About Last Night: Yankees Win 5-4

About Last Night: The Yankees Eclipsed the Red Sox 5-4

By Tim Kabel

September 14, 2024

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The Yankees appear to be getting hot at the perfect time. They won series against the Cubs and Royals and are on the cusp of winning a series against the Red Sox. In order to do so, they need to win one of the next two games. Now, before we get too excited, remember this is a very streaky team. They could very easily lose both series on the road trip to the West Coast next week. It is almost impossible to project what this team will do with any degree of certainty or confidence. The best thing to do is just sit back and enjoy as much of it as we possibly can.

As an aside, I would like to note the passing of the great James Earl Jones. The speech he delivered about baseball in Field of Dreams should be required listening for every young fan in this country. The man was a brilliant actor, and I would have paid good money just to hear him read anything out loud, whether it was a Shakespearean sonnet, a short story, or even a recipe for meatloaf.

Quick Stats – 

·       Aaron Judge ended his streak of homer-less games at 16 with a seventh inning grand slam. I was Homer-less once when I lost my copy of the Odyssey.

·       The Yankees lead the Orioles by three full games for the first time since June 14.

·      Aaron Judge has now hit 52 or more home in a season three times.

·      The starting pitcher for the Red Sox gave the Yankees Fitts last night. He was part of the package the Yankee sent to Boston for Alex Verdugo. If we give the Red Sox Verdugo back, will they return Fitts to us?

·       The Red Sox are 21-31 since the All-Star break.

·      On September 13th, 2011, Mariano Rivera recorded his 600th career save against the Seattle Mariners. He joined fellow Hall of Famer Trevor Hoffman as the only two pitchers in Baseball history with 600 or more saves. No one else even has 500 career saves.

The Big Story –

There is an old saying that if you don't like the weather in New England, you should wait five minutes. Having lived here my entire life, I find that to be an accurate assessment of the situation. These days, the New York Yankees are more capricious than the weather in New England. They can lose two or three series in a row to teams that are not very good and then bounce back to win two or three series in a row. I honestly have no idea what to expect down the stretch and into the playoffs. I do stand by my contention that this team will never win a World Series with Aaron Boone as the manager. But this team is so streaky it's hard to say how far they are likely to advance in the playoffs. I do agree with Suzyn Waldman that they need to win the division to avoid a wild card round because if they come up against a team with a couple of hot pitchers in that first series, their season could be over. There is a definite advantage to winning the division. The Yankees have a three-game lead with fourteen games to play. Considering they play a three-game series against the Orioles In a week or so, it is fair to say that the Yankees control their own destiny.

Player of the Game – 

Aaron Judge returned to form and Yankees’ fans everywhere heaved a collective sigh of relief. Why? I have no idea, because he has certainly earned our trust by now.

Notable Performance –

Clarke Schmidt continues to build himself back up as the Yankees head in to the playoffs.

Better to Forget 

Because of the way Mark Leiter, Jr. sets fires when he comes out of the bullpen, he should change the spelling of his name to “Lighter”.

My Take –  

The New York Yankees in 2024 are the athletic equivalent of the title character in the movie Sybil. The team has about ten different identities and you never know from one day to the next which one is going to take the field. They are equally capable of shutting out an opponent or being shut out by that same opponent themselves. This is a very streaky and unpredictable team.

The team is composed of many streaky and unpredictable players. Gleyber Torres has been hitting much better lately, particularly since assuming the leadoff position in the lineup. Yet, he is still prone to defensive lapses and base running blunders. Hopefully, he will not disappear into one of his offensive funks when the playoffs start. Alex Verdugo is also quite streaky but perhaps the presence of Jasson Dominguez will continue to motivate him to do well as he wants to play as often as possible. Giancarlo Stanton has six hits in the month of September. Half of them occurred on or before September 2nd., which was also the date of his last home run. Clay Holmes is completely unreliable in the bullpen and has lost the closer roll, at least for now. At this point of the season, there really only is “for now”.

The streakiness and unpredictability of this team extends to the front office. A week ago, Brian Cashman declared that Alex Verdugo gave the Yankees the best chance to win, as opposed to Jasson Dominguez. Two days later, Dominguez was recalled, with the announcement that he would be playing almost every day. He actually hasn't been but, that's the Aaron Boone factor.

Although the Yankees hope to win the division, they will be a “wild card” in the playoffs. They are so unpredictable that most fans could imagine them making it to the World Series and possibly winning it just as easily as they could imagine them being eliminated in their first playoff series. Streakiness is only good if the team is on a hot streak. Consistency is a much better way to go. There are two weeks left in this season and then the playoffs begin. What the Yankees will do in the playoffs is completely unknown. Your guess is as good as mine.

Next Up 

Today, the Yankees will play the third game of the four-game series against the Boston Red Sox at 1:05 PM at Yankee Stadium. Gerrit Cole, (6-4, 3.36 ERA) will face Boston’s Brayan Bello, (13-7, 4.70 ERA). Hopefully, Brayan will be Bello-average.