Can Celtics Be First NBA Team To Go From 0-3 To 4-3?Fun Fact We All Know & Love: The Red Sox Are The Only MLB Team To Do It!

UPDATE: Heat 103, Celtics 84

Heat    - 22  30  24  27 - 103
Celtics - 15  26  25  18 -  84

Boston's last lead in the game was 11-10 with 3:30 left in the first quarter. They trailed 52-41 at the half. The Celtics came as close as seven points several times in the third quarter (66-59, 69-62, 71-64), but could not cut into the Heat's lead any more than that. Miami (12-6 in this postseason) will face the Denver Nuggets (12-3) in the Finals.

On Sunday, May 21, the Miami Heat trounced the Boston Celtics by 26 points and took a 3-0 lead in the best-of-7 Eastern Conference Finals.

The Celtics will host Game 7 of that series tonight in Boston. No NBA team has ever come back from 0-3 to win a best-of-seven series. Teams are currently 0-for-150.

2023 Eastern Conference Finals

G1: Heat 123, Celtics 116
G2: Heat 111, Celtics 105
G3: Heat 128, Celtics 102
G4: Celtics 116, Heat 99
G5: Celtics 110, Heat 99
G6: Celtics 104, Heat 103
G7:

Three teams have fought back to play Game 7, but all three -- the visiting team, in each case -- lost the seventh game. The Celtics are the first 0-3 team to force a Game 7 at home.

L L L W W W L

1951 Finals: New York Knicks lost to Rochester Royals
1994 Western Conference Semifinals: Denver Nuggets lost to Utah Jazz
2003 Western Conference First Round: Portland Trail Blazers lost to Dallas Mavericks

Only one major league baseball team has accomplished an 0-3 to 4-3 comeback. In October 2004, the Boston Red Sox lost Games 1, 2, and 3 of the ALCS to the New York Yankees, before winning Games 4, 5, 6 and 7. The Red Sox went on to sweep the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series, winning their first championship in 86 years. It's a hell of a story. Since then, the Red Sox have won three additional World Series titles.

Tonight's Game 7 was made possible by Derrick White's miraculous tip-in on Saturday night in Miami. As seen below, the basketball left his fingers with fewer than one-tenth of one second remaining on the clock, and the Celtics down by one point.

ESPN:

It was just the second time in league history a buzzer-beater happened with a team facing elimination at the moment. The other was Michael Jordan's legendary "The Shot" in 1989 to lift the Chicago Bulls over the Cleveland Cavaliers in their first-round series.

With Boston's victory Saturday night, the Celtics won their fifth road elimination game in the past two postseasons, not quite the iconic Bill Russell's 10-0 record in Game 7s, but this is Page 1 Celtics history material here. . . .

White . . . inbounded the ball to Smart and then sprinted down the sideline. When Smart launched it, White was 20 feet away, standing near the corner around the 3-point line.

By the time the ball spun out, White had somehow gotten himself to the rim. . . .

"I mean, it don't do no good to stand in the corner there," White said later . . . "Whether he makes it or not, so I just was crashing the glass, and it came right to me."

Poetry in Motion ☘️ pic.twitter.com/VaLcG9QjQg

— 𝙍𝙞𝙡𝙚𝙮 ☘️ (@CelticsRiley) May 28, 2023

Can't stop thinking about itpic.twitter.com/eBgmbMcebJ

— CelticsNation (57-25) (11/16) (@CookedByCeltics) May 29, 2023

$7.90 — Cheap

As seen at Amazon.com, May 29, 3:00 AM (ET).

After Investigation, NBC Sports Fires A's Broadcatser Who Said Racial Slur On Air

After conducting an internal review, NBC Sports California has fired Oakland Athletics broadcaster Glen Kuiper, effective immediately. 

Kuiper was suspended on May 5, after uttering a racial slur during a segment before a game against the Royals. Kuiper mentioned visiting the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, but he uttered a racial slur when he should have said "Negro".

Kuiper kept on talking after uttering the slur while his booth partner, former pitcher Dallas Braden, did not  react at all. After numerous people wondered about Braden's non-reaction, he explained he hadn't heard the slur because of the "nuances of live television". 

It was not until the sixth inning that Kuiper vaguely referred to the incident, stating that something he said "didn't come out quite the way I wanted it to". The Athletics called using the slur "unacceptable". After  Kuiper was suspended, he issued another statement: "I could not be more sorry and horrified by what I said. I hope you will accept my sincerest apologies."

Associated Press:

A person familiar with the investigation said "the decision was based on a variety of factors, including information uncovered in the internal review." The person spoke on condition of anonymity and didn't divulge specific details because the network had not publicly disclosed the results of the investigation.

I'm assuming at least some of the "information uncovered" in NBC Sports' internal review included additional racist slurs used by Kuiper. He had been broadcasting A's games for more than 16 years and if his slate was clean during all that time and he was truly horrified, I can't see NBC firing him for uttering one repulsive word on the air. However, his initial apology was very lame and he made no real reference to what he said in his second statement either.

Red Sox Trade For A Pitcher Who Is One Year Younger Than This Blog!

On Thursday, August 12, 2004, the Red Sox shutout the Devil Rays 6-0.

The Right Arm of God pitched a complete game with 10 strikeouts, allowing six hits and zero walks. The Pro had two doubles, a single, a walk, and scored two runs. Approximately two months away from going through (and creating) some crazy shit, Flo went 3-for-5 and drove in two runs.

Also on that day, Diego Hernández as born in Pueblo, Mexico.

Hernández, now 18 but still one year younger than this blog*, was traded today by the Yankees to the Red Sox, only the seventh time in the last 55 years that the two long-time rivals have swapped players. Hernández pitched in the Dominican Summer League last year. In exchange, New York got outfielder Greg Allen, who played in 15 games for them in 2021.

*: Post #1 was on August 26, 2003. This is Post #9,290.

The Joy of Sox post for that 2004 game is here. The week before, the Red Sox had finally stopped dicking around – they'd been playing .500 ball for three months – and started a hot streak that showed everyone what they could do. From August 7 to September 8, Boston went 26-5.

And from October 17-27, they went eight and motherfucking oh. You probably didn't need the reminder, but . . .

Thomas Harrigan (mlb.com) goes through the seven previous trades. In 1997, four months after getting Tony Armas Jr. from the MFY, Boston sent him on to Montreal as the final player in the Pedro Martinez deal. (Thanks, Yanks!)

But then Harrigan fucks it all up at the end by including Babe Ruth under "Other Notable Trades". That was not a fucking trade. Yes, Boston exchanged Ruth's contract for cash, which is just as good as money, but that's usually – and correctly – referred to as a goddamn sale. Harrigan writes that it might be "the most famous sports transaction ever" (I'd say it is, no might be about it) and he does use the word "purchased", but it's the last item in an article about trades. It's been 103 years since that infamous event and sportswriters still can't correctly relate the most simple fact about it.

Ruth & Ohtani: Only Players With 100+ HR As Batter, 500+ Strikeouts As PitcherPlus: A Digression On Official RBI Stats

NL/AL Players With 100+ HR As A Batter & 500+ Strikeouts As A Pitcher

                          HR     K
Babe Ruth:     1914-35   714   501
Shohei Ohtani: 2018-23   135   507 (as of May 10, 2023)

This means that Ohtani broke Ruth's record for most strikeouts by a player with 100+ home runs.

When I went to Baseball Reference to find how many strikeouts Ruth the Pitcher had, the number was 488. However, this MLB.com article states Ruth is credited with 501 strikeouts as a pitcher, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, MLB's official statistician.

Ruth's totals on certain stat sites show 488 career strikeouts, but that does not match up when adding up the totals from his game logs. There are a number of discrepancies in terms of record-keeping from baseball's early years, and Elias's tally is considered the official number.

Discrepancies do still exist, even with all of the research done over more than fifty years since The Baseball Encyclopedia made its grand entrance back in 1969.

I found one of those discrepancies back in January. I was looking at Joe Sewell's page. He struck out  only three times in 576 plate appearances in 1932! That was not an anomoly. In 1925, Sewell struck out four times in 699 plate apeparances, but if you scroll through his game logs for that season, you will count five strikeouts.

Assuming an error or an incomplete update, I submitted a report through the website noting the difference. I received this reply:

There are known discrepancies between the game logs produced recently and the season totals produced historically. Retrosheet keeps a list of such discrepancies on their site - Joe Sewell's can be found here:

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/S/PDsewej101.htm

As researcher time permits, efforts will be made to reconcile these two differences and deduce the correct season and/or game total. For further reading, please see:

http://www.retrosheet.org/DiscrepanciesWithOfficialData.pdf

Elias does amazing work, but I do have one big issue. Because Runs Batted In was not considered an official statistic before 1920, Elias does not include pre-1920 RBIs in its player stats. However, they do include all of the other stats from any applicable years. 

Back in April 2019 ("my, my, the time do fly"), I started a post with the title: "Q: How Can You Hit 49 Home Runs And Have 0 RBI?" I never went back and finished it. It's not unusual. I have dozens of draft posts. This is the text:

A: When your name is Babe Ruth and you hit the home runs before 1920.

The Elias Sports Bureau, which is the official statistician for Major League Baseball, credits Babe Ruth with hitting 49 home runs prior to 1920, but does not give him credit for any RBI because runs batted in were not recognized as an official statistic until 1920.

An Elias official was quoted a few years ago as saying Ruth "didn't lose [the RBI]. He never had them."

But Ruth does have the home runs - and the runs scored - in his career totals. And, of course, he did drive in runs before RBI was an official stat: 224, according to most accounts.

During his major league career, which began in 1914, Ruth drove in 2,214 runs. However, Elias states Ruth drove in 1,994 runs, because it insists he had zero RBI in his first six seasons (before 1920).

This confusion came up again last night when Albert Pujols hit a two-run homer in the first inning against the Royals, giving him 1,995 career RBI, which this MLB.com story says put him past Lou Gehrig into 4th place all-time.

* * *

Interestingly, some non-Ruth players, including superstars like Ty Cobb, are credited with pre-1920 RBIs by Elias.

Cobb has 1,961 career RBI, according to tycobb.org, which says the stats have been "provided courtesy of Elias Sports Bureau". And in this case, the Elias' RBI number is higher than BRef, which has 1,944.

Again, discrepancies exist.

What all this means is that from 1914-19, Babe Ruth hit 181 singles, 82 doubles, 30 triples, and 49 home runs and drove in no runs. This is according to MLB's official statistician.

From Twitter, May 9, 2023:

Shohei Ohtani this season:
141 OPS+, better than Ichiro Suzuki's best season
181 ERA+, better than Max Scherzer's best season

The thing that blows my mind the most about Ohtani is that not only is he maybe the best pitcher in baseball and can hit a ball 450 with ease, but he’s also legitimately one of the fastest players in all of baseball. It just makes no sense.
pic.twitter.com/raLNUsBmz6

— MLB Metrics (@MLBMetrics) April 24, 2023

Neither Babe nor Ohtani and from a little while ago, but . . . what the hell?

He did it again lol you cannot make this up

6 home runs in his last 12 at bats.pic.twitter.com/UyCx0v8kDC

— MLB Metrics (@MLBMetrics) April 16, 2023

The AL Eastral

After Tuesday's games, the American League East and Central standings appear to comprise one 10-team league – the AL Eastral:

Yoshida Named AL Player Of Week; Has Not Yet Swung & Missed This Month

Masataka Yoshida was named the American League Player of the Week.

In six games, Yoshida batted .480/.519/.800 for a 1.319 OPS. Two doubles, two home runs, eight runs batted in. Zero strikeouts. In fact, he has not swung at and missed a single pitch in May.

Of the 90 pitches he has seen this month:

Called strike      23
Swinging strike     0
Ball               36
Foul                5
Hit by pitch        1
In play, out       13
In play, hit       12

Yoshida leads the Red Sox in average (.321), getting on base (.403), and is second in slugging (.536). He has the team's best OPS (.939). And his hitting streak is currently at 16 games.

The Red Sox (21-15) are in Atlanta (24-11) tonight.

Schadenfreude 339 (A Continuing Series)

Greg Joyce, Post:

There is losing a rubber game, and then there is what the Yankees experienced across three-plus hours on Sunday afternoon.

Long after taking a 6-0 lead and blowing it with Gerrit Cole on the mound, the Yankees came back to force extra innings before suffering a crushing loss. The Rays walked it off for an 8-7 win in 10 innings . . .

The Yankees had missed a chance to take the lead in the top of the 10th with Aaron Hicks on third and one out. With the infield in, Gleyber Torres grounded to shortstop and Hicks took off on a contact play . . . but had no shot of scoring. He ended up getting tagged out in a rundown that lasted long enough to get Torres to third, but Rizzo struck out to end the threat.

The Yankees, who went 1-for-15 with runners in scoring position . . .

It was hard to see a 10th inning being necessary when the Yankees took a 6-0 lead into the bottom of the fifth with Cole on the mound. . . .

[T]he Rays got to Cole for two runs in that fifth — including a solo shot by Jose Siri, the first home run Cole allowed this season after going his first 51 innings without surrendering one.

Then in the sixth, they piled on four more runs off Cole and squeezed another out of Cordero to take the 7-6 lead in the blink of an eye.

Cole started the sixth by giving up back-to-back doubles and then issuing a walk. Cordero was ready in the bullpen, but Boone stuck with Cole, who promptly gave up a game-tying, three-run home run to Christian Bethancourt.

"In hindsight, probably should have got him [before Bethancourt]," Boone said. . . .

Gary Phillips, Daily News:

A 6-0 lead should have been more than enough to beat the Rays, especially with Gerrit Cole on the mound. But little has gone well for the Yankees outside of their ace this year, and Cole finally contributed to a sorry stretch . . . 

Cole surrendered his first two home runs of the season, the first coming off the bat of No. 9 hitter Jose Siri in the fifth inning. . . . [T]he Rays added another run on a fluky play involving Gleyber Torres and Oswaldo Cabrera, and more trouble followed in the sixth.

First, Isaac Paredes's RBI double cut the Yankees' lead to three. It then evaporated altogether when Christian Bethancourt, the Rays' No. 8 hitter, crushed a three-run homer off Cole to straightaway center. The blast knocked Cole out of the game . . .

"It feels awful," Cole added of blowing the Yankees' six-run lead. . . .

The Rays weren't done scoring in the sixth, as Jimmy Cordero failed to look Siri back on a chopper to the first base side of the mound. Siri, who took off from second and never stopped, scored on the throw to first — and barreled over the home plate ump in the process.

Mark W. Sanchez, Post:

Gerrit Cole . . . served up two dingers and coughed up a six-run lead in an 8-7, 10-inning defeat to the Rays at Tropicana Field on Sunday. . . .

Cole had rolled through four scoreless innings, in which he needed 60 pitches, before trouble arose in the fifth.

With one out in a game the Yankees led, 6-0, Cole threw a first-pitch, down-the-middle four-seamer to Jose Siri, who drilled a home run to center. The Rays added an unearned run in the frame on two singles and an error, and the game would fall apart an inning later.

In the sixth inning, Harold Ramirez (on an inside fastball) and Isaac Paredes (on a down-the-middle slider) knocked back-to-back doubles before Cole lost a battle with Manuel Margot, who walked on eight pitches.

The Yankees' lead was down to 6-3.

Aaron Boone . . . stuck with Cole, who had thrown 94 pitches.

His 95th was a down-the-middle slider to Christian Bethancourt, who hammered a game-tying, three-run home run. . . .

Cole led the majors in homers allowed last season (33). . . .

"They were able to capitalize on a few mistakes," Boone said.

Mark W. Sanchez, Post:

There are games in which physical and mental mistakes are incidental and inconsequential.

Against a club that is off to a historic start, the Yankees did not have room for any kind of error.

Fundamental issues burned the Yankees in the 8-7, 10-inning loss to the Rays at Tropicana Field on Sunday . . .

The most obvious gaffe arose in the sixth inning of a game that was tied.

Jimmy Cordero entered, walked Tampa Bay's Jose Siri and advanced the runner to second on a wild pitch.

Siri would score on an error, but a mental one.

Siri took off for third base and got a big jump.

Cordero delivered to Yandy Diaz, who hit a tapper in between the mound and first base.

Cordero fielded it and did not check on Siri, who rounded third and kept coming home.

Cordero threw to first baseman DJ LeMahieu for the second out of the inning, but Siri scored all the way from second on a ball that traveled a couple feet. . . .

[T]he Rays [are] the seventh team since 1901 to win 19 of its first 22 home games . . .

 

A's Announcer Glen Kuiper Says "The N-Word" On Air, Doesn't Correct HimselfHe Offered A Weak Apology Six Innings Later & Has Been Suspended

Before Saturday's Athletics-Royals game, Oakland announcer Glen Kuiper talked about a few of the fun things to do in Kansas City. He would end up apologizing for uttering a racial slur and be suspended indefinitely.

In the clip below, Dallas Braden, Kuiper's overly-bearded booth partner, didn't hear anything out of the ordinary, apparently. Kuiper, who turns 60 later this month, made no attempt to correct himself.

For those asking why Glen Kuiper just made an on-air apology, here's why. pic.twitter.com/k1we7gf3GT

— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) May 6, 2023

It was not until the SIXTH inning that Kuiper's comment was addressed, albeit obliquely.

I’m not sure what was said, but #Athletics TV Broadcaster Glen Kuiper opened the 6th-inning with an on-air apology. pic.twitter.com/AZQVL3kuJG

— Joe Hughes (@VegasJoeHughes) May 6, 2023

Welcome back to Kauffman's – welcome back to Kauffman Stadium. I just wanted to – a little bit earlier in the show I said something – [it] didn't come out quite the way I wanted it to. Umm – and I just wanted to apologize, if – if it – if it sounded different than I meant it to be said. [As I] said, I just wanted to apologize for that.

I would love to hear the thoughts of a linguist concerning the possibility of accidentially mixing up these two words. To my ears, the words begin immediately with disimilar sounds, leading me to think it would be unlikely that someone would stumble and say one instead of the other (perhaps especially so for a baseball announcer, since he or she will say "the Negro Leagues" from time to time).

Kuiper's apology was extremely weak. It wasn't as bad as saying "I'm sorry if anyone was offended", but it also wasn't much better.

First, he failed to offer any information concerning what he was apologizing for, undoubtedly confusing fans who had not seen the pre-game stuff.

Second, if he was truly embarrassed and wanted to make sure the audience knew what a mistake this was, why wouldn't he scribble some notes (at the very least) so he doesn't go wandering through the bramble and say some odd shit.

Third, the word "Negro" "didn't come out quite the way [he] wanted it to". Yeah, it was damn close, but not quite. Again, after saying it in the pre-game, Kuiper made absolutely no attempt to correct himself.

Fourth, he's offering this apology "if [the word] sounded different than" what he meant to say. It sure did! In fact, you said it so clearly, that's why you're giving this lame-ass apology in the first place. No need to qualify it with the "if".

I saw this comment on Kuiper's apology: "I'm sorry if you heard exactly what I said."

Red Sox Win 7th Straight; Sale Is Solid Again, Yoshida Hits In 15th Straight GameSlumping Yankees Settle In Basement: 10 GB After 8 Losses In Last 12 Games

The Red Sox won their seventh consecutive game on Friday night, as Masataka Yoshida extended his hitting streak to 15 games and Chris Sale struck out 10 Phillies in six innings.

Elsewhere, the 2023 AL East champion Rays improved to 27-6 (18-2 at home!) by pushing the last-place Yankees aside 5-4, dropping Boonie's Blundering Bunch a lovely 10 games out of first place.

It's been an odd five weeks for Boston. After the season-opening series, it was feast or famine for a while. The Red Sox went 0-3 against the Pirates, 3-0 against the Tigers, 0-4 against the Rays, and 3-0 against the Angels before dropping that series' finale. Last Saturday's extra-inning walkoff win against the Guardians kicked off this current winning streak, which included a four-game sweep of the Blue Jays at Fenway.

Yoshida's turnaround has been wonderful. Back on the morning of April 19, through 13 games, Yoshida's slash stats were .167/.310/.250, a weak .560 OPS. He made a few adjustments to his batting stance, in consultation with assistant hitting coach Luis Ortiz and has hit safely (and shown nice power) in every game since.

I can pick out the balls that I should swing at, so I think that's why I'm doing well. I'm focused on my batting form, especially my stance. . . . I'm stepping with my right foot back a little bit. Then, it makes me more comfortable to see the ball. I haven't changed anything swing-wise. . . . I learned the pitchers in MLB prefer to use heaters up in the zone. I figured that out.

Yes, he has. Five weeks in, and Yoshida has shown he will rake in the majors, without question. Over his last 15 games, Yoshida is 26-for-60 (.433), with five dongs, 18 RBI, and 14 runs scored.

Last Sunday in Milwaukee, Yoshida clubbed two home runs in the eighth inning, including a grand slam, becoming only the fourth Red Sox player to hit multiple home runs in an inning, along with Ellis Burks (August 27, 1990), Nomar Garciaparra (July 23, 2002), and David Ortiz (August 12, 2008).

Yoshida's feat came on the 24th anniversary of Fernando Tatis hitting two grand slams in one inning. That remarkable accomplishment (which Tatis could not do by himself, of course) inning, Tatis joined Johnny Vander Meer in doing something no future player will ever exceed. Bet your house on it: No one will hit three grand slams in an inning and no one will throw three consecutive no-hitters.

Yoshida is living up to his reputation as a contact hitter, striking out only twice in his last 11 games. He's been moved up to #2 in the lineup for five of this streak's seven games.

                 H-for-AB  PA   AVG   OBP   SLG    OPS   RS  HR  RBI  BB   K
First 13 games:  8-for-48  58  .167  .310  .250   .560    8   1    6   8   5
Last 15 games:  26-for-60  66  .433  .484  .804  1.288   14   5   18   5   6

Yankees Fail In First Test vs. Red-Hot Rays, Now 10 Games Back In AL East

Greg Joyce, Post:

The Yankees spent the last five weeks looking up at the red-hot Rays in the AL East.

On Friday, they got a first-hand view of the buzzsaw in human form . . . before falling even further behind.

A costly fielding miscue from left fielder Jake Bauers in the seventh inning proved to be the difference, with the Rays squeezing out a 5-4 win over the Yankees . . .

With the win, the Rays (27-6) . . . improved to 10 games ahead of the last-place Yankees (17-16), who have now lost eight of their last 12 games. . . .

[After the game] Aaron Boone [was] irritated by another question about the early-season divisional deficit. . . .

The Yankees came back from an early 4-0 deficit to tie the game . . . in the sixth inning, but then fell behind again an inning later on a play that should have been made.

With one out and a runner on first in the seventh inning, Wander Franco hit a line drive to left field off Jimmy Cordero. Bauers ran back and then jumped to catch it, but the ball went in and out of his glove and dropped before he booted it on the warning track. That allowed Yandy Diaz to score all the way from first base for the 5-4 lead . . .

The Yankees then threatened to tie it back up or take the lead in the eighth inning . . . [but left] the tying run 90 feet away.

The Yankees did not have a hit until the fourth inning . . .

[MFY Harrison Bader:] "It's super early . . . there's no concern whatsoever."

Schadenfreude 338 (A Continuing Series)

Friday, April 28

Yankees - 000 011 000 - 2  5  0
Texas   - 023 000 00x - 5 10  0

Saturday, April 29

Yankees - 000 000 000 - 0  3  0
Texas   - 000 010 00x - 2  5  0

Sunday, April 30

Yankees - 001 000 001 -  2  8  1
Texas   - 400 046 01x - 15 11  0

Monday, May 1

Guardians - 000 000 003 - 3  4  0
Yankees   - 002 000 000 - 2  6  2

T9: German (8-1-0-1-6) pitching. Yankees ahead 2-0. Yankees' win probability: 92.9%

Straw (bcc) strikes out swinging. Yankees' win probability: 96.6%
Kwan (c) singles to center.
Holmes relieves German.
Rosario (bfb) safe at first on fielding error by pitcher Holmes, Kwan to second.
Ramirez (bb) singles to left, Kwan to third, Roario to second. Yankees win probability: 72.6%
Naylor (bb) singled to right, Kwan scores (1-2), Rosario scores (2-2). Ramirez to third, Naylor to second on throwing error by right fielder Cabrera. Yankees' win probability: 28.4%
Peralta relieves Holmes.
Arias pinch-runs for Naylor.
Bell (bbbc) walks. 
Gimenez (sf) strikes out swinging.
Zunine (fbbbfff) walks, Ramirez scores (3-2), Arias to third, Bell to second. Yankees' win probability: 14.6%
Gonzalez pinch-hits for Brennan.
Fry pinmch-runs for Bell.
Gonzalez (sb) flies out to right.

B9: Clase pitching. Guardians ahead 3-2.

Torres (b) grounds out pitcher to first. Yankees' win probability: 10.8%
LeMahieu (cs) grounds out shortstop to first. Yankees' win probability: 4.4%
Hicks (bbcsbf) strikes out swinging. Yankees' win probability: 0.0%

"2023 will see the much-anticipated return of Perennially-Injured Judge."

Joy of Sox, March 30, 2023

Mark W. Sanchez, Post:

Shortly before first pitch Monday night, the Yankees were dealt a crushing loss, forced to move Aaron Judge to the injured list. 

A few hours later, a different kind of crushing loss arose. 

Manager Aaron Boone pulled a cruising Domingo German in the ninth inning and watched the bullpen melt down during a backbreaking, 3-2 defeat to the Guardians in front of 33,414 stunned fans in The Bronx. 

The Yankees (15-15) are .500, have lost four straight games for the first time all season and will not see Judge, out with a strained right hip, for at least another six days.

The offense is scuffling, the back end of the bullpen is a concern and Boone's late-game decisions will be analyzed. . . .

The Yankees rolled into the ninth inning up 2-0 behind German, who allowed a single to Steven Kwan on his 88th pitch with one out. It was the second hit German had surrendered . . . he had not allowed a base runner to reach second. 

But Boone . . . pulled German and . . . ruined a masterpiece. 

[Clay] Holmes failed to cleanly backhand Rosario's soft tapper, which went for an error, and Jose Ramirez singled to load the bases with one out. 

Holmes got the ground ball he was looking for from Josh Naylor — but it found a hole in the right side. The ball shot past second baseman Oswald Peraza to drive in two to tie the game. . . .

In came [Wandy] Peralta, who walked Josh Bell to load the bases.

The lefty struck out Andres Gimenez for the second out before walking Mike Zunino to let in the go-ahead run. . . .

The Yankees went quietly in the ninth against Emmanuel Clase — punctuated by an Aaron Hicks strikeout that prompted boos to rain down — in perhaps the worst loss of the season. 

The Yankees . . . have scored six runs in four games . . .

Rosario, the second batter of the game, singled . . . German then set down the next 11 Guardians in order before a fifth-inning walk to Bell . . . After the walk, German retired 13 batters straight.

He was excellent and efficient. [In the sixth] German retired the side on six pitches. . . .

The only one who could slow German was Boone . . .

Gary Phillips, Daily News:

Domingo German pitched the game of his life on Monday. Then Clay Holmes blew it all up as the Yankees suffered another brutal loss in their return to the Bronx.

Holmes took over with a 2-0 lead and one out in the ninth. A few batters and one Holmes fielding error later, Guardians first baseman and Yankees nemesis Josh Naylor tied the game with a two-run single. From there, heavy boos soundtracked Holmes' departure.

Wandy Peralta then walked in the winning run before the inning ended, and the Yankees failed to rally in the bottom of the ninth off Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase. Just like that, a brilliant pitching performance went to waste as the Yanks lost, 3-2. . . .

The Bombers have now scored fewer than four runs in 15 of their last 18 games. . . .

Jared Schwartz, Post:

The fans ended up being prescient.

They loudly booed the Yankees' manager as he walked to the mound to take Domingo German out of the game in the top of the ninth inning of the team's gut-wrenching 3-2 loss in The Bronx on Monday evening. . . .

[O]nce German's day was officially done, only disaster awaited the Yankees. . . .

He had tossed eight near-perfect scoreless innings and struck out Myles Straw to start the ninth before everything changed in a heartbeat.

German then gave up a single to Steven Kwan, and Boone immediately opted to bring in closer Clay Holmes to secure the final two outs. . . .

An error and two hits later, the game was tied 2-2. Wandy Peralta then came in to pitch, and subsequently walked-in the decisive run three batters later. . . .

When asked if this is the best he's ever pitched in the majors, both German and Boone mentioned his July 25, 2021, start against the Red Sox, when he carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning as another candidate.

Like Monday night, though, the Yankees collapsed and lost after German was pulled in that game. . . .

He was on the cusp of securing the Yankees' second complete game this season.

Instead, he was left to watch the latest mess unfold.

Mark W. Sanchez, Post:

Aaron Judge was placed on the 10-day injured list [with a right hip strain, suffered on Thursday] . . . the latest and largest blow to the reeling Yankees. . . .

The slugger sat for three games against the Rangers — all Yankees losses — and was put on the shelf before the club dropped the series-opener, 3-2, against the Guardians in The Bronx. . . .

Judge will be out for the duration of the Cleveland series and, more importantly, the entirety of this weekend's three-game showdown against the first-place Rays in St. Petersburg, Fla. . . .

The trouble began Wednesday, when Judge dove into third base on a steal attempt and appeared to injure his right hand. Judge was pulled from the game but was back in the lineup a day later, when he felt the hip issue during a second-inning at-bat. . . .

The Yankees called up Franchy Cordero — who is hitting .151 and had been optioned Friday night . . . to fill the open roster spot. . . .

In the three games the Yankees played without Judge in Texas, they scored four runs and hit .174. . . .

Judge joined Giancarlo Stanton (left hamstring strain), Harrison Bader (left oblique strain) and Josh Donaldson (right hamstring strain) as potentially significant offensive contributors unable to contribute . . . 

After the quiet end to the series loss in Texas, Boone talked to the club about not wallowing.

Jared Schwartz, Post:

The Yankees will be without one of their most important relievers for a while longer.

Jonathan Loaisiga will have surgery on Tuesday to remove a bone spur in his right elbow . . .

The Yankees are targeting Loaisiga's return to the majors in August or September . . .

Loaisiga has been on the injured list since April 8 with what the team initially described as elbow inflammation. . . .

It's a major blow for the Yankees, who have been ravaged by injuries in recent weeks.

Loaisiga pitched in just three games this season before he was placed on the injured list . . .

Brendan Kuty, The Athletic:

The Yankees' clubhouse was silent Monday night except for the occasional murmur between careful teammates at their lockers, far out of earshot of reporters . . . What was there to talk about, anyway? The day before, they had suffered their worst loss of the season . . . Now? This defeat was even more deflating. . . .

Boone took at least partial blame for a 3-2 loss to the Guardians . . . "Some of that falls on me," the manager said.

Germán cruised through 8.1 scoreless innings, giving up just two hits on 88 pitches. Then Boone removed him with a runner on first base . . .

Seemingly every single one of the 33,414 fans in attendance at Yankee Stadium booed Boone when he emerged from the dugout to take out Germán. The boos continued as the 50-year-old walked to the mound. . . . The fans were right. The move backfired in a big way.

At this point, the Yankees don't have a reliever they can dependably call their closer. . . .

[T]he Yankees will wake up Tuesday at 15-15 and in last place in the tough American League East. They'll be 8.5 games behind the first-place Rays. . . . Said Jose Trevino . . . "It's been tough, but we've just got to believe in ourselves. . . . [T]his thing is going to turn around. I don't have any doubt in that."

If it doesn't, the Yankees may be talking about their next "worst loss of the year" sooner than later.

Meanwhile, in Boston:

Blue Jays - 030 000 020 - 5  9  1
Red Sox   - 200 003 001 - 6 13  2

Alex Verdugo homered to give the Red Sox a walkoff win. Verdugo has three of Boston's four walkoff hits so far this season. Verdugo is one of only three players since 1920 to have three walk-off hits in the first 30 games of a team's season, joining Andruw Jones (Atlanta, 1999) and Bobby Bonds (Giants, 1973).

In 2022, the Red Sox went 3-16 against the Blue Jays and were outscored 55-125. They are 1-0 against Toronto this year. And they are one game ahead of the last place Yankees.