After 5 Games

Game 4: This was the first questionable move made by our new Skipper.  If you didn’t know, the situation was after Kahnle allowed a 2 run HR to Smoak on a fastball in the 7^th inning to cut our lead to 4-3, Robertson worked the 8^th.  He didn’t have good control of his fastball and got himself in trouble with a single and a double to make it 2^nd and 3^rd with one out.  The next batter swung at the first offering and weakly hit a grounder to 1^st base for a huge break.  Now you had 2^nd and 3^rd with 2 outs and Donaldson (Righty) followed by Smoak (Lefty) coming up.   Boone intentionally walked Donaldson to load the bases.  Cone immediately said it was a bad move because while the stats clearly agreed with the move, it was based on 5 and 8 AB’s in their meeting with Robertson and Cone didn’t think it was statistically valid enough to warrant the risk with loading the bases.  While I agree with Cone, I don’t think it was so cut and dry because while a limited stat set, it is something to take into consideration.  My main concern was loading the bases which makes it harder for the pitcher to make good pitches and the fact Robertson was not controlling his fastball well.  After walking Donaldson I also would have made a move to one of our lefties to face Smoak based on Robertson not being sharp.  This was something I questioned.  It should be noted that while it didn't work out it was not a terrible move by Boone and early in the year he is getting a feel for guys, but I would not have walked Donaldson and I would have had a lefty face Smoak. The AB against Smoak was a classic interesting battle.  After falling behind 2-0 with a curve and a fastball missing, Robertson threw a curve for a strike and then snuck a fastball by Smoak for a 2-2 count.  After a curve that Smoak barely fouled off, Robertson threw a curve in the dirt for a 3-2 count and now the runners are going on every pitch (another reason why loading the bases can make it tougher).   Robertson threw 2 curves that Smoak weakly fouled off and I was telling my wife (who probably wasn’t listening) that he should continue to throw curves because I am not sure Smoak will center one and I think he would hit a grounder to the right side.  Robertson didn’t agree; he threw a fastball centered to the plate and a grand slam ended the game.  Again, not a terrible move by Boone, but it clearly didn’t work and I think it was questionable (and those veteran readers know I will torch him if needed) and the Yankees should have stuck with breaking ball at least 2 more times and maybe more IMO.

Game 5 home opener against Tampa.  I am not a Jonathan Holder fan, his stuff seems ordinary to me, but he is the 11^th man out of the pen so that isn’t too bad.  After striking out the first batter he allowed 4 straight hits and left with bases loaded, 1 out and the score 4-2.  Kahnle came in and looked very sharp, throwing an excellent change and spotting it well and this mixing in his 95 - 96 MPH fastball (I actually would like to see a little more than 6 or 7 MPH difference between his fastball and change which was at 89-90, and see a differential of closer to 8 or 9 MPH, but it had sink, tail and was located well).  He struck out the first batter and quickly was ahead 0-2 after locating his change and fastball on the corners.  I would have run a change off the plate and hope to get a swing or he could have thrown a high fastball, but instead, he threw a change that hung up and Span delivered a 2 run double to tie the game.  It shows you how you can make good pitches, but you need to complete the AB with quality pitches if you want to succeed (Obviously, you can make a mistake and get lucky as well).

Didi, with some help, did the rest as Didi had the same situation as Span came up with Didi being down 0-2 with 2 guys on and the pitcher threw a fastball strike instead of making a pitchers pitch and Didi deposited for his 2^nd 3 run HR and finished with 8 RBI’s after getting a cheap hit later in the game.

A few other notes:

Betances blowing up a few nights ago is concerning in that he had all off season to get straightened out with his deliver/release point as well as learning to hold runners on better and he still failed badly.  His stuff is as good as anyone’s in baseball which is why you can’t give up on him, but I was hopeful they would have worked out some of the bugs and maybe simplified his delivery?  It is hard to count on him in any key spot right now.

Tyler Austin – Has produced really well so far with 2 HR’s and a double in 9 AB’s and a walk for an OPS of 1.511.  However, He is going to need to drive the away breaking pitches the other way to continue to have success and pitchers will adjust to him and give him that steady diet away until he can show them he can make them pay.  Glad he is doing well, but adjustments will have to be made.

I didn’t like the fans booing Stanton (even if 0-5 with 5k’s is awful).  I can understand booing lack of hustle or not paying attention, but if our goal as fans is to help the team, I don’t see how booing a guy helps the situation at all?

Our great bullpen has blown 2 games and not been performed well, Judge has been weak so far, Sanchez is 1-19 and we are 3-2 which would be good for 97 wins over 162 games.  This team is very good and will get a lot of wins if we stay relatively healthy.