Sunday, May 22, 2022

Yankees 1998 Tracker: Games 40 & 41

 

From now until the end of the season, we will be tracking the progress of the current Yankees to their 1998 World Championship counterparts, who won 114 games in the regular season.

Through 41 Games:

2022: 29-12 -  Games 40 & 41 

Sunday evening: 
Game 40: White Sox 3, Yankees 1 (Game 1 of doubleheader)

Jameson Taillon had a greazt outing for the Yankees, as he wen t seven inning, allowing one run on five hits and one walk, with seven strikeouts. 

The only run Taillon allowed was in the fourth when Yasmani Grandal got an RBI single, and that 1-0 lead up, as Johnny Cueto threw six innings of shutout ball, scattering six hits and two walks, while striking out five.

The Yankees tied it in the bottom of the eighth, as Aaron Judge hit a solo home run, his 15th of the season, against Chicago reliever Kendall Graveman. That came with one out in the inning, and Anthony Rizzo doubled, and Giancarlo Stanton intentionally walked, but they coudln't add to it as Josh Donaldson flew out to the warning track in center field, and Aaron Hicks popped out to third base.

Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman came on in the ninth in a tie game after being passed over in a save situation Saturday, and he had another rough outing. AJ Pollock led off the inning with a home run to left field, and then with one out, Andrew Vaughn walked, and advanced on a wild pitch and passed ball, and scored on a double by Adam Engel that made it 3-1 White Sox.

Game 41: White Sox 5, Yankees 0 (Game 2 of doubleheader)

The Yankees got a stellar outing from Luis Severino, as he went seven innings, allowing no runs on eight jhits and no walks, and striking out five. He was matched by the White Sox's Michael Kopech, who also went seven, and sllowed no runs on just one hits and two walks, with six strikeouts.

Jonathan Loaisiga came on in the eighth for the Yankees, and Chicago rallied, as Andrew Vaughn and Reese McGuire had RBI singles, and the right-hander allowed four hits before he was lifted with two out.

Miguel Castro was next out of the bullpen, and he allowed a three-run homer to Tim Anderson that gave Chicago a 5-0 lead, which would be the final.



1998: 31-9

Game 40: May 21, 1998: Yankees 3, Baltimore 1

This one was a pitching duel between Andy Pettitte of the Yankees and Scott Erickson of the Orioles.

Baltimore got on the board first, as Rafael Palmeiro launched a solo home run off Pettitte in the fourth inning to make it 1-0.

The Yankees tied it in the bottom of the sixth when Joe Girardi came home on a throwing error by Orioles third baseman Cal Ripken off a bunt from Chuck Knoblauch.

In the bottom of the eighth, with Erickson still on the hill for the O's, Paul O'Neill got an RBI groundout, followed by a Bernie Williams RBI single to make it 3-1 Yankees.

Mariano Rivera came on to pitch a scoreless ninth for his ninth save of the season.

Pettitte went eight innings, and allowed a run on eight hits and two walks, with six strikeouts. He improved to 6-4 on the season at the time, and his ERA was 4.03 at the time.

Erickson, who later pitched for the Yankees, went 7 2/3, and allowed three runs (two earned) on five hits and two walks, with nine strikeouts. His record dropped to 4-5 with a 5.10 ERA.

1998: 31-10

Game 41: May 22, 1998 - Boston Red Sox 5, Yankees 4

The Yankees jumped out to a 4-0 lead against Red Sox starter Tim Wakefield, as Bernie Williams hit a three-run home run in the fourth inning and Tino Martinez had an RBI triple in the sixth.

Boston got on the board in the sixth against Yankees starter Ramiro Mendoza on an RBI groundout from Darren Bragg.

In the seventh, Troy O'Leary led off the inning with a homer off Mendoza, followed by Jason Varitek getting an RBI double. Later in the inning, with Mike Stanton on for the Yankees, Darren Bragg got a two-run single to give Boston a 5-4 lead.

Boston got through the eighth with a bullpen trio of Jim Corsi, Ron Mahay, and Tom Gordon.

Gordon stayed on for the ninth, and retired the Yankees in order to earn his 18th save of the season, and he finished the year with 46. He went on to pitch for the Yankees in 2004 setting up Mariano Rivera.

Boston improved to 29-16 at the time, four more games than the Yankees played to that point, just as they have this season.

Where they stand: The 2022 Yankees (29-12) are two games off the pace of the 1998 team, who was 31-10 through 41 games.


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