NEW YORK, NY – Let’s talk some baseball… It’s a shame the Yankees can’t play the Orioles every game. The Bombers are coming off of a 4-game sweep of the O’s and won 17 out of 19 against Baltimore for the season, including the last 16 in a row. The Yanks averaged almost eight runs per game and more than three home runs per against Baltimore this season.
Now the Pinstripers are facing some tougher competition in the form of the playoff-chasing Cleveland Indians. The Indians came into last night’s game at Yankee Stadium a half game back of the Twins. Cleveland put last night’s game out of reach in the first inning, chasing Chad Green after a third of an inning in which the righty gave up five runs. Things got so out of hand that Yankee first baseman Mike Ford came in to pitch in the 8th inning and gave up five runs on six hits en route to a 19-5 Indians win.
A lot of people scratched their heads when the Yankees didn’t trade for a starting pitcher before the trade deadline. And those people are still scratching their heads as the Yankee pitching staff are giving up runs at an alarming rate. Last night’s drubbing aside, pinstriped pitchers gave up 21 runs in four games against the cellar-dwelling Orioles, who are 43 games under .500 and 41 games out of first place.
There are signs of encouragement for the Bombers, though, as Luis Severino threw another bullpen session off of a mound yesterday. He’ll be headed to Tampa soon to finish out the minor league season before getting some work with the big club in September. The hope is that Severino gets enough work to be MLB ready before the postseason. Reliever Dellin Betances is getting closer to making a return also. The Yankees will be hopeful that Dellin can get back to help an already deep Yankee bullpen down the stretch. Based on the recent starting pitching performances, the bullpen will need all the help they can get.
On the other side of town, the Mets are in contention for a Wild Card berth after playing some amazin’ baseball over the last month. The Metsies now find themselves two games out of the second spot. Even after dropping two of three to the first-place Atlanta Braves. The Amazins avoided the sweep in Georgia yesterday with a 10-8 win. Mickey Callaway’s boys still have three teams in front of them in the hunt for the last playoff spot, but another two weeks of winning baseball could see them leapfrog the Brewers, Phillies, and Cubs for that last playoff spot. The strange thing is that if they do pass those teams, they’ll still be in third place in the NL East behind the Braves and Nationals, who hold the first Wild Card spot.
Several eyebrows were raised when the Mets decided to be buyers, and not sellers at the trade deadline. The move has paid off as the Amazin’s have gotten back into contention over the last week. Marcus Stroman, who joined the Mets at the deadline picked up his first win last night. Things are looking good for a Mets team that seemingly couldn’t do anything righ for the first half of this season. Now they’re in playoff contention and looking to get back to the postseason for the first time since their Wild Card loss in 2016. Go figure.
Feel free to comment below, enjoy the Woodstock Anniversary and come back tomorrow for Junoir Blaber, who will have 15 excuses why he missed his edit deadline – again.
