The Yankees had something to play for and it wasn’t about the Sox

The Yankees had something to play for last night and it had little or nothing to do with the Red Sox. The team responded using the old formula of timely hitting and unwavering pitching. And yes, they beat the Red Sox too.

When the Yankees took the field last night, they knew by looking at the scoreboard the Minnesota Twins had come from behind to beat the White Sox on, of all things, a walk-off hit batsman. And they knew that kind of thing happens when a team is on a roll.

And they knew the Twins victory meant if they didn’t win their game, the Yankees would slip into a tie with the Twins for the top Wild Card in the American League.

And they could see in the first inning that CC Sabathia did not have his best command of his pitches. But they also saw that Sabathia commanded himself to work out of a bases-loaded jam in that inning with a strikeout on his now patented slider, and no runs scored.

The Yankees are not playing The Red Sox, they’re playing another game on their schedule they need to win.

And it took a while for the Yankees bats to get going and it wasn’t until the sixth inning that the team opened up a 4-1 lead over the Red Sox that was propelled by a two-run shot off the bat of Greg Bird.

The Yankees went on to pound out fourteen hits in the game with everyone, except for Aaron Judge, contributing at least one hit. And even Judge had two walks, scored a run, and did not strikeout. This was the game the Yankees needed following the debacle at the Stadium the previous day.

And they got it. They got is especially from the old man on the hill. The pitcher who Eduardo Nunez toyed with apologizing to after bunting. Get this, from a Tweet by Scott Lauber from ESPN:

"More from Eduardo Nunez on Sabathia: “He’s, like, 36 years old now. He wants respect. People know he was on the DL for the knee, so he don’t want people to bunt. Like I say, it’s not my problem. It’s my game. I don’t have any power. If I had to bunt four times, I will bunt. It’s not my fault. What do you want me to do?"

Sabathia, though, had the right answer in this Tweet from Andrew Marchand, also from ESPN:

"“I’m an old man so they should go out and want to kick my butt,” CC Sabathia said of the Red Sox. “I just feel like they tried to take the weak road.”"

There’s nothing weak about CC Sabathia. Call him crafty. Call him a finesse pitcher or a junkball artist. Call him anything you want to, just make sure you don’t forget to call him a winner.

Eternal Truths

The Yankees have three more against the Red Sox this weekend and they’ll be throwing their very best at them. Sonny Gray, Masahiro Tanaka, and Luis Severino will all make starts before the team heads to Baltimore to take on the Orioles in a Labor Day afternoon contest.

But, hopefully, the mental approach of the team stays the same as it appeared to be last night. The Yankees are not playing The Red Sox, they’re playing another game on their schedule they need to win.

They call them axioms or adages because they are eternal truths. And the one in baseball about taking one game at a time, and playing it like it was the last of 162 games in your season, tells us all we need to know about the Yankees from here on in.

Yankees Setback On The Way

The ruling on the appeals by Gary Sanchez and Austin Romine is expected to be handed down by MLB this morning. Neither should expect a win.

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In a pregame interview with the YES Network last night, Joe Girardi indicated he did not expect the suspensions to occur concurrently, giving the impression the Yankees had worked something out with the league so one or the other would be available to man the catching position.

The Yankees acquired Erik Kratz from the Cleveland Indians yesterday for cash considerations to serve a backup. Kratz is a journeyman catcher whose lifetime batting average is just above the Mendoza Line.

He can handle his position defensively, though, and that’s the reason he’s been able to maintain a career in baseball for seven major league seasons with (now) six different teams.

The Yankees will miss the bat of Sanchez, and hopefully, reality will hit the 24-year old young man when he’s sitting on the sidelines, while his team is playing for their lives in a pennant race.

Sonny Gray (8-8, 3.26) goes for the Bombers tonight against Doug Fister (3-7, 4.53). Gray is one of the hottest pitchers in baseball right now. In fact, dating back to the time when he was with the Oakland A’s, he’s allowed two-or-fewer runs in his last 11 straight starts, the longest streak in the majors this season.

A final Note

Three cheers for Supreme Court Justice, Sonia Sotomayor, who hails from the Bronx as she sat in the Judge’s Chambers with a never ending smile that spoke: “It’s good to be home”. In full robe garb, Sotomayor broke tradition from the Court by making a very public appearance. Good for her!

Here’s a video clip that appeared on MLB’s Twitter page.

Next: Will Greg Bird be more like Moose Skowron or Nick Johnson

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