Major League Baseball Astros vs. Yankees Picks & Predictions for August 24, 2015

Or maybe the worst best game ever? Exciting? Also yes. Frustrating at times? Teixeira was on deck as a pinch hitter in the ninth inning Monday but would not have played first base if the game went to extra innings. He had allowed six home runs. He came out throwing gas, hitting 100-plus miles per hour on four of the 11 pitches he needed to strike out the side in the first inning and was still dealing in the triple digits in the eighth inning; his 107th pitch of the game was clocked at 100. Dominant. This was ACEovaldi, at least for one start. In the fifth, when he ran some long counts and issued two of this three walks, he escaped with a pop-up and two ground balls.

Heck, Eovaldi had to overcome his own defense a few times. Both times Eovaldi escaped. Starters are not supposed to throw that hard.

“Of course it’s on my mind, CC going down”, Eovaldi said. No, probably not. But man, look at how far this guy has come since April. Scott Feldman will take on Nathan Eovaldi in the pitching matchup. On O.Perez’s wild pitch, Gardner to second. “I think the player of the game has to be Eovaldi”.

But the story of the night was Eovaldi, who had to settle for a no decision in what was easily his best game as a Yankee, and possibly his big league career. “It’s good. Today was a great game”.

The game-winning ninth inning rally was sorta dopey and anti-climatic, but a win is a win is a win. Over the past 73 2/3 innings, he has allowed just 65 hits. This year, it’s been more like 45 percent of the time, and the split has become his most-used offspeed pitch.

If the story of New York Yankees pitcher Nathan Eovaldi’s 2015 season were written by Charles Dickens, he would have called it “A Tale of Two Seasons”. Walk-off sac flies are weird. But it’s over only his past dozen starts that they could be truly sure of what they’ve got. As soon as you see the outfielder retreat far enough back, you know the game is over. Carlos Gomez bunted them over to second and third, but the threat was neutralized from there. Whatever. I’ll take it. That’s the plan, to try to be back out on the field. Conger caught the relay as he was falling to his knees and reached in front to tag a sliding McCann for the double play.

Then, in the seventh, the Yankees were in business thanks to McCann’s third leadoff single of the night.

In the seventh, the Yankees made a play for the lead when Brian McCann singled and Carlos Beltran hit the ball off the wall-though he was limited to a single. He struck out the game’s first two batters, Jose Altuve and Marwin Gonzalez, on 84-mph curves, and retired the last batter he faced, Carlos Gomez, on a fly ball to center on a 92-mph splitter. After trying to manage the pain, he decided to pitch with abandon the previous four starts and had better results before Sunday. Blah. That was deflating.

For all the talk about the Yankees not having a true ace, one of their pitchers quietly is doing a pretty good impression of one. He didn’t even give Brett Gardner a chance to hit as he walked him quickly. Three straight walks, then the sacrifice fly. They’ve also gone under in five of their last six against the Yankees.