I am already in a crummy mood. My left heel area is inflamed and hurts like heck. I had just really recovered from the pain which had been plaguing me for months on my right calf and at the side of my knee. Orthotics inserted into a different pair of running shoes seemed to work after a slight alteration a little over a week ago. I was buoyant, walking and even running a bit once more.
My New Balance running shoes were reaching the end of their lives. I had essentially worn them as my footwear for two months, afraid that I had not found the right shoe nor had I replaced all of my previous shoes which were no longer the correct size.
I was remeasured at both the podiatrist’s officer and at a New Balance store outside of Princeton. I finally had the right size and width to help my legs. I bought a pair of running shoes and tennis shoes.
With that in mind, I wanted to change into the new footwear on July 1. I was going to get 6 more days of wear out of the old New Balance shoes.
Until I woke up on Friday morning with some soreness and stiffness in my foot and in the heel. I stretched more and proceeded to walk about 3.5 miles Friday morning between dropping the car off to be serviced and on the track. Both at my normal clip of about a 17:30 mile.
Except that it didn’t get better. Friday night it hurt a lot. There is difficulty in taking the initial steps, but after that, the pain subsides a little. Just a little.
I broke out the new pair of running shoes, which offers a ton more support the the older shoes. I have been icing the area. Elevating it too. Stretching the calf. And applying copious amounts of Voltaren 1% gel to stave off the inflammation. None of that seems to be working.
So I can see that I am headed to the IL again for a “lower body” injury. My educated guess is that it is an achilles tendonitis or an inflammation of the bursa, or both. I see upcoming x-rays, and either an ultrasound or MRI. More physical therapy and maybe another injection could be on the horizon.
This is a crappy way to be starting off the summer. Especially with the New York Yankees on such a torrid pace.
The Yankees completed a long home stand by sweeping the Toronto Blue Jays. Their only loss was to a Hall of Fame pitcher—Houston’s Justin Verlander. Giancarlo Stanton one night hit an absolute bomb into the far stands in left center field, then sprained his knee ligaments, landing him back on the IL until August. Aaron Judge started to remove the cobwebs from his lengthy absence by hitting frozen rope singles and homers. And speaking of home runs, the Yankees broke the MLB mark for most consecutive games with a home run—a streak which is still alive.
While the hitting is alive and well, the pitching is underperforming. Each starter—Masahiro Tanaka, JA Happ, James Paxton and CC Sabathia is not pitching well, inviting havoc to occur in the bullpen through continued overuse.
Two Yankees made the AL starting lineup—catcher Gary Sanchez and second baseman DJ LeMahieu. DJ earned it by hitting—he leads the AL in batting and he leads MLB with the best average with runners in scoring position since Divisional play began in 1969. A former NL batting champ, he is shooting to become the first to have batting titles in both leagues. That would be some accomplishment.
Still, the injury bug is ever present. In the first game in London against the Red
Sox, Luke Voit, in the midst of a 4-4 day, suffered a lower abdominal injury legging out a double. Stanton is gone for a while. Luis Severino’s rehab has been shut down. Dellin Betances is still a ways away. Only rookie pitcher Domingo German and reliever Chance Adams are imminent to return to the team. Do the Yankees ever need fresh arms…Jonathan Loiasiga and Ben Heller may make a return soon. Besides, it is quiet about the return of lefty Jordan Montgomery, who has some inflammation as he rehabs from Tommy John surgery.
Which means that the Yankees will still look to strike a deal for a starting pitcher without selling off too many assets. Clint Frazier is projected to be the starter in LF in 2020, so he is unavailable. Detroit wanted Gleyber Torres for a young pitching prospect, Matthew Boyd. No thanks. Deivi Garcia, who has excelled in the minors and was part of a no hitter last week is not going to be traded. I don’t know how GM Brian Cashman is going to do it, but I feel that he will strike a deal to bring a quality starter to New York without giving away the store.
So the Yankees traveled to England for the inaugural two games in Europe against the Boston Red Sox. Playing at London Stadium in intense 90 degree heat at the centerpiece of the 2012 Olympics, Major League Baseball did a remarkable job in creating a big league setting so far away on the untouchable soccer pitch of West Ham United. Importing dirt, turf, building clubhouses, dugouts and bullpens made this feel every bit as if it was a World Series atmosphere in a neutral site. And all of the work will be deconstructed and much of the materials stored until the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals fly over the pond next year.
The Saturday game was uniquely unforgettable. The ballgame lasted 4 hours and 42 minutes, making it the third longest 9 inning contest in MLB history, only 3 minutes shy of the all-time record. A final score of 17-13 had action within the affair which was mind-boggling. Former Cy Young winner and New Jersey native Rick Porcello lasted 1/3 of an inning, surrendering 6 runs to New York. The Yankees’ Tanaka lasted 2/3 of an inning. Unbelievably, the score was tied 6-6 after a 58 minute first inning was over. The first three innings took 1:51 to play. For Porcello and Tanaka, it was the shortest outings of both pitchers’ careers.
New York kept adding runs to the scoreboard, taking a 17-6 lead. Boston kept chipping away, making the game into a very close contest in the 8th and 9th innings. The Yankees had to dig deep into their bullpen, using closer Aroldis Chapman to finish the game. Chapman was bailed out by slick fielding from shortstop Didi Gregorius and second baseman Torres who turned a sparkling double play on a very hard hit one hopper which Didi made an incredible stab to glove the shot before making a backhanded flip from his glove to Torres who threw to first just in time.
It was a football score, and the Yankees scored more points than the New York Giants did in a game against Miami in London. Twenty runs were tallied with 2 outs. The teams had 32 hits, with LeMahieu and Voit leading New York with 4 each. Each team hit 3 homers, with Boston’s Michael Chavis slugging two. New York went 9-18 with runners in scoring position while Boston went 6-13. Remarkably, New York left 7 runners on base and Boston left 10. Edwin Encarnacion, the Yankees DH, struck out 5 times; he did get a hit. (Encarnacion is the first player to have played on three continents in a season—Asia when the Seattle Mariners met the Oakland A’s in Japan to begin this season, along with North America and now Europe)
LeMahieu drove in 5 runs. Boston’s Jackie Bradley Jr. went 4-5 and J.D. Martinez was 3-5. Chad Green’s two innings of scoreless relief after Tanaka made him the winning pitcher. Knuckleballer Steven Wright, recently returned from an illegal substance suspension, suffered the loss for Boston. Mike Sharwaryn gave up 8 runs to New York in 1.1 innings. Nestor Cortes, Jr. was responsible for 5 Boston runs in three innings. Neither team committed an error.
The British fans got their money’s worth, along with all of the Americans who came over for the two games. Trying to explain to the neophyte Brit that the first game was abnormal must have been some experience. The white seats in the stadium did cause the centerfielders to slightly misjudge the balls hit to them. That seemed to be the only hiccup in what was a herculean effort by MLB.
I did love that The Freeze, the Atlanta Braves sprinter, was outpaced by a Yankees fan in a between innings race on Saturday. He got his redemption on Sunday, defeating an Atlanta Braves fan—like he always does. Do I smell a fix here? I also like that Freddie Mercury won the mascot race on Saturday. I may need to see Bohemian Rhapsody after all.
Sunday’s matinee ended up a slugfest, too. Forced to start young Steven Tarpley, the Yankees paid dearly for it. In the bottom of the first inning, Boston struck for four runs on three homers. The teams then dug in—Boston behind lefty starter Eduardo Rodriguez allowed 2 Yankees runs in 5 1/3 innings and 115 pitches, while Luis Cessa shut down the Red Sox from the second through the fifth inning.
The floodgates opened in the 7th inning for New York, to the tune of 9 runs and 14 batters facing the porous Boston relief corps. Boston is second in blown saves in the majors, behind only the absolutely woeful New York Mets bullpen. New York tacked on a run via a Gregorius homer, extending that home run streak to 31 games.
Chance Adams was roughed up in the 8th inning and Zach Britton, who felt that the stadium conditions did not permit his ball to move because the venue was built for track and field and thus to cut down on resistance, almost gave all of the runs back. Aroldis Chapman once more had to close out the game for New York. Adam Ottavino was the winning pitcher with his two innings of relief after Cessa. LeMahieu went 3-6 and added 3 more R.B.I. Gary Sanchez finally joined the party with a key 2 run single; he left the game in the 8th inning after jamming a finger behind home plate. Judge went 1-2 with 3 BB, lifting his average to .299; of the starters, only Encarnacion failed to register a hit. Red Sox pitchers gave up 9 walks in this game.
It was a fun series from a New York standpoint. Two wins, sending Boston 11 games behind in the standings. Lots of hits and scoring, although the bullpen was a bit shaky at times. It was rewarding to hear Frank Sinatra belt out “New York, New York” after each win, especially when the Red Sox anthem, Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” was played in the middle of both 8th innings.
More runs were scored than in any two consecutive Yankees-Red Sox contests—50. The teams combined for 65 base hits, 10 homers and 15 doubles. The total time of both games was 9 hours and 6 minutes.
I cannot think of any time in my life where the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry was more skewed than this weekend. Maybe it was the location and the teams played in a World Series atmosphere and for the first time met on artificial turf after 2020 games on real grass. Or that both teams wore the home team uniforms—it was both odd and neat to see the Yankees in pinstripes when they technically were the road team. It could have been the stadium, with its white structure and seats, along with an odd positioning of the sun creating glare for the fielders and batters. There could be a ton of reasons why this series was so high scoring, starting with the pitching and ending with the fact that both teams had lineups which could mash the ball.
When they next meet, New York should be in first place, ahead of Boston, having won 7 of the first 8 games the teams have played this season. The games will be in more familiar surroundings, without such acreage in foul territory that they encountered in London, and with grass to slow down balls from quickly reaching the fences. For the coaches and players, it will be memory for a lifetime.
The All-Star Game reserves were announced on Sunday evening. The Astros have 6 players on the American League squad. The Yankees have only 3 players who are All Stars—LeMahieu and Sanchez as starters and Chapman as a reliever. AL manager Alex Cora only added one catcher as a backup, which might leave Sanchez in the game somewhat longer than needed.
What irks me is that the National League team has 3 New York Mets—Peter Alonso, Jeff McNeil and Jacob deGrom. I think that Gleyber Torres is deserving of an All Star nod. He is the fastest Yankees player to reach 200 hits in his career since Mickey Mantle. Which means he surpassed Derek Jeter. And Torres hits for power. I know it is different leagues and there must be at least one player representing each team on a league roster. But really—3 Mets and 3 Yankees when the Yankees are atop the AL East while the Mets are floundering, playing at a 2-8 pace in their last 10 games?
Upon the conclusion of their series with Atlanta, the Mets try to cool down the champions of Europe, as the Bronx Bombers pay a visit to Citi Field for two games on Tuesday and Wednesday. It might be anti-climactic for the Yankees.
The Mets did honor the 1969 Miracle Mets this weekend. A nice touch was renaming the roadway by Citi Field for Tom Seaver, the Mets Hall of Fame pitcher who suffers from dementia. Many of the Mets greats on that team came back to Flushing, which is always a thrill to see. Yet just like the blown saves in the bullpen, the Mets placed two names in memoriam who were still alive. Is that another botched move by the franchise?
Finally, there is just one thing I want to say about NBA free agency. The Nets got Kevin Durant because of his desire to move his business interests to the Big Apple and, more importantly, his close relationship with Dr. Martin O’Malley. Dr. O’Malley previously surgically resurrected Durant’s career in Oklahoma City. The fact that he went directly to New York after his recent injury and was operated on by Dr. O’Malley told me that the Nets were in play because Durant would stay in New York and his rehab would be overseen by Dr. O’Malley and the people who report to him in his position as a team doctor for the Brooklyn Nets.
This was obvious to me. It is an added bonus that Brooklyn was signing Kyrie Irving as a free agent and adding DeAndre Jordan in the post. The parts are there for Brooklyn to compete in 2020-21 when Durant returns and the Nets put together a complementary roster.
The Knicks stood absolutely no chance of landing Durant based on what I believe is the case. NYK will again be in lottery pick purgatory—a comeuppance to owner James Dolan, who deserves nothing less. I do feel for the legion of Knicks fans like me. Then again, they are as bad as the New York Jets in terms of winning. Which I completely understand.
I hope that my foot has nothing seriously wrong with it. Otherwise, I will be headed to Dr. O’Malley, who removed a cyst from my left ankle and who injected me with platelet rich plasma (PRP) at the point of my peroneal tendon to heal it. I actually have something in common with KD—an abiding belief the Martin O’Malley is the man when it comes to the foot and ankle.
I just don’t want to remain on the IL with Durant for so long lest we bump into each other at Dr. O’Malley’s East Side office. We both know that it hurts when the injury bug strikes home.the
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