The Yankees won the World Series that year. Maybe this is a good sign.
This past Friday (a week ago today), the Yankees began a 3-game home series against the Minnesota Twins, the team with the worst record in the American League. Masahiro Tanaka started, and allowed 3 runs in 6 innings.
The Twins 2 runs in their half of the 3rd inning, and the Yankees did the same in theirs. The Twins countered with 1 in the 4th, but the Yankees followed with 2. Aaron Hicks provided some insurance in the 8th, with his 3rd home run of the season.
"No Runs DMC" each pitched a perfect inning of relief: Dellin Betances in the 7th, Andrew Miller in the 8th, and Aroldis Chapman in the 9th. Yankees 5, Twins 2. WP: Tanaka (5-2). SV: Chapman (14). LP: Tommy Milone (0-2).
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Saturday featured an old-fashioned pitcher's duel, except neither starter was allowed to go past the 6th inning. Michael Pineda pitched brilliantly for 6, allowing just 1 run on 2 hits and a walk, striking out 8. But he threw 94 pitches, so Joe Girardi chickened out, and took him out. Twins starter Ervin Santana pitched, effectively, equally well, but was removed in the 6th by Paul Molitor, the Minnesota native and Hall of Fame Milwaukee Brewer now managing the Twins.
The game remained 1-1 into the 8th inning, which Alex Rodriguez led off by beating out a grounder to 3rd base. Girardi sent Hicks in to pinch-run for him. Brian McCann singled him over to 3rd. Mark Teixeira, still trying to find his way back after returning from injury, struck out. Starlin Castro grounded to short, where Eduardo Escobar dropped the ball, allowing Hicks to score the winning run.
Again, No Runs DMC got the job, the difference this time being that Chapman allowed a hit; otherwise, 3 perfect innings of relief. Yankees 2, Twins 1. WP: Miller (5-0). SV: Chapman (15). LP: Ryan Pressly (2-4).
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The Sunday game didn't go so well. For the 3rd straight game, Nathan Eovaldi didn't have it, allowing 5 runs in 6 innings. Teixeira hit a home run, his 4th of the season, and the 398th of his career, tying him with Dale Murphy on the all-time list. But the Yankees only got 1 other hit, a double by Hicks.
Twins 7, Yankees 1. WP: Tyler Duffey (3-6). No save. LP: Eovaldi (6-5).
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So the Twins went out, and the Texas Rangers came in. Ivan Nova started for the Yankees on Monday night, and he allowed 4 runs in 5 innings. But he left with a 5-4 lead. Richard Bleier pitched a perfect 6th inning, and Dellin Betanches pitched a perfect 7th. Teixeira hit another home run, giving him 5 for the year and 399 for his career, tying him with Al Kaline. So it was 6-4 Yankees.
But the Yankees couldn't hold the lead. Miller allowed a run in the 8th to make it 6-5. Girardi brought Chapman on to close it out, but he walked the leadoff batter. Then came a rain delay that was as long as the game itself had been to this point.
When the game resumed, Girardi panicked, as he so often does, and refused to send Chapman back out there. He sent in Kirby Yates. Big mistake: He got a strikeout, then he hit 3 batters and allowed 2 singles, and the Rangers scored 4 runs.
The Yankees got 2 runners on in the bottom of the 9th, but couldn't score either of them. Rangers 9, Yankees 6. WP: Tony Barnette (5-2). SV: Sam Dyson (16). LP: Yates (2-1).
The umps should have called the game when the rain came, and it was clear that the delay wouldn't be less than half an hour. I've seen games called much earlier than that, usually to the Yankees' detriment. This time, it was resumed to the Yankees' detriment.
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The Tuesday game was worse. A pair of pitchers from the 2009 World Series opposed each other: CC Sabathia for the Yankees, and former Philadelphia Phillie Cole Hamels for the Rangers. CC allowed 2 runs in the 1st inning, but settled down, and it was still only 2-0 Rangers after 7.
For once, Girardi left a starting pitcher in too long. CC imploded in the 8th: Hit by pitch, infield single, RBI single, RBI double. Anthony Swarzak was no better: RBI single, RBI single, double play, RBI infield single.
The Yankees got a run in the bottom of the inning, for all the good it did. Rangers 7, Yankees 1. WP: Hamels (9-1). No save. LP: Sabathia (5-5).
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The Yankees went into the Wednesday night game 2 games under .500. They needed a statement game. They got 2 of them in a row.
Tanaka started, and was awful. Although his strikeout-to-walk ratio was 7-1, he allows 6 runs on 8 hits in 6 innings. Luis Cessa allowed 1 run over the last 3 innings.
Chase Headley hit a home run, his 5th of the season. Brian McCann hit his 11th in the 8th. But the Yankees went into the bottom of the 9th trailing 7-3.
Rob Refsnyder led off with a single to center. Jacoby Ellsbury drew a walk. Brett Gardner singled home Refsnyder. A-Rod lined out. McCann hit his 2nd homer of the game, his 12th of the season, and that tied it at 7-7. Castro drew a walk, and Didi Gregorius ended it with a home run, his 7th of the season, and the Yankees' 1st walkoff homer of the season.
Yankees 9, Rangers 7. WP: Cessa (1-0). No save. LP: Dyson (1-2).
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The Thursday game was a day game after a night game. But maybe that's just what the Yankees needed, to keep the momentum going.
Pineda started, and was fantastic. He allowed 1 run on 2 hits, walked 3, and struck out 12 -- in 6 innings. But, because he threw 92 pitches over those 6 innings, rather than let him continue, Girardi panicked, and went to No Runs DMC.
Actually, I can't fault that decision, since Betances (1 hit in the 7th), Miller (a perfect 8th) and Chapman (1 hit in the 9th) pitched shutout ball between them.
Pineda allowed a run in the 1st, but Gregorius died it up with his 8th homer in the 5th. The game went to the bottom of the 9th tied 1-1.
Barnette took the mound for the Rangers. He walked Headley to start the inning. Gregorius bunted him over to 2nd. Hicks drew a walk -- perhaps an "unintentional intentional walk," to fill 1st base and set up an inning-ending double play. Castro grounded to 1st, and that moved the runners over, 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs.
The batter was Ellsbury. Would he come through for the Yankees? We never found out: Barnette threw a pitch too low, and Rangers catcher Robinson Chirinos couldn't handle it. Headley scored -- a walkoff passed ball, a pretty rare play, but one that helped the Yankees this time.
Yankees 2, Rangers 1. WP: Chapman (2-0). No save. LP: Barnette (5-3).
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So the Yankees go into this weekend at .500, 39-39. They are 8 games behind the Baltimore Orioles in the American League Eastern Division, and 3 games behind the Red Sox for the 2nd AL Wild Card slot.
They begin a 3-game series on the Coast tonight, away to the San Diego Padres. Come on you Bombers!