Yankees 12, Cardinals 8

Happy Birthday Jorge Posada! A member of the beloved "Core Four". If you poke around the Catcher Jaws Leaders at baseball-reference.com, and sort the major categories, you'll see that Posada fall in about the top twenty of most of them. Per JAWS he's 19th, his career WAR (42.7) is 18th, and his WAR7 is 16th. He's tenth all time in home runs by catchers, 12th in RBI. Posada was on the IBWAA Hall of Fame ballot in 2017, and dropped after receiving only 3.7% of the vote. Combine his batting prowess, his contributions to four World Series champions, and reputation for grittiness and toughness, and I think he deserves a second look. Maybe he will get one in an Eras committee vote in the future.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/posadjo01.shtml https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/Jorge-Posada/

Quick Stats: The Yankees are 66-57 and in third place in the American League East. They currently hold the last Wild Card spot, two and a half games ahead of Cleveland. Max Fried got the win, maybe the ugliest of his career, and is now 13-5. He's second in MLB in wins. I know pitcher wins don't mean much, especially when looking at a game like tonight, but please indulge this writer's nostalgic memory of when pitcher wins were a big deal. David Bednar saved his second game in two days, a brief one-out effort. Big Story: Just like Friday, the Yankees jumped out to a lead in the first inning, when Aaron Judge doubled in Trent Grisham, and Jasson Dominguez added an RBI single.

A 2-0 first inning lead with your ace on the mound is a nice place to be. Usually. St. Louis got one back in the bottom of the first, in part to Dominguez misplaying Alec Burleson's probable single into a triple. They added four more in the second, the big blow a three run home run by Masyn Winn. Now, the Yanks were down 5-2 an in danger of having the game spin out of control early. Judge came back and smacked a solo home run in the third, and Ben Rice crushed a three run shot in the fourth. All the while Fried settled in and tossed three scoreless frames. Heading into the sixth, the Yankees were up 6-5, and unlike Friday, they got more when Rice ripped a double with the bases loaded, and it was now 9-5.

Aaron Boone tried to get some more out of Fried, sending him out for the sixth inning, but unfortunately the Cardinals bounced right back when Nolan Gorman hit a two-run homer. Fried's day was done, and Devin Williams came in from the pen. The much maligned Williams struck out the three batters he faced, stopping the bleeding. Stopping the Cardinals comeback cold at this point was a big deal, and if there is such a thing as a clutch sixth inning moment, this was one. Once again, the Yankees were not done, as Ryan McMahon led off the seventh with his first home run as a Yankee. Jose Caballero then walked, stole second and third bases, and was driven in by a Rice single. After a Jazz Chisholm Jr. sacrifice fly, the Yankees were up 12-7! Yerry De los Santos tossed two scoreless innings. Mark Leiter Jr. tried to close it out but yielded a home run and two singles and Boone decided he wasn't fooling around and went to David Bednar. Three pitches later, the game was over. Yankees win, 12-8. Player of the Game: What a game by Rice - three hits, seven RBI! Notable Performances: Caballero had another real good game from the ninth spot in the batting order - two hits, a walk, two stolen bases, three runs scored...Grisham had four hits and scored four runs...since his implosion of August 8th, Williams has faced nine batters over three outings, and has struck out seven of them. Better to Forget: I'm sure Fried isn't satisfied with his outing, or his recent performance (7.00 ERA since the All-Star break) but he held on just enough to not overly drain the bullpen. They Said It: "He's hit the ball hard all year" - Aaron Boone on Ben Rice. My Take: A couple of gutsy wins in a row is a good thing, and hopefully in indicator of a good run coming up. For now though, the Yanks have won another series, which is exactly what they need to do. It's good to see the bats warm up - fifteen hits! Aaron Judge is batting .218 with two home runs in ten games since his return to the lineup. He looked real good last night with a double and a home run. Hopefully he's getting into a groove soon. On another note, I like to run. I'm no marathoner like out esteemed leader Paul, but I enjoy the challenge of pushing myself as much as I can, which isn't as much as I used to! I've taken to listening to podcasts on my runs and the Hall of Fame podcast with Jon Paul Morosi has become a favorite. Really, really good interviews with Hall of Famers. I particularly enjoyed a recent episode with Pat Gillick, General Manager of the Blue Jays, Mariners, Orioles, and Phillies. https://baseballhall.org/podcast . Try it out! Next Up: Go for the sweep! Will Warren (7-5, 4.34) has a 1.93 ERA over his last four starts. He looks to keep up his hot streak against Miles Mikolas (6-9, 4.97). Gametime is 2:15.