Yanks in Cement; Mets 9 Yankees 7 — Sept 3, 2020

September 4, 2020 paperbacklou 2020 0

The Yankees are in a funk. Everything that can go wrong, is going wrong. It is as if they are walking in cement that hasn’t dried and their cell phone just slipped from their hand, and they bent over to pick it up and fell forward, and their glasses fell off too and got lost in the muck.

In this game, they had a 4-0 early lead early that they blew, and a 7-4 lead late, that they blew, to lose in 10 innings on a Mets walkoff homer by Pete Alonso.

They are now 20-16 and used to be 16-6 — they are 4-10 in their last 14. That includes winning 3 straight against the Mets last weekend.

Started Off Good!

In this one, they scored 4 in the 2nd inning against Mets starter Robert Gsellman, capped by a 2-run double by Luke Voit, and looked like they would romp.

But J.A. Happ lost it in the 4th inning — after a leadoff double by Todd Frazier, he got 2 outs and was coasting with a 4-1 lead. But then — 4 straight hits and it was a tie game. The hits came fast in slow motion; Yankee Twitter was beguiled as to why Aaron Boone didn’t have a reliever in already, as hit after hit came with Happ falling behind each batter — and Adam Ottavino and Chad Green just starting to warm in the pen, according to John Sterling on the radio. And there was a doubleheader tomorrow so the Yanks needed Happ to go as long as possible. Was Boone caught flatfooted in the cement or trying to lose on purpose? — was the thought running thru the head. But Happ regained composure to get the final out and pitch a scoreless 5th, with the help of as-usual stellar defense from Gio Urshela at 3rd.

No Harm No Foul — Yanks Regain Sizeable Lead

No harm no foul when the Yanks scored 3 in the 7th to take the 7-4 lead — a BIG RBI single by Gio Urshela, rifling in between 3rd and short for a run, and then Brett Gardner rifled one just fair past the 1st baseman for 2 RBI.

Freshly Laid Cement

But Zack Britton couldn’t get it done in the 8th — he loaded the bases with 2 outs, and then a little bloop by Amed Rosario dunked in for 2 runs. I was in a parking lot by the beach in Staten Island, getting out of my car to walk the dogs when this happened — someone else in the parking lot was blaring the Mets broadcast — and their announcer blared out the gory details in frenetic fashion. Quite good actually.

Wet Cement

The rain started to come down lightly but big thunderstorms were coming from the West — so the game itself (at Citifield) was on the verge of being rain delayed.

Falling Slowly

In the 9th, Jeff McNeil led off with a single off Aroldis Chapman, and Billy Hamilton came in to run. He moved to second on a balk, then tried to steal 3rd with nobody out. But Kyle Higashioka, back from injury, threw him out!

It looked like the Yanks had stepped in shit not cement — but then J.D. Davis homered and just like that it was tie game.

Down and Out

With the rain continuing to fall and the weather.com radar showing big orange areas coming from the west aka huge thunderstorm rain, John Sterling on the radio expressed the opinion that not only had the Yanks blown the win but now the game might be delayed indefinitely. But Albert Abreu came in to pitch the 10th and immediately allowed a single and the walk off homer to Alonso.

Etcetera

Gio Urshela with 2 hits has now raised the average to .272 and with his stellar defense at 3rd — he makes at least one great play there seemingly every game — continues to be quite the 3rd baseman for the Yanks.

Luke Voit continues to be tied for the league lead in homers with 13, but has dropped to 3rd in Slugging.

LeMahieu went 1-5 to lower his average to .382 but continues to lead the league and now qualifies again (after having been out a week due to the injured thumb).

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore?gameId=401240121

 

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