NEW YORK -- That classic chant was filling Yankee stadium: "M-V-P! M-V-P M-V-P!" It echoed through the $1.5 billion building. It was for the Toronto Blue Jays' Josh Donaldson.
It was just one of many examples of how the Blue Jays took over Yankee Stadium and, in the process, the American League East on Saturday. Toronto steamrolled the Yankees over two games, outlasting the New York Yankees in the first game, an 11-inning, four-hour and 32 minute affair that featured seven homers, a couple of poor decisions by Yankees manager Joe Girardi and an epic bullpen meltdown that led to a 9-5 loss. The second game saw the Jays smash Ivan Nova and the Yankees, 10-7.
The AL East race is not officially over, but this will be a weekend that probably will last in Toronto lore for a long time. For the Yankees -- who will have ace Masahiro Tanaka on the mound Sunday trying to salvage some dignity -- they will want to forget it as soon as possible.
They may soon have to forget the AL East, as they trail the Jays by four-and-a-half games. The Yankees claim they don't think the Jays have won anything yet. They say their mindset has not changed after being dominated in the first three games of this series.
"No, definitely not," said Brett Gardner, who had three homers and seven RBIs in the two games. "It doesn't for me. It could on [Sunday] if they win four in a row against us, but I don't plan on that happening."
The first game was a disaster for the Yankees from Girardi on down. Girardi made a mistake in the eighth inning by pinch running for Alex Rodriguez in a tie game. A-Rod was at first with one out, while, with the bases loaded, the go-ahead run was at third. Rodriguez was replaced by Jose Pirela.
"My thought process there was I want someone that if he does hit a groundball that he can really get there and put a lot of pressure [on the shortstop,] Girardi said. "I'm going for the win there."
The Yankees didn't score and A-Rod was out of the game.
By the time the 10th rolled around, the light-hitting Dustin Ackley was batting with the winning run in scoring position in the spot that could have been A-Rod's. Ackley grounded out to end the inning.
That led to the abomination, which was the Yankees' relief pitching in the 11th inning. The Yankees walked five, hit one batter, while the Blue Jays just had one hit in scoring four runs to win the game 9-5. Bryan Mitchell (three runs, two walks, a hit batter and a strikeout) and Chasen Shreve (one run, three walks, one hit and one strikeout) were the culprits.
Girardi's big decision of the inning was a wrong one. Mitchell loaded the bases with the two walks and the hit batter before finally composing himself to strike out Dioner Navarro. With the light-hitting Ryan Goins up, Girardi took out the righty Mitchell to go with the lefty Shreve. All that did was allow Blue Jays manager John Gibbons to outmaneuver Girardi by turning to the right-handed hitting Russell Martin. Shreve walked him on four pitches.
"Shreve has been more of a strikeout pitcher during the season, and that is what I was going for in that situation," Girardi said.
It all didn't work out in the first game.
In the second, Nova immediately put the Yankees in a Grand Canyon-sized hole. They were down 6-0 after two innings. They fought back to 6-4 and 10-7, mostly behind Gardner's two three-run homers, but they could not climb all the way. There is always a sense in these games that once the Yankees score, the Jays are going to tack on a couple more soon after.
The day of baseball started a little after 1 p.m. on Saturday. It did not end until almost 10:30. It was as loud as it has been at the Stadium at the beginning of the day; the 46,278 were excited when Gardner hit a solo shot in the first inning of the opening game.
But by the end of the night, there weren't many fans left. Most of the ones that were around had Blue Jays hats on. As the Jays left the field, their fans saluted them, but the Blue Jays aren't throwing any parades yet.
"Right now, it means nothing," Jose Bautista told ESPN Deportes' Marly Rivera. "Things can change any minute. We are going to stay positive and we want to finish strong, but we'll see what happens, we don’t want to get ahead of facts."
They may not, but they are way ahead of the Yankees.
