Schadenfreude 179 (A Continuing Series) (The Goodbye 2 Jeter Edition)

A Few Jeter Posts

Jesus Is The Derek Jeter Of Christianity (September 17, 2009)

Umps Shrink Jeter's Strike Zone by 16% (August 6, 2010)

"The Greatest Modern New York Yankees Event Ball Ever Publicly Offered" Could Be Yours! (July 22, 2011)

"One Of These Centuries", Jeter's Consistent Greatness At Doing "His Splendid Thing" - Which Includes Making Eye Contact When He Talks To Someone - Will Be Fully Appreciated, But For Now, "This Baseball Player For The Ages", Remains Unappreciated And Taken For Granted. For Shame, Human Race, For Shame! (September 2, 2011)

Martin Luther King & Derek Jeter: Look To The Cookie (January 18, 2012)

Mets Fans Create "Jeter Retirement Barf Bag" (April 20, 2014)

That Stupid Derek Jeter Ad Will Make You Cry For America (Tim Marchman, Deadspin, September 19, 2014)

Finally, here's Keith Olbermann (a Yankees fan, by the way):

September 23, 2014: "Derek Jeter Isn't The Greatest Player Ever"



September 24, 2014: "Jeter's Overhyped Farewell Part Two"

G162: Yankees 9, Red Sox 5

Yankees - 004 000 500 - 9 12  1
Red Sox - 000 000 500 - 5  5  0

Dan Butler and Mookie Betts each hit a two-run double in the seventh inning. ... Yankee pitchers struck out 15 Boston batters.

Michael Pineda / Clay Buchholz

Betts, 2B
Nava, RF
Cespedes, DH
Craig, 1B
Cecchini, 3B
Castillo, CF
Brentz, LF
Ross, C
Weeks, SS

And then we came to the end ...

Most Red Sox Rookies Appearing In One Season
Year   Rookies
1911     25
1925     22
1926     21
2014     19
1928     18
1952     18

Red Sox Game Notes: Christian Vazquez has thrown out 15 of 29 attempted base stealers, a 52% success rate ... That would be the best single-season mark in club history among catchers with at least 15 games behind the plate. No rookie with at least 50 games behind the plate has ever posted a single-season catcher caught stealing rate this high ... The last major leaguer overall to do it was STL's Yadier Molina in 2005 (55%; 17 CS, 14 SB).

54 Years Ago Today: Ted Williams played his final major league game. homering in his last at-bat.

G161: Red Sox 10, Yankees 4

Yankees - 000 000 130 -  4 12  3
Red Sox - 180 001 00x - 10 16  0

The Red Sox sent 14 batters to the plate in the second inning.

Masahiro Tanaka / Joe Kelly

Betts, 2B
Bogaerts, SS
Nava, RF
Cespedes, DH
Craig, 1B
Cecchini, 3B
Castillo, CF
Brentz, LF
Vazquez, C

G160: Yankees 3, Red Sox 2

Yankees - 002 001 000 - 3  7  2
Red Sox - 010 000 100 - 2  6  1

A Yankee lineup made up of guys named Jose Pirela, Eury Perez, Zelous Wheeler, and Antoan Richardson beat the Red Sox's rookie-packed lineup.

Rusney Castillo hit another home run. He also singled and stole a base.

Chris Capuano / Steven Wright

Betts, 2B
Bogaerts, SS
Cespedes, DH
Craig, RF
Cecchini, 3B
Castillo, CF
Brentz, LF
Lavarnway, 1B
Butler, C

The Yankees and Red Sox are both missing the playoffs for the first time since 1993.

G159: Red Sox 11, Rays 1

Rays    - 010 000 000 -  1  8  1
Red Sox - 124 002 20x - 11 16  1

Christian Vazquez went 4-for-4, including his first major league home run, and drove in three runs.

Rusney Castillo also hit his first MLB home run. a three-run shot in the third inning. ... Mookie Betts went 3-for-5. ... Allen Webster: 7-7-1-1-5, 99.

It was Boston's 70th win of the year, guaranteeing they will finish this season with a higher winning percentage than the 2012 squad managed by some asshole whose name I thankfully cannot recall.

Jeremy Hellickson / Allen Webster

Betts, 2B
Bogaerts, SS
Nava, RF
Cespedes, DH
Craig, 1B
Cecchini, 3B
Castillo, CF
Brentz, LF
Vazquez, C

Schadenfreude 178 (A Continuing Series)

Ken Davidoff, Post:

Used to be that "Yankees repeat" meant two straight World Series titles.

Nowadays, it means two consecutive campaigns of getting eliminated from playoff contention in the 158th game.

Yup, this is your official 2014 Yankees obituary ...

Anthony McCarron, Daily News:

The Yankees were eliminated from postseason contention Wednesday afternoon, falling to the Orioles, 9-5, in a game in which they held an early three-run lead. The Yankees, who started the day five games back in the race for the second wildcard, officially cannot catch up and now Jeter can add 2014 to 2013 and 2008 as the seasons he did not reach the postseason in his career.

The last time the Yankees missed the playoffs in consecutive seasons was 1992-93. There was no postseason in 1994.

George A. King III, Post:

At 4:40 p.m. Wednesday the meaningful part of Derek Jeter's final season died a quiet death at Yankee Stadium.

Thursday night, weather permitting, the living wake will be held when the Hall of Fame-bound captain plays his last game in The Bronx.

A 9-5 loss to the AL East champion Orioles in front of 46,056 at the Stadium doused the last flicker of postseason hope for the Yankees. ...

There have been several awkward moments in Jeter's final season. Included was the eighth inning Wednesday. With the crowd on its feet, Jeter grounded out and received a long ovation. As Jeter went into the dugout, the crowd begged for a curtain call that never came.

G158: Red Sox 11, Rays 3

Rays    - 200 000 001 -  3  9  1
Red Sox - 020 504 00x - 11 10  1

Jake Odorizzi / Anthony Ranaudo

Betts, 2B
Bogaerts, SS
Nava, RF
Cespedes, DH
Craig, 1B
Cecchini, 3B
Castillo, CF
Brentz, LF
Vazquez, C

Yankee Elimination Day? If the Yankees lose to the Orioles this afternoon, they will be eliminated from all possible post-season play. (I see Mr. 27 was in the house last night.)

G157: Rays 6, Red Sox 2

Rays    - 000 000 051 - 6 10  1
Red Sox - 000 100 010 - 2  6  1

Alex Cobb / Clay Buchholz

Betts, 2B
Weeks, SS
Ortiz, DH
Cespedes, LF
Nava, 1B
Castillo, CF
Cecchini, 3B
Vazquez, C
Bradley, RF

The Red Sox (67-88) are at Fenway Park for the final six games of the season: three against Tampa Bay and three against the Yankees.

G156: Red Sox 3, Orioles 2

Red Sox - 100 011 000 - 3 12  0
Orioles - 000 002 000 - 2  6  0

Mookie Betts began the game by hitting Gonzalez's fourth pitch over the fence.

Jon Shestakofsky:

At 21 years old, Mookie Betts is the youngest Red Sox to hit a leadoff home run in 75 years. Bobby Doerr was 21 when he did it in 1939.

Doerr's home run came on August 1, 1939, but it led off the bottom of the first, not the top. (It seems like a "leadoff home run" should lead off the game, not the home team's first inning.)

Betts, Yoenis Cespedes and Jemile Weeks (who replaced Xander Bogaerts, who left the game in the second inning with a stiff neck) each had two hits. ... David Ross homered in the sixth. ... Rusney Castillo stole the first base of his MLB career.

Joe Kelly / Miguel Gonzalez

Betts, 2B
Bogaerts, SS
Nava, 1B
Cespedes, LF
Middlebrooks, 3B
Castillo, CF
Cecchini, DH
Ross, C
Brentz, RF

G155: Orioles 7, Red Sox 2

Red Sox - 200 000 000 - 2  6  0
Orioles - 002 220 10x - 7 11  1

David Ortiz was responsible for Boston's scoring tonight. Mookie Betts walked to begin the game and one out later, Flo cranked his 35th home run of the season.

Rubby De La Rosa / Chris Tillman

Betts, 2B
Bogaerts, SS
Ortiz, DH
Craig, 1B
Nava, LF
Castillo, CF
Bradley, RF
Middlebrooks, 3B
Vazquez, C

Pedro's Book To Be Published Next May

The literary event of 2015!

G154: Red Sox 5, Orioles 3 (10)

Red Sox - 000 210 000 2 - 5  9  1
Orioles - 001 000 200 0 - 3 10  3

David Ortiz's second home run of the night - a two-run blast in the tenth inning (his 34th of the year) - lifted Boston to victory.

Ortiz and Yoenis Cespedes hit back-to-back shots in the fourth. Ortiz's fourth-inning dong gave him 100 RBI for the season, making 2014 his eighth season with at least 30 homers and 100 RBI for the Red Sox. It's the most in franchise history, topping Ted Williams's seven seasons.

Allen Webster / Kevin Gausman

Betts, 2B
Bogaerts, SS
Ortiz, DH
Cespedes, LF
Nava, RF
Craig, 1B
Castillo, CF
Cecchini, 3B
Vazquez, C

The Orioles have clinched the AL East title - for the first time since 1997 and only the second time in the last 32 years - and currently lead the division by 14 games.