For one night, anyway, hold off on the parade
THE two most celebrated teams to come out of The Bronx in the modern era, the 1961 and 1998 Yankees, each lost a few games here and there.
And so did the quantifiably great 1953 four-time defending World Series champions, who would win an unprecedented and unequalled fifth straight that October and are the last of the current club’s ancestors to have rolled out a streak of 17 victories in an 18-game span.
That team of Mantle, Berra, Ford, Raschi and Lopat went 21-1 from May 27 through June 18, lost one and then won another pair. And then, this powerhouse somehow conspired to immediately lose not one, and not two, three or four in a row, but nine straight. Nine straight. Chances are pretty overwhelming that nobody in pinstripes panicked, even if it is somewhat suspicious that all Twitter feeds from the era have been scrubbed clean.
These Yankees are no longer on a winning streak. After reeling off eight in a row capped by Wednesday’s stunning 9-6 triumph over the Red Sox off a four-run eighth inning in which they scalded elite closer Craig Kimbrel and waked up the echoes from across 161st Street, the Yankees will carry a one-game losing streak into Friday’s game at the Stadium against the A’s.
One night later, the Yankees couldn’t quite pull it off even after striking for four runs in the seventh inning to erase a 4-0 deficit to knot the score. But when Dellin Betances yielded an eighth-inning leadoff J.D. Martinez pop-fly homer into the lower right-field stands’ first row that just eluded Aaron Judge’s leap, the 5-4 score held.
It was Kimbrel into the fray again and again, though this time in the ninth, to face the top of the order. Brett Gardner, who had tripled on Wednesday, struck out. Judge, who had uncorked a mammoth homer in that one, flied to center. And Didi Gregorius bounced to the mound to end the game on an 0-for-24 schneid. The outcome served as a reminder that the Red Sox, too, had rolled off their own 17-1 stretch of dominance this year from March 30 through April 20.
“[Kimbrel] made his pitches when he had to,” said Judge, who walked his first three times up before singling home the Yankees’ second run in the seventh. “He’s the definition of what a closer is: mentally tough.”
This Octoberfest three-game series a thing of the past, the twin AL East powers move on to other opponents tied for the top of the division, next to hook up in seven weeks for a three-game set here from June 29 to July 1. That will be barely more than a week into summer.
That should reinforce just how early this is and how much road there is for the Yankees to travel until they complete their appointed rounds at the Canyon of Heroes. Still, that does not diminish either the entertainment value provided by this group or the consistent commitment to excellence they bring to the workplace.
“Our lineup is really hard to get through again and again,” manager Aaron Boone said. “If you’re not at the top of your game, you’re in trouble against us. Every guy goes up to the plate with a plan and grinds out every at-bat. I see that every night.
“We’re going to make you earn it as a pitcher against us. We have dudes who can make you pay if you slip up.”
The Yankees had been behind before throughout this stretch. In fact, the team had won four of the 11 games in which it had trailed after seven innings. And the team has thrived against upper-echelon opponents, the eight-game streak fashioned entirely against Houston, Cleveland and Boston.
“A lot of guys tasted the postseason atmosphere last year,” Judge said following the game in which a thunderstorm that created a 55minute delay in the top of the fifth couldn’t extinguish the Yankees’ fire. “Now, it’s just another day. If we’re down, up or even, it’s just another inning.”
Before the game, Boone had praised his team’s mentality, saying, “When these guys walk out the doors, they want to be great at this.”
On this night, there was only a hint of that greatness in the seventh inning. So be it. The season lays ahead. So do the challenges, the same ones that every world champion has faced along the way, even the ones from ’98, ’61 and ’53.