In the 2022 season, the New York Yankees had passed every test until now. They won 52 of their 1st 70 games, including 21 come-from-behind wins. They had restored hope that Title 28 was possible.
That hope is now ashes. The most important test thus far was this weekend's series with the Houston Astros, and they have utterly failed it.
The Yankees haven't won the World Series, or even the American League Pennant, since 2009. That season, the team that was in their heads was the Boston Red Sox. That was the one team that they still couldn't beat, and had continually humiliated them since 2004, except for a brilliant 5-game stretch at Fenway Park in 2006. The 2009 Yankees had to get past the Red Sox in order to make their fans really believe. In early August, they did, and went on to win it all.
Since 2015, the Astros have begun to replace the Red Sox as the team in the Yankees' heads. True, the Red Sox still beat the Yankees in the Playoffs on the way to winning the World Series in 2018. But the Astros beat the Yankees in the 2015 AL Wild Card Game, and in the 2017 and 2019 AL Championship Series. And when it was proven that, like the Red Sox, the Astros had cheated, it seemed to mean nothing: They kept on winning anyway. And now that the Red Sox have been a nonfactor since that 2018 title, the Astros have replaced them as the Yankees' immovable object.
On Thursday night, in the opener of this series, the Yankees looked very bad, getting only 2 hits until the 9th inning, coming from 6-3 down to win 7-6. On Friday night, despite a good start from Luis Severino, the Yankees got only 5 hits, and lost, 3-1.
Yesterday afternoon, the alleged ace, the former Astro, Gerrit Cole started for the Yankees. And, 99 times out of 100, we would take what he gave us: 7 innings, 1 run, 4 hits, 2 walks, 8 strikeouts.
But he got no support. None. For 7 innings, Cristian Javier was nearly perfect, allowing just 1 walk, and striking out 13, including Giancarlo Stanton 3 times. Apparently, if you stop Stanton, you stop the Yankees. The Astros didn't stop him on Thursday, and his home run kept the Yankees in position to come back. This time, they stopped him.
Josh Donaldson was the only Yankee to reach base against Javier, via a walk in the 1st inning and an error in the 7th. Still, the game was scoreless going into the 7th inning, as Cole was being Lew Burdette to Javier's Harvey Haddix. But J.J. Matijeivc hit a home run, and that was the ballgame. In the 8th, of course, it was that cheating little piece of shit, José Altuve, the short and skinny version of Boston's big fat lying cheating bastard, David Ortiz, who had to hit another home run off us, off Michael King in the 8th.
Hector Neris pitched the 8th, and Aaron Hicks drew one of those leadoff walks that could save one team and kill another. But Matt Carpenter flew out. DJ LeMahieu drew a walk, and, just like that, the go-ahead run was at the plate. But it was Joey Gallo, and while he gave it a ride, it wasn't quite far enough. And then came Aaron Judge, but he hit a liner to short to end the threat.
Lucas Luetge allowed another run in the 9th. Now, the question was, "Could the Yankees avoid the humiliation of being no-hit at home?" The answer, as Bronson Pinchot might have said on the 1980s sitcom Perfect Strangers, "Well, of course, not, don't be ridiculous!"
Just as they needed 6 pitchers to throw a no-hitter against us at the old Yankee Stadium in 2003, the Astros needed 3 pitchers to do it this time, bringing in Ryan Pressly to finish the job. He couldn't nail down the win on Thursday night, but he did yesterday afternoon, striking out Anthony Rizzo and Donaldson, and getting Stanton out on a weak grounder.
Astros 3, Yankees 0. WP: Javier (5-3). SV: Pressly (15). LP: Cole (6-2). The 1st no-hitter ever pitched at the new Yankee Stadium, and it was against the Yankees. And, for the moment, we have no way of proving that the Astros cheated again.
For most of this season, the Yankees have been compared to the 1998 Yankees. But now, they look like the Yankees of 2002, 2004, 2006, 2011, 2017, 2018 and 2019: Great regular seasons, but incapable of winning in the postseason.
And there's another team that looms large. Whenever the YES Network puts up a graphic of "Best MLB record through (X) games," the top 5 includes the 1998 Yankees, and 3 other teams that ended up winning the World Series, but the Number 1 team is one that didn't: The 2001 Seattle Mariners. They tied the record of the 1906 Chicago Cubs for most regular-season wins, 116. But those Cubs lost the World Series, and those Mariners lost the ALCS, to the Yankees. Maybe 2022 is the Mariners' revenge.
It's been a long time since the Yankees had real revenge. Yes, we have embarrassed the Tampa Bay Rays this season. But it is not enough. Even if we win today's series finale against the Astros, they will remain our stumbling block. There's another series in Houston next week, and we will have to do better there -- and we usually don't.
Anyway, today's game will be started by Nestor Cortes for us, José Urquidy for the cheaters. No, I've never heard of him, either. Against a pitcher we've never heard of, the Yankees traditionally lose. And it's already 85 degrees out there. This could be a long, hot day.