You've heard the mantra thousands of times on the Yankees' radio broadcast. The "voice of the Yankees" (Mel Allen is turning over in his grave), John Sterling, will utter the phrase, "You can't predict baseball, Suzyn" at least once a game. The Suzyn, of course, is Suzyn Waldman, Sterling's sidekick on WFAN radio.
Last night the Yankees'
Chris Young proved that Sterling has been on the money with that statement all along. Young, cut by the Mets on August 15 due to a complete lack of productivity (it's safe to say he sucked), hit a very improbably walk-off, 3-run home run that gave the Yankees a 5-4 win over the Tampa Bay Rays and kept the unrealistic dream of the playoffs alive for another day.
If Thursday night's game was a championship bout, the Yankees were down on the mat and the referee had counted to seven and was about to count to eight. Rays' starter Alex Cobb was within six outs of a no-hitter (there was no perfect game due to an error charged to centerfielder Kevin Kiermaier, who dropped a routine fly ball in the 3rd inning.) when Young broke it up with a double to the gap in right-center.
With the no-no gone, Rays' skipper Joe Maddon sent for Brad Boxberger to face Brendan Ryan. Joe Girardi countered with Martin Prado and the pinch-hitter promptly deposited a 2-run home run into the left field seats. Suddenly, the Yankees were alive...if you consider a team that struggles to get three runs a game, alive.
Hard throwing lefty Jake McGee came on in the 9th to close things out, but hit Chase Headley in the chin to start the inning. McGee was clearly shaken up by what had occurred and left a pitch up to Ichiro Suzuki. He's not the hitter he once was, but Ichiro can still occassionaly use his bat like a master swordsman. He did against McGee, lashing double to left-center.
Zealous Wheeler pinch-hit for Stephen Drew, but was clearly overmatched and struck out for the first out of the inning. That brought up Young, who had a .630 OPS when the Mets kicked him to the curb. He fouled off a 98-mph fastball and then jumped on a 97-mph heater that left quickly left the field of play. A wild celebration ensured, complete with Gatorade dousing.. You could predict that.
But you can't predict baseball, Suzyn.
Notes
As a Yankee, Young has a 1.667 OPS. He's 6-12 (.500) with two home runs, two doubles, and seven RBI.
Michael Pineda had pitched beautifully since his return from shoulder soreness earlier this year. Last night was not his night though. He gave up a pair of home runs to shortsop Yunel Escobar, who entered the game with four home runs for the year. Pineda has been a victim of a lack of run support, but last night his teammates bailed him out. Shawn Kelley improved to 3-5 with the win.
A scarey moment occurred in the 7th inning when Boxberger hit
Derek Jeter in the elbow with a pitch. Jeter's left arm went dead, but he remained in the game.
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