Again the Indians got to the Yankees

Again the Indians got to the Yankees

By Rich Mancuso

BRONX, NEW YORK (SPORTS)- It is baseball, and once again in the Bronx Friday night the Cleveland Indians were the team that continued to give the New York Yankees problems. And for the fourth time in five games the Indians did not look like one of the worse teams in baseball.

Carlos Carrasco got his 12th win on the mound and recorded his third double digit strikeout game of the season. He was another righthander in consecutive games that the Yankees could not contend with, and his 11 strikeouts had the Yankees wondering what will await them Saturday afternoon when they oppose another righty, 11-6 Danny Salazar.

“They’ve given us trouble,” said Yankees manager Joe Girardi after a 7-3 loss. “I’ve said it always, the one thing about baseball, it doesn’t make sense.” And when the Yankees have trouble scoring runs, as they did again against Carrasco, the game will never make sense to Girardi and the Yankees.

And to be fair enough, as any astute observer of the game will say, good pitching will stop good hitting. The Yankees the past two games against Indians pitching have scored five runs, and once again that is a concern as the dog days of August continue.

But the Yankees manager is not in a panic mode. Yes. Girardi would like to see his team get the bats going again after Carrasco and two out of the Indians pen combined to strike out 13 Yankees. And it was last August 9th against Cleveland when the Yankees struck out 15 times against Indians pitching.

So there is a definite tend these last two years in that the Cleveland Indians, a team dead last in the AL central, play like a first place team against a potent but inconsistent lineup of New York Yankees. This time it was Carrasco, who was the better pitcher against the Yankees’ Masahiro Tanaka who gave up one run and five hits in 6-⅔ innings.

“They’ve pitched extremely well against us and we haven’t scored a lot of runs,” Girardi said.  Saturday afternoon when the Yankees honor one their “Core Four”, Jorge Posada, it will be Salazar the 25-year old right hander on the mound for Cleveland. Last week he got a win over New York at home, and allowed one run in 7.1 innings on four hits. 

The task will not be easy for Girardi’s team, and it also has a lot to do with an Indians’ core of good starters who have become a bright part of their dismal season. But they are building a solid foundation and for now wins over the Yankees have become a part of that building process.

“I don’t really worry about where the team is in the standings,” the Yankees Brett Gardner said when asked about the Indians’ dominance and how they have not played in the Bronx as a last place team.

He added, “Last place, first place, a loss is a loss and a win is a win. They’re obviously not in our division but every game counts just the same and we just got beat.” 

However, Carrasco had good command with his fastball and that caused Gardner to be two of his strikeout victims. The splitter and changeup also had the Yankees taking bad swings and any contact made all went for outs.  Still the Yankees know that they have two more games remaining with these Indians Saturday and Sunday, and they need to figure out a way to get out of this latest slide of their inability to score runs.

Carrasco through the first three innings allowed one hit and struck out six. Once again the Yankees, who lead baseball by a wide margin in scoring first inning runs, had difficulty with a right handed weapon that the Indians seem to have when facing the Yankees.

And the only extra base hit for the Yankees came in the fourth inning on a Carlos Beltran double. Carrasco who struggled last year has quickly become a good arsenal for manager Terry Francona and the Indians.

“I had confidence and just found it today,” said Carrasco about his seven innings of good pitching against a Yankees offense that seemed to be getting out of their hitting tailspin in the past week. “Right now everything is down and not up.”

“Everyone in the starting rotation is doing hard work,” he said about the Indians staff limiting the Yankees to five runs in the first two games. “We all pay attention to what the other guys is doing and that’s competition which is all good.”

The Yankees, though, have not found a way to figure out how to get by that competition against the Indians. They will try and find the solution by Sunday because the first place west leading Houston Astros come to the Bronx for three games starting Monday night.

If not, that half game first place lead over Toronto will not look that way in the standings.

Comment Rich Mancuso: Ring786@aol.com   Twitter@Ring786  Facebook.com/Rich Mancuso

AROUND TOWN NY: Dining Out in NEW YORK

AROUND TOWN NY: Dining Out in NEW YORK: SCAVELLO’S ON THE ISLAND PREMIERS ON CITY ISLAND! CULINARY ROAD  By Morris Gut NEW YORK (DINING OUT)-  Paul Scavello, a d...

Jack Gass! Worker used Match to Check for Gas Leak

Explosion

Jack Gass!

Worker used Match to Check for Gas Leak

By Robert Press

BRONX, NEW YORK (BRONX NEWS)- A worker using a match to check for a gas leak caused the JFK High explosion, Mayor deBlasio said.

The explosion rocked Marble Hill when the gas ignited at the Kennedy education complex. 

Mayor Bill de Blasio said a worker at the site of the gas explosion was responsible for the incident. The mayor said one worker had lit a match near a gas line to see if the gas was on. The mayor then went on to say that it looks like the building will not be in shape for opening day of the new school year. In all there are eight schools that comprise the Kennedy Campus which was one known as John F. Kennedy High School, which was closed due to continued poor performance under then Mayor Michael Bloomberg. 

The two charter schools inside the Kennedy Campus were scheduled to open for the new school year next week, and those students will be housed in the nearby INTech school building in front of the Kennedy Campus until the building reopens. Mayor de Blasio said that every student who is scheduled to attend any of the schools inside the Kennedy Campus will have a seat in a nearby school until the building can safely reopen.

“I am grateful for all of the efforts of our first responders in the aftermath of last night’s unfortunate gas explosion at John F. Kennedy High School," said Councilman Andy Conen. "While I was on the scene of the incident, the emergency response from the FDNY, NYPD, OEM and others aiding the victims was nothing short of tremendous. I am thankful for their hard work and my thoughts are with the victims who I wish a quick and full recovery.

"I will work diligently with the Mayor, Department of Education, the School Construction Authority and my other colleagues in government to ensure that the damage at the JFK campus is repaired so classes can safely take place there as soon as possible. In the meantime, the City is committed to finding a temporary location that is both a safe and productive learning environment for our students.”

At 8 p.m. on August 20, an explosion rocked the Kennedy campus home to eight schools and over 4,000 high school students. 

It appears the explosion was caused by the contractors working on refurbishing the science labs in the rear of the building, where plumbers were working on the gas lines. 

Rescue units from all over the Bronx and Upper Manhattan responded, and three of the workers were taken to the hospital with injuries, two of them serious. 

The explosion rocked the Marble Hill neighborhood and blew out windows in the building.

The force of the explosion sent some parts of the window frames, glass, and building exterior to the roadway leading to the back of the building and to the front parking lot. 

“Last night’s gas explosion at John F. Kennedy High School Campus in Marble Hill was a shock to our community," said Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz. "Though we are very fortunate that the school was not in session, my thoughts and prayers are with the three construction workers who were injured in this unfortunate incident.

"Additionally, I am very grateful to the FDNY, the NYPD, the New York City Office of Emergency Management, Mayor de Blasio, and everyone else who responded to this incident as quickly and efficiently as possible, ensuring the public’s safety. In the coming weeks we will do everything we can to make sure that John F. Kennedy High School Campus is safe and ready to open for students," Dinowitz said.

#GasLeak #Explosion #KennedyHS

BRONX NEWS: Gas Explosion Caused by Workers

BRONX NEWS: Gas Explosion Caused by Workers: Gas Explosion Caused by Workers Unsure if School will Reopen on Time By Robert Press BRONX, NEW YORK (BRONX NEWS)- A gas explosion rocked ...

Gas Explosion Caused by Workers

Gas Explosion Caused by Workers

Unsure if School will Reopen on Time

By Robert Press

BRONX, NEW YORK (BRONX NEWS)- A gas explosion rocked the Kennedy campus in Marble Hill injuring three people. The destruction leaves into question whether the school will open on time for the beginning of classes in September.

At 8 p.m. last night an explosion rocked the Kennedy campus home to 8 schools and over 4,000 high school students. 

It appears the explosion was caused by the contractors working on refurbishing the science labs in the rear of the building, where plumbers were working on the gas lines. 

Rescue units from all over the Bronx and Upper Manhattan responded, and three of the workers were taken to the hospital with injuries, two of them serious. 

The explosion rocked the Marble Hill neighborhood and blew out windows in the building.

The force of the explosion sent some parts of the window frames, glass, and building exterior to the roadway leading to the back of the building and to the front parking lot. 

Mayor Bill de Blasio arrived at the site a few hours later saying that it is not known if part or all of the building will open in September when the new school year begins, and that the building will be carefully inspected for any structural damage.

#GasExplosion #JFK #DeBlasio

BRONX NEWS: Yankees Blame Ump But Pitching Stops Them

BRONX NEWS: Yankees Blame Ump But Pitching Stops Them: Indians show good pitching can stop the Yankees By Rich Mancuso There were pitches that appeared to be out of the strike zone that w...

Yankees Blame Ump But Pitching Stops Them

Indians show good pitching can stop the Yankees

By Rich Mancuso

There were pitches that appeared to be out of the strike zone that went against the New York Yankees Thursday night in the Bronx and home plate umpire Dan Lassogna definitely was not consistent. By the ninth inning Yankees manager Joe Girardi had enough and put on a show for the fans.

Girardi was ejected after Brian McCann questioned a call third strike. At that point the Yankees, who had a late inning rally were on the doorsteps of possibly pulling out a win against the Cleveland Indians. But it was more than the strike zone of Lassogna that saw the Yankees lose 3-2 in the first of a four game series to the Indians.

Josh Tomlin got the start for Cleveland and earned his first win in almost a year by limiting New York to one run in seven innings, and the Yankees  could only get two hits off the righthander. There was a double by Chase Headley in the third inning and Alex Rodriguez accounted for the Yankees first run with a solo home run in the fourth.

But it was Tomlin, and the usual unreliable Indians’ bullpen that shut down the Yankees and not the umpire. It also proves once again that good pitching can shut down the Yankees, who hope a game like this will not get them into another tailspin at the plate.

In the eighth inning, and with Steven Drew on first, Jacoby Ellsbury struck out looking on a Bryan Shaw slider that could have been another pitch out of the strike zone. Brett Gardner followed and struck out swinging and the Yankees trailed 3-1. They would get another run in the ninth but that Ellsbury strikeout, and then the McCann strikeout was enough for Girardi.

“I thought the strikeout of Jacoby Ellsbury was four inches outside.” said Girardi who got his third ejection of the season. “I want the strike zone to be the strike zone.  I know they are not going to be perfect. It is a real important time.”

Yes it is an important time of the year. And the umpires can’t always be perfect with the Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays fighting for a divisional title, with every game possibly making a difference to determine who gets to play a wild card postseason game, or who gets to play in a best three-of-five divisional series.

However this night it was not the umpire at the plate who made the difference, and that is no matter how inconsistent the strike zone was. Tomlin, shut down the Yankees and good pitching can keep the Yankees off the base paths.

The Yankees pulled within a run in the ninth on a Carlos Beltran single. But Chase Headley and Didi Gregorius could not get to Indians’ closer Cody Allen who recorded his 24th save. The Yankees are 45-40 against the right hander starter and the next two games they get that with Carlos Carrasco ( 11-9) and Danny Salazar (11-6), both who handle the Yankees well and try to follow what Tomlin accomplished.

Against left hander starters, the Yankees are 22-13. In the postseason those are statistics that an opposing manager will evaluate when setting up the pitching rotation but that will be determined in due time, and the Yankees have to be more concerned at this point about how to attack good pitching.

In the past month, they showed how vulnerable they can be against some of the elite pitchers in baseball, facing one of the ERA leaders in the American League, Chris Archer and the fastball of David Price.

Girardi complained about the strike zone and he did have a cause for argument. However, and not to reiterate again, the Yankees could not handle the mediocre fastball of Tomlin in his second start since undergoing right shoulder surgery in March.

Said Tomlin, who has been charged with three runs and seven hits in 13 ⅓ innings since his return, “Obviously you don’t want to have the injuries. Sometimes it gets in your head but for the most part you’re out there and you’re throwing the ball pretty well. It really doesn’t creep into your head.”

Nor was he intimidated about the Yankees and their success of leading baseball with 99 runs scored in the first inning. He threw the fastball and the home run to Rodriguez was the third he allowed since his return. His win was an otherwise positive point of a disappointing season for the Indians who occupy last place in the Al Central.

“it’s fun to talk about him,” said Indians manager Terry Francona about his starter. “We’ve talked about just in a short period he’s been here how much we’re pulling for him.”

The Yankees though had no fun and it wasn’t just the strike zone calls they were getting at the plate. Having to deal with another righthander was the issue and  they don’t want to get many more games like the one Tomlin pitched against them.

Comment Rich Mancuso: Ring786@aol.com   Twitter@Ring786  Facebook.com/Rich Mancuso