Tigers 5, Yankees 4: Verlander Not At His Best, Strikes Out Only Eleven

Swing and a miss.

Justin Verlander wasn't sharp early, and allowed two runs in the first. He wasn't sharp late, and gave up another pair in the seventh before stranding a runner in the eighth to wrap up his evening. But in between, he kind of lit it up, hitting 101 MPH on the radar gun and throwing a curveball that was simply unfair and probably wrong. C. C. Sabathia pretty much walked everybody and relied on the double play to get out of it, which is one approach, granted, but he didn't make it out of the sixth. With the game knotted at four in the home half of the seventh, it was Rafael Soriano on the mound for the Yankees in relief, which is almost certainly the right move, but the right move didn't work: Delmon Young yeah Delmon Young lofted one over the right field wall to put the Tigers in front for good. It was . . . so awesome. Equally awesome: Jose Valverde -- who is at once worse than his fifty saves in fifty opportunities might imply, and better than those internet baseball nerds (no dis; they are my people) who fall all over themselves to tell you that he is much, much worse than that statistic suggest would have you believe -- striking Derek Jeter out swinging (a pitch after striking out Derek Jeter looking, if you know what I am implying when I say that to you) to end the game with two runners aboard. 


In closing, let's all look at this picture of Jim Leyland looking like the most lovable Muppet.

KS

Blue Jays 5, Yankees 4: A Waddle-Off Win

Jose Molina: plump.

What a weird one! The Blue Jays put thirteen hits on the board against the Yankees' five, but ended up edging them by but a single run in the bottom of the ninth. The story of this one was base runners left stranded, and that is especially true if the particular story you are telling is the story of Edwin Encarnacion, who left ten aboard last night, ten. E5 has actually had a spectacularly unclutch season: despite his sixteen home runs, thirty-five doubles, and an OPS right around the .800 mark, he's only knocked in fifty-two, despite generally hitting not too far behind Jose Bautista, who gets on at an MLB-best rate of .449 (last night: 1 for 1 with 4 BB). What I am wondering here is, how is that even possible? 


Dustin McGowan got the start last night, and three runs on three hits over five against the Yankees is pretty acceptable, especially when you take into consideration that this was a spot start for the injured Brett Cecil, who missed his turn in the rotation because he sliced the index finger of his right hand whilst cleaning a blender. "It had two blades that stick straight up and two out to the side, and I hit one of the ones that were sticking straight up,” Cecil told John Lott of the National Post in "Cecil Scratched After Losing Blender Battle." 


C. C. Sabathia was pretty bad last night, which we're not used to seeing. I'm not saying Justin Verlander shouldn't obviously win the Cy Young this year -- because he totally, totally should -- but it's interesting that so few have been talking about what an awesome year Sabathia has been having. Last night, though, he was surprisingly hittable, despite striking out eight in less than six innings. I think I like C.C., despite the obvious stain on his character of pitching for the Yankees. I can't really say why.


Anyway, after some truly futile attempts at small ball -- such horrendous bunting you have never seen -- Jose Molina ended all the silliness in the bottom of the ninth with a line drive to the wall off of Cory Wade, plating Brett Lawrie and making everyone feel a little better about, again, the worst bunting you have ever seen. 


KS  

Yankees 4, Blue Jays 1: I Have No Real Problem with This

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO fat.

Hey. Sometimes a guy with thirteen wins by the middle of July is going to lock the door after giving up a run in the first, and that's going to be it. What are you going to do? Nothing, is what. C. C. Sabathia was awesome, allowing a mere three hits and three walks in eight innings, and although Mariano Rivera made things somewhat ticklish in the ninth, Travis Snider was unable to repeat the walk-off heroics of their encounter earlier this season (which was, of course, the coolest thing Snider has done all year, even cooler than getting sent down). Ricky Romero hadn't pitched in sixteen days, and you know how it is when you come back from vacation: sometimes you hit the ground running, completely re-energized and revitalized, and other times you come back and seem to have entirely forgotten what it is you do. Romero was closer to the latter yesterday, just missing his spots. Four runs through five is not so hot. 


Fun fact: in Ricky Romero's nine losses this year, the Blue Jays have scored a combined thirteen runs. 


KS