Yankees troll Red Sox with clubhouse music after eliminating Boston from AL East

The New York Yankees have added more to fuel to what is already one of the biggest rivalries in North American sports.

With a 5-0 victory over the Red Sox on Monday, the Yankees eliminated the Red Sox from contention for the American League East division title race. Following the game, the Yankees blasted Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” inside the visitor’s clubhouse at Fenway Park.

The Yankees are blasting Sinatra’s “New York, New York” in the visiting clubhouse at Fenway.

— Bryan Hoch (@BryanHoch) September 10, 2019

This marks another addition to a history of trolling between the two franchises. New York played the same song last year after winning Game 2 of the ALDS in Boston. Then Boston played “New York, New York” after clinching the series at Yankee Stadium.

The Red Sox didn’t stop there. They again played “New York, New York” in the clubhouse after beating the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 5 of the World Series to win the championship.

If there’s one thing the Yankees and Red Sox enjoy it’s sticking it to the other franchise whenever the opportunity presents itself. With New York cruising towards the postseason, Boston’s hopes of making it rest on the wild card game. They are currently eight games back of the second wild card spot with 18 games remaining. Should the Red Sox be eliminated from contention there as well, there will surely be more joy in the Yankees clubhouse, wherever they happen to be at the time.

Yankees likely to call up Clint Frazier in September

Clint Frazier finally appears likely to make his return to the New York Yankees.

Manager Aaron Boone suggested Wednesday that Frazier is likely to be one of the call-ups when MLB rosters expand to 40 on Sept. 1.

Clint Frazier will probably be called up in September, Aaron Boone said.

— Bryan Hoch (@BryanHoch) August 28, 2019

Frazier’s story is an interesting one. The 24-year-old hit 11 home runs in just 53 games at the MLB level in 2019. He was suspect defensively, though, and clashed with the New York media at times before being sent down. It’s not clear if that played a role in the fact that he hasn’t been back up, and he was the subject of numerous trade rumors in late July. The fact that he remained in Triple-A despite a slew of injuries indicated that the Yankees just didn’t want him up until now. He still has no guarantee of a major role down the stretch.

MLB admits error on timeout call that cost Yankees

Major League Baseball owned up to a call that cost the New York Yankees the tying run in Saturday’s game against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

According to Bryan Hoch of MLB.com, MLB admitted that umpires erred in granting timeout to Dodgers pitcher Kenley Jansen, which meant that the steal of home by New York’s Gleyber Torres was disallowed.

MLB also spoke to the Yankees about the time-out call at Dodger Stadium. In short, their message was that time shouldn’t have been called, sorry about that.

— Bryan Hoch (@BryanHoch) August 27, 2019

Had timeout not been granted, Torres would have scored and the game would have been tied in the 9th. The Yankees ultimately lost, with Torres stranded on third after a pair of strikeouts.

It doesn’t appear that MLB can or will do anything else about it but apologize. That probably won’t make the Yankees, who were considering protesting the game, feel a lot better.

Yankees set remarkable record with 60th home run of August

The New York Yankees are putting up some unprecedented home run numbers in the month of August.

Yankees second baseman DJ LeMahieu led off Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Dodgers. That was the 59th home run of the month hit by the team, breaking the previous Major League record for team homers in a month. Outfielder Aaron Judge would add another home run later in the game, bringing the record tally to an even 60.

The Yankees are the first team in Major League history to hit 60 home runs in a calendar month.

— Yankees PR Dept. (@YankeesPR) August 26, 2019

60 home runs in 25 games works out to 2.4 home runs per game, which is a remarkable tally for an entire team over a fairly significant timespan.

The Yankees have a powerful lineup filled with some of the game’s finest sluggers. Cynics, however, might point out that there are some other theories why they — and other teams — are hitting more home runs than ever before in 2019.

Yankees considering protest over Gleyber Torres timeout controversy

The New York Yankees are considering a protest over the way the ninth inning of the their 2-1 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers played out on Saturday.

Gio Urshela hit into a fielder’s choice with one out and runners on first and second in the top of the ninth with his team down 2-1. The Dodgers tried to get Brett Gardner at second on a force play, but Gardner was called safe on a review. While the Dodgers were focusing on the play at second (Max Muncy had been taken down by Gardner’s slide), lead runner Gleyber Torres tried to make a break for home. He looked like he would score the tying run but the home plate umpire and Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen indicated time had been called.

Just seems like a very inconvenient time to call time pic.twitter.com/MD7DDnhqB2

— Jomboy (@Jomboy_) August 24, 2019

The next two Yankees batters struck out to strand the bases loaded and lose the game.

After dropping the contest 2-1, Yankees manager Aaron Boone said he was told Gleyber did not score because time was called. He said the team was considering a protest.

Boone said he was told Gleyber did not score because Jansen held his hands up and the home plate umpire called time. Boone said it looked to him like Gleyber was already running down the line.

— Bryan Hoch (@BryanHoch) August 24, 2019

Boone said that he watched the replay and that Torres had definitely started running. But that wasn’t how the umps saw it. “As far as I know, if they call time, they called time.”

— Bryan Hoch (@BryanHoch) August 24, 2019

Boone on if the Yankees could protest: “We’ll certainly inquire with everyone and try to get a good explanation.”

— Bryan Hoch (@BryanHoch) August 24, 2019

Muncy said he called time on the play because he was hurt, though he acknowledged some part was an acting job because he didn’t want Torres scoring.

Muncy laughed and said he pulled something of a "soccer" move so the umpires could call timeout and prevent the runner from scoring in the ninth. "He still got me good, it still hurt, so it wasn't entirely fake. But there might have been a little acting class in there."

— Alden Gonzalez (@Alden_Gonzalez) August 25, 2019

The teams have now split the first two games of the series. Sunday will be the rubber match of the three-game set.

Report: ‘Growing opinion’ that Yankees are aiming to intimidate young umpires

The New York Yankees have run afoul of umpires more than most teams have this season, and there’s a growing sense among some within the game that it’s not coincidental.

According to Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News, there is a “growing opinion” among MLB umpires that the Yankees are singling out younger umpires and trying to intimidate them. The Yankees’ last three major umpire-related incidents have all involved younger umpires, including Ben May on Saturday against Cleveland.

Manager Aaron Boone denied any campaign when asked Sunday.

“Not necessarily,” Boone said. “I don’t think Ben (May) handled necessarily anything wrong yesterday. I was never that irate. I was more trying to take the attention off some of our players. … I don’t think he had a short fuse or anything like that. I thought he tried to defuse the situation as best he could and unfortunately it got a little away.”

The Yankees certainly haven’t held back when talking about umpires after these incidents, which is always going to rub umpires the wrong way. Perhaps it’s the youth angle, or perhaps there’s not as much to it, but umps are going to take notice of repeated behavior like this.

Yankees considering using opener during playoffs

Thursday’s disaster aside, the strategy of using an opener to start a game has worked well for the New York Yankees. It’s been good enough to the point that team general manager Brian Cashman says he will consider using an opener in a playoff game this postseason.

Cashman told reporters prior to the Yankees’ 19-5 loss to the Cleveland Indians that using an opener would be a “possibility” that depended on many factors.

Brian Cashman on using an opener in the playoffs: "(It will depend on) schedule, see who's healthy, who's available to us, is Sevy back? Where is everybody else? How is our bullpen lined up? What are the off-days? … It's certainly something that is going to be a possibility."

— Bryan Hoch (@BryanHoch) August 15, 2019

Opener Chad Green was hammered by the Indians Thursday, allowing five runs over one third of an inning. The rest of the bullpen struggled as well; the entire staff allowed seven home runs in the game. The Yankees have still won 10 of 12 games Green has opened, so it’s mostly been a successful tactic.

The Yankees’ bullpen has been rock solid this season, but Domingo German is their only starter with a sub-4.00 ERA. Using Green in a playoff game might make sense at some point.