Game 1: 8/30/21, 6:35 PM (Angels win 8-7)
Yanks have suddenly dropped their 3rd straight game as they lose a close one in the 8th. Fresh off the IL, Corey Kluber started off very strong in the first 3 innings as he held LA to 0 hits but he imploded in the 4th allowing 5 runs. New York got on the board quickly in the 1st courtesy of a Rizzo RBI double and a Stanton double play grounder that scored a run giving them a 2-0 lead. LA would take a 5-2 lead in the 4th after Kluber unraveled. After that big inning by the Angels, Yanks would bounce back with 3 runs, LeMahieu, Judge, and Stanton would all have RBI singles to tie up the game at 5. In the bottom of the 5th, Shohei Ohtani blasted his league leading 42nd homer off his former teammate Andrew Heaney to give the Halos a 6-5 advantage. They would tack on another run off of Heaney next inning making it 7-5 LA. In the 7th, Stanton would CRUSH his 25th homer of the season to tie it right back up at 7. That would be his team leading 13th homer to tie or give the Yanks a lead, been clutch this whole season and he’s been on a tear lately as he has reached safely in 24 out of the last 25 games. Unfortunately, the Halos would take the lead in the 8th off Wandy Peralta with 2 outs, super unlucky. Gotta start winning games again before the division becomes out of reach, currently 7 games back with about 30 games remaining. Peralta took the loss while Junior Guerra picked up the win.
Game 2: 8/31/21, 6:35 PM (Angels win 6-4)
Another bad loss for the Yanks as Tallion has a rough outing and the offense grounded into FIVE double plays. After pitching to a 1.25 ERA in July & August, Tallion now has a 8.20 ERA in his last 3 starts, has considerably cooled down. Yanks scored a run in the 4th and 5th thanks to solo homers by Rizzo and Sanchez, but Tallion would give up 6 runs himself in those 2 innings. Angels led 6-2 after the 5th, later Yanks would tack on 2 in the 8th with an RBI single by Judge and a sac fly by Stanton to cut it to 6-4. They had multiple chances but either hit into a double play or struck out, very bad situational hitting in this one. Of course on top of these 4 straight losses, Tampa has a 9 game winning streak because of course they do. Super frustrating. Tallion took the loss while Jimmy Herget got the win.
Game 3: 9/1/21, 4:10 PM (Yanks win 4-1)
Gerrit Cole. Cole was locked in and pounded fastballs all night long. This was a vintage performance and probably won himself AL CY Young with this start. He went 7 innings and give up 1 run while striking out 15 batters of the 21 outs he recorded. He took the league lead in strikeouts, passing Zach Wheeler. Yanks jumped out to a 3-0 lead which always feels like enough with Cole pitching, Voit drove in 2 runs on a single to left in the 3rd and Gardner had himself an RBI single in the 4th. Halos picked up a run in the 6th but Judge would blast his 30th homer of the year. Judge on the season is slashing .299/.389/.545 with 30 homers and 75 RBI’s, he’s having a great season and MVP caliber, he won’t win MVP but he’s certainly gonna snag a lot of MVP votes. Cole picked up his 14th win and rookie Packy Naughton took the loss.
My thoughts:
The Yankees can’t afford to lose 2/3 games to the Angels, but thankfully they took the final game with Cole pitching. Tampa lost as well, so they gained a game on Tampa. Yanks have the 3rd easiest remaining schedule while Tampa has the 5th hardest schedule so we should be able to pick up some wins which leads up to a final 3 game set with Tampa in the Bronx to finish up the regular season. This set could be for the division. Sit tight Yankee fans, we're just getting started!
What’s next?
The Angels stay home and welcome in the division rival Texas Rangers for a meaningless 4 game set. The Yanks finally head back home after a long road trip that they finished 5-4 in. They will take on the AWFUL Baltimore Orioles in a 3 game set that they should definitely sweep, anything less than a sweep is embarrassing. Keep winning!
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