Roger Clemens isn’t ready to back off the Yankees just because they’re sitting in second place.
After New York edged the Dodgers, 2-1, in the second game of a split doubleheader, Clemens said on the NBC Sunday Night Baseball booth that he still sees his former club taking the AL East and making a run into October.
“That was a great win for them, I still think the Yankees are going to win the East,” Clemens said in the NBC Sunday Night Baseball booth. “You’re going to see these two teams matching up again [in October]. And I guess, Jazz [Chisholm] is going to be wearing those new ankle-biters, those new pinstripes he’s got on.”
Clemens was referring to Chisholm, who delivered the go-ahead solo homer in the eighth inning. Chisholm has been wearing tighter fitting pants going forward instead of Giancarlo Stanton’s over-sized trousers, which he wore to get out of a slump.
The Yankees’ win trimmed their gap to 1 1/2 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East. They now head into a six-game stretch against National League teams, with the Pirates and Phillies on deck.
Alex Rodriguez also weighed in on the Yankees’ position, noting how open the American League looks.
“You have a scenario where you can play the White Sox and the Rays and go to the World Series. So if you’re management, if you have an opportunity to go all in [at the trade deadline], you gotta put all your chips in now.”
At minimum, the Yankees are looking for help at catcher and in the bullpen.
On the other side, former Dodgers pitcher Orel Hershiser said his old team came up short offensively.
“A little disappointing today with the offense,” Hershiser said on NBC.
He added that the Dodgers will be looking for their deep lineup to get rolling before they head to Philadelphia.
“But to get this whole deep lineup firing on all cylinders, they’ll look for that going into Philly.”
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