Bronx, N.Y., July 20, 2019; Yankees 11, Colorado 5 — Although the 11-5 Yankee victory over Colorado in steamy Yankee Stadium Sunday afternoon could be called a blowout, despite the Rockies’ spirited five-run rally in the sixth, the biggest reason the home team took this one was that they stuck to fundamentals. They cleared no fences with their 14 hits, and were charged with no errors. And for five innings, Masahiro Tanaka was as good as could be. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., July 14, 2019; Yankees 4, Toronto 2 — Restoring a little order to their season, the Yankees not only took a three-gamer from Toronto with a 4-2 win Sunday afternoon, they finally hit their first home run of the season’s second half, via Mike Tauchman’s towering blast to right in the home seventh inning. Continuing a solid sophomore season piloting the pinstripers, Aaron Boone gets credit for his choice of Tauchman to play left. Through the first six innings, Mike had gone down swinging and popped a stunningly inept bunt to third baseman Vlad Guerrero, Jr. But his long ball late in this game provided a huge insurance run. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., June 26, 2019; Yankees 8, Toronto 7 — Two things were revealed during a gorgeous afternoon in Yankee Stadium Wednesday. First, the hawk is apparently not a fan of day games, or maybe just not of the sun. And second, the Yankees can score runs with base hits, along with bashes, even if DJ LeMahieu is not the guy at the plate. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., June 22, 2019; Yankees 7, Houston 5 — How many days will Yankee fans refrain from booing Giancarlo Stanton following his four-rbi performance Saturday night against Houston in their 7-5 win? It was a contest in which he also played a stellar left field. Admittedly, he had plenty of help from his teammates on both sides of the ball. As a matter of fact, in a season where defense has not been this team’s strength, their collective play in the field may have been their finest showing of the year. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., June 21, 2019; Yankees 4, Houston 1 — The best news, after four straight days of squeezing games in around far too many raindrops, was that New York area weather made a dramatic reversal midday Friday, and the 41,000 that showed for Friday’s game were treated to an exciting game of baseball in an evening perfect for it. No [enforceable] law says the summer solstice is required to deliver a gorgeous day, but we got one nonetheless. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., June 20, 2019; Yankees 10, Houston 6 — The fact that the skies cleared and the sun shone after all-day rain 30 minutes before game time turned out to be a tease, but yet another Yankee offensive explosion just before the rains came back definitely wasn’t. The Bombers put up their third six-run inning in two days. They used two of these bombardments to put an exclamation point on their sweep of division rival Tampa Bay Wednesday afternoon. And Thursday’s gave AL playoff rival Houston a rude welcome to start a four-game set in the Bronx. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., June 17, 2019; Yankees 3, Tampa 0 — Bristling with one of the best pitching staffs in the game, the Tampa Rays came to town Monday for the first of three against the Yankees, a team whose mound members have struggled of late. Just up a half game in the AL East, the Bronx boys needed someone to step up. Veteran righthander Masahiro Tanaka not only came through, he did so in back-in-the-day fashion. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., June 2, 2019; Boston 8, Yankees 5 — A successful home stand, and series with rival Boston, ended on a down note Sunday night, as the Yankees dropped a sloppily played game, 8-5. But the good news is that the team got its second starting pitcher back from the Injured List, and both pitched pretty well. James Paxton was great against San Diego Wednesday, but only went four innings. And although CC Sabathia took tonight’s loss, he looked strong, and delivered a quality start. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., June 1, 2019; Yankees 5, Boston 3 — Another week, another two series wins by the Yankees, a development they ensured by taking their second straight game from the visiting Red Sox, this one by a 5-3 score. Early, this one followed Friday night’s template, with Boston taking a 1-0 lead in the second, and the home team quickly responding with a three-run rally. Continue reading →

Bronx, N.Y., May 29, 2019; Yankees 7, San Diego 0 — With the rubber game of their three-game series against visiting San Diego coming Wednesday afternoon, the Yanks were slated to face young phenom Chris Paddock. That they were getting James Paxton back from the IL was a huge plus, but there was some concern that their veteran southpaw had not pitched in a while due to a balky knee. Paddock came in third in era in the NL, first in batting average and on base percentage against, and second in slugging percentage. What were nervous Yankee fans to do, given that the team’s streak of series won stood at 12 of the last 13? Continue reading →