Game 119: Rangers (Heaney) at Yankees (Stroman) 1:35 pm EDT

Oh, Holmes did his part as well.

yeah something didn't look right. looked like he made it more difficult than it needed to be. almost like he had the "yips" after making that great play in front of volpe earlier.

With a worn pen from the double header and the bullpen hijinks today, the Yanks wobble on to a plane for a 6 game trip. Fortunately for them, it's a gift of a trip on paper, against the horrible White Sox and a very cold Tigers team. The Tigers have lost 9 of 12 to basically drop out of Wild Card contention. But first the White Sox, who are 3/4 the way through a historically bad season. They're already over 60 games under .500 at 29-91, on pace to set the modern record for fewest wins, most losses and lowest einning percentage (post-1900). They've lost 3 in row an 24 out of 25, and there's no such thing as needing to sweep a team on the road, but the Yanks really should beat up on this team. The White Sox have an advanatage: they had a freak schedule break, a day off on a Sunday after the customary two game interleague series vs. the Cubs. They also had a day off Thursday, so their pen should be well rested, while the Yanks' pen is now worn to a frazzle. Just about all the relievers have worked back to back except Holmes, and he'll need a day off after throwing more than 40 pitches in his frankly terrible 25th save today.

All three games in Chicago are at 8:10 pm, the first two on YES, the 3rd is the (yecchh) Prime Video game for this week.

1st game tomrrow evening will have Luis Gil for the Yanks, he's recovered a lot of his early season form the last 5 games. 3-1 with a 1.93 ERA and 36 K's in 28 innings, but his control troubles have popped up again the last two starts, 8 BB in 10 1/3 innings. Lefty Ky Bush makes his 2nd major league start; in his first, he gave up 3 runs in 4 innings to the A's, taking the loss last Monday. He was the White Sox' #14 prospect at Fangraphs in January's report. His FB isn't good, but he has a good slider and a decent change to go with weak command. In AA/AAA this year, he walked 42 in not quite 100 innings. He throws 93-4 and used to throw harder, but if he stays in that range, he's more likely a long reliever than a starter, but a team that might lose 120 frequently stretches players into roles they're not capable of.

2nd game is Tuesday evening: Nestor Cortes got bombed in the 2nd game against the Angels on Thursday, but he'll try to win his 2nd straight start on the road for the Yanks. Like Stroman, if he keeps pitching the way he has the last two months, he's basically unusable in the post-season. On the year, he's 5-10 with a 4.42 ERA. The White Sox pitch another rookie, righty Jonathan Cannon, who was the #10 prospect at Fangraphs in January, and was terrible at 8 starts at AAA to open the season, but desperation forced him into Chicago's rotation in May, and he's done OK; 2-5 with a 3.91 ERA. His scouting report reads average across the board, but he's been very good lately, 3 straight start of 1 run each, in over 19 innings, and he's the one who got the win that ended the 21-game losing streak on Tuesday last week.

3rd game is Wednesday evening: No starter listed yet for the Yanks, but Cole and Rodon went yesterday, Stroman pitched today, and Gil and Cortes are going tomorrow and Tuesday, so I might have to eat my words that the hammering the Angels gave Will Warren on Wednesday was the last I'll see of him for a while. I'm not sure of that the 10-day rule applies to pitchers who were called up to be the 27th man, as Warren was for the double header 5 days ago, but if it doesn't he might get one more chance. In two starts, he's shown good stuff, but very poor command of it, going 0-1 with an ERA over 12.00. If Warren can't be recalled, the Yanks have two iffy prospositions, a bullpen game, which they don't need right now, but they do have a day off Thursday, or the recall of either Josh Maciejewski or Yoendrys Gomez for what would have to be at most, a 3- or 4-inning start, as neither are stretched out for starting full-on. If Maciejewski, he's 0-0 with a 2.57 ERA in 4 games and 7 innings for the Yanks. If Gomez, he's also 0-0 with a 3.95 ERA in 5 games and 11 innings for the Yanks. No good choices here. The White Sox have listed veteran injury rehab guy Davis Martin as their starter. He pitched at AAA and the majors last year, and was 3-5 with a 4.83 ERA in 63+ innings. He missed all of April and May and half of June; threw 7 innings at Rookie ball, 6 more at high A, and 7 more at AAA before the ChiSox called him back up two weeks ago. He made one relief appearance and Chicago threw him into the rotation; one terrible start against the Twins, and 6 shutout innings against the A's for a no-decision last Wednesday.

The Yanks avoid tough lefty Crochet, apparently. He got pummelled and knocked out early by the Cubs on Friday, so I wouldn't be at all surpised if they benched the righty Martin and pitched Crochet on normal rest on Wednesday, especially after the early knockout two days ago.

OK, extra-long series preview done, I'll check notifications.

Thought I read a rumor somehere like that, but that might have been some past year's deadline, too.

Well, Holmes certainly gave us a mini-heart attack but he did bail out Leiter in the 8th innings and picked up the save.   Hopefully when the playoffs start, the bullpen will reset and we'll see a more consistent performance.  

There are few closers that the Yankees have not knocked around at some point.  It's usually the starters that stymie them.  Once the playoffs begin, it will be interesting to see which of the Yankees' starters will be bullpen guys and which of those former relievers currently on the IL will be provided a chance to win a spot on the playoff roster.