Sunday, October 7, 2018

The Most Frustrating 6-2 Playoff Win!

You would think that a 6-2 win in Fenway in the playoffs would be pretty uplifting.  Overall, it is/was, but I was very annoyed watching the game.  I don't want to get too negative so I will make only two comments that bothered me.

  • Stanton - After the previous game where he was up with bases loaded and nobody out and took 3 straight strikes without swinging the bat, he was awful again with 1st and 2nd nobody out with the score 3-1.  Embree couldn't locate pitches and Stanton got clean swings at 4 fastballs that were very hittable and fouled or missed them.  Then, when Embree was just trying to throw strikes, he hit a soft chopper to 3rd where Nunez continued his Steve Sax impersonation and threw high to 2nd...This leads me to my 2nd frustration...
  • I watched the play on video many times and it is very close, but if I had to choose, I would say he was safe at 2nd.  I think the foot left the bag when the ball hit the leather of the glove, but it was extremely close.  That being said, YOU CAN'T OVERTURN THAT CALL! That was an absolutely terrible call and whoever made that decision should be fired immediately because they are on the take.  The announcers felt the same way and that could have been huge.  The horrible call is a 1.2 run difference probability wise.  Bases loaded with nobody out, the run probability is 2.37 runs and 1st and 3rd  and 1 out, it is 1.17
Fortunately, Sanchez came through in a huge way with a 3 run blast that was 2nd farthest HR in the Postseason since stat cost started tracking them.  479 feel out of the stadium in Left Center.  Sanchez is poor defensively with eth exception of his arm, but he can b a difference maker with his bat and we saw this last night.

Judge got us going again and it is evident why he is our best player.

Chapman walking the leadoff hitter in the 9th is one of those frustrating moments (I promise, the last one I will comment on), but Chapman pitched great the very next AB to Nunez throwing two fastballs on the outer corner after mixing in some good curves.  If I heard it correct, they said it was his first double play induced all year.

Losing Hicks hurts us but hopefully, he can play Monday.  If he can hit, but can't field, it is possible that Stanton could give way to Hicks as a DH.  I am not ready to do that yet, but if the matchup makes sense, I could understand it.  Gardner had a subtle yet productive AB when he made Kelly throw 8 pitches before he grounded out.  If Gardner would have jumped on the first pitch for an out, I think Kelly would have started the 5th inning (after 2.1 innings of pitching) because he would have had only 18 pitches to get through 7 outs.  But, the 8 pitches was enough to not push past 25 pitches and 2.1 innings.  The next inning we did get 1st and 2nd with one out but Stanton and Sanchez struck out.

Nice job by Tanaka.  He didn't have his great sinker, but he pitched like a veteran and didn't leave too many pitches in very hittable spots.  It was questionable whether he would come out or not, but I thought it was the right move to take him out as he was not as sharp in the 4th and 5th (allowing the HR and walk in the 4th and allowing a very hard hit ball to Betts that went to Gardner.

Betances threw strikes but did not have sharp bite on his curve.  He did get through the 6th with some decently struck balls and then allowed the double to Kinsler that is an out in most parks.  Not his best stuff, but did ok.  

Britton and Chapman each walked a guy but did their job!  

A couple of points on game 1.

  •  So much for Happ being the Red Sox killer.  He simply didn't control his change well and after a very bad change he decided to come up and in to JD with a fastball (which is where he gets jammed a lot), but he got the pitch down which allowed Martinez to drop the barrel on it and the 3-0 lead, we never recovered from.
  • We fought back, but just could not get a big hit, leaving 1st and 2nd twice and had bases loaded with nobody out and only scored 1 run. 
Overall, a split in Fenway was a good thing and we are now in a best of 3 where we have two games at home.  Game 4 I would not be surprised to see Happ pitch (Not sure if the Yankees announced anything?)


Thursday, October 4, 2018

Bring On Boston!

It was great to hang outside with 15-20 friends and watch a playoff win!  The air smells better, the food tastes better and the body hurts a little less today!  Sure it was just one win and won’t be nearly as satisfying as beating the Red Sox, but losing that game would have made the season seem hollow and we would have questioned everything (which we may do if we don’t win it all J )

Let’s get to a few points.  I will try and write more before Friday’s game but have a full schedule.

Boone started Severino and while he was my 3rd choice, he did pretty well.  NO runs were the best thing, followed by his slider which was sharp with great bite downward.  When you go only 4 innings and leave with 1st and 2nd with nobody out it is hard to say it was a good outing, but it was reasonably good.  I thought he went away from throwing his fastball more than he should have in the 2nd- 5th innings and I didn’t understand the changeup so often especially when he had thrown all sliders prior (That was not smart as it is easier to lay off of it when you are looking slider).  Four walks in 4 innings is bad though.

Great job by Betances; he was the star.  Coming in with 2 guys on and nobody and in the 5th inning (early for him) he gave us 2 great innings!  Honestly, his breaking ball was not as good as normal, but he didn’t walk anyone and did a fantastic job.

Was not happy to see Britton get hit, but I was happy to see Chapman look pretty solid.

When is Sanchez going to go back to an approach where he tries to go the other way?  He used to do that well and needs to have an approach to hit it to right.  Naturally, he will still pull some pitches, but he needs to not be afraid to get beat inside on a fastball and this will allow him to hit so many more pitches better.

Voits’ “triple” was an amazing AB.  This guy may have a hole up and in and is probably not as good as his OPS indicates, but he is a very professional hitter.  I didn’t like his celebrating a ball that honestly should have been caught as the RF did not run full speed the entire way (unless he is very slow), but at the worst, it was a key sac fly and it turned out much better!  He has been huge for us.

Andujar needs to learn how to stop patting his glove and stop winding up so much, this is a major flaw in his game.  He made a nice play with his glove, but he does not throw accurately or quickly and that is a bad combo.  Great job by Boone to replace him with Hechavarria, who made an outstanding play to help Robertson.   I like having Hech on the team.  Later Boone put Walker in to replace Voit who is not that skilled at 1B.


I am content today; Boston will be a very tough task.

Monday, October 1, 2018

Just Win One Game!

The end of a successful year.  100 wins and the implementation of Torres and Andujar into our infield.  Andujar’s defense is still weak (when a defensive substitution is Neil Walker at 3rd you know you have some issues), but his offense has been excellent.  We also overcame numerous injuries and didn’t mortgage our minor leagues to get here.  We are in excellent position for the future…but the future starts this Wednesday!

Let’s get right to the decisions and the good and bad.

The big question is who should we start?  This is part of “the bad.”  The answer should be Severino without hesitation.  However, he has not been very sharp for some time.  His OPS against was .580 in the first half (2.31 ERA) and .821 OPS against with an ERA of 5.43 in the 2nd half.   Severino had an ERA of 3.56 against Boston in 5 starts and 6.23 in 2 starts against Oakland.  I don’t think starting Severino is the best solution.   I know some people have talked about Happ being able to pitch twice against Boston as we will need him to win that series.  This may be true, but you do have to get there.  Happ has pitched once against Oakland going 6 innings allowing 2 hits and one walk.  Not a huge sample size, but he pitched well.  Happ has an ERA of 1.99 against Boston in 4 starts. He did allow 6 unearned runs in 22 innings though (which is a huge amount).  His OPS against is an excellent .564 (.478 against Oakland for that one start).  Tanaka is an option as well and has not pitched against Oakland this year.  I actually like that because not knowing what a guy actually looks like is a plus.  Tanaka has been awful against Boston in his 4 games; having an ERA of 7.58 and an OPS against of over 1.  Tanaka’s last 5 starts have been good and I have confidence in him.   I think our best chance to win the game is Happ and followed by Tanaka.  Based on the goal of winning the World Series, our best overall chance is to roll the dice with Tanaka so that Happ can pitch twice against Boston.  That being said, you have to get there first and starting Happ can’t be questioned.  I do not think Severino is the right answer.

Bad: I have little confidence in our bullpen.  This was something I did not expect to think or write.  But, who do you trust?  I might have said Britton and then the other day he simply couldn’t throw a strike with anything but his straight fastball.  Overall, he has been our best pitcher down the stretch and the guy I trust the most.  Betances started the year terribly and then since then has been good.  Down the stretch though he wasn’t terrible, but he wasn’t as sharp; remember last year he struggled down the stretch far worse than this year.  He could throw a ball over the backstop or nail a wicked curve on the outside corner, but he is always a risk with runners on base.  Robertson is hard to have any confidence in as he simply is missing spots at an alarming rate and has been awful in the final 2 weeks.  Holder has a 5 ERA in the 2nd half and I would not pitch him unless very early in the game where you need some innings.  Chapman was having a really good year and then struggled with his injury.  He has pitched 4.1 innings since coming back and has walked 3 batters while only allowing 2 hits and striking out 9.  That is a line that shows what we can expect out of him and guys like Betances and Britton.  They all have great stuff, but can they control their repertoire?  Green has been solid over the last month and is probably the guy to trust the most, but he hasn’t been sharp in his location either.  Overall, a 2.50 ERA is someone you could pitch and feel good about most of the time though.  I thought the pen would be a huge advantage for us, but it just hasn’t been.

Hitting:

We have our team back and that is really good.  The most important part of getting healthier has been Judge.  He changes the lineup substantially.  Unfortunately, since coming back he simply hasn’t been Judge.  His OPS is only .675 since coming back, but he has been getting better of late (.763 over his last 5 games.).  He needs to be a weapon for us!
Didi – He was playing great until he got hurt sliding head first into home plate (this really should not happen unless a critical play in the postseason.).  Same as Judge, he hasn’t been sharp since returning (hand injuries are tough to swing through)
Stanton – Overall, his year was below expectations at .852, but the hope is he can be a force in the playoffs as he tends to be streaky
Sanchez – Someone who can be a difference maker for us.  Unfortunately, he had an awful year at the plate finishing with an OPS of .697.  Like a lot of our team, we finished the year better, but was that because we were facing weaker pitching in non-leveraged situations?  Regardless, confidence is important and he had a good last week and hopefully he can contribute offensively, otherwise, he won’t start every game (hoping we have more than 1 game)
Romine – I would not start him against Oakland, but he is an option in a series to catch a game here and there if Sanchez doesn’t hit.  When playing every day (which is hard for a catcher because of all the little dings and hits you take every game) as well as returning to the mean showed a huge difference as he had an OPS of .825 in the first half and a .597 in the 2nd half.
Luke Voit – What can you say about this guy.  Bird faltered and this guy stepped up HUGE.  .333/.405/689 for a 1.095 OPS!  This was in 132 AB’s also so not a very small sample size.  He has adjusted very well and while he has a hole up and in, pitchers are not good at throwing there often/consistently.  For perspective, if you took what he has done and gave him the same amount of AB’s as Stanton (617), he would have 65 homers and 154 RBI’s.  This gives you an idea of how good he has been and he has finished the year stronger with an OPS of 1.128 over the last month.
Andujar- This guy is a hitter; his 47th double tied the rookie major league record!  He has been the most consistent guy for us and finishing at .855 is extremely respectable and promising.
Torres – Struggled after coming back and his OPS dropped to .822 (which is still solid for a slick middle infielder). 
Hicks – Overall has done very well considering he had 220 more AB’s this year than in his entire career.  .833 OPS was very solid playing CF.  He also was pretty consistent by month considering he was always a streaky hitter)
Walker – The guy I predicted would be much better in the 2nd half, did come through for us.  He had an OPS of .788 (compared to .563 in the 1st half) and hit righties well.  That still is not a great OPS but respectable.  He will be a guy off the bench and possibly a pinch hitter.
McCutchen – He has played well for us (.892 OPS) and I really liked the pickup as it gives us depth and options.

Even though we have our team back, with so many guys not playing their best down the stretch, we need to turn it up to have a chance to extend the season deep into October.

267 homers is the most ever by a team!  The offense will have to be strong for us to compete and while we have struggled since coming back from all of our injuries, we are a very formidable team.  I hope we beat Oakland and think we have a better than 50% chance, probably closer to 60%.  Then we have a below 50% chance of beating the Red Sox, but one thing at a time.

Friday, August 31, 2018

Rough loss!

I have been watching almost every game, but have not been able to post.  Outside of last night's very tough loss and the questionable decision to have Betances close instead of Britton (which I made the comment to my wife that this was an odd move because the players are in the wrong spot and the  matchups didn't even dictate Britton to Betances?), the team is playing about as well as we could expect with a lot of big players out. 

Our pitchers walk way too many guys and that is frustrating.  In last night's loss, I said we will win as long as Betances doesn't walk anyone and after he did my wife, of course, asked me will we lose?  I responded that his stuff is great and his stats have been amazing, but I wouldn't;t be surprised at all if he walks another guy and allows a HR.  That isn't exactly what happened, but when a guy who has been so great (3 runs in his last 38 innings) still has you very concerned it says a lot about his "head."  I just don't have faith in him as a closer.  he is 30 years old and while I love his stuff, I don't trust him as a closer.  Betances should have pitched the 8th and Britton (who is looking better) in the 9th.  BTW, Chapman's control issues also concern me and this gets back to my main issue; we walk way too many guys.

  1. Luke Voit has an OPS of 1.043 with us (45 Plate Appearances (PA).  When looking at the big picture, I think the thought was that Tyler Austin and Luke were similar players.  Interestingly, Austin has done well in his AB's as well in his 59 PA's with an OPS of .974.  I like the way Voit approaches AB's.  He has a hole up and in on a fastball, but pitchers struggle hitting that consistently (and why Rivera was so amazing against lefties getting it there - imagine Mariano being able to pitch with the higher strike being called now?)
  2. Part of the above trades got us a back end starter who should be pretty reliable (Lynn) and a 3 type starter in Happ.  I think these are solid moves.  
  3. We just traded for McCutchen, giving up minor leaguers.  I don't know if this is saying that Judge may not come back or if he does he may not be 100%, but it is a huge and needed upgrade from Shane Robinson (who simply is not a major leaguer) and it gives us great flexibility to rest guys and create the matchups that work best.  Unfortunately, McCutchen is another righty (a little better against lefties) but a career OPS of .858 and an expected OPS of about .800 is a huge upgrade for us.  He has been a CF'r most of his career but has moved to RF this year and will probably play there.  This will allow us to rest Stanton who has been a horse for us playing through a tender hamstring EVERY day.  McCutchen is a free agent next year.  
  4. Speaking of G, congrats on your 300th HR!  He isn't close to last year's production, but I never thought he would repeat his career year (OPS of 1.007).  However, he has been very good for us with an OPS of .876.  I hope we get him some rest now as we do have a chance to catch the Red Sox, but I think we will be a WC and we need to get our guys better.  With Judge, we can beat anyone in a series.  
  5. We are playing with a team missing its closer and its best player (Judge) along with our starting catcher and SS.  Think about that for a moment.  
  6. Many have said the heck with Sanchez; we are fine with Romine.  While I don't think Romine is bad, he does not have Sanchez upside and as he has played as the starter we are seeing some of the flaws in Romine's game.  Partially because you get beat up as a catcher and the little things injuries (foul tips, catching a ball off the thumb etc...) start to impact your performance.  It is not a coincidence that Romine has an OPS of .649 for June, July and August while sporting an OPS of roughly 1.035 for April and May.  BUT, that isn't the main point, the big issue is that Kyle Higashioka has been playing a decent amount and his OPS has been .583 and his defense is not that good.  Replace Kyle with Sanchez and split time with Romine and Romine is sharper as well as Sanchez. 
  7. Right now Voit should be starting but Bird should get some AB's here and there until Voit cools down.  Get G some rest and DH the other, although we may see Sanchez DH some as well.
  8. I have been a huge fan of Gardner over the years and his defense is still elite in LF, but at 35, his age is showing up.  He has an OPS of .582 in the 2nd half this year.  That is not good enough and McCutchen may be playing LF when Judge comes back.  Gardner may be a defensive replacement only and he is a free agent so this may be it for him as a Yankee.  He is probably not worth signing unless for a one year deal at not too much money.  We have a team option for 12.5 mil with a 2 mil buyout.  I expect us to payout that 2 mil.  I am a big Gardner fan but his hot streaks are just far too short now.  He has never played for another team and I wouldn't expect him to either sign for an incentive deal for 19 or retire.  BTW, he did have a really good year last year (OPS of .778), so perhaps playing less frequent would allow him to be more productive, but this may be it.
  9. I hope Judge can play well again this year, but we have to be careful as the wrists can get reinjured again so we need to be patient.  He is running but not swinging yet.
Some positives:
  • Gleyber is swinging the bat well again
  • Andujar (.855) and Hicks (.832) continue to hit very well and for Hicks this is the most amount of PA's he has had in a year.  390 was the most and he is at 481 now
  • Walker has an OPS of .834 in the 2nd half and has played all over the place for us.
  • Adding our injured guys makes us a different team.  Now with McCutchen, we have the depth we need to be a serious threat.
We have flaws and I worry about our pitching, especially our starters, but every team has some flaws and if healthy, we can beat anyone.  Houston and Boston are really good teams, but in a series, good teams can almost be a coin flip (which can come up heads 4 times in a row)




Monday, August 13, 2018

Texas Series


  • Taking 3 out of 4 was good against a very hot hitting team that does not pitch well
  • Happ, Lynn and CC all pitched very well.  They kept the ball out of the middle of the plate and mixed eye levels, sides of the plate and speeds.  
  • On the negative side, Tanaka was awful, allowing 3 HR's in 5 IP while also walking 3 batters. 
  • The vaunted bullpen is not performing well of late.  Green has been struggling - in the last month with 12 IP, he has allowed 9 ER.  Chapman has been scary and Britton has not been sharp.  Holder had the nightmare game against Boston but wasn't sharp around that 7 ER without getting an out game, but he did pitch well last night and the previous two outings.
  • In general, we are walking too many guys; we walked 20 in the 4 games against Texas.
  • Betances, has been great and is the guy I have the most confidence in (and he still throws 1 or 2 to the back screen every game), but take a look at how great he has been over the past 30 games or so.  28 IP, 8 hits, 1 run, 14 free passes (4 HBP and 10 walks) with 49 k's - This is crazy good!
  • I am worried about Andujar and his defense.  He was getting away with some of the fundamental play earlier in the year, but his defense has been awful of late.  backing up on way too many balls and getting eaten up.  he also takes a long time to throw the ball winding up so when he takes his time to throw he gives no room for error.  On top of the 2 more errors (12 on the year) last night, Voit saved him a throwing error by making a very good scoop on a bad throw (tougher than the one Bird could have made to win the game on Andjur's game losing play.  The guy has a really good stick, but he needs to have more of a sense of urgency at 3rd base (charge the ball and get rid of it) or he simply will be a DH.  He even fails to turn 2 a lot because of how long he takes to get rid of the ball.  Boone kept Walker in the game and put him at 3rd base for defense in the 9th.  When you are being replaced by Walker at 3rd base, you have to look at what you are doing wrong.
  • Speaking of Walker, while he hasn't walked in August, his OPS in July and August (about 100 plate appearances) has been about .825!
  • While I was pleased to see Eovaldi have one of his games where he got lit up (just seems to happen to him more than other guys with stuff like his), Sale ran his scoreless streak to 28 innings as he returned for Boston.  
  • Boston has a .708 winning %.  
  • Realistically, we should be rooting for Seattle and Oakland to lose more than the Red Sox now as we are 9.5 behind Boston and 4.5 and 5 ahead of Oakland and Seattle respectively.  I believe we are better than those two teams and we will host the wild-card game.  Unfortunately, one game can go either way, but why I really like the playoff system now (long time readers remember that I wrote about doing exactly what they did).  If any team can't catch another team after 162 games, they have proven that they are not as good as that team, but giving 2 more teams a chance to get in keeps interest around the league, but also is something you would much rather NOT do.  I remember before the extra Wild Card team, there were times where I would have rathered not won the division because of the matchup; that should never happen and there should be a large reward for winning the division.

Wednesday, August 8, 2018

Fortunately, The White Sox Are Bad!

My write-up from this morning...

Monday saw our new acquisition Lynn have an excellent result against a weak Chicago team.  I don't want to diminish what Lynn did as his repertoire looked very good.  He was throwing his four seamer at 95 consistently (hit 97 once) and when he took 2 MPH off he tailed it away from lefties effectively.  His slider has movement but it isn't late movement so that was mediocre, but his curve had good bite and was very useful.  He is a good pitcher who throws high in the strike zone which I like to see.  While he was a bit wild at times, he also pinpointed his fastball into the glove as well (I call that effectively wild), but he only allowed one walk (and 2 hits) in pitching 7.1 scoreless innings!  This was only one start against the WS, but I thought this was a good trade based on his past.

CC's numbers looked good as well Tuesday night, but he was aided by the weaker hitting team as he left many pitches in the middle of the plate that they didn't take advantage of.  CC struck out 12 in 5.2 innings, but I didn't think he threw well.  His command was still very inconsistent while he walked 3, but fortunately, the White Sox are a bad team.

Some notes:


  • Our offense was not very good again, but Stanton gave us a 2 run lead in the top of the 10th.  Chapman was not available so Britton had his chance to close out and get his first save with the Yankees.  After hitting the first batter he got his patented 2 ground balls and with one out away he lawn darted a pitch for a wild pitch and then overcompensated by throwing the next pitch at 96 MPH down the middle and Abreu deposited it for his 20th HR of the year to tie the game.  Very frustrating as we need Britton to be an ace reliever and can't have this performance if we want to go anywhere in the playoffs.  He still needs to get his command much better at this point...but the stuff is still outstanding.
  • In the bottom of the 9th, Didi almost cost us as a DP ball where Torres athletically flipped the ball to Didi with his glove, but Didi was flat-footed at 2nd base and used all arm to throw to first and the runner was safe.  There is a reason why middle infielders time their turn (cross) of 2nd base and that is to safely move out of the way of the runner, but also to get a lot on the throw as you turn it quickly (momentum).  Not sure what Didi was thinking but he didn't get enough on the throw to turn the DP and gave Chicago another opportunity...fortunately, they are a bad team.
  • The Yankees hit a few well-struck balls that went to the warning track as well as 2 almost homers that were taken away from them by great leaping catches by their CF'r Engel.  Engel can't hit at all (.570 OPS), but he is an excellent defender.
  • Sonny Gray pitched well for 3 shutout innings to get the win and while he didn't get credit for a save, he did save his win.  It was good to see and hopefully he can make teh tranistion and help us out of the pen.
  • Going back to the Red Sox disaster, I wanted to make two comments that I neglected to mention.  1) It would have been nice if Bird could have bailed out Andujar and made the scoop and win the game and 2) Eovaldi looked really good.  I always liked his stuff, but he would make too many mistakes to be an ace.  The part that was impressive to me was that he has learned to pitch better.  he could always throw 98 consistently, but his secondary pitches were not great.  He was throwing a cutter that was outstanding!  It was moving like a sweeping slider at 94 MPH and that is new to his repertoire and very impressive (and concerning).  That is a difference maker pitch for him; I would have liked to get him back based on what I saw.  Hopefully, it was just a lucky day for him, but the Red Sox made a great move IMO.  Have to give them credit...
  • Ellsbury needs hip surgery and will be done until ST next year.  It is a shame as we could have used him during this stretch that Judge is out with Frazier injured.  Shane Robinson does not deserve to be on the roster (decent defender, but lifetime .592 OPS)... 
  • Mismatch tonight - must be a win for us.







Monday, August 6, 2018

Wild Card Focus

Well, that was a disaster!

This game had a few key moments that led to our loss.  While Chapman walking the bases loaded with a 4-1 lead is simply unacceptable and Andujar making a bad error/throw to first when an average throw ends the game with a win, this game was lost with the offense not tacking on meaningful runs and hitting very poorly. 

Up 3-1, we had 2nd and 3rd with nobody out with Didi up and a 3-2 count and he swung at a changeup way high and away!  We have to be better than that.

Torres got a sac fly (but 0-11 in the Boston series) and that is all we got.

BTW, Romine made a poor play in the 10th inning allowing a wild pitch that was a pretty routine block and this setup the winning run. His right leg was straight and he didn't get his body to his right fast enough.

We are only 5 games ahead of Seattle for the final wild card spot; unfortunately, this has become our focus.




Friday, August 3, 2018

Take a Deep Breath

We got walloped!  But, it is ONE game.  At the end of the year, if we would have lost 4-3 it is the same thing.  I am not saying we don't have some worries, Boston is and has been an excellent team is one of the main ones.  The other is that we have some injuries and some guys slumping some.  Judge is our best player and he is out.  Sanchez, even with all of his shortcomings, should be a weapon and him being out and as Romine plays more, we see he is not a star and his backup is not really a major league level player.  Robertson and Greene have not been good out of the pen and our only ace starter has struggled of late.  That being said, Tanaka has looked better, we got a great arm in Britton and Torres is back.   We are a very good team that is going through a rough patch when your best player is on the shelf...it happens.

We have 9 games left with Boston and if we want to win the division we have to take 6 of them.  So the idea is to take 2 of these 3 and do the same in the next 3 games series'.  If not, we will still be the wild card barring some very strange events/injuries.

Two key moments for me in this last game were the idiotic play by Holder where he made little league mistake not running at the runner (to the forward base of the runner), even if you took just one step that way, you have him dead to rights as you see what happens.  Holder panicked and that was one of the game changers. The other may or may not have been, but the Yankees had 2 men on and 2 outs with Stanton up.  The Yankees had a 4-2 lead and their pitcher was struggling like CC did.  Stanton got 2 balls and the pitcher was really struggling when Stanton swung (waived) at 2 straight curves in the dirt.  Another one of those extremely frustrating AB's to watch by Stanton.  Then after another no doubt ball on a 3-2 pitch, he correctly took a fastball that was clearly inside (and maybe high) that the ump rung him up on.  This was a bad call that could have been the end of their pitcher and we would have had bases loaded...it was a huge bad call, that, of course, was setup after Stanton not walking when he had 5 straight balls thrown to him (technically 6 if you count the last one)

Quick trade updates...Warren for International Money and a little bit of a salary dump so that the Yankees could trade Tyler Austin and 19 year old Luis Rijo (has some promise) for Lance Lynn.  Lynn's numbers for his career are actually very good.  I can't say I know his game at all, but he was really good and then was injured for the 2016 year (Tommy John surgery).  Last year he had a solid 3.43 ERA, but got off to a terrible start this year and has been better of late, but still not as good as a 3.43 ERA.  Overall, this seems like a good move as Austin is borderline and Rijo is far away.  I have always liked Warren, but because he can't go too far and still pitch effectively, he is a bullpen guy and less valuable than he could be.  His numbers have been very solid though and I would have thought we could have received more than 1 mil + of international money?  When you think of how excellent his numbers were last year (2,35 ERA and a WHIP below 1 and an OPS against of only .491), I think we didn't get much for him.  I know it was a dump so that we could get Lynn, but value wise, we could have received a lot more for him earlier in the year or at the beginning of the year.

Take a deep breath; we are short-handed against an excellent team!

Sunday, July 29, 2018

A lot to cover!

Before I get into some of the play and injuries and trades, I want to discuss one of my pet peeves that happened again TWICE during the KC 2nd game Saturday.  I bring this up all the time because I don't understand how nobody else has drawn attention to this?  In fact, Cone (my favorite announcer) and the others talked about everything but what is obvious to me.  Gardner hit a swinging bunt down the 3rd baseline and the catcher gets to it turns and fires to the first baseman, Duda,  who has his left foot on the bag and his right foot on the invisible line toward 2nd base so he is basically on the baseline from 1st to 2nd base so there's no ability to stretch toward the ball on a close play.  This is part one of my gripe as close plays happen all the time and "they" lose 3-4 feet on the throw and runners are safe sometimes because of this.  But, what it also does is make it harder for the 1st baseman to catch a ball that is tailing into the runner because he has to catch it almost on the base and into the runner (which is an injury risk sticking your arm in there).  However, if you stretch toward the throw, like 1st baseman does all the time, you would catch the ball before it gets to the runner and much earlier in the throw.  It is a little harder to execute, but it is safer and more likely to get an out.  In this case, Duda drops the ball in trying to not get his arm torn off and we catch a break.  In the 8th with Walker on 2nd and nobody out Romine bunts down the first base line and the 2nd baseman covering does exactly what Duda did and does not stretch toward home and Romine beats the throw.  If he stretches Romine is probably out.  It is mind-boggling to me how often this happens and why they are taught to field this way?  BTW, I know that the way they field now allows more right to left movement to stop a ball from getting by the fielder, however, I would argue that most of the times throw get by the fielders are ones that are hard to field because it hits or gets into the runner.  When you combine that with the fact you catch the ball at least 3 feet further away, which allows runners to be safe, I have no idea why this done???

OK, moving on to something I wrote a few weeks back about something I would do that I have not seen done...Well, either TB is reading this blog (impossible) or they are smart (probably) as they used their pitchers the way I discussed using our relievers...They had their righty closer (Romo), who is very tough on righties, pitch the 8th inning and when a lefty came up (I think it was Bird) TB moved Romo to play SS/#rd and brought in a lefty to face Bird and shifted against him.  The lefty got him out and Romo came in to finish out the game.  I think this makes so much sense when you have righty/lefty discrepancies and I expect this to happen more often

Notes:
  • Didi is struggling on pitches away. He can line a single to LF but outside of that, he is not hitting the ball with any authority that way and usually just hits weak fly balls.
  • Losing Judge is a huge blow especially with Frazier being on DL again with concussion symptoms.  Further, we traded Mckinney away in the Happ deal so we bring up Shane Robinson?  Really, that is the best we can do (and I say this after he homered)?
  • Critical that we get Severino back on track. His last 3 outings have been very bad and his ERA has shot up a full run.  I can't see anything crazy other than his changeup hasn't been used as much (he did allow a HR with it and then went away from it).  Maybe he is tipping pitches?  Regardless, he needs to get it straight for us to go far in the playoffs.  BTW, we can we please not boo Severino when he walks off the field?  Sometimes I am embarrassed by our fans.
  • The Yankee offense should have had a lot more runs against the KC starter in the 2nd game (Fillmeyer).  He was leaving hittable pitches in every AB and we didn't swing well.
  • The ump behind the plate helped us a lot in the 2nd game, especially in one key AB with CC on the mound where he gave us a strike on a 2-1 pitch with the bases loaded on a pitch on the other batters box.  Huge change in count that resulted in a K.  Game could have changed on that one call.
  • Hicks made a fantastic throw getting Gordon to end the game in the 7-2 win the other night.  It was clocked at 99 MPH and it was right on target.  BTW, how in the world does Gordon get thrown out at home down 5 runs to end the game?  IDIOTIC.
Questions asked:

Do I like the Happ trade?  I was not a fan spending a lot on Happ as I would rather give up a ransom for a great pitcher (which is Happ is not).  But, McKinney and Drury is not a ton and we need someone who is reliable and he should be that.  Not sure if it is coincidence or luck, but he has had success against the Red Sox (went back and looked at last 9 starts over this year and the past 2 years and his ERA is roughly 2).  If I could have gotten an ace, I would have packaged Drury, Mckinney and others, but in the absence of this opportunity, it is a decent trade.  Also, and this is the same for the Britton trade, we have an issue with keeping guys on the 40 man roster and we could lose someone to another team so we do need to trade some players or risk losing them for nothing.

Do I like the Britton trade?

Yes.  Britton is still getting back from his injuries, but I think we can also keep him after this year or we get compensation for him.  Chapman has been excellent this year, but he seems to have a knee injury and this is great insurance for the season and into the postseason where having weaker starters can be covered up better.  the one concern is if Britton can pitch in innings other than the 9th.  This change in habit can be different for closers.  His arm is top notch though and once he gets his command back (his walks have been too high) he will be dominant.

I am concerned with the injuries and how much we are struggling against a really weak KC team, at home, who just traded away Moustakas.  Our team is very good, but we have to stay in the hunt with our best player down.  There is a lot of the year to go and one never knows if yet another trade is possible?


 

Thursday, July 26, 2018

A few items to discuss

Sanchez:  It is impossible for me to know what the truth is.  As someone who is dumb enough to play through injuries, at the age of 51 in softball, where I am literally hopping to first on a bad leg and an arm that required major surgery after the season, I get that you may not be at 100% and why risk it in a situation that you think won't matter.  However, the entire point of hustling is that you don't know for certain who bobbles a ball or if the 1st baseman drops the throw only to pick it up in time because you didn't hustle.  Remember Timo Perez in the World Series against the Yankees (2000)?  He thought the hit was a HR so he didn't run all out and then ended up getting thrown out at home.  It is simply not acceptable at the Major League level to allow that to happen...in the WS no less.  You can't run all out for about 5 seconds until you find out if it truly is a HR?  Anyway, Sanchez might have been cruising to protect himself and then when he saw he needed to turn it on, he did...BUT, he has not earned my respect based on his previous laziness for me to give him the benefit of the doubt.  perhaps the Yankees threw him a life preserver?  Maybe they said, you do this again and you will find yourself playing for another team, but we will put you on the DL so that others don't think you are a lazy sack of manure...We won't know the truth other than he has the ability to be an excellent hitting catcher who has a great arm and is a bad receiver who doesn't block balls well because he is lazy.  BTW, contrast that with the catcher in the Tampa game last night where he made a few great blocks that probably saved the game.

Britton:  The best single pitch ever in the Major Leagues was Mariano Rivera's cutter.  He threw it every time (he did run it sometimes later in his career) to every batter.  They knew it was coming and they still couldn't hit it.  Think about it, how many pitchers throw the same speed and get away with it on every pitch?  The answer is none.  Rivera was also consistently at the top of the league for a crazy amount of time.  Usually, relievers have 1- 3 years of greatness and that is it.  I bring this up not to explain again why I named my blog after Rivera, but because Britton has the closest thing to one amazing pitch.  He basically throws a 95 MPH, 12-6 curve ball, but it is an amazing sinker.  He used to throw closer to 97 but seems to have lost a few MPH.  He was banged up but has righted the ship of late and he is a quality arm if healthy.  Quality doesn't do him justice as he was amazing in 2016 (and really good in 14 and 15).  In 2016 his OPS against was an absurd .430 (I didn't look it up but this has to be one of the lowest OPS against ever for a full season player) and he saved 47 out of 47 with an ERA of 0.54.

So the question I have received is do I like the move?  My take is that an ace starter is needed more, but when the price is crazy, you don't make a move just to make a move, you look long-term and give yourself a chance to compete every year (which we have now).  I would rather wait and get an ace and pay for that ace than pay for an arm that is slightly better than we have.  I don't know the guys we gave up, but an important point people forget is that we only have a 40 man roster and anyone not on that roster can be grabbed and given a major league contract and we lose them.  Therefore, you want the best 40 you can have and this upgrades us (and we have a 40 man roster issue with a lot on the bubble).  Based on this, I like the move; it gives us depth in case Chapman goes down and in the playoffs we can make our starter go 4-5 innings and close it out from there.  I just hope Britton has returned to form (8 IP with 3 hits, 4 walks and 6 k's with 0 runs).  I don't like the walk/K ratio there, but if healthy he will help.  He is not better against lefties, he is pretty equal (as is Chapman - who including his last debacle has still been outstanding this year for us).

Some notes:


  • The Yankees are 46-20 with Torres on the roster and 18-16 without him this year
  • Loved to see the bunt by Bird with the big shift on.  I don't know why that isn't practiced more to help neutralize it.  Great job by Bird, now if he could stop swinging at bad pitches he will start to be very productive.
  • Speaking of swinging at bad pitches...Stanton amazes me at how he swings at pitches that are not even close.  Michael Kay went off a few weeks ago on why pitchers throw such bad waste pitches that end up being truly a waste and while I understand what he means, he only has to look at Stanton to understand why (and sometimes Sanchez too).  Sometimes these guys just swing no matter what.
  • Betances has really been good over the past 2 months.  In his last 22 IP he has allowed only 1 run 6 hits, 13 walks 38 K's.  Still too many walks but if you flipped walks and hits, I would still be happy.  
  • Remember at the start of the year there was talk about pitchers going more than one inning...that has changed a lot as Betances is the example of a guy who can go more as an ex starter but only goes one inning.
  • Great start from Tanaka with a 3 hot shutout!  His splitter was excellent and he had great control within and outside the strike zone.  Even when he made a mistake it had enough bite where they had trouble centering it.
  • Good start by Cessa, he just hung a changeup over the middle of the plate and that put a bad taste on the outing.  Overall, though it was positive showing 3 decent pitches (FB, slider and change).  2 runs in 5.1 innings is something I will take all day long with an offense who SHOULD make that work and a bullpen who should only allow 1 or maybe 2 runs the rest of the way.  



Monday, July 23, 2018

Are you kidding me?

Sanchez has to be benched Tuesday.  He does not deserve to play and if Boone plays him he is allowing a lack of effort to be rewarded.

I am not sure what is being written on this game where Severino had a very hard time with his slider (constantly hanging it and not getting on top of it), but here is what happened in the bottom of the 1st inning.  With 2 outs and a runner on 2nd base, Sanchez got mixed up and missed a pitch that rebounded off his right foot but went pretty far down the 3rd base line.  Sanchez lightly jogged after the ball and the runner kept running around 3rd and took off for home and Sanchez then tried for the final few steps and turned and threw home only to hit the runner (would have been close).  It was such a lazy play that I cursed out loud, you lazy %&@!  Fast forward through a pretty back and forth game (not played particularly well) and the Yankees are down by a run with 1st and 2nd with nobody out and Didi up against a lefty.  He pathetically tried to bunt a ball on his first pitch but then did bunt on the 2nd pitch to make it 2nd and 3rd with 1 out and then they intentionally walked Stanton.  The announcers didn't like this play, but I did.  Hicks is a little better against lefties and while I knew Stanton would be walked, the lefty was a guy with bad control and he was struggling with his control already so having bases loaded was in our favor.  The count went full on Hicks but he unfortunately grounded to 3rd who threw home for a force out.  But we still had bases loaded with Sanchez up and a week or wild pitch we can tie and a single put us ahead.  Sanchez hits a decent grounder up the middle (SS side) where the shift was on and the 2nd baseman on the left side of the bag fielded it and for some reason threw to the SS coming across who got and stepped and 2nd but was too late as Hicks beat him to the bag and kept his leg up and hit/kicked the guy but he astutely kept moving and threw to first to get the lazy jogging Sanchez.  You lazy %&@!  Replays showed he ran until fielded at first and then slowed down to a jog and then tried to run again.  If he ran hard the entire way I think he is safe.

This is an excerpt of what I wrote about Sanchez in my preseason post:

Being an ex-catcher, Sanchez was infuriating to me defensively...In my view, the frustrating part was that it was laziness, not ability.  I am referring mostly to the pathetic attempts at blocking balls in the dirt where he just didn’t move his feet or body...The laziness is (what is alarming) because he can move his feet and get out on a ball in the dirt and turn it back toward home plate (the way you are supposed to) when he wants to, but he is very slow at reacting and flat out lazy at times...It is clear that Sanchez did not have this mindset and I consider it mental and physical laziness

I wish I was wrong, but he is lazy!

Going back to the play in the 1st inning, the announcers talked about Andujar going to get the ball but with the runner going to and then rounding 3rd his thought was to stay at home to keep the runner honest (I think) and I also believe that was the right move because you wouldn't expect your professional and young catcher to not expend energy.  The other question was who messed up the pitch selection?  My take is that while it could have been Severino, we have seen Sanchez mixed up so often that I believe it is him forgetting or not paying attention to what sign he gave...so I blame Sanchez.

The 2nd Mets game, I wanted to compliment Boone.  First, he let Chapman pitch the 9th even though it was a 4 run lead and not a save situation.  I hate when coaches change their managing style because it is a save or not a save.  If you want him to get work, whether it is 1 or 4 runs doesn't matter.  I also give him a lot of credit for taking Chapman out after allowing 6 guys on base without getting an out and while that seems obvious, many managers would leave their closer in hoping he would figure it out.  4 walks, a HBP and a dribbler single got him in trouble.  Boone went to Shreve who allowed 1 run on a DP but pitched out of the jam and saved the 7-6 game.

NOT HAPPY!

Friday, July 20, 2018

Where Are We At The All Star Break?

First, I am happy and not because we played well in the first half.  I am happy because our guys didn't participate in the HR derby.  I only wish none of our players played in the game so we could fully rest, but one thing at a time.

As for our record and how we played, I am very happy as well.

A look at our offensive players and whether we should get more (or less)  out of them in the 2nd half... 

C - Sanchez/Romine - Sanchez - He will come back tonight with an OPS of .723.  While he swings at awful pitches because he is in "swing no matter what" mode, he will do much better in the 2nd half.   Plate discipline (particularly against righties) is huge from Gary and will decide where he can take his game, but I have confidence his 2nd half will be a lot more productive than his first half.  His defense will probably always cause me discomfort, bt but if he hits like he is capable, he can be a huge asset for us.  Romine has an OPS of .825 through the first half and I would be thrilled if he could keep that up.  He likes to take the ball to RF and has done that better than he ever has.  Keep in mind this is a guy who had an OPS of .600 over the past 2 years, so jumping to .825 is crazy.  He has looked better at the plate even when making outs but he is coming back to earth.  We have to expect less production from Romine, but he will be better than the .600 OPS of the past few years.  I would not be surprised with him maintaining a .700 plus OPS if he plays less...which has to be our hope.  

1B - Bird -   He missed about half our games and his recent HR burst has brought him to respectability but not what we would like.  Right now he is a legitimate 30 HR guy if he played every game and he is only 25 so there is upside.  His OPS this year is .774, but he has to get it over .800 as a 1B.  He has the ability to be a mid .800 OPS guy so I feel that his 2nd half will be better than his first half (better than .774).  Also, just being able to play at 1B will make us better as the other people who played did not perform well.  Should see more production.

2B - Torres - Outside of his injury, it is hard to assume better production or defense than he has given us.  His OPS of .905 is outstanding and while he has made 10 errors (high) his range is excellent so his defense has been average overall, but I expect the error rate to drop moving forward.  Based on pitchers adjusting, I think we should see a little decrease in performance.

SS - Didi - Through a great start and then an awful slump his first half has been overall solid.  He has an .800 OPS and has shown some maturity at the plate walking more times in the first half then he has walked in any full year with the Yankees.  His fielding has remained very solid.  While continuing at an .800 OPS (which would be his career high) would be good, I think we should see a slight increase in performance.  

3B - Andujar - His defense has been adequate at 3rd base.  His offense has been solid at an .805 OPS.  While pitchers will adjust to him just like Torres, he has shown the ability to hit bad balls (great breaking ball hitter) and we should see about the same production.  Remember that his OPS of .805 is easier to maintain than a .905 OPS Torres has.

LF - Gardner - After a bad start  (.601 OPS) for his first 125 Plate Appearances (PA), Gardner has been solid over his next 244 PA's with an OPS of about .810 to pull his overall OPS to .748 which is about what one would expect.  he also continues to play superb defense.  His SB's aren't what they once were but he still has swiped 9 while being caught only once which adds to his OPS 7 total bases or about 18 points of OPS (makes it .766 to adjust for SB's).  Expect about the same level of production

CF - Hicks - Aaron was one of the big question marks on what we would get from him.  As I mentioned in my preseason post, he had only had that one great stretch for us and he finished the year poorly and was awful in the postseason.  His track record was one of unfulfilled promise for all the tools he has.  This year, he has given us good production.  His OPS of .839 is good for a CF'r. and is much better than his career numbers.  The question is whether at 28 has he turned the corner into a solid/decent producer?  He has continued being better against lefty pitchers, which is a shame because we could use more help against righties, but he still has an OPS of .784 against righties this year (.972 against lefties).  His career OPS is about 100 points higher from the right side.  I hope he has turned the corner and while he has more HR's than he has ever had in a single year already, he is only 83 AB's from the most ASB's he has had in a year.  Based on his walk % the last two years and the fact he normally doesn;t swing at too many bad balls, his plate discipline is better and this is why he has seen better production.  I think he will have about the same level of production.

RF - Judge - It is hard to take our best hitter and say I will expect more, but I do expect an increase in production from Judge.  His OPS is an excellent .937, but I think he has left a lot of good pitches on the table.  He is ultra productive even from a standpoint of making pitchers work hard with his crazy amount of full counts he sees.  The problem is that I think he lets too many hittable pitchers go just to get to a 3-2 count.  I think he can have a 1.000 OPS the 2nd half of the year but am confident he will be better in the 2nd half.  He has been pretty equal this year against righties and lefties but has struggled on the road (.681) compared to home (1.213) which continued the trend from last year where he was .230 OPS points better at home.  I do think he needs to turn on some inside pitches more as he tends to swing a little like Jeter (with a lot more power) in that he keeps his hands inside the ball and naturally has a RC field swing.  But, he has to be careful not to change his swing too much because of the shorter RF porch and give up on the inside pitches.  He is fun to watch!

DH - Stanton - I have never seen someone have so many awful AB's letting strikes go right down the middle and then swing at pitches that aren't even close.  Through many of these head scratching AB's where it seems like he is just a stupid hitter with a terrible plan, he has managed an OPS of a very solid .864.  He has tremendous power and does square up a lot of balls when he swings at good pitches.  For him to be more successful, it is a mental game IMO.  He needs to have a better plan and get more discipline.  It is a tribute to his ability to be able to still be this productive with this approach in his game.  His career OPS is .910 and there is no reason that he can't better that in the 2nd half so I expect an increase in production from Stanton.

Walker - Neil is suffering through his worst year by far.  A career .768 OPS guy who has been more of an .800 OPS guy over the past bunch of years has an OPS of a putrid .563!  It is hard to expect anything other than a lot more production just based on the back of his card.

Saturday, July 7, 2018

July 6th

One AB doesn't make a game by itself, but after Sonny Gray put us in a huge hole after allowing a 2 out 3 run HR to Smoak in the 2nd inning (to put us down 5-0), we had a shot in the 5th inning.  Romine singled and Walker hit a hard line drive to CF (unfortunately at Pillar), Gardner singled and Judge hit a chopper that they ruled a tough error on the 3rd baseman.  With bases loaded and 1 out Toronto brought in Joe Biagini to face Stanton.  Biagini has had a bad year and starts off Stanton with 3 straight balls that were not too close.  I was watching the game at a friends house and I ask him the question, "do you give him the green light?"  He says, "absolutely!"  Normally, with such a power guy, I would agree, but I don't really trust Stanton because I have never seen someone swing at more really bad pitches in my life.  So while he has tremendous power, his plate discipline/plan is atrocious.  To be fair, I get giving him the green light, but you always have a 3-1 count to swing as well.  Anyway, he gets the green light and swings and misses at ball 4 (fastball).  He then swings and misses at ball 5 (fastball).  He finally doesn't swing at the first strike of the AB and it was a fastball! 

This AB was critical and after having the count in our favor at 3-0 with the bases juiced, we didn't score (Didi flew out to LF). 

Nice job by Hale to pitch 5 2/3 innings and allow only 1 run, but the bats couldn't get it done.

Gray's ERA is now an awful 5.85 and makes the quest for a new pitcher greater, however, I would not get an average to decent arm and give away anything good.  I would go after an ace and give up value for him.

...and Boston won

Thursday, July 5, 2018

Happy 4th of July!

I hope everyone enjoyed the mid-week day off!

I know the Yankees winning always makes it a little more enjoyable.

CC walked 3 which is too high for him in 6 innings and twice hit lefties when way up in the count to put on 5 guys in 6 innings without a hit, but he was able to work through the 10 guys on base in 6 innings and only allow 2 runs (5 hits).  he has been spotting his fastball very well and that has allowed the other pitches to be more effective.  It was good to see in a day where his control was sometimes off (he did hit some spots, specifically with his FB) he was able to keep us in the game.

Stanton had the big blow with a 3 run HR that gave us a 4 run lead.  It is amazing how Stanton can look so good one AB and look so awful on another.  He swings at terrible pitches all the time.

Bird had one of the better AB's he has had this year when he worked the count and then fouled off a fastball and followed it up by keeping his hands back on a changeup and driving it for an RBI single with 2 outs. for our first run.

Judge hit a HR that anyone else might have not even reached the RF (probably more like a bloop down the RF line), but Aaron powered the ball into the stands for a HR that surprised me.

Higashioka hit his 3rd HR and has shown some pop, but he seems very pull happy.

Uh oh:  Gleyber Torres to DL for 10 days.  This may be more of a precaution (and a smart one), but he has been great this year and hope he picks up where he left off.  This will give Drury and Walker a chance to step up.  Drury has done little since coming back, but hopefully, he can get into a groove.  Walker had some nice AB's, however, I would like to give Drury some work if possible.

Yanks are off today and then go to Toronto.

Boston swept the Nationals...Thanks for nothing Washington






Monday, July 2, 2018

Welcome to July (Boston and Atlanta)

The Red Sox series' almost always give more attention to the games and while none of the games were good/close, I enjoyed games 1 and 3 infinitely more than game 2.

After Judge's towering fly ball to CF for the 1st run, the game turned on the strength of our 21-year-old 2nd baseman (who plays SS pretty well too).  2nd and 3rd with one out after holding Stanton at 3rd with 1 out (good move) on Didi's double.  Torres jumped on the 1st pitch from Price and drove the fairly ordinary 93 MPH fastball out to RF for a 3 run HR and the rout was on.  Price used to have a better fastball which made his other pitches better.  He can still be effective when his changeup is on (it is usually good) and his cutter is working well, but his cutter didn't have much movement and his fastball is just 92-94.  That being said, what a great swing by Torres!  Seems like we have more success against price than others?

After flashing the stat that Higashioka was 0-22 on the major league club (0-18 last year), he hit a deep fly ball that was just inside the foul pole for his first major league hit...a HR; pretty cool!  What a great moment for him.

Hicks had a monster day with 3 HR's, It is good to see him get his OPS up to .848 and while he tends to do well against weaker pitching (I remember his 2-22 in the Houston series), if he can give us a mid .800 OPS it would be a huge boost to our offense.

I don't really understand the end of the game and why Boone had Boston get more looks at our best relievers in a blowout? I get that they need work, but I don't want Boston to see them any more than they have to.

Took 2 of 3 and that is the goal against an excellent team.

Now we move to play Atlanta; a solid team.

This was a good game...

With the score at 3-3 after Torres did a great job of stealing a run by getting a big lead and a good secondary lead followed by a quick response to a ball in the dirt to get home before the errant throw.

In the 8th with bases loaded and two outs, Walker pinch hit and K'd.

In the 9th, Gardner was up after a leadoff single by Torres (his first 3 hit game) and against a lefty Gardner didn't bunt.  I felt a bunt was the move and Gardner hit into a DP.  Rare for him to hit into a DP, but I still would have bunted, knowing they would lose Judge (unless something went wrong on the bunt - good or bad)

Then in the 10th after another leadoff single, Stanton K'd and we got unlucky in that Hicks hit one down the RF line that bounced out of play for a ground-rule double that Did would have scored on and the game would have been over if it didn't bounce out of play.  With only one out, they intentionally walked Andujar to pitch to Bird, who took a fastball down the middle, fouled off a hanging curve inside that should have ended the game and then swung at a fastball out of the zone.  Romine then struck out as well to make the Yankees 0-12 with RISP.

Robertson allowed a 2 run HR that Judge might have slightly mistimed his jump and the ball went off his mitt (looked like he could have had it) and that was the game.

It is hard to win going 0-12, but some tough breaks and some bad situational hitting.

Boston won too...Ugh!









Sunday, July 1, 2018

Payback

I knew this was a bad matchup, but didn't expect a no-show from our team.  Gray continues his awful year and took us out of the game early.  The game starts with 2 outs and then after a single Gray walks Moreland (the walks have been terrible by Gray), then a hard hit single that Judge's arm helps give Gray a chance to get out of the inning without a run.  Bases loaded and a 1-2 count and 2 outs, he only has to stick the curve low or in the dirt and instead hangs it inside for a grand slam and the game was over in the 1st.

There isn't much to say, but Sale showed why he is a top pitcher and our offense (which hasn't been clicking on all cylinders) was shut down.

I was curious about the decision Boone would make regarding Drury playing and if he would play for Gardner, Bird or even Didi.  I expected Didi to play, but he could have given Gardner the night off after Bird's 2 dingers, but he sat Bird.  It was not a bad decision as you could make an argument either way, but I did think it made sense to try and get Drury into a game.  The negative with Drury as a bench/sub player instead of a starter is that he isn't much better against lefties.  That is better for a starter, but as a bench player, it is better to be great at one thing.  Drury, may be better to give Torres and Andujar rest against righties once in awhile and then play first against some tough lefties (or a righty who is better against lefties) to get him some playing time.

With the injuries to the starting pitching, one can see a trade for a starter brewing.  I hope we go after a stud and not just a decent starter.  While it will cost a lot more, it is much better for the future.  It is a shame Gray would be selling at such a low value because he has been a solid pitcher for his career (he is 28), but if you could find someone who values him (some) and then package him players such as Drury, Frazier, German, Torreyes and/or one of the relievers, perhaps you could grab a Thor/DeGrom?  I would rather the younger Thor, but we could make a deal.  Regardless, we have a lot of young talented players where we could make a move.  While we are at it, we should grab a lefty that can get lefties out (LOOGY).

The rubber game is tonight at 8 and the pitching matchup is in our favor this time (even if the Sox have hit Severino).  Let's take the series!







Saturday, June 30, 2018

Start of the Red Sox Series!

While it wasn't a very tight game, it was very enjoyable.  It was nice to relax and watch us beat up on an excellent Boston team.  CC pitched a great game.  Only walking one and living on the edges.  Romine did a nice job mixing up pitches, but CC located really well.

I found it interesting that the Yankees finally recalled Drury and Bird comes out of his slump.  I am a big believer in the stats, but baseball reminds you that the players are humans with emotions and it does play a role in the outcome.  Here is Bird, who has been weak at the plate with 6 total bases in his previous 13 games and Drury is called up against a lefty pitcher and Boone sticks with Bird and he has 8 total bases in this one game.

Tonight's game is not a great matchup with Gray (who has struggled against the Red Sox) against Sale.  I do like a lefty against our lineup though and I am curious whether Bird is in the lineup against Sale who is great against lefties (and still tough on righties).  Drury is not a platoon guy in that he is pretty equal against both sides as is Bird.  It would be good to get Drury into a game, but I would not disagree with starting Bird either.  The sad part is that Neil Walker is not even a discussion with how poorly he has hit (0 for his last 21 and a .520 OPS).  For a guy who has been very consistent (and good), it is odd he has hit so poorly.  His worst year as a hitter (not counting a rookie cup of coffee) was a .742 OPS 7 years ago.  His OPS over the last 4 years was .809, 756, 823, and 801, being at .520 is head scratching as he is only 32.  Even if he were 37 it would be surprising.  Have to think he will get it going, but the question is when will he play?  I would think only against righties where you want to give a rest to Andujar or Torres.  I also think Walker can be important in that our team could have matchup problems against tough righties, but the way he is hitting it doesn't matter.

Gray against Sale is a bad matchup

Getting swept by TB bothered me as the offense was awful. 

Losing Sanchez is worse than people think.  I heard from many people that we are better without Sanchez and Romine is hitting well and his defense is better.  While the latter is correct, Sanchez is a better hitter and it is not even close regardless of what the stats say (when the injury happened).  While the defense is VERY important to me, having a catcher who can hit is a big plus for a team.  While Romine has been hitting great (and fielding well), I am not a believer that he is all of a sudden a guy at the age of 29 who sees his career OPS go up 200 points.  He still has some holes in his swing, but so far this year he has avoided the inside pitches and driven the pitches away for hits.  I think as teams adjust he will see more hard stuff inside and while he could have an OPS of .750 (which would be great for us), as he plays more, I think it will be more in the .700 or below range the rest of the year.  His OPS was .947 when Sanchez got injured, I would think his OPS will be down to .750 by the time Sanchez comes back (I hope I am wrong and he has become a different player). 

One last point on Sanchez, as bad as he has been offensively, his OPS is .723 which is middle of the pack for catchers.  Because of his defensive shortcomings, middle of the pack offensively is not good enough, but I am confident that Sanchez will one of the top hitting catchers.

Let's see if Sonny Gray can come through!

Friday, June 22, 2018

50th Win!



You have to be impressed with this team.  Two of our starters are out and we plug in 2 young kids and we keep winning.  The team isn't even hitting on all cylinders but we keep winning.  Severino has a very uncharacteristic outing where his slider didn't have a lot of bite, his fastball was tailing off to the right of the plate and his change was staying up high, yet we win. 

This is a team that picks each other up and it helps that the back of the bullpen has been great of late.  Take a look at how amazing these guys have been since June 5th:

Chapman:   9 IP,  3 hits, 4 walks, 12k's and NO runs (actually has been scoreless for last 10.1 IP)
Betances:    8 IP,  1 hit,  2 walks, 17 k's and NO runs (actually has been scoreless for last 12 IP)
Green:       5.1 IP, 5 hits, 0 walks, 7 K's and NO runs (actually has been scoreless for last 8.1 IP)
Robertson  7.1 IP, 4 hits, 1 walk, 8 K's and NO runs
Holder -      7.1 IP, 1 hit,  1 walk, 6 K's and NO runs

Since June 5th these guys in the bullpen have pitched 37 scoreless innings (14 hits, 8 walks & 50 K's)

Wow!

They have been the difference when you see us come back from a 5-0 deficit and hit a 2 run HR late to tie the game and then a 2 run HR to win it in the 9th!  We scored 5 runs in the final 3 innings.

It was nice to see Stanton feel the stadium crowd on the game-winning HR (and another exciting win!).  He should have had another HR in his 1st AB tonight but he was robbed by a great catch.

I mentioned how the shift has taken so many hits away from players up the middle and it happened again when Loaisiga was pitching.  He had 1st and 2nd nobody out and a bullet up the middle went right to Torres who easily stepped on 2nd and threw to 1st for the DP.

Judge made a very good running play with 1 out and he was on 1st.  Did he hit a blooper that the LF should have called off the SS and caught it but it dropped in and Judge waited about 40% of the way to 2nd base and was ready to go either way when the ball dropped and barely made it to 2nd.  Most of the time a runner would be out there. 

Sanchez ran the bases well on a bullet single by Bird where he made it to 3rd.

Didi didn't read a play on the bases as well when Judge got caught in a rundown after the pitcher snagged a hit by Didi (those are hard to fault a runner on, but there is some blame). Didi could have run to 2nd but he kind of gave up too early as Judge worked hard to keep the play going.  Those little things can make a difference between winning and losing

On a sac fly to CF, Hicks got himself in throwing position and came in on the ball but took 5 steps after touching the ball before throwing it and the runner was safe as throw hit the mound and went a little up the line.  If the throw was online it would have been close, but if the throw was released 2 steps sooner (still giving him 3 steps) and off line the way it was, he would have been out.  I don't understand why some OF'rs take so long to get rid of the ball?  You don't see relay throws where a guy takes more than 2 steps and he should catch it in mid-air so he lands and throws at the same time.

I stated in my previous post when responding to your questions about whether I liked Tampa starting a reliever and then what are my thoughts about the shift, that I would write my own idea of what I would do...well here it is.  If I were a manager, I would take advantage of the real splits players have in regards to platooning numbers (R/L splits).  We already see it with lineups and with the LOOGY (lefty one-out guy) to come in and get the tough lefty.  The issue with this methodology (that works) is that it uses up a lot of players and is less efficient.  My "idea" is to teach my relievers to play OF.  They shag fly balls anyway so why not let them play a little?  Why?  Because you could bring in a "Jeff Nelson" to get a righty out and then when the next batter is a lefty, you bring in "Mike Stanton" but, instead of taking Nelson out of the game you move him to RF or LF depending on the hitters normal hitting.  This way you could mix and match your pitchers based on the lineup and your only downside (outside of injury risk) is that they won't play OF as well as your starter, but again, the ball has to find them and has to be a tough running play to make a difference.  The positive is you get great matchup advantages for a few innings and not waste players.  This Yankee team would not benefit from this strategy as our players are not as dominant one way.   Our one lefty (not our closer) isn't really better against lefties (which I don't like), but imagine a team with a Stanton and Nelson being able to match them up over the last 2 innings with no matter who is sent to the plate?  What a huge advantage.  Anyway, you get the idea

Sunday, June 17, 2018

Happy Father's Day


I have been asked a few times now my thought about the shift of defenders in baseball and most recently Tampa starting a reliever.

While O'Neill constantly pokes fun at the shift and points out every time it doesn't work; there is no question it works more often than it doesn't.  Forgetting the times they hit into the teeth of the shift, think about how many times a ball is hit up the middle now and it is an out instead of a hit?    If players start to drop more bunts or drive the ball the other way more often then we can see if it still has the benefit, but it clearly does now.  The part of it that surprises me is that the pitching hasn't adjusted as much to pitch to the shift.  I see a lefty shift (the defenders on the 2nd base side) and the pitcher throws a fastball on the outside corner with 2 strikes which would make it easier to hit into the open side of the shift.  I get the idea of pitching normally, you still need to try and make people hit the ball weakly, but I haven't seen a concentrated effort to allow a player to hit into the shift.  Anyway, I am in favor of shifting and the stats show it works!

As for what Tamps is doing regarding starting a reliever; my take is that it doesn't make as much sense as other situations do for me.  The concept has some logic, but there are too many variables that don't make sense to me.  For example, the idea of having good relievers pitch leverage situations is one I believe in; even to the point of having your closer possibly pitch the 8th inning because the meat of the order is up...or the 7th inning has bases loaded and nobody out and you are winning by 4; why not bring your best pitcher right then because this is the time to limit runs more than any other (most likely).  This is countered by having your closer pitch earlier in the game and the mindset (or comfort) could be different.  Many relievers (closers in particular) are creatures of habit and that can throw them off.  Getting back to what TB is doing, they argue that the 3rd time through a lineup the numbers go far in favor of the hitters so having a good matchup in the 1st inning against the better part of the order will help the 3rd time situation and also help stop runs in the 1st inning where the most runs are typically scored.  This is the one part that makes sense to me as the better hitters are up and the starting pitcher is less likely to be in a groove.  However, you are asking a reliever to start a game and then a starter would be coming in after the start of the game (different mindset and comfort zone for each).  Overall, I don't think the benefit is worth it, but if you stuck with it, the comfort zones should be reduced a lot.  My feeling about the 3rd time through the lineup difference is that it is just as much about a pitcher getting tired as it is seeing a guy the 3rd time...otherwise, the 2nd time through the lineup would be better than the 1st and we just discussed the 1st inning being the highest scoring inning.  Obviously, the pitcher may be in more of a groove the 2nd time through as well, but you get the point.

Tomorrow I will write what I would do if I were a manager that isn't done now.

Saturday's game:

One quick correction; Didi had hit a HR in 3 straight games before last nights game (I had written 2 in a row)

Sanchez made a phenomenal throw from his knees to barely nab a base stealer in the 1st inning.  He got a huge assist from Torres who let the ball travel and made a great tag.

Tampa is a weak team, but Severino was dominant.  8 shutout innings while allowing only 3 singles and 2 walks, striking out 9.  He is now 10-2 with a 2.09 ERA and is one of the best pitchers in the game.  He had 102 pitches and they chose to take him out, I think 110-115 pitches is not too much and I would have left him in, but can't really argue it. Shreve allowed a HR and a triple, although Hicks had it fully in his glove and it just popped out.  On the triple, the runner overran the bag as he slipped past it and Andujar tagged him out.  I watched it 4 times and he got him before he retouched the bag.  Not sure why we didn't challenge that?  I wasn't keeping track of challenges so maybe we didn't have any left, but he was out and it should have been challenged.  Instead, we brought in Chapman and he pitched great getting his 20th save.

Our righties did the damage with Judge getting 2 doubles (one was a laser to CF where the OF'r was playing only 6 feet in front of the track and it beat him to the wall) while Stanton and Sanchez went yard!

LeBlanc blanked the Red Sox 1-0 as Seattle has taken 2 games from Boston and is only 1/2 a game behind Houston who has won 10 in a row.  I haven't looked at their team yet, but without Cano, they are doing great.



Saturday, June 16, 2018

After Friday's Game

Thursday night:
German has been settling into a non-dominant yet not bad pitching line of late.  He has been keeping the Yankees in the game.  This can be effective when the bats start to come alive (we are definitely not hot at the plate).  His last 2 outings were very similar in that he went 6 innings, allowed 5 hits and 3 runs while striking out 9 and 10 respectively while walking 0 and 2 respectively.    This type of game with a 4.50 ERA can be useful for a team like ours that should be scoring runs.  I like his stuff (FB without great movement at around 95, a changeup with good movement around 87-88 MPH and good curve around 82-83.  He hasn't had the command/consistency you would like to see yet though.  He is 25 so this is the time to establish himself (he had Tommy John surgery in 2014) and then hopefully get into a groove.

Down 2-0 in the 5th inning, Hicks was up with 1 out and hit a HR to RC off a changeup down the middle by Snell.  Hicks has an OPS of .760 now and I think this is about where he is  A solid defender with a great arm (especially for a CF'r) and a guy who can get you a SB, hit with some power and give you a mid .700 OPS.   He will get hot and cool off but at the end, he will be around this mark with the exception of a longer hot or cool streak than expected.  Here is a link to the preseason blog and my thoughts about Hicks.

https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8620636286965369574#editor/target=post;postID=4959679361620907379;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=34;src=postname

After a hard hit ball by Judge for a single, a Stanton K and a Sanchez walk, Torres had a great AB.  2 outs and 2 on down 2-1.  He had a good cut on a fastball but tipped it, he then took 3 balls (a FB, a slider and a change) before getting another FB that he fouled off.  On 3-2 the runners would be going and he got a curveball that he fouled off.  This was a critical pitch for a couple of reasons.  He looked like he was sitting on the FB as that was all he swung at and with 3-2 and runners going, a FB is more likely.  the other important piece was that he didn't look bad on the swing, he does a good job of hesitating ever so slightly, keeping his hands back and still getting some power on his swing.  Based on him not being fooled on the curve (he has no seen all 4 of Snell's pitches), Snell threw a FB and this time Torres squared up the 96 MPH fastball and yanked it to LF for his 13th HR of the year (and a 4-2 lead).  At 21, this guy has had a lot of excellent moments this year!  While he doesn't turn 2 like Cano does, he gets great jumps on balls and is very smooth.  He is also very confident, in the 7th inning up by 1 run and a man on 1st and 1 out he fielded a ball well to his left (toward 1b) and stopped and fired back to 2nd base to get the lead runner by a step.  This is not the safe play, but it is the right play if you execute it correctly.  he also saw the runner slow and let the hit ball go ahead of him so Torres seeing this "live" processed the information and cut down the potential tying run.  That was a veteran play.   This kid looks great and I would sign up for the .911 OPS he has every year.

Green, Betances and Chapman held onto the 1 run lead!


Friday's game:
I was very interested to see the young kid (23) brought up from AA (started the year in A) to pitch that had never pitched in AAA.  Jonathan Loaisiga (pronounced "loh-AYE-see-gah").  He was drafted the SF Giants and then was injured for pretty much 3 years.  2017 was a good year and was added to the 40 man roster 11/17.  He had a lot of strikeouts in the minors this year (58 in 45 innings, but did allow 47 hits and 4 HR's.  The impressive part was he only walked 4 batters!

I was impressed when I saw the ball come out of his hands and read the gun at 97...with movement.  His fastball had some tail to it.  His slider looked solid as well and he adjusted from throwing everything away to hitting the outside corner.  I am not sure if it was intentional, but his changeup had good movement, one-time fading/dropping and another moving right away from a lefty.  Those are 3 plus pitches.  In many ways, similar stuff to German, but I like Loaisiga's fastball better.  At 23 and never pitching above single A before this year, he had to be feeling some pressure.  He surprisingly walked 4 batters in his 5 innings (as many walks as his 45 IP this year), but you have to give him some leeway.  He allowed only 3 singles, struck out 6 and pitched out of trouble not allowing a run.  Very impressed and he was throwing 95-96 on his 90th pitch (got up to 98 at one point early in the game but mostly around 96- 97).

Meanwhile, Didi got his 2nd HR in 2 nights and Sanchez cleared the bases with a double that iced the game.  On this play, the defender had to make an attempt to catch the ball with 2 outs because a single pretty much ended the game.  

Nice 5-0 victory and Boston lost late to Seattle


Wednesday, June 13, 2018

After Wednesday

In a previous post, I had stated that people can share with me any questions or comments you have and I will try and answer.  My brother wrote in the comment section at the bottom of the last post, "41 points of OPS (the difference between Sanchez and Bird) really isn't that much. It represents 20 points of batting average from a batter who hits no extra base hits, never walks, and never sacrifices. From a player who does hit X bases and walks, the difference in batting average will be less. So at best, you're saying Bird makes Sanchez look like a 211 hitter by comparison. And it's actually less. Yay. :-)" 

40 points of OPS is not a huge amount, but there is a difference.  My main purpose of the comparison was about the production difference 2.25x as many RBI's, it wasn't about a huge OPS differential.  Interestingly, after looking at Bird, I remembered that he didn't hit well last year and in fact, he also only hit .190 last year in 147 AB's.

Here are their numbers if they each had 230 Plate Appearances (Not counting Birds 0-4 Monday):

2017 Bird:    .190 BA, .710 OPS, 27 R, 09 2B, 0 3B, 12 HR, 38 RBI and 26 BB
2018 Bird:    .191 BA, .680 OPS, 08 R, 12 2B, 4 3B, 08 HR, 17 RBI and 08 BB
18 Sanchez:  .190 BA, .721 OPS, 33 R, 12 2B, 0 3B, 12 HR, 35 RBI and 28 BB

While this is not a statistically valid sample size, it does show you what 40 points of OPS looks like.  In the cases of the 2017 Bird and the 18 Sanchez, the main difference was 4 triples for the 18 Bird were turned into 4 HR's AND a significant amount walks differential.  20 more walks for Sanchez than Bird in the same AB's and 18 more for the 17 Bird.  Another way to look at this over a full year (tripling the numbers), 41 points of OPS means that 60 times Bird made an out where Sanchez walked.  I think that is more than "not a huge amount"...as subjective as that may be.  The other piece that stands out is how much less productive Bird in 2018 has been when you extrapolate the numbers this way; about half as many RBI's and about a quarter of the runs scored (probably from not getting on base).

Anyway, just another way of looking at things.

As for the game...

It is amazing how bad the Nationals were on the base paths.  They had 1st and 2nd with nobody out and got doubled off at 2nd on a line drive to the 2nd baseman.  Then the guy on 1st base got picked off.  In the next inning, they tried to stretch a single into a double and got thrown out.  Late in the inning after getting on 1st base they got picked off again!  Later in the game they got thrown out stealing.  That is a truly terrible day on the bases.

It worked out though as they got a cheap HR to left with 2 outs and 2 runners on that changed the entire game.  Gray wasn't sharp as he simply could not throw the curve for a strike, but his fastball had good movement. 

Bird showed some signs as he had a double and a HR.  I like that Boone has played Romine a little more and given Sanchez some rest.  We are seeing Romine cool off a little but until Sanchez gets going I agree to play him 40% of the time. If Romine continues to cool then you can reduce it as well.

One last note:

On Tuesday, CC got his 1500th strikeout as a Yankee!  The interesting thing to me was that he has more strikeouts as a Yankee than the rest of his career.   He has 2,893 strikeouts (107 away from 3k) and is 9 wins away from 250.  I never thought about it, but he has been a Yankee for 10 years.  He has been very solid and his only down years were 2013-2015 where he was transitioning from being a power pitcher to a crafty lefty.  His 3,380 IP ranks 85th all time; 10 behind Bartolo Colon on the active leader for IP.  I get the feeling he may catch Colon by the end of the year.  Incredibly, Colon is 8 years older.

Tuesday, June 12, 2018

The Still Struggling Offense

With the offense struggling, I am a little annoyed that the Yankees didn't try and bunt Gardner in the 5th inning up 2-0 with 1st and 2nd and nobody out.  It is a perfect time to bunt and put some pressure on the defense and then (most likely) you have 2nd and 3rd with 1 out.  I think he also has the opportunity to beat it out...of course, he has the opportunity to mess it up as well.  This is what I was saying before an outcome happened...and the outcome ended up pretty close anyway as Gardner ripped a line drive to medium deep RC and Romine tagged and went to 3rd.  Judge walked and then Bird, who has been awful at the plate, weakly pops up to short LF, followed by another terrible AB for Stanton.  Again, how about bunting once in awhile even to get the defense moving.  Bird should bunt down 3rd when they shift him!

Bird was up again in the 8th inning with 1st and 3rd and 1 out and hit into a DP.  Bird is now hitting .191 with a .680 OPS and only 4 RBI's!  For perspective on guys hitting less than .200, Sanchez is hitting .190 and has an OPS of .721 and would have 9 RBI's if he had the same amount of AB's.

Stanton watched 2 fastballs go on strikes and then the pitcher threw 2 sliders far off the plate that he didn't swing at and then on the 3rd slider way off the plate he swung...C'mon man!

Didi was our offense striking a HR on a curve followed by a HR off a fastball; great to see.

Romine, who started for Sanchez in a game not started by Gray did a nice job with a hit and a sac fly and called a good game.

Great job by the pitching staff!  CC, 5.2 shutout innings, then green 1.1, Betances and Chapman closing out the shutout.  Betances has been excellent of late.  In his last 13 innings, he has allowed only 1 run on 2 hits and 6 walks while striking out 21!  Betances did hit Harper, who got hit twice and walked twice.

Boston won

Monday, June 11, 2018

Rain On The Parade

 I did watch the Sunday night snooze fest as the Yankees bats remained silent.  If not for one bad changeup that Severino threw, the game may still be scoreless.  The 9th inning is a microcosm of understanding the poor approach the Yankees have had at the plate.  Down 2-0 and getting almost nothing going offensively, Stanton was up.  He has a 2-1 count on him and his approach has to get on base any way he can.  The pitch is extremely high for ball 3 but he swings and misses.  He then doesn't swing and gets called out on strike 3.  That sums it up.

The title of this blog and what I have below was written after Saturday night.

I know everyone is excited that the Yankees winning the series against our crosstown rivals and now we have bragging rights. These games are the most meaningless as far as I am concerned.  Just barely worth more than any non-AL game.  Also, the Mets are banged up and in a free fall.  The Mets simply can't hit at all.  To be fair, the Yankees aren't doing much better either as it feels like most of the team is struggling; we didn't score for the 1st 12 innings last game (Friday).  deGrom has been dominant this year, but I felt like he left a lot of very hittable pitches for the Yanks and we didn't take advantage of them.   We are not good at the plate now.  Gardner stayed hot though and came through!

Not a fan of teh pitchers batting either.  They don't do it enough in schools anymore and in the minors it isn't as often and honestly the confornattaion between a pitcher and a batter is what interests me.  Watyching Severino hack up there and possibly hurt himself is not interesting to me.  I woudl like to see more challenging situations.  Now Tanaka has tight hammy's? 

Other Notes:

Really bad news regarding Montgomery...  His 3.62 ERA which might have been a little fortunate, but even so he was doing a nice job and was developing into a solid back of the rotation guy.  Hopefully, he can come back strong in a few years.

Surprise stat:  Bird has only 1 walk?  (Updated: he now has 2 walks as he walked in the 9th Sunday night only to be stupidly doubled off after Sanchez lined to 3rd with 1 out.  Where the heck is he going?  He wasn't the tying run...just dumb!)  But, for Bird to only have walked once in about 45 AB's is very surprising

Another stat...Judge, who owns the 6th most strikeouts in a single year (208)  is on pace for 226 which would be the most ever in a single year (record is 223 by Mark Reynolds).  Stanton is right there as well with a pace of tying Reynolds at 223.  This battle should be epic down the stretch :-)

Andujar hit another HR on a breaking ball; the kid is good!