About Yesterday: Red Sox 7, Yankees 1

By Mike Whiteman September 15, 2024 On this day in 1985, the Yankees acquired Joe Niekro in a trade with the Houston Astros. Niekro was 40 years old, and had passed his days as an effective pitcher. This deal united him with his brother Phil, who was finishing his second year in Pinstripes. Playing together for the first time since 1974 unfortunately didn't push the Niekro brothers to greatness down the stretch, as they combined for a 3-3, 5.49 the rest of the way. The Yankees finished in second place in the American League East, two games behind the Toronto Blue Jays.

Born on this day in 1938 was Gaylord Perry. The Hall of Famer and reputed greaseball extraordinaire made a quick stop in New York in 1980, acquired from the Texas Rangers during the season. Perry's impact was negligible, as he was 4-4, 4.44 down the stretch for the AL East champions. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/perryga01.shtml https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/Gaylord-Perry/

Quick Stats: The Yankees are 86-63 on the season and in first place in the AL East, two games ahead of the Baltimore Orioles. Gerrit Cole took the loss and is now 6-5, 3.97 Big Story: Yankee fans had to be feeling good about a couple of wins over Boston and Gerrit Cole taking the mound for yesterday's game. We did, that is, until the fourth inning.

The Yanks had taken a 1-0 lead in the third when Gleyber Torres singled Anthony Volpe home. Cole had held the Bosox hitless through three frames. With one out in the fourth and nobody on, the Yankee ace intentionally walked Rafael Devers. The Boston third baseman certainly has had Cole's number, batting .333 lifetime against him with eight home runs in 39 at bats. The strategy still seemed odd, then after Tyler O'Neill walked and Masataka Yoshida and Wilyer Abreu had run scoring hits, it looked downright wrong. Boston led 3-1. The Red Sox put four more runs on the board in the fifth and they were up 7-1. The Yanks didn't get any closer, and finished with only five hits on the day. Red Sox 7, Yankees 1. Notable Performances: Tim Mayza soaked up almost four innings after Cole came out, saving the pen for another day. Better to Forget: The strategy of intentionally walking a batter with nobody on...unless his name is Babe Ruth. I haven't pitched since Little League, but I'm wondering what would it have hurt to try to get Devers to chase some pitches outside the strike zone (OK, maybe way outside as he's a known bad ball hitter) as opposed to an intentional walk? Also, Devers came into the game batting .205 in September with zero home runs, maybe he would press and chase? Lastly, this is Gerrit Cole, reigning AL Cy Young winner, one of the best in the game, a future Hall-of-Famer. Why would Gerrit Cole back down to anyone with the bases empty? They Said It: "Clearly that was a mistake. I think that I bought into the plan going into it, but afterwards it was the wrong move." - Gerrit Cole on the decision to intentionally walk Devers. My Take: In postgame comments, Aaron Boone, catcher Austin Wells, and Cole all seemed to be talking in circles about the decision to walk Devers, seemingly not trying to point fingers. Cole looked upset to me. I'm not sure where this plan was hatched, but I think as the manager, Boone should take full responsibility for the strategy, take the heat off his ace, and "throw himself on the sword". Lets hope he cleans this up before the players report to the ballpark today. However messy this day was, the Yanks didn't help matters with their anemic hitting. For the month of September, Aaron Judge and Juan Soto are batting a combined .221 with three home runs. This obviously needs to get significantly better if the Yankees are going to be successful this year. Next Up: Carlos Rodon (14-9, 4.21) takes the mound against Kutter Crawford (8-14, 4.09) to go for the series win. Game time 1:35.