spot.

...

 
So as big as Sunday night's win over the Red Sox was for the Yankees, one way or the other, they have to know they can't sleep-walk into Baltimore, no matter how little shut-eye the schedule afforded them, to start this crucial road trip.

Because no matter where they stand with the Red Sox, the wild-card race is far from settled."

I think the best strategy for the Yankees is to win as many games as possible by outscoring their opponents.

Sabathia had the last laugh in the sense that he won the game.

Sabathia is also having a good season, rather unexpectedly.

Is it OK for him to use the word "faggot" when it's not OK for others? Nunez is the player who's apologizing? For helping his team win a baseball game?

Thirteen years ago, close to 100% of Yankee fans wanted the Yankee batters to bunt on Schilling. Congratulations to the 2004 Yankees, who lost the game, but upheld their manliness.