OK, OK, SU will come clean and admit that I was very, very surprised at how the Yankees performed this weekend up in Boston, and truth be told, how the Red Sox performed as well. Friday was a comfortable win but the Saturday and Sunday games featured late inning Yankee rallies from the same cast of characters.

No doubt Alex Cora went into the manager’s office after the game and jotted down the following: “Note to self: don’t pitch to Stanton late in the game with RISP.” Cora is a super-confident, borderline arrogant manager and clearly he has confidence in his relievers. But on the Yankees, only 2 guys are going to beat you this year: Stanton and Judge. That is pretty much it. Last night in the 8th inning, he had the chance to walk Stanton and pitch to Joey Gallo who you know will never come through. 1st base was open. But he liked the righty on righty match-up with Ottavino vs. having Ottavino face Gallo. Dude, think outside of the box. Stanton had lit you up 2 games in a row.

In the end, Cora out-Booned himself as manager. And really, does Boone have any in-game feel for what is going on? Holmes strikes out the side on 11 pitches in the 6th inning. Let him pitch another another inning? Nope because…. he never lets his relievers go another inning. A-Rod was all over that on the broadcast and rightly so.

A few other random observations:

1. Can Gary Sanchez ever run hard to 1st base on a ground out? I know he is conserving his legs but he doesn’t play every day and it’s a bad look. He generally strikes out 3 of the 4 at bats so we are only talking about one time during the game. Annoying.
2. Is Devers on the Red Sox chewing a mix of gum and tobacco all game? I have never seen such a big wad in a player’s mouth. Nasty looking.
3. SU must give Stanton credit. He has carried the offense with Judge for about 2 months now. How any team pitches to him now is beyond me. Gallo is never going to hit a home run with anyone on base – at least not on the Yankees. He ratio of home runs to rbis is 1:2. Dave Kingman like. Are managers so enamored with the the righty vs. righty match-ups that they can’t look at who is hot as in red hot?
4. Judge dislocated his pinky in the 8th inning on a slide into 2nd base. This deserves watching as he absolutely cannot miss a game.
5. The Yankees must be setting a MLB record for most wild pitches with a man on 3rd this year. It’s one of their best ways to score runs.
6. While the Yankees’ relievers are a bit terrifying now (looking at you Chad Green), the Red Sox are even worse. Severino is a huge add as he can actually go 2 innings (Boone wrote that down on Saturday in his book).

But here is the deal: they now have 3 games with Toronto and 3 with Tampa Bay. The Blue Jays need to win these games to climb over Boston, and Tampa Bay would face the Yankees in the first round of the playoffs. They may actually be motivated to knock the Yankees out in that last series vs. resting their players. Boston plays Baltimore and Washington, and the Blue Jays face the Orioles in their last series. SU says other Yankees will need to step up on offense now as other managers surely are paying attention and will not pitch to Stanton. Paging Joey Gallo. Please report for extra batting practice and work on your bunting to the left side.

Is this a tease for Yankee fans? Or is the team ready to seal the deal and at least host a wild card game?

SU watched a fair amount of the Ryder Cup this weekend. So refreshing to see young Americans competing with enthusiasm. The Ryder Cup was a nice diversion from the Giants and Jets. SU was watching the Red Zone channel and I am not sure that I ever saw a Giants’ offensive play yesterday. So bad. In a sport with a salary cap, there really is no excuse for years and years of such poor play by any one team.