Ken Davidoff

Ken Davidoff

MLB

Yankees’ clutch hits, new SS Ryan are Rays of hope

As Joel Sherman wrote Tuesday night, the Yankees simply won’t die. What a fascinating Yankees season this has been.

What stood out to me in the 7-5 victory, besides Joe Girardi once again treating Mariano Rivera as if this were the 1999 postseason, was how that game-deciding, eighth-inning rally came together courtesy of a bunch of players who are not supposed to be clutch — by reputation, at least.

Against Baltimore reliever Kevin Gausman, a first-round pick from last year’s draft who throws over 95 mph, Alex Rodriguez ripped a double into the left-field corner to start the inning. Then Robinson Cano dribbled a single up the middle, hit slowly and softly enough that a lumbering A-Rod was able to beat Adam Jones’ throw home. Of course, A-Rod injured his left hamstring on the game-tying journey.

Then Alfonso Soriano crushed the game-winning homer, his second round-tripper of the game, to right-center.

A-Rod’s reputation as a choker is legendary. He now has a .353/.353/.412 slash line in 17 “late & close” plate appearances this year, as defined by Baseball-Reference.com. Soriano’s home runs are supposed to come in unimportant situations. Not so much lately.

As for Cano, well, yeah, his big hit was more of a Luis Sojo 18-bouncer. But the Yankees wouldn’t even have their slim chance at making the playoffs if not for his contributions this season.

If the Yankees fall short this month, which is the most likely scenario, some folks who view things through an emotional prism probably will decide this team lacked character. I think they’ve shown repeatedly that character is the least of their problems.

Here’s my column on A-Rod, and how, if you’re a Yankees fan, you should adjust your rooting interests when it comes to his appeal of Major League Baseball’s 211-game suspension.

–Late Tuesday night, the Yankees announced they had acquired shortstop Brendan Ryan from Seattle. Ryan is the fourth player the Yankees have imported in the past six days, joining Matt Daley, Jim Miller and Mike Zagurski. That’s on top of their initial September call-ups David Adams, Dellin Betances, Cesar Cabral, Brett Marshall and J.R. Murphy. Nine September additions, in all, so far, and as Joel Sherman mentioned in his column, there easily could be another catcher Wednesday now that Austin Romine might have a concussion. Good grief.

The importing of Ryan, one of the game’s best defensive shortstops, shows the Yankees’ concerns about Derek Jeter’s availability the rest of the regular season. And even if Jeter can make it onto the field, there’s little indication he can be anything resembling his old self.

At the very least, Ryan becomes a late-inning replacement for Eduardo Nunez, a development that will ease the minds of the Yankees’ pitchers. And Ryan could get some starts when there’s a groundball pitcher starting for the Yankees. Maybe even with Andy Pettitte on Wednesday.

Ryan is not eligible for the postseason roster, so if the Yankees actually pull this off, they still would have to start Nunez or, if healthy, Jeter. Nunez is actually putting together a presentable offensive season for a shortstop, but his defense remains so awful by every measure I can find that his value calculates as beneath that of a replacement player.

The Rays lost again, this time to the Red Sox at home, and they are now 4-12 in their last 16 games. That has allowed the Red Sox (13-3 in that stretch) to sprint far into the distance atop the American League East, while the Orioles (8-8), Indians (8-8), Yankees (9-7) and Royals (11-5) each have gained significant ground in the wild-card race.

Looking strictly at baseball operations – they have myriad headaches on the home ballpark front – I’m not sure there’s a better-run team in the industry than the Rays. They have a great principal owner in Stuart Sternberg, a great general manager (technically executive vice president of baseball operations) in Andrew Friedman and a great manager in Joe Maddon. And yet here they are, threatening to mount a collapse for the ages.

When the Red Sox collapsed in 2011, the result exposed major fissures in the organization and led to the departures of general manager Theo Epstein and manager Terry Francona. When the Braves collapsed that same season, there were no high-profile dismissals. They simply went back to work and are en route to a second straight postseason appearance and their first National League East title since 2005.

I think the Rays will right their ship because their pitching is so darn good. If they do indeed plummet out of the playoffs, though, I think they’ll react more like the Braves did. Even the best operations are vulnerable to ill-timed slumps.

–We wrap up with thoughts and prayers for those who lost a loved one in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Twelve years. Man, oh, man. Today, I’ll think about Kevin Cohen, Kevin Dennis, Jim Gartenberg, Andrew Gilbert and Scott Schertzer.