Yankees Hot Corner – A Soggy Subway Series

The Subway Series wasn’t exactly what the Yankees were looking for.  They didn’t gain any ground on the Boston Red Sox (who never seem to lose) and they stranded ten plus runners on Friday and Saturday.  Sunday night was a wash (both literally and figuratively) as game three of this Subway Series installment was rained out and will be made up on August 13th.

Game one was a disaster for the Yankees.  I was there and it was one of the longest, drawn out games I’ve ever been to.  Domingo German was terrible, only lasting 3 2/3 innings.  He was immediately sent back down to AAA after the game.  German’s troubles started in the first inning, where he gave up a leadoff double to Brandon Nimmo, another double to Asdrubal Cabrera, yet another double to Michael Conforto and then a fourth double to Jose Bautista.  Yoenis Cespedes came back with a bang by hitting a fluky home run that hit off the bottom of the left field foul pole.  Either way, a home run is a home run and the Yankees went down 4-0 real quick.

The Yankees dug themselves a four run hole and could never really recover, although they had plenty of chances.  The Bronx Bombers loaded up the bases in the bottom of the third but only mustered a sacrifice fly from Giancarlo Stanton.  The Yankees have had a hard time getting RISP in, and they leave a lot of guys on base.  For such a good team, their Achilles heel may be their inability to score runs other than with the home run.

The Yankees had another opportunity to tie the game up after going down 6-3, and they were oh so close.  Didi Gregorius ripped a double down the left field line, scoring a run and eventually moving to third on a Giancarlo Stanton sac groundout that brought in another run.  Unfortunately, Didi was stranded at third and the Yankees went down swinging, losing game one 7-5.

Game two was even more interesting for the Yanks, as they barely scraped by despite having a 7-3 lead going into the ninth inning.  Things didn’t look promising for Sonny Gray, as he gave up a solo shot to Michael Conforto in the top of the second.  He was able to settle down and has actually looked dare I say, good as of late?  The Yankees poured it on in the 4th with a Didi triple, Andujar double, Greg Bird double and Austin Romine single.  The Mets came roaring back in the 6th with an Amed Rosario single and an unforced error by David Robertson, scoring Jose Bautista on a wild pickoff attempt.

The Yankees essentially shut the game down in the later innings as Greg Bird ripped a single, Aaron Judge hit another mammoth home run, and Austin Romine grounded out to score Miguel Andujar.  With the four run lead, Aroldis Chapman came into what seemed like an easy save.  It was one of the strangest things I’ve ever seen, and it probably would have been the low point of the season had the Yankees blown this lead.

Chapman was a wreck, throwing only three strikes in 19 pitches, including a stretch where he threw 11 straight balls.  Chapman left the game with the bases loaded, nobody out and two men in thanks to his complete incompetence.  For some reason, Aaron Boone decided to use CHASEN SHREVE to pick up the pieces, and strangely enough it worked.  Shreve was able to get Devon Mesoraco to ground into a double play, and despite giving up a run he worked out of the jam with a groundout to the mound by Wilmer Flores.  Yankee fans breathed a sigh of relief and they held on for a wild 7-6 victory.

It was one of the stranger Subway Series but at the end of the day the Yankees didn’t help themselves much.  They still need to do a better job of beating the bad teams, which the Mets are definitely one of them.  The Mets didn’t even throw Jacob deGrom, so there are no excuses.  The Bronx Bombers will take a split, but it’s going to take more than that if they’re going to win the American League East.