The Pinstriped Baseball Lane

New York Yankees vs. Baltimore Orioles, 7-31-2020, Free MLB Picks And Predictions

Boston Red Sox (2-4) @ New York Yankees (3-1)

MLB Baseball: Friday, July 31,2020 @7:05 PM (Yankees Stadium)

Ryan Weber (RHP,0-1,14.73 ERA) vs. Jordan Montgomery (LHP, 0-0, – – -ERA)

Well, if you weren’t following last night’s Yankees-Orioles game, then you missed history in the making. Everyone in the New York Yankees universe understand pretty clearly that the Yanks are alphas against the Baltimore Orioles, but it won’t last forever, and that is why the pinstriped organization is making the most of it.

While last night was a well fought match on both sides of the aisle, the Yanks broke out the heavy artillery to capture an 8-6 victory over the O’s. Both sides made sure they were ready offensively, but the Yankees always have the implement of surprise on their side. One through nine in their offense can cause damage, and all it took was a heavy blow of one of the big bats to win the ballgame.

Bryan Hoch put it best, when he reported, “It wasn’t too late to ‘All Rise’, and Aaron Judge ensured that their good times could carry on for a while longer…” Hoch reported in his article that, “…Judge launched a titanic three-run homer in the ninth inning, powering New York’s 8-6 victory over the Orioles. With the home opener on deck, the blast sent the Yanks to their buses celebrating an 18th consecutive victory over Baltimore, and their 17th straight win at Camden Yards.”

Talk about a game for the record books. Gosh, if I were on a team that always seem to rank low in the standings, I would not want to go up against a team that could make an impact at any given moment.

Judge said, “We’re never out of a game. With this offense that we have, guys that can get on base with power — it doesn’t matter if it’s a one-run lead, two-run lead, three-run lead. I think we’ve always got a shot going into every inning.”

The power drive off right-hander Cole Sulser by Judge came with Gio Urshela and DJ LeMahieu aboard. I believe that it was Judge’s third career go-ahead homer in the ninth inning or later. It came after Baltimore’s Pedro Severino hit a two-run homer in the eighth off Jonathan Loaisiga, with the right-hander in his third inning of relief following a rain delay of one hour and 34 minutes.

“We had a couple of big at-bats to finally get that big hit to finally break through,” said manager Aaron Boone, who added that right-hander Tommy Kahnle was not available, promising that the club would provide more details on Friday. “For guys to continue to grind on a rainy night, a long night, I’m proud of that effort that guys were able to stay locked in.”

Hoch also reported in detail that, ” Zack Britton struck out two in a perfect ninth for his second save, recording his 500th punchout in the process. New York’s 18 consecutive victories over the O’s is the club’s third-longest winning streak versus a single opponent in franchise history, behind a 21-game streak vs. the St. Louis Browns in 1927 and a 19-game streak over the Athletics from 1938-39…” The Yankees’ beat report also reported that, the 17 straight wins at Camden Yards are a franchise record for a road winning streak.

Judge also told the media after the game that, “….It’s just a hitter-friendly park…” The Yankee right fielder made it a point by saying that, “…You saw that tonight, with the majority of the runs coming off home runs. They’ve got a short fence in left-center and right-center. If you get it up in the air, it’s going to have a pretty good chance of getting out…”

The right hand hitting outfielder made a good analyzation, especially in that last sentence above because he wasn’t the only Yankee to boost the ball out. Luke Voit connected for his first career grand slam in a five-run first inning, a drive off left-hander John Means that cleared the left-center-field fence. Giancarlo Stanton continue on the healthy trend, as he also notched a run-scoring single in the first inning, part of a three-hit performance. By the time Happ took the mound, the left-hander was staked with a decent enough lead.

In my opinion, Happ could have done better in his 2020 debut. The veteran starter struggled with the long ball last season, permitting a career-high 34 home runs, and the veteran worked with his mechanics this past winter in hopes of correcting the issue. After last night, Happ knows that there is still work to be done. Hanser Alberto cracked a two-run homer in the first inning and Rio Ruiz launched a two-run shot in the second off Happ. The Yankee starter only managed to completed four innings in his season debut. So in a sense, I guess it is back to the drawing board for Happ.

As a matter of fact, Happ critiqued himself after the game. He said that he believes it is, “a tale as old as baseball with pitchers; I was rushing a little bit, I was probably anxious after they got on the board early…” The veteran lefty said he thinks it is a fixable matter, explaining that he believes “…it would have helped me get in some better counts if I had stayed on that back leg a little bit. I’ll try to focus on that…” Hopefully, now that he sees his mistake, he could have better starts for us in every game.

My View

The way I see it, the Yankees start their year off on the right foot, and you should note that they did it on the road. Now, the Bronx squad will be back on their turf to start a homestand. As they are back in the Bronx, Boone and the Yankees will be keeping a close eye on their star studded shortstop.

Gleyber Torres exited Thursday’s game in the fourth inning. He was hit on the right elbow by a Means pitch in the first inning and remained in for one more at-bat, flying out to left field in the third inning. X-rays were negative, and Torres said that he hopes to play in the Yanks’ home opener on Friday against the Red Sox.

Torres is one of the hot bats in this Yankee lineup, and so far Torres seems fine after enduring the hit. “It’s sore a little bit,” Torres said. “It’s getting better and better now. During the game, I tried to stay in but I felt really tight. I couldn’t throw 100 percent. I didn’t want to make a mistake at shortstop.”

Let’s hope he can remain healthy at the shortstop position for the reminder of the year.

After shutting down the O’s, the Yankees are back home with a 4-1 record under their belts.

Hopefully if the weather holds up, the Yanks will be defending their turf against the Boston Red Sox. If there is a game today, it will feature a lefty-righty matchup. The Yankees will recall Jordan Montgomery for his season debut and Aaron Boone will pencil him in for today’s game..

Monty was a camp standout this spring and summer, as he will be making his comeback from Tommy John surgery. The lefty appeared in two big league game(one start) last year.

On the opposition, Monty will be countered by RHP Ryan Weber. The righty will make his second start of the season after he allowed six earned runs over 3 2/3 innings of work. Weber’s first start was back on July 26th against the Orioles. The righty has made three career appearances against the Yanks and they were all in the relief role. In those games, he posted an ERA of 2.84 over 6 1/3 innings.

As both starters for today’s game will try to stay on track, the Yankees-Red Sox series should be an interesting one. I know I will be keeping an eye on how the Yanks do because they will be hosting the Sox in their Yankee Stadium opener.