Yankees, Red Sox add bizarre chapter to storied rivalry

After Gerrit Cole's No Mass moment with Rafael Devers in Saturday's fourth inning just when you thought things couldn't get any weirder at the stadium, Boston manager Alex Cora freely admitted before Sunday's game that the Red Sox tried to hit. Aaron Judge with the pitch in the sixth inning.

“It's not allowed,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said when informed of Cora's announcement after his team's 5-2 win in which Judge smashed a 445-footer into dead-red center for No. 53 in the third inning. “That's for someone else to deal with.”

This 27-hour slice of life will become an odd footnote in The Revelry history. Harry Frazee isn't selling to Bob. It's not Thurman Munson and Carlton Fisk, it's not Greg Nettles and Bill Lee, it's not Bucky Dent going deep to left, it's not Grady Little leaving Pedro Martinez in the game too long, it's not a third baseman named Boone in Game 7 of 2003. , and it wasn't overcoming a 3-0 edge in the ALCS a year later.

But it was some kind of.

Cora was truthful about his confession, when asked if there would be a carryover from Saturday, when he accused Cole of intentionally hitting Devers in the first inning. In fact, Cole struck out three batters in his 4 ¹/₃ innings of work.

“It was off around the sixth inning yesterday,” the manager said, making a statement that might have been considered an excited utterance by the boys on “law and order” except that it was uttered casually. “We had our chances. didn't happen We have to move forward.”

In the sixth inning, Boston starter Brian Bello's first pitch ricocheted off Judge's leg. Bellow was then replaced by Bayley Horn.

“It's baseball,” said a worried judge, sounding like a John Sterling impersonator. “He missed. I couldn't do anything.”

Cora also inadvertently volunteered that he met with Judge after the game, when he thought he was being asked about a postgame conversation with Boone. When the judge was asked about it, he called it “a good convo,” let's just leave it at that.

Judge took his bat about two-thirds down the line after giving the Yanks a 4-0 lead with a drive toward the face of the restaurant above Monument Park. If there was a speech, the judge would not say it. He is not Cora.

“I thought I did it all the time,” he said. “No?”

The Yankees took three of four and finished the homestand with a three-game division lead over the Orioles after going 5-2 in The Bronx. Gleyber Torres continues to rake from the leadoff spot. Carlos Rodon was excellent. The rebuilt bullpen did the job. It was a good day for Boone's team.

Perhaps Saturday and Cole's inexplicable decision to intentionally walk Devers in the fourth inning is going to be nothing more than a blip and a blip, as it all remains a mystery. Maybe it's a 24- or 48-hour story that will be forgotten by the time the playoffs begin and Cole gets the ball for Game 1.

But I don't know. And it's not the granular details that puzzle me. It's not clear if catcher Austin Wells was in the discussion between Cole and pitching coach Matt Blake earlier in the innings or was part of the pre-draft meeting in which the idea was apparently floated.

It's not about a breakdown in communication, which Boone took responsibility for when asked about it on Sunday, although confusion in the dugout isn't a great sign.

One idea I don't quite understand is the mindset of introducing Cole either approaching the game or innings before Devers' at-bat in the dugout. This seems to be the polar opposite of positive thinking.

It is impossible to believe that Roger Clemens would have operated this way. Heck, Clemens used to throw the bat before giving Devers a free pass. Can't believe CC Sabathia was cool with that. Not to mention Catfish Hunter, Tom Seaver, Don Drysdale or Bob Gibson. Can you imagine?

But that's not true of Cole, who fits the definition of a throwback starter in the mold of Justin Verlander or Max Scherzer. Cole always takes the ball. He is such a traditional ace. Yet, there he was, waving a metaphorical white flag from the mound while theatrically waving Devers to take his base as if the pitcher were an unscrupulous usher performing at the Lincoln Center Philharmonic.

At the same time, it is the age of analysis in which Cole exists. He's also with a Yankees organization that, despite a championship drought since 2009, appears to be the smartest operation.

This is the crew, remember, and that includes Blake, who gave you Debi Garcia as the Game 2 opener against Tampa Bay in the 2020 best-of-five that the Yanks lost in five after taking a 1-0 series lead.

Cole said no. Cora said the Red Sox tried to hit the umpire. No. 99 went deep. The Yanks have taken three of four.

Footnote to the Rivalry.