Fri AM BRB (4-23-21)
This Day in Music (4-23-1971)
The Rolling Stones release their ninth UK album (11th in the USA), Sticky Fingers. Featuring the legendary zipper cover done by Andy Warhol, the album remains perhaps the band’s most iconic release 50 years later.
Photo Credit: USA Today
Last night, after an emasculating start to their game in Cleveland, the Yankees seemed to ask themselves, “was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?!?!” The team was in desperate need of a response after one of the most-disjointed first innings they’ve put forth all year. The always-reliable Brett Gardner dropped a fly ball. Clint Frazier failed to get around on a bloop single to right, giving away extra bases to anyone who wanted them. Then, to cap off the Yankees third-grade re-enactment of the Bad News Bears, starter Domingo German booted a routine comebacker turning a would-be double play into an E1 and a 2-0 Cleveland lead. Before the inning was out, Franmil Reyes served the Yankees October flashbacks by sinking them into a 3-0 hole with an RBI single. Yet, this momentary trip was possibly the catalyst for the Yankees remembering who the hell they are, as the team refused to accept defeat Thursday night. It took some time, but in the top of the third inning DJ LeMahieu broke out of his roll-over slump plating Kyle Higashioka (more on him later) with an RBI single. LeMahieu then scored himself along with Mike “Billy Shears” Ford thanks to a Gleyber Torres RBI single and a handy error by Cleveland’s RF Josh Naylor. True to their early-season malaise, the Yankees were unable to break the tie for much of the evening, but the team was buoyed by German, who bounced back after a Murphy’s Law first inning to give the Yankees six solid innings. Though I still find it difficult to wax poetic about German given his checkered past (to say the least), you have to give credit where it’s due from a baseball perspective. Given the gravity of the situation, you can argue German’s start on Thursday was the finest effort put forth by any Yankees starter not named Gerrit Cole this season, if for no other reason than his dogged determination was the igniting force for the team’s comeback. It took seven innings, two outs and seemingly a million bounces from a ball off the bat of Rougned Odor, but fate was on the Yankees side last night. Odor found the clutch hit the Yankees have been looking for all season, plating Torres and Aaron Judge to give the Yankees a lead they never relinquished. “The Home Run Stroka,” (easily a 4.75 Sterling call, folks) Kyle Higashioka added an absolute bomb to lead off the eighth inning proving the Yankees, at least for one night, had found their stride. Credit to Aaron Boone for having the guts to put out a lineup that looked ugly on paper, but found magic when the team needed it most. There’s no way to tell if the 6-3 win will finally bring the Yankees mojo back, at least not until they take the field tonight. The Yankees said they were close to breaking out of their early-season dumpster fire, and last night they delivered on that promise. The rest of this weekend will prove whether or not this team is ready to walk the walk.
Last night did not prove as cathartic for the Mets, as their struggles continued in Chicago with a 4-3, 10 inning loss to the Cubs. The team did show a fighting spirit themselves last night, digging out of a 3-0 deficit of their own, ignited once again by a bomb by Pete Alonso. Perhaps it’s the friendly confines of Wrigley Field, but Alonso has found his power in a big way, and his two-run shot gave the Mets the momentum they needed to stabilize the game. Though starter Joey Lucchesi was hit around a bit through his three innings of work, the Mets got a brilliant relief effort from Sean Reid-Foley, who followed the uneven Lucchesi with three innings of no hit baseball. SRF’s clutch performance bought the Mets time in order for their sleeping offense to answer Alonso’s call, and in the seventh inning pinch-hitting J.D. Davis did just that, lacing a double to center field scoring Jonathan Villar to bring the score even. The Mets bullpen was largely great after Reid-Foley, but when the Mets were unable to take advantage of the designated extra innings runner in the top of the 10th, it was quickly apparent that they’d run out of time. Edwin Diaz opened his second inning of work by hitting Matt Duffy with a pitch, then a sacrifice moved the runners over, an intentional walk was issued and Jason Heyward sent Cubs fans home happy with an RBI single. A microwaved take for a microwaved version of extra innings, just how Rob Manfred thinks the kids these days like their baseball. Needless to say the Mets run through Chicago is one they’d rather soon forget, and with Jacob deGrom taking the hill tonight they’ll have every opportunity to do so. Mets fans just have to hope that Alonso saved one last bomb for his ace.