Bright Lights, Big City

The Yankees got an up-close look at what it means to be back under bright lights, back in the deep end of the pool. Now it’s time to prove they really do belong here.

The Yanks have been on sort of a house money trip here ever since ARod, Beltran, Miller, Nova,  and Chappy were jettisoned out of town, and the Sanchise showed up on his white horse

With games vs KC and Baltimore this week, the Bombers are playing for September playoff relevancy, not just  a dress rehearsal  for next season

But

For the second day in a row our Hometown Heroes  had a chance to get closer to  the Wild Card drivers seat, but fell short with an 8-5 loss to  the surging World Champion KC Royals ..

After Saturday’s win, Psycho Joe’s Baby Bombers had shaved Baltimore’s Wild Card spot to 2.5 games..

Unfortunately on Sunday Kevin Gausman who  owns the Bombers, blanked them 5-0, so the two  game turn-around landed in the Orioles favor…

The Yanks entered last night’s game 3.5 behind the Buck O’s, and  despite the loss to KC, they’re still 3.5 out after the O’s lost to  Toronto…

Of course the problem with landing that play-in game, starts with the 5 teams that  are ahead of the Bombers, Seattle, Houston KC, Detroit, and Baltimore, with Boston holding down the #1 seed..

Also problematic to  the Yanks chances of gaining ground is how hot the team they’re playing is over the last 22 games..There was always a sneaking suspicion the World Champs were rope -a- doping the league, and this 18-4 surge is sure looking like that might have been the case..

Pine Top Pineda quickly dug a hole and laid the foundation for this KC win by coughing up 3 runs in the 1st inning. Pineda is the quintessential dog that  won’t hunt, he’s got a million dollar arm and a 10 cent head.

The book on Pineda is get him early,  from pitches 1 through 15 teams slash

.329 .371 .562 .933

From pitches 16-30, .288 .331 .471 .802…

David Cone attributes Pineda’s woes to  fast ball  command, apparently the big boy takes 35 to  40 pitches to get in rhythm, and a bad Pineda serves trays of meatballs that good offenses devour

Pineda was true to  form as the Royals picked him apart in the 1st inning, on 5 singles two  stolen bases ( both on Pineda), and  a wild pitch…We might still be in the first inning had Sanchez not thrown out Gordon trying for the Royals 3rd stolen base off the inning.

Pineda settled in and kept the Royals at 3 runs, inducing 15 up,  15 down.. The Good Pineda took over but the Bomber offense couldn’t solve Met reject Dillon Gee or reliever Brian Flynn and the game was locked at 3-1 until  the fateful 7th inning..

Two consecutive singles knocked Pineda out of the game in the 7th,  and it was now time for Gidrool Central..

Tommy Layne who’s been pretty good (8 innings, 3 hits, 2 runs), as a Loogy, got Gordon for out number 1.. No chance they leave him in?

Why would you do  leave in Layne when you can call on the immortal Blake Parker to hold a 2 run deficit, in a  “playoff run”???

Parker relieved Layne. 1 3
Escobar homered to left center (402 feet), Morales and Gordon scored. 1 6
Mondesi singled to right. 1 6
Dyson grounded out to second, Mondesi to second. 1 6
Cuthbert singled to right, Mondesi scored. 1 7
Cain walked, Cuthbert to second. 1 7
Yates relieved Parker. 1 7
Hosmer singled to center, Cuthbert scored, Cain to third. 1 8
Morales struck out swinging. 1 8
5 RUNS, 6 HITS, 0 ERRORS

Unfortunately Psycho Joe didn’t get tossed until  the Yanks were down 8-1 in the 8th inning or possibly Clippard may have come in to  stop the House of Cards from  collapsing

Better yet why isn’t Luis Severino on the 25 man roster pitching meaningful  innings out of then pen?

The Yanks finally hung 4 runs on two Royals relievers in the 8th

Young relieved Flynn. 1 8
Ellsbury reached first base on catcher’s interference. 1 8
Ellsbury to second on fielder’s indifference. 1 8
Hicks walked. 1 8
Sánchez hit by pitch, Ellsbury to third, Hicks to second. 1 8
Manager J Girardi ejected by B O’Nora in the 8th. 1 8
Gregorius doubled to right center, Ellsbury and Hicks scored, Sánchez to third. 3 8
Moylan relieved Young. 3 8
Castro hit sacrifice fly to left, Sánchez scored. 4 8
McCann grounded out to first, Gregorius to third. 4 8
Headley reached on infield single to second, Gregorius scored. 5 8
Gardner hit for Judge. 5 8
Gardner walked, Headley to second. 5 8
Teixeira hit for Austin. 5 8
Herrera relieved Moylan. 5 8
Teixeira grounded out to second. 5 8
4 RUNS, 2 HITS, 1 ERRORS

Humpty Teixeira had a chance to  tie it but Herrera induced a ground ball, the Yanks also  had the tying run at the plate in the ninth after back to back two out singles by Sanchez and Gregorius, but Castro struck out on a pitch in the dirt.

The Castro AB is a snapshot of his bad side, he apparently gave up on the AB with a frustrated swipe at a low outside pitch in the dirt, for the games final out…

“We’re in this thing,” Crying Joe  said five days later, through moist eyes and a cracking voice, as the Yankees won in A-Rod’s finale.

“We’re in this thing,” Psycho Joe said over the weekend, as the Yankees filleted the Orioles a couple times, crawling to within 2 ½ games of the second wild card.

Actually  18 of the 30 teams in baseball found themselves within 3.5 games of the postseason, which is a good thing for baseball.

The Yanks are still in this thing because the math  says they  are, but as long as CashMan and his lunatic manager Psycho Joe are still marching Gidrools out of the pen in high leverage situations, it’s more of a “dress rehearsal for 2017 / 18” then a run at the roses….

the Whole 9