By Rich Mancuso/Sports Editor
If baseball was meant to be played the way it was Thursday afternoon at Comerica Park in Detroit please alert the boxing and combat sports promoters. A record number of ejections of Yankees and Tigers and three separate brawls qualified for a pay-per-view extravaganza.
But baseball does not need a spectacle of fists being thrown, players on the ground, with bench and bullpen players on the field as uninvited guests. This is not the game centered on unnecessary contact. The ramifications of what occurred the day before to the Yankees were carried into suspensions and fines.
Right or wrong, that goes for how the umpires got this out of control, there is a need to get this right. And with a team, the Yankees, battling for first place, losing a player or two via suspension or injury because of a brawl, well that requires more attention.
Necessary for sure are the suspensions to the Yankees Gary Sanchez and Austin Romine. And the Yankees catchers will appeal their suspensions that were leveled late Friday afternoon by Major League Baseball.
Sanchez, in the Yankees lineup Friday night in the Bronx, said prior to the game with Seattle, “There’s video. Things got out of control pretty quickly there. I went out there to defend my teammates. That’s what it is. I’m not going to feel good about that. That’s four games that I’m not going to be able to help the team and I know that they’re going to need me.”
Sanchez, the Yankees hottest hitter said the feeling would not be good if this suspension is not overturned. And any chance of Sanchez seeing this suspension go another way is unlikely to occur because Major League Baseball has become more strict when it comes to tolerance about brawling during a game.
So the Yankees know the ramifications of the suspension and were fortunate that some of their other major players were not penalized. They hoped to move on Friday night with a big three-game series against the Mariners, one of seven teams that are in a tight race for the second American League wild card.
The Yankees are 2.½ games in front for the first wild card. But first place in the Al East is still within reach and with Boston losing their second straight game Friday night, this was a golden opportunity to tighten things up.
It didn’t work in their 11th-inning 2-1 loss to Seattle. It had nothing to do with a depleted roster because any suspensions are awaiting an appeal. Though any loss of Sanchez down this important stretch of games could have an impact on where first place is going for the Yankees.
Friday night it was CC Sabathia working as an ace. The lefthander tossed 7.0 innings. Among the five hits allowed was the 19th home run to Mike Zunino that went four rows into the left field seats in the fourth inning.
“Thought he had everything going,” manager Joe Girardi said. Sabathia retired the last 10 batters he faced and was sharp with the two-seam fastball and the slider.
The Mariners, won for their seventh game in their last nine. The game winner was a solo home run from Yonder Alonso that went deep to Monument Park in Center Field off Aroldis Chapman in the 11th inning his former teammates in Cincinnati, Alonso was surprised that he took the Chapman fastball deep.
“Just made sharp contact,” he said about his game winner that came off the bench. “Good to contribute later part of the ballgame and I was prepared.”
Chapman has allowed three home runs in his last six games. And more alarming is his third against a lefthander. Girardi said about Chapman, a key component to the Yankees bullpen, “Trying to get it right. Its’ difficult.”
But not more difficult than this latest Yankees loss. With suspensions on appeal, another one-run loss and Boston losing again, this loss hurt more. Two More with Seattle this weekend and the Yankees will take it from there.
Comment: Rich Mancuso Ring786@aol.com Twitter@Ring786 Facebook.com/Rich Mancuso
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