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Tag: Edwin Encarnacion

Blogs • Yankees

Sep 24, 2015

The AL East Is Over

The Yankees needed to win two out of three in Toronto to have a chance at the division, but they didn’t and now the race for the division is over. The Yankees are going to be a wild-card team.

Alex Rodriguez

Wednesday and Thursday night felt like playoff games. The Yankees had two games remaining against the Blue Jays with a 3.5-game deficit in the AL East with 13 games left in the season. Both games were must-win games for the Yankees when it came to winning the division with Tuesday being Game 6 of a playoff series they were trailing 3-2 in and Wednesday being Game 7 if they were to win on Tuesday. Lose either game and the AL East would be over.

The Yankees won on Tuesday after blowing a 2-0 lead and a 3-2 lead thanks to a Greg Bird three-run home run in the 10th inning. Joe Girardi used Justin Wilson (seven pitches), Dellin Betances (20 pitches) and Andrew Miller (42 pitches) to pitch the last four innings after Luis Severino gave the team an impressive six-inning, two-run effort, setting the stage for an AL East Game 7 on Wednesday night.

I didn’t want Ivan Nova to pitch Wednesday’s game, but there wasn’t another option. After Nova’s return sent Adam Warren to the bullpen, Nova’s incompetence sent Warren back to the rotation, so he wasn’t an option for the game, and with Masahiro Tanaka nursing a hamstring injury and Nathan Eovaldi being shut down, Nova won the start by default. But like that John Sterling saying goes, 11 days after Nova couldn’t get through two innings against the Blue Jays, there he was putting up zero after zero against them in Toronto with the chance to win the division over the final two weeks of the season.

With two out and no one on in the sixth, Nova’s 110th pitch of the night was a ball and Russell Martin went to first on a six-pitch walk. I told my girlfriend, “That’s it for him,” and sure enough, YES panned to Joe Girardi walking up the dugout steps. Girardi went to the mound and took the ball from Nova, who looked as good as he did in Game 1 (but kind of Game 2) of the 2011 ALDS against the Tigers, and then Girardi ruined the game.

First, Girardi gave the ball to James Pazos, who has faced 14 Major League batters in his career, to face the left-handed hitting Ryan Goins. On an 0-2 pitch, Goins ripped a line-drive single to center and Martin ran to third. After four pitches, Pazos was pulled.

Next, Girardi went to Caleb Cotham, the 27-year-old rookie, who has allowed 11 hits (two home runs) and five earned runs in eight career Major League innings, to face Yankee killer Kevin Pillar. On the first pitch, Pillar singled up the middle, Martin scored to give the Blue Jays a 1-0 lead and Goins went to second. Cotham stayed in to face the Blue Jays’ No. 9 hitter Ezequiel Carrera and he walked him on six pitches. He finally got out of the inning when he got Ben Revere to fly out to left on a 2-0 pitch though if a lesser defender than Brett Gardner had been out there, it might have been a bases-clearing double or triple.

The Yankees were unable to score in the top of the seventh, despite having two on and two out for Dustin Ackley, who hit a line drive right to Pillar in center. The Yankees had still been held scoreless and trailed 1-0, but Marcus Stroman’s pitch count was at 95 and the Blue Jays would have to turn the game over to the their shaky pen and the one flaw of their team, which had blown the game night before and had blown a three-run lead to the Yankees in Toronto in August.

Due up for the Blue Jays in the seventh were AL MVP Josh Donaldson, Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion. Three right-handed hitters and the heart of the best order in the entire league. In an ideal world, which reliever would make the most sense to face them? Betances, obviously. But unfortunately, we don’t live in an ideal world. We live in Girardi’s world where relievers have set innings and because Miller was unavailable, Betances was the closer for the night and ninth inning was his and maybe an out in the eighth inning. But not the seventh inning. Not the inning that made the most sense for the best right-handed reliever in the world to face three of the best right-handed hitters in the world in a row. Instead of Betances, Girardi brought in Andrew Bailey, who has thrown five innings in the Major Leagues since July 12, 2013. In the last 26-plus months, Bailey has faced 22 hitters in the majors, yet here he was being asked to hold a one-run deficit against the best 2-3-4 in the majors.

Donaldson crushed a 1-1 pitch to left field for his 40th double of the season to lead off the inning before Bailey got Bautista to ground out for the first out of the eighth. With Donaldson on third and one out, I thought it made the most sense to intentionally walk Encarnacion and then bring in Wilson to face Justin Smoak, which would force Smoak to turn around and hit from the right side. I thought Girardi was on the same page as me when he called for the intentional walk of Encarnacion, but then he left Bailey in.

The move worked out momentarily as Bailey struck out Smoak with Encarncion stealing second on the swinging third strike. Two on and two out for Russell Martin, the former Yankees catcher, who they let leave after the 2012 season because they felt Francisco Cervelli could be their catcher of the future, and who has played in the postseason every year (and will again this year) since leaving the Yankees, while they haven’t played in it once since he left. Martin fell behind 1-2, but after working the count to 2-2, he got a 94-mph fastball from Bailey right down the middle and he turned it around and ended the Yankees’ division hopes in one swing.

Outside of the All-Star break, the 2015 Yankees have been together and playing together since mid-February, more than seven months ago. And after those more than seven months that included the six-week spring training and now 151 regular-season games, it was James Pazos, Caleb Cotham and Andrew Bailey, who have now pitched a combined 17 innings for the Yankees, that decided their 2015 postseason fate.

How could Girardi let those three pitchers decide the biggest game of the season? According to what Girardi told reporters after the game, he was planning to use Justin Wilson in the eighth and Dellin Betances in the ninth with Andrew Miller unavailable. But how is it possible that Girardi managed for a situation that never presented itself and never actually existed in the biggest game of the season? How is that he was managing ahead in a tie game and then a game the team was trailing in? How could he play for the next inning with the division hanging in the balance in the inning right in front of him?

Maybe I shouldn’t care that the Yankees aren’t going to win the East and won’t go straight into the ALDS. Girardi and Brian Cashman clearly don’t. Girardi made that clear with his pitching moves on Wednesday, and Cashman made it clear the other day when he said he didn’t care how the Yankees got into the playoffs, but just that they got in. It was a fitting comment from the general manager of a team that made no trade deadline moves other than to acquire Dustin Ackley and whose team blew an eight-game lead since the deadline. It’s hard to blame Cashman for saying, at this point, that he is content with a wild-card berth since Cashman saying he would be disappointed if the team didn’t win the East would be him saying he’s disappointed in himself after the Yankees gave away their division lead in less two weeks in August. So of course he acted as though the wild-card berth is just as good as winning the division.

The wild-card berth is just as good as winning the division if you actually win the wild-card game. Right now, the Yankees would play the Astros in the one-game playoff, but the Twins and Angels are both within 1.5 games of the Astros, so the Yankees’ opponent is anything but finalized. The best-case scenario for the Yankees if they’re able to hold on to their four-game lead for the first wild-card spot is that those three teams have to go to Game 162 or longer to figure out who the second wild-card team is, so that they can’t set up their best starter to face the Yankees.

Over the next two weeks, outside of actually clinching, the Yankees’ top priority will be to give Tanaka as much rest as possible while also keeping him sharp and lining him up to start on Tuesday, Oct. 6 at the Stadium. The Yankees aren’t catching the Blue Jays now and the focus needs to be on preparation for 12 days from now. Some people might hold on to the pipe dream that the Yankees could overcome a 3.5-game deficit in 11 games to win the East and go straight through to the ALDS, but it’s not happening.

The Yankees needed to win two out of three in Toronto to have a chance at the division and with Girardi managing Wednesday night’s game as if it were some throwaway game with a postseason berth already clinched, the race for the division is over. The Yankees are going to the one-game playoff.

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Blogs • Monday Mentions • Yankees

Aug 10, 2015

Monday Mentions: The Worst Yankees Weekend

The Blue Jays have gone from eight games back in the AL East to 1 1/2 games back in 12 days and the Yankees’ postseason chances are fading the same way they did the last two years.

New York Yankees vs. Toronto Blue Jays

I want to pretend that I didn’t spend all of Sunday night wondering if the Blue Jays are going to prevent me from watching the Yankees in the postseason. I want to pretend that the Yankees’ unwillingness to trade for David Price isn’t going to be difference between going straight to the ALDS or having to worry about winning a one-game wild-card playoff. I want to pretend like the Blue Jays haven’t gone from eight games back in the AL East to 1 1/2 games back in 12 days.

Here is another installment of “Monday Mentions” focused on questions and comments from Twitter about the Yankees’ disastrous weekend against the Blue Jays.

It’s hard to win games when you don’t score. The Yankees scored one run, ONE, in their biggest series of the season and the biggest series they have played since the end of 2012 and let the Blue Jays get within 1 1/2 games of them after a Stadium sweep. The Yankees needed to win one game this weekend to keep the Blue Jays five back in the loss column and prevent the weekend from being a complete disaster, but they couldn’t do that. Their best chance to win a game this weekend was on Friday, which is the only game they scored a run, but before they could score a second run, Joe Girardi lost the game.

I have written an unhealthy amount of words on set innings for relievers and how absurd it is, but Girardi is a big believer in having a seventh-inning guy and an eighth-inning guy and a ninth-inning guy and no matter the situation, he’s going to stick with it.

On Friday night, the Yankees and Blue Jays were tied 1-1 in the seventh inning. Nathan Eovaldi was still pitching and after a Mark Teixeira error and a Chase Headley bobble, the Blue Jays had runners on first and second with one out. Girardi called on Justin Wilson to relieve Eovaldi and he struck out Ben Revere on four pitches. Then Girardi called on Dellin Betances to relieve Wilson and he walked Troy Tulowitzki on four pitches and then got Josh Donaldson to ground out.

Betances returned in the eighth inning and after a Jose Bautista leadoff single, he retied Edwin Encarnacion, Justin Smoak and Russell Martin to end the inning.

Girardi called on Andrew Miller to relieve Betances in the ninth and he needed just six pitches to get through the inning against the Blue Jays’ 7-8-9-1 hitters.

The Yankees were unable to score in the bottom of the ninth, so the game went to 10th, and Girardi relieved Miller with rookie Branden Pinder to face the middle of the Blue Jays’ order: Josh Donaldson, Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion. This would have been a frustrating but understandable move if it were the 14th or 15th inning, but it was the 10th inning. But it wasn’t the 14th or 15th, it was the 10th, and it was irresponsible for two reasons.

1. Miller had thrown SIX pitches in the ninth inning. SIX. Miller had thrown five pitches on Sunday against the White Sox and 17 pitches on Thursday against the Red Sox. So after Friday’s ninth inning, he had thrown 28 pitches in six days or 4.7 pitches per day for the week. Is 28 pitches over the course of a week too much? Was the nine pitches it took to retire the Yankees in the bottom of the ninth too much of a layoff between innings for Miller to return for the 10th?

2. Wilson, Betances and Miller had been used. So let’s pretend like Miller really couldn’t go a second inning after throwing SIX pitches and that Girardi had to go to the bullpen. Chasen Shreve and Adam Warren were both still in the bullpen yet Girardi decided that rookie Branden Pinder and his 14 2/3 career innings was the best choice to get through the heart of the order of the best team in Major League Baseball in as close to a playoff game in the regular season as there can be on Aug. 7.

I’m not going to get into Girardi’s bullpen decisions on Saturday and Sunday, which were also incredibly questionable, because the team didn’t score a run in either game. The Yankees are going to have a hard enough time keeping the Blue Jays from overtaking them in the AL East, they don’t need Joe Girardi managing them to losses.

I really don’t understand what Adam Warren’s role is with the team. After being the most consistent starter for the first half of the season, the Yankees put him in the bullpen and left CC Sabathia in the rotation because of money and now Warren is randomly used. Sometimes he pitches with a lead, sometimes he pitches to hold a deficit, sometimes he pitches in the sixth inning, sometimes he pitches in the eighth innings, sometimes he faces on batter, sometimes he pitches multiple innings.

I have no idea when Warren will come into a game or how long he will stay in one. I have no idea what the long-term plan for him is because I have no idea what the current and short-term plan is for him. He went from most reliable starter to being put behind Andrew Miller, Dellin Betances, Justin Wilson and Chasen Shreve on the bullpen pecking order. I would say the Yankees’ handling of him has been very odd, but then again, this is exactly how the Yankees handle pitchers.

https://twitter.com/craigmiller/status/629088613301657600

That tweet was from last Wednesday and five days ago. After that tweet, Drew went 0-for-9 in three games to watch his batting average drop back down to .192 after having gotten it up to a season-high(!) .199 on Sunday in Chicago. Drew has never seen .200 this season. Not on Opening Day. Not in the first week of the season when averages change hundreds of points with each hit and out. Never.

Today is Aug. 10. Stephen Drew is still a Yankee. How that is possible hurts my head to even think about. Drew has started 79 games this season and has gone hitless in 37 of them. So in 47 percent of Drew’s starts, he hasn’t gotten a hit.

The Yankees clearly don’t like Rob Refsnyder as a player and don’t want to give him a chance to become the everyday second baseman. Maybe he does have an attitude problem, which has been rumored, but who cares? If he can hit, I don’t care if one person on the team likes him. If the Yankees aren’t willing to give him a chance right now, what makes anyone think they are going to give him one in September when rosters expand? Just because they won’t have to DFA anyone to have him in the majors at that point doesn’t mean he will playing and not riding the bench, especially if the team is fighting for a postseason spot.

The Yankees chose not to improve the roster at the trade deadline while the Blue Jays and Orioles made big moves to make a run at the division and wild card, while the Royals, Astros, Angels and Rangers all made moves to improve their teams to contend. The Marlins were willing to trade Dan Haren to the Cubs with the Dodgers still paying all of Haren’s $10 million, so I’m pretty sure the Marlins would have been willing to trade Martin Prado back to the Yankees, considering the Yankees were already paying $3 million of his $11 million salary this season and next.

The Yankees traded for Dustin Ackley, designated Garrett Jones for assignment, put Michael Pineda on the DL, called up Luis Severino, put Ackley on the DL and re-signed Jones. Those were the Yankees’ trade deadline moves. Essentially, they did nothing. Ackley would have been the same or worse than Jones, Drew and Brendan Ryan and Severino replaces Pineda, so basically, everything cancels each other out.

https://twitter.com/Timbo367/status/630482347666862080

On July 31, the Yankees had a six-game lead in the AL East. Today, that lead is 1 1/2 games. In the span of nine games, the Yankees managed to blow 75 percent of their lead and now they are a bad road trip in Cleveland and Toronto from being in second place in the division and suddenly in the wild-card game.

But since I was asked … If the Yankees play .500 baseball the rest of the season and go 26-26, here is what the rest of the AL East would have to do just to tie them: Toronto 26-23, Baltimore 31-21, Tampa Bay 31-19, Boston 37-13. That closed quickly.

There is this rhetoric that even after the weekend and even after going 1-4 in their last five games that the Yankees are still in first place. That’s nice, but like I said in that tweet, it’s like being up $1,000 at a casino and giving $950 back and still technically being “up”. The Yankees still have a lead in the division, but from where it was a week ago, or even three days ago, it doesn’t feel like they do.

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Blogs • Email Exchanges • Yankees

Apr 6, 2015

Jealous of the Blue Jays’ Power

The Blue Jays’ lineup is what the Yankees’ lineup once was and the middle of the order is going to be hard to navigate through this season.

Edwin Encarnacion and Jose Bautista

Last week it snowed in New York and this Monday, the Yankees are opening the season in the Bronx against the Blue Jays. It would make more sense to probably play this three-game series in Toronto where there is a dome, but for the first time in forever there is some good weather in the forecast for Opening Day at the Stadium. Either way, baseball is back and that’s all that matters.

With the Yankees and Blue Jays opening the season in the Bronx, I did an email exchange with Tom Dakers of Bluebird Banter to talk about the Blue Jays’ powerful 3-4 combination, the new additions of Russell Martin and Josh Donaldson to the lineup and the state of the Blue Jays’ rotation with Marcus Stroman out for the season.

Keefe: It seems like for a while now it’s been common for preseason predictions to say this is the Blue Jays’ season. And once again that’s the case. The Blue Jays might have the best offense in the league. With a heart of the order that includes Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion and Josh Donaldson, it’s going to be a nightmare for any pitcher to navigate through that every game and that’s not including Jose Reyes at the top of the order or the pesky and former Yankee Russell Martin, who seems to get the biggest of hits.

How excited are you for this Blue Jays lineup?

Dakers: Every spring for the past several years, we thought that the offense was going to be a “world beater”-type offense. A team that would lead the league in scoring. And each year, due to injuries and players not living up to their potential, we ended up with a good, but not great offense.

This year, we are going to have that great offense. One through five, we are better than anyone in the AL. With Donaldson taking the spot of the always-promising, but never-quite-living-up-to-that-promise Brett Lawrie, we should be so much better. Russell Martin’s ability to take a walk won’t hurt. Six through nine in the order doesn’t strike the same amount of fear in opposing teams, but I think they will be better than most imagine.

I think Michael Saunders and Justin Smoak will be helped a bunch by moving from the rather large Safeco Field to the far more offensive friendly Rogers Centre. And I think rookies Dalton Pompey and Devon Travis will do their part to get us back up to the top of the order again, quickly. I’d be very surprised if we aren’t in the Top 2 or 3 in runs scored this year.

Keefe: The Yankees haven’t had a truly formidable 3-4 combination since 2009-2010 when Mark Teixeira and A-Rod were still productive and healthy and could be counted on for their usual power numbers. The Blue Jays have 3-4 combination that every team in the league envies and dreams of in Jose Bautista and Ediwn Encarnacion and each time they don’t hit the ball a mile in an at-bat it’s a sigh of relief. It seems like both of them get their best swings in against the Yankees and both of them seem to be good for a couple of home runs each series against the Yankees.

I miss the days of having steady and reliable production from the middle of the order. How much fun is it to watch those two every day? (I ask because I forget what it’s like.)

Dakers: It’s pretty good. We know that, barring injury, we have 30-plus home runs coming from both Bautista and Encarnacion. If we can get guys on base in front of them, they should both have 100 RBIs easy. This year, for an added bonus, we have Josh Donaldson following them. Donaldson, moving from Oakland to Toronto, might end up hitting the most home runs of the three.

As a Blue Jays fan, I’ve been blessed with getting to watch some great 3-4 hitters over the years. We’ve had Carlos Delgado-Shawn Green, Delgado-Vernon Wells and George Bell and Jesse Barfield, but I think we might end up looking back Bautista and Encarnacion as the best 3-4 hitters in team history.

Keefe: On the other side of the ball, the Blue Jays aren’t set up as nicely. The devastating torn ACL to Marcus Stroman, leaves the Blue Jays without a front-end starter. They still have R.A. Dickey, Mark Buehrle, and Drew Hutchison, which is better than the.

Aside from the Roy Halladay years, the Blue Jays have lacked a true ace in recent years. Maybe Dickey was supposed to be that when he went to Toronto from the Mets before the 2013 season, but he hasn’t been able to continue his 2010-2012 success over the last two years in the AL.

Does the Blue Jays’ pitching worry you?

Dakers: As the pitching sits, on Opening Day, I think we are OK. Many are picking Drew Hutchison to have a breakout season. Mark Buehrle and R.A. Dickey keep giving us 200-inning seasons. And Aaron Sanchez and Daniel Norris have tons of potential and look ready to deliver on that potential. The problem really is that, with Marcus out, forcing both Sanchez and Norris into the rotation, we are paper thin at the position. If one of the starting five were to be injured for any length of time, we would be left with hoping someone like Johan Santana or Randy Wolf can remember how to get guys out or be treated to the likes of Liam Hendriks or Marco Estrada.

Now, we can live with the odd spot start from any of those guys, but multiple starts from anyone one of them could really derail our season. So, Jays fans have to hope for something that we never seem to get, the baseball gods to bless our rotation with health. Maybe this will be the season it happens.

Keefe: Last year, when we did an email exchange for the first Yankees-Blue Jays series in April, you said you weren’t a fan of the Dickey trade and it didn’t work out, but that you were hoping he could be a good member of the rotation.

What are your feelings on Dickey after two years of watching him with the Blue Jays?

Dakers: The good part about Dickey is he takes the ball every five days and will give us six decent innings. Not great innings, but he usually will keep the team in the game. This year, with our offense, that should be enough. But, if you are expecting him to be the guy that outduels the opposition’s ace, it’s not going to happen.

If you have an understanding of what he can give you, 200 of slightly above average starting pitching innings, well, there is a value to that. Unfortunately, the Jays traded for (and gave up pieces that should have got them) the NL Cy Young winner, and what they got was an innings eater and someone that’s OK, but is definitely not ace material.

Keefe: The Blue Jays won 83 games last year, but haven’t finished higher than third place since 2006 and haven’t made the playoffs since 1993. They made what seemed to be a franchise-changing trade with the Marlins two years ago and that didn’t work out. Now they have signed Russell Martin and traded for Josh Donaldson.

The AL East is wide open with no clear favorite this season. You could make a case for any team other than the Rays to win the division this year and every team other than the Rays could win it.

What are your expectations for the Blue Jays this season?

Dakers: I expect them to contend. I think they can be win around 89-90 games, and in a fairly weak-looking AL East, that should be enough to contend. I think their offense is a couple of notches better than last year, I think the team defense is much improved and I think the pitching staff can be better (in large part because I think that Russell Martin is a far better defensive catcher and massively better at framing pitches than Dioner Navarro was).

What they need is health and lots of it. They aren’t deep at any position on the diamond, so an injury or two might have us using Munenori Kawasaki far more than any of us would want, yet again. I mean, I don’t want to knock Munenori, he’s a great guy and a cult favorite in Toronto, and if you are going to have to use a replacement level player, it might as well be a very entertaining one. But if he ends up getting 250 plate appearances again this year, it will be tough to contend.

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Blogs • Email Exchanges

Jul 25, 2014

It’s Been a While Since Yankees Worried About Blue Jays

The Blue Jays are back to being relevant and are now another team the Yankees have to worry about in the postseason race.

Brett Gardner

The Yankees had to get off to a hot start to begin the “second half” and after going 6-1 (it could have and should have been 7-0 if Joe Girardi wanted it to be) against the Reds and Rangers, they are back in the division race and lead the race for the second wild card. I was strongly against the addition of a second wild card, but I might have to rethink that if it’s the only way for the Yankees to get in the postseason this year. Even with their recent run, the Yankees still have the Blue Jays right on their heels.

With the Yankees and Blue Jays meeting this weekend in the Bronx, I did an email exchange with Tom Dakers of Bluebird Banter to talk about the Blue Jays being back in playoff contention, how they have dealt with the injuries to their lineup and if they should try to deal for David Price.

Keefe: I can’t remember the last time the Blue Jays were this involved in the playoff race at this point in the season. I kind of remember them hanging by a thread late in the 2008 when the Yankees’ season was over and I was hoping that my some sort of miracle they would go on a run and prevent the Red Sox from reaching the playoffs. Unfortunately it didn’t happen. But they were barely in the race. This year they are in prime position to reach the playoffs for the first time since 1993 with 59 games still left, trailing by 3 in the division and tied with the Yankees as of Friday morning for the second wild-card spot.

This would be quite the story if I wasn’t a Yankees fan and didn’t need the Blue Jays to fall apart, so that the Yankees’ path to the postseason would be easier. But I am a Yankees fan and do need your Blue Jays out of the race.

However, since the Blue Jays are part of this now three-team race for the division and five-team race (right now) for the second wild card, it means we have a meaningfuk Yankees-Blue Jays series (for both teams) in July and will likely have a meaningful series between the two in August and September.

What’s it been like to have the Blue Jays back in contention and how do you feel about their postseason chances?

Dakers: Oh it has been good, depending on the moment. Three wins in a row over the Red Sox felt good. Blue Jays fans, on the whole, seem to be pessimists, but 21 years since the last World Series will do that to a fanbase.

How I feel about their playoff chances changes with by the hour. Over the last month, it has been pretty tough, losing your 4, 5 and 6 hitters would be tough for any team. But, as we get closer to their return, you get the feeling the team could go on a run and keep in it right to the end. It would help if the Orioles would lose occasionally, but I do feel good our chances.

Keefe: Eighty percent of the Yankees’ Opening Day rotation is on the disabled list, Mark Teixeira is injured again (shocker!) and Carlos Beltran still can’t play in the field. The Yankees have had been banged up, but so have the Blue Jays with Edwin Encarnacion, Brett Lawrie and Adam Lind all on the DL.

On Thursday against the Red Sox, Dioner Navarro (.266/.308/.380) hit fourth for the Blue Jays, Dan Johnson hit fifth (.227/.367/.318), Munenori Kawasaki hit sixth (.272/.325/.316), Juan Francisco hit seventh (.242/.315/.407), Ryan Goins hit eighth (.181/.224/.278) and Anthony Gose hit ninth (.237/.338/.282). That looks like a lot of the lineups Joe Girardi has been forced to put together this year because of injuries, but somehow, the Blue Jays not only won, they scored seven runs with that lineup. (The Yankees wouldn’t have scored since they usually score two runs with their full lineup.)

How have the Blue Jays managed to stay afloat with the injuries to their lineup and managed to score runs with some of the names they are putting out there?

Dakers: Well, really they haven’t been staying afloat. On June 6, we were 38-24, sitting in first play, 6 games up on the pack. Since then we’ve put up a 16-25 record, dropping to 3 games back, but then everyone in the batting order has either been on the DL or just been banged up enough that they couldn’t hit, but things are getting better. It has been very tough scoring runs.

Back in May, with everyone healthy we were scoring 5.5 runs a game. This month it is 3.9 runs per game. You wouldn’t expect much better with Encarnacion, Lind, Lawrie, Jose Bautista and Colby Rasmus all missing time with various injuries. Even the players they picked up to fill in have been getting hurt. Cole Gillespie was picked off waivers, play one game and then went on the DL. Nolan Reimold got into 4 games, after we claimed him, before he ended up on the DL. It hasn’t helped that the few that haven’t been hurt have been slumping.

Thankfully, it looks like the offense is turning around and next week should see the return of most Encarnacion, Lind, Reimold and Lawrie. Their return should give the team a lift.

Keefe: The Blue Jays are considered to be long shots to land David Price, but as long as there is chance that’s something I would have to think you are at least remotely excited about. It doesn’t seem like the Yankees have enough in their farm system to trade for Price, but it is odd to see the Rays willing to at least consider moving him within the division.

No matter which team Price ends up with (if he does end up getting traded), he will instantly bolster that rotation and make that team either primed for a playoff run or have them set up nicely for the division series if they’re already playoff bound.

How badly do you want Price, if at all, and what you be willing to give up for him

Dakers: Honestly, of course, I like him, but I wouldn’t want to give up what it would take to get him. Our minor league system isn’t as deep in prospects as it was a couple of years ago. Any deal for Price would have to include Marcus Stroman, Aaron Sanchez and/or Dalton Pompey our Top 3 prospects.

Stroman has been part of our rotation for the last month or so and he’s been nothing less than brilliant. He took a no-hitter into the seventh inning against the Red Sox in his start yesterday. I really wouldn’t want to lose him. Aaron Sanchez came up this week to help out in the bullpen, he pitched two clean innings in his first appearance. I would like us to keep both of them. Dalton Pompey is a center fielder, with speed, defense, knows how to get on base and has found some power this season in Double-A. And he would be a hometown boy, he was born just a few miles from Toronto. Many think the team considers him untouchable in trades.

Without at least two of those three we don’t get Price and I hope the team isn’t willing to pay that much.

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Blogs • Yankees

Jun 25, 2014

The Biggest Win of the Season Became the Worst Loss

I thought the Yankees were going to have their biggest win of the season on Tuesday night in Toronto, but instead it turned out to be their worst loss.

New York Yankees at Toronto Blue Jays

This is going to be the biggest win of the season. That’s what I thought when Derek Jeter and Jacoby Ellsbury scored in the seventh inning to tie Tuesday night’s game in Toronto at 6. That thought didn’t last long.

In the fifth inning on Tuesday night against the Blue Jays, Derek Jeter made an uncharacteristic brain fart (his first of two in the inning) that kept the inning alive and loaded the bases for the Blue Jays, who already led 3-0. And David Phelps bailed out his shortstop by giving up a first-pitch drive off the right-field wall to Colby Rasmus. Two runs initially scored and with Rasmus trying to advance to second, Jeter caught him in a rundown as Edwin Encarnacion danced off third, trying to decide if he should break for home, as Jeter tried to get Rasmus out while also keeping an eye on Encarnacion. Jeter held on to the ball and ran Rasmus safely back to first and Encarnacion raced home. 6-0 Blue Jays.

Jeter came away from the play with a confused look on his face like someone who got off an elevator on the wrong floor, but tried to play it cool as though he meant to get off that floor. And I came away from the play with the look of frustration like someone who was watching their baseball team aimlessly navigate through another wasted game. In the dugout, Joe Girardi had a different look. It was a look that suggested he might go through the clubhouse after the game and individually fight every player on his team. And he would want to individually fight each Yankee because as Mark Teixeira reminded us all after the Yankees’ two-inning loss to the Blue Jays on Monday, baseball is an individual game.

Friday night looked like it was going to be the biggest win of the year. The 2014 Yankees, a team with less fight in them than Brian Boyle, had come back against the Orioles and erased a two-run, ninth-inning deficit, winning on a three-run, walkoff home run from Carlos Beltran. After suggesting that Yankee Stadium no longer has a home-field advantage over the first two-plus months of the season, the walkoff win was the Yankees’ fourth in a row and fifth consecutive home win. But momentum is the next day’s starting pitcher and unfortunately for the Yankees, that was Vidal Nuno, who hates momentum more than Brett Gardner hates trying to steal a base early in a count. The Yankees’ four-game winning streak that had brought them back to a tie in the loss column with the first-place Blue Jays became a two-game losing streak over the weekend and extended to three games on Monday after Chase Whitley tried to one-up Nuno by giving up seven runs on 10 hits in the first two innings in Toronto. And after that Monday loss is when we heard from self-appointed de facto captain Mark Teixeira.

“Baseball is an individual game in a team atmosphere. Individually, we’ve just got to figure out a way to get the jobs done. Everyone has to step up a little bit and hopefully, collectively, if everyone does a little bit better we’ll score more runs.”

I really, really, really hope Teixeira was including himself both times he said “everyone” and wasn’t talking about everyone other than him. But I have a feeling that because he’s hitting .241/.335/.467 and leading the Yankees in home runs (13) and RBIs (36) he thinks he has done his job this season, even if leading the Yankees in those two categories in 2014 holds as much clout as having the most buddies on AIM. If playing in 56 of your team’s 76 games (74 percent) and hitting 36 points below your career average, 13 points below your career on-base percentage and 56 points below your career slugging percentage is doing a job you’re paid $23.5 million per season to do then I’m sorry for suggesting otherwise. And maybe I should be sorry because there seem to be a lot of people that think Teixeira has done his job this season hasn’t been part of the problem for a team that ranks 20th in runs scored in the league (one place above the Mets).

In Teixeira’s first game since speaking out about the team scoring four runs during their three-game losing streak, he must have forgotten his own words.

“Baseball is an individual game in a team atmosphere.”

In the first inning with runners on first and second and one out, Teixeira hit a 1-2 changeup into a 4-6-3 double play.

“Individually, we’ve just got to figure out a way to get the jobs done.”

In the fourth inning, Teixeira led off the inning by grounding out to short on a 3-2 fastball.

“Everyone has to step up a little bit.”

In the sixth inning, with one out following Jeter’s solo home run to make it 6-1, Teixeira grounded out to short again, this time on a 2-2 fastball.

“Hopefully, collectively, if everyone does a little bit better …”

In the seventh inning, with two outs, runners on second and third and three runs already in to make it 6-4, Teixeira hit a 1-1 fastball to Jose Reyes at short, who made his second throwing error of the game that allowed Jeter and Jacoby Ellsbury to score to tie the game.

“… we’ll score more runs.”

In the ninth inning, with two outs and Gardner at third as the go-ahead run, Teixeira struck out on three pitches.

The three-pitch strikeout was Teixeira’s last at-bat because if you haven’t seen the disastrous bottom of the ninth, Joe Girardi brought in Adam Warren, who I wouldn’t trust to tell me what day of the week it is, with Shawn Kelley and David Robertson hanging out in the bullpen (Ladies and gentlemen, set bullpen roles!). In three Warren pitches, the Blue Jays won after a leadoff double and Yangervis Solarte throwing error. Ballgame over. Yankees lose. Again.

A day after awkwardly trying to step up and be a leader for a team he has been in and out of the lineup for by calling out the offense, Teixeira responded by going 0-for-5 with a strikeout and left three men on, including the potential go-ahead run in the ninth.

Given the score through five innings, the three miserable losses on Saturday, Sunday and Monday and the most importantly the standings and opponent, Tuesday was going to the biggest win of the season. It was going to be a six-run comeback on the road against a first-place team that would have ended a three-game losing streak. Instead, it was the worst loss of the season.

The Yankees have now lost 34 games and Tuesday’s was the worst. Sure, there was Opening Day in Houston and the following night in Houston. And there was May 10 in Milwaukee and also May 11 in Milwaukee. There was the first game of the Subway Series and the second game of the Subway Series. There was Adam Dunn’s walk-off home run off against David Robertson on May 23 and Robertson’s meltdown against the Twins on June 1. There was the blown 4-0 lead against the A’s on June 4 and pretty much any Nuno or CC Sabathia start. But Tuesday night against the Blue Jays was the worst. I can only hope it remains the worst for the rest of the season.

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