About Yesterday: NY 4, Toronto 0

by Mike Whiteman

June 19, 2022

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Yesterday afternoon the Yankees defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 4-0. The Yankees are 15-1 in June.

Born on this day in 1903 was Lou Gehrig, the original Captain. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/gehrilo01.shtml https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/lou-gehrig/

Twenty-seven years ago, the Yankees signed Daryl Strawberry as a free agent.

This was a controversial signing at the time, as the onetime Met all-star was serving a suspension for drug use and had a history of off-field problems. The move reeked of George Steinbrenner impulsiveness and overreach, and there was pushback from the fan base. But George got this one right. Strawberry turned out to be a significant contributor to the 1996, 1998 and 1999 Yankee World Series winners. He was regarded as a good teammate and positive veteran influence in the clubhouse. Derek Jeter has said that Strawberry went out of his way to mentor him and encourage the Yankee star to learn from the mistakes he had made as a young ballplayer. Today, when Strawberry isn’t having a catch with a beloved retiring school principal, he and his wife Tracy run Finding Your Way, a faith-based personal growth organization. Their personal stories of redemption are impressive and inspiring. https://findingyourway.com/

Quick Stats:

• The Yankees are 49-16, the best record in Major League Baseball by plenty.

• They lead the American League East by twelve games.

• The Yankees are on pace for 122 wins.

• Aaron Boone’s squad has have won nine games in a row and have taken 17 of 21 series (losing and tying two apiece).

• The Yankees are 20-9 on the road, good for a .690 winning percentage.

• Three Yankee teams have started off 49-16 or better through 65 games – 1939, 1928, 1998. They all went on to win the World Series.

• The Yankee primary starting rotation five has a collective 27-6, 2.70 record.

• Clay Holmes has a 0.28 ERA on the season. He has not allowed a run in his past 29 appearances, dating back to April 9th. This is the longest streak in team history, passing Mariano Rivera’s 1999 streak.

• From June 24th, 2021, through yesterday, Jameson Taillon has a 15-3 record with a 3.10 ERA in 29 starts. A pretty good year!

Big Story:

Yesterday's game was billed as a great pitching matchup between Jameson Taillon (7-1, 2.93) and Alek Manoah (8-1, 1.67)! Manoah has had the Yankees number in his brief big-league career - 2-0, 1.52 in four starts. Taillon has just been great this year. The big Toronto hurler did cruise through the first three innings, then the Yanks broke through in the fourth when Aaron Hicks - he of the .611 OPS coming into the game - roped a bases-loaded double and the Bombers had a 3-0 lead. They tacked on a run in the sixth when Isiah Kiner-Falefa doubled in Gleyber Torres. A 4-0 lead with the Yankee pitching staff is a sizeable one, and they didn’t disappoint. Taillon, Mike King, and Clay Holmes held Toronto to five hits and kept them off the scoreboard.

Yankees 4, Blue Jays 0. Player of the Game:

Gotta give credit to Hicks, who came up big against a real tough pitcher. Notable Performances:

Matt Carpenter has made an impression on the Yanks with his power hitting exploits, but he laid down a pretty good sacrifice bunt in the seventh. The Yanks didn’t capitalize on this, but it was good to see the execution…

Taillon walked two batters on the day, the first time he’s given a free pass to more than one hitter in a game all season…

IKF is hitting .314 in June. Better to Forget:

In a rare off-day, Aaron Judge was hitless in five plate appearances. My take:

There’s not a lot to write that hasn’t been written yet about this team. As the season moves into the summer, we’re starting to see some historical chatter around this team. Aaron Judge is on pace to break the single season Yankee franchise record for home runs. Clay Homes just broke a team record held by Mariano Rivera…Mariano Rivera! The Yanks have a comparable record to some of the greatest teams in club (and MLB) history. They said it:

“They keep the bat industry gainfully employed” – Aaron Boone when discussing Mariano Rivera and Clay Holmes and their penchant for breaking batters’ bats. Next Up:

The Yanks go for the sweep today at 1:37 pm. Luis Severino (4-1, 2.80) is on the mound against Toronto’s Yusei Kikuchi (2-3, 4.80).