Series 37: NYYankees @ Blue Jays (Tues., Wed., Thurs. Aug. 8 to 10, 2017)

[hockeyfan1]

                                                      @




Place:     Rogers Centre   Toronto,  ON


Tues. Aug.8
Starting Pitchers:     J.A. Happ       LH (Jays)        4-8  3.92 ERA
                              C.C Sabathia  LH (Yankees)   9-4  3.81 ERA
Time:                      7PM
TV/Radio:               Sportsnet,  The FAN 590


Wed. Aug. 9
Starting Pitchers:     Cesar Valdez        RH      (Jays)  1-  1  7.63 ERA
                              Masahiro Tanaka  RH (Yankees) 8-10  4.93 ERA
Time:                     7PM
TV/Radio:               Sportsnet,  The FAN 590


Wed. Aug.1
Starting Pitchers:    Marco Estrada     RH (Jays)         4-7    5.12  ERA
                             Sonny Gray         RH (Yankees)    6-6    3.41  ERA
Time:                     7PM
TV/Radio:              Sportsnet,  The FAN 590


Source:   theStar.com,  MLB.com

[hockeyfan1]

The New York Yankees begin a three-game series against their rivals the Toronto Blue Jays here in Toronto.

The Yankees (59-51) fresh off an 8-1 victory over Cleveland Indians Sunday night, are 3 GBL Boston Red Sox in the A.L. East and 2.5 atop the WC spot.
The Yankees, who acquired pitcher Sonny Gray from the Oakland Athletics to bolster their rotation, in their quest to grab the division lead from the Bosox.

The Blue Jays (52-59) coming from a 7-6 letdown from the Houston Astros in Sunday's game, remain mired in last place in their division, 10.5 GBL Boston in the A.L. East, and 5.0 GB for the WC spot.  The Jays have failed to make any inroads in the standings, and now embark on their 10 game homestead beginning with this series versus New York.

According to FanGraphs analysis, Toronto's chances to make the postseason is a paltry 4.3% at this stage in the season.  On the opposite end, the Yankees are pegged at 74%.  For the WC probabilities, New York stands at  55% while the Jays are at 3.9%.

While these are probable projections calculated and determined by grouping and analyzing certain analytics of the teams so far in the season, they are by no means completely absolute. 
For the Jays though, unfortunately it may be simply too late to make any headway to climb into a WC spot.  Jays fans are still hopeful with a very very very narrow window of opportunity.  If the teams ahead of them suddenly fall off a cliff, and the Jays begin winning like never before......

Aaron Judge, the Yankees wunderkind,  has fanned out in twenty-four consecutive games.  Yes, struck out.  He's also in the midst of a slight slump.  Not against the Jays, for Judge sports 14 RBIs, 6 homers and 15 hits in 40 at-bats.  Not uplifting numbers for Jays pitchers but not a lost cause neither. 

The good news for the Blue Jays is their pitching, er, pitchers namely Happ and Estrada who have improved in their last few outings.  Particularly true for Happ who is 4-4 in his last seven of ten games, with a an ERA of 3.32.

GO JAYS GO!

[Captain Canuck]

Valdez is on the DL, get ready for Tepesch Mode tomorrow night!  :P

Nice job by Happ in the opener and Donaldson is really starting to get it together since he took that stupid guard off his batting helmet.

No chance at the playoffs, it's all about the small victories and building for next year at this point.

[hockeyfan1]

Yankees 11  Blue Jays  5

For Jays starter Nick Tepesch, it wasn't exactly the way he probably envisioned his debut  with his new team since being acquired at the deadline.

Tepesch had allowed five runs and struck out four when in came Leonel Campos and especially rookie reliever Taylor Cole.  Neither of the two could keep the Jays within distance of the Yankee lead, as Cole allowwd a total od five runs in two separate innings (the eighth & ninth) and game way out if reach by then.  Sigh.  Natch.

The way Toronto kept coming back, one could say that they see themselves vying for the WC spot, being 5.5 GB the rest of the pack.  Well maybe, but each loss  will only serve to dim that goal even further.  With an already tired bullpen, dunno....

Game recap:
http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/yankees-use-long-ball-early-pad-lead-win-blue-jays/

[Captain Canuck]

3 good starts in a row for Estrada, time to sell high while he has some value. With the rotation in shambles though, it probably can't happen until Biagini returns from Buffalo.

Bautista has been hot as of late too, would be nice to see him leave Toronto on a high note. 

As bad as the season has gone the Jays hold a 7-6 edge over the Yankees in the season series.

[hockeyfan1]

Taking two out of three at home over the Yankees feels good anytime!  :)

Nice to see Estrada get his mojo back.  About time, too.  It was his first win since May 27.

Good win.

[Andy]

3 good starts in a row for Estrada, time to sell high while he has some value. With the rotation in shambles though, it probably can't happen until Biagini returns from Buffalo.

Bautista has been hot as of late too, would be nice to see him leave Toronto on a high note. 

As bad as the season has gone the Jays hold a 7-6 edge over the Yankees in the season series.

It's a shame about that 6-17 start. They haven't exactly torn up the league since but they've been over .500 and would be in a WC spot if, say, they played at least .500 those games.

Those blown saves by Osuna kind of hurt too  :-X