Thursday, May 31, 2018

After the Houston Series

Houston's starting pitching is outstanding!  We have the lineup over them, but their starters in a series can make life rough.  Our bullpen should be better but has not been as good as it can be this year.  In general, people don't talk as much about defense until a game can be decided by it or something stands out (like when I talk about Sanchez).  That being said, the game Tuesday night saw us commit FIVE errors and also deal with an umpire that was very inconsistent and not favoring us.  (two nights in a row complaining about the ump).  We were our own worst enemy with so many errors against one of the top 3 teams in the league.  Our rookies at 2nd and 3rd have been struggling defensively and that continued in this game.  CC wasn't sharp and committed his own error, but the fielding didn't help us and directly led to 2 runs and a lot more pitches.

One of the errors to Torres was really a bad play by Bird at 1st base.  While the throw was a slightly offline and low/short, Bird stepped toward the pitcher rather than toward the throw (Torres was coming over from shading up the middle and threw running toward the RF line) so he was not able to reach for the ball correctly and had to back an in-between hop.  If Bird had correctly stretched toward the throw as you are supposed to, he would have turned it into a very easy short-hop play.

Speaking of Bird, he was 1-5 with 3 K's, but he had some very tough calls against him that were tough to overcome, especially when you are facing a tough pitcher like Morton.  But, you have to love the way he makes the pitcher work and against teams like Houston, you need to get those pitchers out as soon as possible.

Both Stanton and Sanchez have been wildly swinging at terrible pitches.  They both are in that swing no matter what mode that is infuriating to watch.  Stanton is lining up the ball better because he isn't flying open like Sanchez is (Gary's front hip is pulling off the ball), but it doesn't matter when you are swinging at balls that can't be touched.  Stanton will get it going when he gets more selective, Sanchez needs better pitch selection and get his mechanics better.

This game was a great example of this Yankee teams talent.  A lot was going wrong (self-inflicted and the umpire), yet we did score one run in each of the first two innings on a Gardner HR and a 2 out double by Andujar and a single by Torres.  Houston scored 5 runs on our mistakes and we were down 5-2 going into the bottom of the 5th.  Judge pounded a fastball on the outside corner deep to RC to close the game to two runs.

Entering the 9th, the goal was to get the tying run to the plate and Andujar set us up with a leadoff walk!  This kid has a stick, but working walks has not been his forte, however, his 6th walk of the year, gave us hope.  Torres had his AB taken away as a 1-1 pitch that was not close was called a strike and then tried to protect on a pitch that was worse and he struck out.  Gardner, who already had homered, went up looking for a fastball and took a changeup strike.  The next pitch was a high fastball (probably a strike) that Gardner gave a good very high ride to it and it just cleared (by 2 feet) the leaping OF'r  for a dramatic game-tying HR.

More Yankee excitement this year!

the Yankees weren't done as Judge once again went the opposite way and ripped a double down the RF line.  After Bird struck out, Stanton got an infield hit giving Sanchez a chance to win the game with 1st and 3rd.  In perhaps one of the worst AB's you can see, he waived at 3 sliders that were all balls and the 3rd one was lucky to be fielded by the catcher.

The 10th saw when of the coolest plays defensively!  Chapman came in and got the first 2 batters out and looked sharp hitting 103.  He then walked the speedy Kemp (That drives me crazy - you have to make that guy hit his way on).  Chapman was starting to get all over the place and wild pitched Kemp to 2nd.  On a 2-2 pitch Chapman uncorked a high 101 mph pitch that Sanchez had no chance on and the ball went all the way on a fly to the backstop where it hit the top of the padding and bounced back all the way to Sanchez who caught the ball turned and fired to 3rd base where Andujar made a nice reaching tag to get out the speedy Kemp in one of the craziest plays you will see.  Outside of the crazy perfect bounce in the air, Sanchez made an excellent play to turn and fire to 3rd base and while the throw was very good it was a little toward the 2nd base side and Andujar not only was in the correct position he was balanced enough to reach toward 2nd and catch as well as tag the runner perfectly.  It was the perfect storm to get Kemp out.  BTW, the batter helped out as he got out of the way of Sanchez.  If he would have just stood there and faced 3rd base in the batter's box, Sanchez would not have been able to make the throw without moving his feet and then the runner would have been safe.  Of course, he risked getting hit with the ball but that made have given them a run if that happened.  Anyway, great play that was also very lucky.

The Yankees then replayed the 2nd inning;  after getting the first two outs, Andujar doubled and Torres knocked him in with yet another dramatic walk-off win!

Gardner had a great game, going 4-5 with 2 dingers!

Wednesday Game - Last night's game was not nearly as exciting and was still a very good game.

Severino against Keuchel.  The Yankees got one run in the first off Keuchel and Severino was cruising until he allowed a 2 out 2 run HR in the 5th inning.  He used all 3 pitches effectively and even tripled up on his change one time.

The Yankees came back in the 5th when the struggling Sanchez finally took an outside pitch and served it toward 2nd base (that is vacant because of the shift) and got a huge 2 out bases loaded hit to knock in 2 runs and give us back the lead.  His front hip still leaked a lot but he swung the bat well and had a huge smile on his face.

The score stayed this way until the 9th where Houston rallied with a single and double knocking in a run before Chapman struck out Springer on 3 straight fastballs with the last one at 103!

Another series won by this team and against an excellent Houston team.

Unfortunately, Boston keeps winning as well.


Tuesday, May 29, 2018

After Memorial Day Weekend

In somewhat of a change, I will have a smaller focus on the game in this and discuss some statcast numbers on the strike zone.  First, some comments about the games this weekend.
Saturday - was just a very p[oor pitching performance by Sonny Gray (ERA now 5.98) after what was one of his better games.  That was the most frustrating part as I was hoping he would get into a groove.  The Yankees jumped out 4-1 but the bats went silent after the 2nd inning and Kahnle was bad in his first game back.
Sunday - Tanaka navigated his way through 6 innings and only allowed a solo HR to Trout while the bullpen of Robertson, Betances and Chapman closed out the final 3.  Chapman ended the 3-1 win on a slider that missed its mark by a lot but caught the top of the strike zone.
Monday - Verlander has been pitching great and he kept it going against us.  He is throwing all of his pitches really well and has looked great this year.  I said it after the first game he pitched against us, but he looks as good as he ever has.  His pickup by Houston has been one of the best pickups of a pitcher I can remember.  I also think that the matchup of our number 5 (German) against Verlander was a tough one so Boone rested a struggling Stanton (swinging at terrible pitches), dropped Didi (a good move as he has been in a dreadful slump) and moved Bird up to the 4th spot.  I give Boone credit as he will make the moves he thinks are right and while it seems like a "well, of course" moment, I have heard managers say, I am sticking with "this" because it has worked in the past.  Torres committed his 5th error on a bad throw after dropping a ball from Andujar on Saturday.  His defense is and will be fine, but he has shown a few lack of concentration plays; 5 errors are too many.

OK, I have made comments about the umpiring and I am always very careful not to try and be a homer on calls.  I think I still tend to remember the bad calls against us and forget the good ones for us, so I try and track them in my head to try and stay reasonably neutral.  I have definitely been more annoyed at calls rather than feeling fortunate (I have pointed out some of our breaks), but some stats show that we have been getting the short end of the stick.
While I really don't like the box on my live feed and think it should be used on the replay of pitches only, the box has shown that the Yankees (along with the SF Giants) have been the most victimized teams.  Statcast has shown that the Yankees and Giants have seen 242 pitches out of the strike zone called strikes against them this year.  Judge has seen 47 balls out of the box called strikes which are most in the majors; Gardner has the 5th most against him.
So, we have been getting the short end on calls which is probably a good thing as the hope is it equals out.  The box itself though has some problems.  Outside of the fact I don't like the way it blocks my view of the game, it is not consistent for the batters sizes (they say they adjust it, but the replays don't align for me on where the top and bottom of the zone are for Altuve and Judge as an example.  Further, I have seen many times where the live feed showed the ball inside the strike zone and the replay showed the pitch on the line?  How can that be?  It may be pretty close, but that should not happen!
As for close calls, Boone said something interesting; He comments how announcers will say that a two-strike pitch was "too close to take," and he disputes that by saying, "What does that mean?  If it's a ball and I've got two strikes on me, what are my chances of getting on base with two strikes? Probably not great. If I take that pitch that's a ball out of the zone and I swing at it, what are my chances of getting a hit on that? Probably not very good. But if I take a ball, there's a good chance that it gets called a ball and I'm going to first base. So I don't really buy into protecting the plate, especially with our guys."
I find this quote interesting in that I like the thought process, but being right, isn't always the correct path when dealing with subjectivity.  While I agree with what he is saying, the concept behind swinging at a pitch that is close is about trying to take the subjectivity out of the equation and taking more control of the situation.  That is not to say that you should swing at a ball.  But we see strike zones where an ump consistently calls a pitch off the plate a strike and if that is going to happen, why would you not swing at it?  There is a lot to this, we could discuss that the strike zone is the strike zone and it is hard for a batter to take what he has always trained on and then adjust every night based on the ump; but in many ways, that is what has been done most of their careers.  
Anyway, to set up some interactive comments, feel free to email me your thoughts on the subject.  While we are on it, feel free to email me a question/thought you may have and I will try and answer it; I could post your name if you like or make it anonymous.
Have a great week!


Saturday, May 26, 2018

Honoring and Remembering The Fallen This Weekend

Before we get into baseball, as someone who has never served, I want to honor and remember the brave men and women who have given their lives protecting our freedoms!


Severino had good stuff in this game but struggled with location on his slider...  He still only gave up an opposite field HR that Trout smacked a fastball on, but he threw too many pitches and was correctly taken out after 99 pitches and 6 innings (no reason to push him).

1-1 game entering the 7th... as we scored a run in the 2nd inning as Torres hit a ball down the 3rd baseline with bases loaded and 2 outs and when the fielder tried to throw to 1st the ball was deflected by Pujols up the line.  Hicks, slid into 3rd and should have just taken off for home, but started and then stopped.  Andujar was on his way to 3rd as he thought Hicks was going to go and had to scamper back, but Hicks then decided to go thinking Andjuar may be out getting back and was thrown out at home.  Oneill thought it was a good decision, but I don't as I am not sure Pujols would have thrown to 2nd to get Andujar as it would have been close.  Hicks should have just taken off for home originally as I think he would have made it because Pujols was running away from home plate or one stopped just stayed at 3rd...obviously we ran ourselves out of that inning with poor base running (some blamed on Andujar, but I think Hicks).

Green allowed a single in the 7th but Judge threw him out going for 2nd on a perfectly accurate throw.  This was his 2nd assist of the game because in the 3rd inning Judge threw out a runner at home on another perfect throw.  It is interesting when I watch him throw because everything is so smooth and his arm speed doesn't explode like most people but the ball comes out straight and accurate and while he doesn't seem rushed, he is getting rid of the ball quicker.  Those were two very big plays.  The play at the plate, Sanchez made a quick tag and right in front of the plate to finish it off.  Judge's momentum and great form had his throw clocked at 100.5 MPH...Love that stat!

Green did allow another single before getting out of the 7th.

In the bottom of the 7th inning, Torres struck again.  Taking a fastball the opposite way for a go-ahead solo shot.  This put him alone in the record books as the youngest player ever to hit a HR in 4 consecutive games!  He also made a nice play where he was playing Trout up the middle and took 6 1/2 steps toward 1B getting to a grounder and then he smoothly threw out the speedy Trout.  I said it in my preseason blog, this is why it is so exciting to watch this team.  Doing things that have not been done before does not happen frequently.

I was curious whether Boone would go with Betances or Robertson.  I really wouldn't have cared either way, but I slightly would have favored Robertson in that it was a 1 run lead and Betances still concerns me about holding guys on.  Further, with Sanchez behind the plate, a runner can get to 3rd on nothing but wild pitches and passed balls...maybe even on a strikeout.

Kay said something slightly odd, but I knew what he meant as he said that he wanted Roberston to get 3 straight outs so that Chapman could face Ohtani as he wanted to see that battle.  Ohtani has been a huge sensation for the Angels and probably baseball as we haven't seen a legitimate hitting pitcher in a while.  But outside of the "well, of course, we want Robertson to get 3 straight outs," I thought it was odd because Kay said, "I am thinking ahead."  My thought was =, if you are thinking ahead, then you should know that if Ohtanio gets up this inning, there is a great chance that Chapman will come into the 8th inning and face him (he hasn't been good against lefties and how can we have confidence in Robertson after the last game and at least one batter is on base here.  After a 2 out walk, Boone made the right decision to bring in Chapman and Chapman got him to ground out to SS as he was a little late (ending the 8th inning)

Chapman saved the game in the 9th including striking out a guy on a slider that was on the top of the strike zone and well off his targeted spot.  I only add that as it was the correct pitch but terribly off target.

Other Notes:

Heaney pitched very well for The Angels.  he spotted his changeup right on the outside corner and then would bring the fastball;l inside very effectively.  Our team is definitely a fastball hitting team and his change was very effective.  Heaney struck out Austin on 3 changeups that all were strikes and Austin swung and missed all 3.

As I mentioned after Didi's HR, I didn't think he showed me that he is out of his slump even though he had homered.  Unfortunately, I was right; while he did hit one ball fairly hard, he missed hittable pitches and was outmatched on the other 3 weak batted balls he had...and he went 0-4.

Sanchez had two passed balls even if one was called a wild pitch (I have no idea how the official scorer thought it was a wild pitch...and I was a catcher!).  Oneill said something that I agree with; Sanchez might forget the pitches he calls because he seems fooled a lot.  He may cross himself up with a runner at 2nd?  Who knows, but he has 8 passed balls and the number should be more.  For perspective, Sanchez led the league with 16 PB's last year and he has played 1/3 of the games/innings as last year.  So he is on a pace for 24 and only once has anyone had more than 20 Passed Balls since 2000.

Stanton had a bad game.  He swung at some pitches that were not close and then took 2 pitches right down the middle.  He also weakly popped out to 1B with the bases loaded and a 1-0 count (swung at a ball)

Yankees have an interesting decision as Bird is supposed to come up today (Saturday).  Who will they send down?  I assume a pitcher as Kahnle was brought up yesterday, but that would mean AJ Cole who has thrown 6 2/3 scoreless innings since being acquired. 

Boston won Friday






Thursday, May 24, 2018

Offensive Game - Wednesday night

When you score 10 runs in the first 5 innings of a game you should win! 

However, when your pitcher walks two batters with a lead and the surrenders hit 2nd HR on a terrible 2 strike pitch you allow the other team back into a game.  In fact, we blew a 4 run lead to be down 5-4.  This team came back from that and posted a 6 spot in the 5th inning to go up 10-5.  CC still struggled and was correctly taken out for Holder who allowed a single but got the next 2 batters to get out of the inning at 10-7 going into the 6th.

For some reason, Boone took out Holder (who has been pitching very well) and brought in Shreve.  Chasen allowed a single, a strikeout and a single and was about to face the lefty Shoo.  Shoo is MUCH better against righties (.811 OPS against righties and .562 lefties).  But Boone decided to pull Shreve for the righty Robertson...in the 6th inning???  Shreve looked OK, but surely I would have left him in against the lefty in the 6th inning...but nope.  While I have faith in Robertson, and I would not have expected what happened, I thought a bad decision to take Holder out was exacerbated by taking Shreve out.  Robertson was awful!  He walked Shoo to load the bases and then walked the next batter before getting a strikeout for the 2nd out.  Then Robertson allowed a double to clear the bases...that was all they needed, even though they added a run against Betances, who looked good but did throw a ball away on a pickoff and then allowed him to steal 3rd and score on a single.

My only other complaint was how bad the umps called the check swings.  Shoo should have struck out against Robertson as he sort of checked his swing on the 3-2 pitch.  This was a HUGE play in the game.  Later another Texas player swung (I thought) and then I was pissed when they said Sanchez swung when it wasn't even close to a swing.  UGH... 

Robertson has 4 blown saves already and has not been good.  I am not sure why he doesn't throw his cutter up and in to the lefties...or even in as he used to?

Holder threw 14 pitches and Shreve 8...Bad job by Boone.

Texas' bullpen pitched the final 4 innings allowing only 1 and no walks as we must have gotten tired from running around the bases.

On the positive side, Didi homered and Gardner hit 2 doubles. 

On the negative side, Didi may be showing signs but he still has not been lining up the ball well...and Gardner got caught going to 3rd on a grounder in front of him after one of his doubles.  CC was simply bad.  None of his pitches were good and one could argue he should have come out after 4, but being up 10-5 I would have left him in as well.  he got the first out and then a soft single to CF was followed by a pop up that just landed fair down the RF line and then took an odd bounce for a triple.  It was questionable to leave him in here, but I wasn't upset leaving him in because a lefty was up and CC has been good against them.  The next grounder could have been fielded by CC but he deflected it and Didi couldn't barehand it and that was his night.

Boston lost to TB tonight so we are 1 game back.

Tuesday, May 22, 2018

The Bronx Bombers!

I wrote this in the morning but got into work and forgot until I was getting lunch...

These are the real Bronx Bombers!  At least 4 HR’s in 3 straight games for the first time in Yankee history.  Also, at least 8 extra base hits in the 3 consecutive games (also a Yankee record) which had only been done 3 other times by other teams.

The power surge overshadowed a poor performance by Tanaka.  As he said, "I did not have my split tonight.”  For some reason, he threw it more than he should have including a time where a fastball seemed to be the pitch where he surrendered a 3 run HR as he hung it.  I understand trying to get a pitch to work, but if the pitch is not working well, you need to throw something else when you are behind in the count.  What was even more frustrating was that he walked two guys before surrendering the HR.  With a 3 run lead, I really hate walks.

The same situation happened with Robertson in the 8th with a 3 run lead, he walked the leadoff guy.  That really drives me crazy.  He did get out of the inning, but make them earn their way on.

Other Notes:

Torres made a really smooth play in the 1st inning.  I know he had a rough game the other day, but he can play 2nd base and his offense has been spectacular so far (.960 OPS).  I was impressed with the HR he hit to CF; he is a huge asset; even if he most likely will not keep his OPS this high.

Didi hit a solid double the other way, so hopefully, he starts to see some progress.  His other AB’s were not that good and he still seemed off balance to me, but he will get it straightened out.  Didi also made an outstanding defensive play with full-out dive and then quickly threw from his knees to get the batter.

Judge broke an 0-17 with a HR and a double!

Gary Sanchez had an excellent defensive game even though he threw a ball into CF on a delayed steal.  He moved much better behind the plate and more importantly started to use his chest protector instead of trying to glove everything.  While using the protector he made it look easy (or how most catchers do) on many balls in the dirt.  He also got a lot of glove on a really wild pitch and then took off after it stopping the runner from advancing.  His receiving skills still may be weak, but if he blocks balls even average and combine that with his well above avg throwing skills (release/popup time, arm strength and accuracy) and his excellent offense for a catcher, he will be a huge advantage; much like Posada was.  Sanchez’ OPS is .876, even with a batting avg of .231.  That is 2nd best in baseball…ironically behind Francisco Cervelli.  Yeah, I was shocked to see that as well; his OPS is .920 in 115 AB’s.  I would bet money Sanchez catches Francisco even if Cervelli is not a bad hitting catcher.  His career OPS is .744

KC was down 5-4 somewhere around the 4th inning and had their number 3 hitter up with a runner on 1st and nobody out…and he bunted a sacrifice type of bunt.  It wasn’t a late try for a hit type of bunt.  That is just dumb.

There was a fly ball to medium deep CF where a runner on 2nd was tagging up and Hicks got himself in position but took exactly 5 steps before he threw it.  They were quick steps so it isn’t the same as 5 runner’s steps, but get rid of the ball quickly and you have a better chance of throwing a runner out.  Think about if a catcher took that long to throw; he would never throw someone out.  I used to have an issue with Ichiro and people would talk about how great his arm was, but I don’t think he was as effective as a lot of guys who get rid of the ball quickly even if the sacrifice a little accuracy and strength.  Just before I get emails from some of you, I do know the OF throw is longer than the catcher throw so you have more time in the air and a stronger throw matters more, but it is not enough to make up for the longer release time.


First place by ourselves as Boston was off!

Sunday, May 20, 2018

Padding our stats!

Talk about getting a lot of hittable pitches...and doing damage with them.  9 HR's 5 doubles and 2 triples in the last two games!  Romine even got his first HR in over a year.  Austin hit 2 HR's and knocked in his 23rd run in only 92 AB's.  KC has a weak bullpen in the middle of the game.

As good as the offense was, Sonny Gray had a one-hitter and no walks going into the 8th inning where he centered a few too many, but still went 8 innings allowing 4 hits and a walk and only 1 run.  He only threw 92 pitches.

Torres made a very nice play displaying his excellent range.  His key is the great jump he gets as he is ready to move at impact every play.

Red Sox won 5-0

In other news...The Braves scored 6 runs in the bottom of the 9th to win 10-9

Through Saturday

Severino struggled with fastball control and was trying to throw inside and was outside at times.  He struggled with command and the Royals took advantage scoring 3 runs in 6 innings (not terrible) which is a lot for our Ace!  

I agreed with Boone to take out Severino after 6 even though he had thrown only 77 pitches.  It was time and the bullpen hadn't worked much.  Of course, after a leadoff double against Green on a bad 2 strike pitch, I was a little concerned with the score only 5-3.   Green was able to get by with fastballs pretty much down the middle and get out of the inning.  

On a double in the gap, Stanton relayed the ball into Torreyes who made a really good play to catch the ball which was to his right and then had to turn quickly with his momentum going away from him and he made a very accurate and strong throw to barely get the runner...In fact, he was called out and the replay was not conclusive.  If I had to make my call just form the replay I would have said safe, but I agreed it should not have been overturned.

While on instant replay, on a grounder to Andujar down the line, he threw to first and gave a long hop to Austin at first and the runner was called safe.  On another close play, the Yankees reviewed it and he was just out and they correctly overturned it (but very close).  Austin should have stretch more for the ball as he let the ball get close to his body and to the right; if he would have received the ball a little more in front there would have been no question.  The hop was long enough but the inexperienced Austin made it closer than it should have been.  Austin did make a nice catch and tag earlier coming off the bag to do so.

I was slightly critical of Judge for taking too long to get rid of balls on throws, but on a tag play to 3rd, Judge got himself in position and release the ball very quickly and made a play a little closer than anyone thought.  The negative was that his accuracy was a little off, but hopefully, he can work on that because it would make a big difference.

Ump was not very good behind the plate, especially on balls where the pitcher missed the catcher's spot by a lot.  If the catcher reached it was almost always a ball even if it was a strike.

Two more Andujar comments:  He slowed up to slide into home and ended up being called out.  Not sure what was going through his mind, but it reminded me of O’Neill who didn't know how to slide.

Andujar got 1 hit last night but he is pulling off the ball as his front hip is leaking and his front shoulder is following.  This is why he isn’t squaring through the ball with authority like he was earlier in the year.

Torres had a tough game 2 nights again but his a big 3 run shot last night taking advantage of a hanging breaking ball.

Sanchez hit 2 HR's and made a heads-up play on a wild pitch way over his head that bounced back to him and threw to 2nd and while late Torres sort of kept the tag on the runner and the runner barely came off and Torres possibly kept the tag on long enough to get a cheap (very cheap) overturned call by IR.  I have to say, I really don’t like that call as it was very close and I wasn't clear it was an out and because it is so ticky tack, I wouldn't have overturned it.  I understand if a guy over slides a bag, but this was barely off...it just wasn't right if you ask me.

Hicks has had 2 good games in a row and now has his OPS up to .757, He got his 2nd inside the park HR on a ball that hit off the top of the wall and the CF'r didn’t follow the ball (kind of lazy for a professional to not run over on a ball in the corner "just in case."  In this case, not running over allowed Hicks to easily have an inside the park HR.

Betances has had 3 solid outings in a row allowing only 1 walk in 3 innings.  Hopefully, he can keep it up as he can be critical for us.  His fastball control has been good.


Boston won so we are still tied in games out but Boston has played 4 more games (they went 2-2)

Saturday, May 19, 2018

5-18-18

We looked like a team that has not played many games recently.  The defense was weak and mostly from Torres who had a rough game in the field.  Misdiagnosing a grounder with the bases loaded and then flubbing the throw was a difference maker in the game.  Not only did we end up letting up 2 runs we shouldn't have, it overworked CC who was not that sharp anyway.  Torres also dropped a popup he was running back on, and while he got an out on the play, a run scored that probably would not have if he caught it.  Of course, I think he dropped it because he was gearing up to stop and throw home.  regardless, it was a rough game in the field.  We should not be worried about his defense though; it happens.

What we should be a little concerned about is that we have a lot of guys not hitting that well at the same time.  This lineup will be pretty good about not having extended slumps because someone can pick us up.  However, in the month of May, Hicks has an OPS of .603, Andujar has an OPS of .546 and including the very nice opposite field HR last night, Austin has an OPS of .369 (2-21).  the sad part is that Didi is even worse than Austin's .369, having a slump for the ages with a .301 OPS in 55 AB's...and over the past 42 AB's he has ONE single, 1 RBI and 4 walks.  It is time for the batting coach to earn his money because while I agree with the saying, "nobody is as ever as good as when they are on a hot streak, or as bad during a slump," this is a terribly long slump.  I thought he would be dropped in the lineup already and it needs to happen asap.  Most of it is mental so I am a fan of changing the mindset.  I say mostly because the hitting coach should be able to spot something Didi is doing differently.  It looks to me like he is not the same aggressive player he has been and not in terms of swinging at pitches, but how he swings at the pitches.  He isn't attacking the ball with aggression, he seems to be off balance and just trying to make contact and in doing so not squaring anything up.  BTW, players have had bad slumps before but not usually players that are solid hitters like Didi.  In their rookie years, Robin Ventura and Jose Canseco each had 0-40 slumps; so it can happen (man and for a rookie that is rough).

A couple of quick notes:

CC was not sharp in the game.  While better defense would have helped him a ton, if KC swung the bats better, it could have been worse.

Interesting stat - The Yankees hadn't lost in a CC start for 15 starts until last night.

The Yankees didn't swing the bats well either as the KC starter (Junis) missed a lot of spots frequently.  Sometimes, he was lucky in that he would paint the outside corner when the catcher called for an inside pitch but other times he left pitches right over the heart of the plate and the Yankees either missed them or took them.  There were a lot of sliders over the heart of the plate.  Bonne said Junis was really good, but this was a weak hitting effort.

Frazier is back up on the team and I expect him to start playing more with Hicks being more like he has always been (go back and read my preseason blog). 

I would not be surprised to see Drury come up as well, but that leaves a lot of infielders.  I wouldn't be surprised if we saw a trade,  Torreyes may make the most sense as his numbers are a little inflated even with his recent 2-12 slump.  The issue is that I don't think anyone else can play SS except Torres and we may not want to mess with him.  That being said, I would play Torres at SS once in awhile when you want to rest Didi.

Sunday, May 13, 2018

Final Oakland Game

We took another series!

Severino was not sharp but his 3 excellent pitches were not hit hard even though he put them in non-preferred locations.  His location was not good, but his stuff was good enough for him to get through 6 innings of 1 run baseball.  Oakland really didn't swing the bats well, but the 3 pitches were mixed well.

Judge tried to throw a runner out and made a great strong throw, but he may need to speed up his release in the future.  He seems to be in no rush to get rid of the ball.  He also should come forward toward home more (but I am being picky)

Great 4 hit game by Stanton.  His first hit was odd in that his back foot went back and away from the plate on the swing (that is something a little leaguer would do); he still hit it hard.
Stanton is faster than I thought he was; he gets out of the box and down the line pretty well.  He has also played a good OF when given the chance.

Didi still can't center a ball well now and could use a day off.  Contrast that with Gardner, who was in the same boat most of the year, but now that he is going well, he has been hitting the same pitches he missed previously on the nose!

We are about 25% through the season and on a pace to win 113 games; I am good with that!




Happy Mother's Day!

The pitcher for Oakland (Triggs) is a finesse pitcher with a lot of movement on his pitches.  The Yankees got off to an early lead as he fell behind 2-0 to Sanchez and then came in with an 89 MPH fastball that Sanchez turned on for a dinger.  The next batter was Hicks and the exact same scenario happened.  With German mixing in his 3 good pitches and mowing down Oakland for the first 3 innings (9 up and 9 down), the game looked positive.  The Yankees got two more on in the 3rd inning but couldn’t score as Hicks got out.

The 4th inning saw a different pitcher as German could not control his pitches.  Not sure what happened in between innings, but German kept throwing his change in the dirt and lost his command of the strike zone.  After a single and a walk, German threw a changeup down the middle of the plate and all of a sudden we were losing 3-2.  9 pitches later German had walked 2 more batters and with one out he got a groundout that moved both runners up.   It is hard to discuss pitch selection when your pitcher can’t locate what you want as a fastball inside may be the perfect call, but if the pitcher has it leak out over the plate, that may be a worse call then just asking for a breaking ball.  That being said, Mark Canha had just swung at a curve in the dirt and I thought the same pitch should have been called for.  Instead, they threw a fastball and Canha ripped it for a huge 2 out single knocking in 2 runs and we were down 5-2.  The inning ended as we threw out the runner going to 2nd.
The Yankees were mowed down and then German continued struggling allowing 2 more singles and got out of the inning allowing one run. 6-2.

Soapbox comment:  People throw around the word momentum too frequently in sports and while there are times where momentum can “keep going,” it can just as easily be changed.  Regardless, The Yankees had early “momentum” and then Oakland had “momentum” and then in the bottom of the 6th, the Yankees mounted their own excellent inning scoring 4 runs (including Didi’s first hit after going 0-30 – yeah, 0-30 is terrible).  Now the Yankees have “momentum!”  The point is that you have momentum until you don’t…and while the word is not wrong, I think it is used far too frequently as the reason why an outcome happened rather than as the word used to describe what happened.
For example, saying, The Yankees kept the momentum going getting the bases loaded in the 6th inning, but momentum ended when Hicks grounded out with 2 outs, on a 3-2 count and the runners going.  J

Stepping down from the soapbox!

Hicks grounding out was a big opportunity lost, but 1/3 of the game was still left.

With the score tied at 6, Holder pitched a perfect 6th and I was surprised he was taken out, but I would have had a quick hook on him because he is Jonathan Holder and I don’t have great confidence in him.  Chad Green struck out all 3 batters in the 7th and threw only 12 pitches in doing so.  I clearly expected him to pitch to start the 8th but no, Boone took him out and brought in Betances.  Betances looked razor sharp as well and threw only 11 pitches to retire Oakland in order.  While the Yankees didn’t score, we are now in a tie game entering the 9th.  Betances has to start the 9th right?  Nope, Chapman was in.  I have a big problem with this.  In a tie game, you can’t assume the game will only go 9 innings and what happened to the comments made that we are trying to extend guys out to be able to throw multiple innings?  In a tie game and your pitcher looked sharp and didn’t throw a lot of pitches you have to try and get through a few more batters.  Even if they pitch to one or two batters in the next inning and you can get 3 innings out of (in this case) Green and Betances instead of 2.  This was a very bad decision in my book. 

It looked even worse when Chapman was throwing 96 MPH (5 or 6 MPH under what he threw the other night.  Making it worse was that he couldn’t find the strike zone and even his slider had no bite.  After walking the first two batters I was really concerned because weak stuff and no control equals trouble.  We had a mound visit because I think there was concern Chapman might be hurt but they left him in and with the bunt on Chapman bounced a ball moving both runners up with nobody out.  Oakland then removed the bunt and brought in a pinch hitter and Chapman walked him.  After the walk, the Yankees visited the mound again as they were looking at a possible blister on his throwing hand.  The Yankees left him in the game.  With not much left in the bullpen as Robertson was awful the night before, I could understand leaving him, but I would have taken him out because I didn’t want the blister to get worse (marathon not a sprint).  Plus, he was pretty ineffective (bases loaded and nobody out), but Chapman wanted to stay in and with the score tied the options in the pen weren’t exciting (because we got the minimum out of 3 relievers in a tie game – which shows you how bad not extending them was.  After the next pitch was bounced and Sanchez gloved it (fortunately it found his glove, but it was a huge play), it looked like we were going to allow some runs.  Chapman was able to get a few more MPH’s on his fastball and struck out Canha for the 1st out.  What followed was a huge play where Chapman got Lucroy to hit a fly ball to slightly shallow LF.  Gardner got momentum behind his throw him and got rid of it reasonably fast and made an accurate throw but had a little less velocity than normal; the play was very close as Sanchez did everything he could, but the ump called the runner safe as the swipe tag appeared to miss the runner.  In review, Sanchez barely touched the runner and we got the call overturned for a huge DP to get out of a bases loaded nobody out jam in the 9th inning.

Two things on this.  1) Sanchez started in the baseline and then, because he didn’t have the ball, came out just slightly (as he is supposed to) and caught and swiped very quickly and just caught (up to) the runner on the back of his jersey.  Yet another exciting play for an exciting team!  The second comment is that this is one of those times where you have to give credit to the manager.  If runs scored there, everyone would have abused him for staying with an injured player who clearly didn’t have his stuff.  But Boone stuck with him and Chapman stepped up as did Gardner and Sanchez.  Of course, if Boone would have managed the bullpen better in the 6-8th innings the issue might not have happened.

Sometimes, the wrong moves work and sometimes the right moves don’t; you just have to make a lot more correct ones to give the team its best chance to win now and in the future.

We were all set for the walk-off win in the 9th, but Sanchez Hicks and Walker went down 1,2,3
Now we had to use AJ Cole to pitch (which makes you realize the poor job of getting only one inning out of each pitcher.)  Cole was picked up from the Nationals after they cut him as he got off to a horrific start allowing 15 runs in 10 innings pitched and has not done anything in the majors at 26.  Here we were hoping he could give us something and he walked the first two batters and this had the makings of a bad ending.  But instead of continuing his terrible pitching, he was able to strike out the next two batters and get a pop out to give us a chance.  We didn’t score in the 10th and Cole pitched a scoreless 11th to keep our chances alive.  After Didi flew out Stanton walked and after a groundout FC by Sanchez Hicks walked Sanchez to 2nd base with 2 outs.  Walker then hit a soft line drive to LC that scored Sanchez for yet another exciting win!

Some other notes:
Sonny Gray pitched poorly Friday night and what was interesting is that Dustin Fowler was in the A’s lineup and they were traded for each other.  Gray has been a pretty solid pitcher and while he is off to a Bad start (5.15 ERA), he will turn it around.  His stuff wasn’t bad, his control has been as he is walking too many people and not locating his strikes well.   He has 24 walks in 38 innings; that is simply not acceptable and about double the amount he should have.

Our record is good and while the starting pitching overall has been good, the bullpen and hitting hasn’t been all that good.  Our hitting has been timely and it seems like someone different is the hero on wins, we have more underperforming than over performing.

Neil Walker and Gardner have been getting it going in May.  Walker, in his 35 plate appearances, has a line of: .346/.514/462 (OPS-.976).    Gardner has a .404 OBP in May and a .765 OPS mostly because he hasn’t hit with power.  In fact, as these guys get going, their HR production would really help.  Taking their averages over the past 4 years based on their AB’s this year, they should have 7 HR’s at this point and combined they have ONE!

Aaron Hicks has been slumping and his OPS is just above his career number at .712. 

Andjuar has been struggling as well as he has not had an extra base hit in his last 13 games and only has 1 walk and 2 RBI’s in those 13 games.  His overall OPS is at .747.  Both he and Torres are going to have to adjust to the pitchers who have made adjustments.

Oakland had score 9 runs in their previous 5 games and in our 2 games have scored 16 runs.


Happy Mother’s Day!

Friday, May 11, 2018

Game 3 Against Boston

Here we are down 4-0 in the 7th inning, after a rain delay, and we still are clawing back with bases loaded and one out.  With one good hit, some walks, a grounder that found the hole and some good base running by Gardner to score on a wild pitch where the catcher Sanchez'd it (it was not an easy block but he was late) the Yankees tied it at 4.  You have to admire the grit of this team. 

A cheap HR that just cleared the RF porch and missed Judge's glove by inches (to the right, not behind) as the ball kept fading away from him, was the one run that broke our streak.  We still fought again in the 8th but a borderline low pitch (close) got Walker with 2 men on.

Outside of the call on Walker (which was close and we didn't see a side angle, the ump behind home plate was awful and 95% of the bad calls favored the Red Sox.  The same spot for CC was a ball that was called a strike for Rodriguez on many occasions.  In a close game like this, it was a huge factor in the game.  In contrast, I thought the ump Wednesday night was great.  He called it consistent both ways and was spot on.  He was so good that I actually looked up to see who it was (Cory Blaser).  Good job Cory.  Stu Scheurwater was the bad ump Thursday night FWIW.  You could see one situation where Boone gave him a mouthful saying "that was ball 5, wasn't even close."  He also had an "F" bomb in there, but Boone was right.  These things even out over time, but a bad performance even by the umps needs to be called out.

From the Yankees standpoint, I think a huge AB was from Tyler Austin.  He was up with bases loaded and 1 out and had a 2-0 count on him.  He was in swing-no-matter-what mode and waved at a change in the dirt.  He followed it by swinging at a slider so inside that might have hit him if he turned into it (a lefty was on the mound).  He was then called out on a fastball that was inside that the ump (Stu) called a strike; it was a bad call during an awful AB.  In this AB (different than the one Boone yelled at the ump for), the pitcher threw 5 straight balls and our outcome was a strikeout with the bases loaded.  Bad job by the slumping Austin

Didi is 0 for his last 23.

Great run and the game last night was exciting again! 

Thursday, May 10, 2018

Game two against the Red Sox

This will be written a little bit more as a dialogue to myself in this game:

Through one inning, it is good to see that Porcello doesn’t look anything like that great outing he had against us last time.  Good to see Gardner getting into the action on offense with a solid double

Ugh, Tanaka is not sharp either.  The 2 run HR to Moreland was terrible, missing his spot badly.  Can’t do that to a hot hitter.

Down 2-1 we didn’t score as Torres swung at a lot of bad pitches, but it is good that Porcello isn’t sharp because Tanaka will allow some runs.  We need to be ready with a quick hook
2 walks with a DP and Tanaka worked his way out of it, but he is not sharp.

Gardner with another double and after a walk to Judge we got a break that Didi squibbed one to 1st that allowed both runners to move up on the productive out.  Stanton, who looks to have widened his stance a week or so ago, did a great job of driving an away fastball down the line for a 2 run double.  What was interesting was that on the 2-1 pitch he took a FB right down the middle of the plate.  I believe that Porcello felt Stanton was looking for the breaking ball or he wouldn't have that hittable pitch go by and decided to come back with a fastball.  I would have come inside with that thinking (and would have done that), but Porcello, threw the fastball outside and Stanton went with it and ripped it.

With a 4-2 lead we can be a little more lenient with Tanaka, but I would be careful

Hard liner and a single and I am seriously thinking of making a move to Holder (if he is our long man now as I don’t know who we have in the pen?)  I would not be upset if Boone makes a move.  

What do I know?  Leon grounded into a DP where Torres made a very quick pivot and throw and Didi made an acrobatic one legged throw to first

Top 5: Ugh, hanging breaking ball by Tanaka and Benintendi launched a long HR.  Taking him out would not have been such a bad move.   He is not sharp at all.  Next pitch Ramirez gets another hanging breaking ball and just missed it for a long out.  I thought it was gone but he got it off the end of the bat a little.  Tanaka has nothing today.  Got the last out on a very nice running/diving catch by Judge.  I would take Tanaka out before he allows another HR that could be a 2 run type that puts us in jeopardy.

Both pitchers when they miss are missing by a lot so the batters aren’t chasing anything.  Bases loaded nobody out Sanchez who terribly chased 2 balls in the other box got a hanging slider on 3-2 and ripped a hard line drive for a sac fly.  Hicks and Walker couldn’t get anyone else home.
5-3 good guys into the 6th

Why is Tanaka still in?  Bogaerts rips a double and this has to be it for Tanaka…nope letting him face Moreland as nobody was ready; hope this doesn’t bite us.  

On a 2-1 count he chased a splitter so Bogaerts moved to 3rd with 1 out.  Green in now…he let up the sac fly but struck out Devers to end the inning. 

5-4 into the top of the 7th.

After 2 outs, Green walks Benintendi.  He then hangs a slider to Ramirez who crushes it for a long HR to LF.  Very bad pitch selection in my book as he just had thrown a slider well off the plate and then came back with one that just hung.  Green is a fastball pitcher and while you need to mix in the slider a little, he was not able to control it on any of his previous ones.  Ramirez is a good hitter but he is really good on off speed mistakes.
 
Shoot down 6-5, bad job by Green.  Still have 9 outs to score some runs

Top 8: Shreve walks the leadoff guy (drives me nuts) and then allows a double down the line.  With 2nd and 3rd nobody out Shreve is able to get Devers swinging for a huge out.  Boone correctly takes Shreve out now (after his great start to teh year, Shreve has had 2 bad outings in a row).  In comes Holder and he gets a huge strikeout.  

Have to walk Betts here 

..and Boone does!  OK holder now get the job done…got him; very nice work by Holder (haven’t said that often).

Bottom 8:  Walker does it again with a leadoff double being down by 1!  It has that feeling again…this team is fun!  

2-0 count on Andujar and he was very intent on hitting it to the right side.  While you want to try and do that; on a 2-0 pitch I would be trying to do some damage.  He basically gave himself up.  Torres did a great job of laying off the curves he swung at last time and walked (Barnes actually threw Torres a 3-0 breaking ball; that was surprising).  So with Gardner up the Red Sox brought in their closer (I call him the scarecrow because he stands on the mound with both elbows up – looking stupid).  

I like this matchup for Gardner as he has hit the ball hard all 4 times and Kimbrel comes from the right side a little.  Oh Baby, a huge triple by Gardner just scoring Torres who held up a little to ensure that the ball wasn’t caught.  Betts was playing very shallow and Gardner drove it for his 3rd extra base hit.  One run lead and Chapman will be in.  Boom, Judge crushed a line drive HR…Man, this is exciting to watch.  9-6!

Chapman throwing 102 and 103 strikes out the side (allowing a hit in between)!

AWESOME!!!  We have 10 come from behind wins already; we have had a lot of exciting games for 22% of the season!

Other notes:

Can someone please tell Gardner to stop sliding headfirst into 1st and home?  Torres got injured for the year sliding into home headfirst and on Gardner’s triple did it again.  WHY?

On a Judge squibber, the pitcher got the ball in between the catcher and pitcher slightly on the 3rd base side.  When he threw to first, the 1st baseman was standing with his foot on the bag and his right foot on the line toward 2nd base.  Veterans to this blog no that this is another one of my pet peeves.  This does not allow them to stretch for a close play, but it also does not allow them to field a ball when it is thrown into the bag where the 1st baseman can get his arm hurt by reaching in to catch the ball and hitting the runner.  However, if you stretch toward the throw you can actually get to the ball before it is in a dangerous spot.  Instead, Moreland started to reach and just stopped with no effort…not only is Judge safe (he would have been out) the throw got away and he went to 2nd.  I don’t get it and I am not sure why this is taught as it is ineffective.

If O’Neill says that the player just needs to “stay within himself” one more time…

Last comment:  I don’t usually get to hear much of the announcers, but Cone told what I thought was a funny story about his first major league spring training game.  He was nervous and came into a game where there were a lot of hit batters.  His coach told him to throw directly behind the hitters head (again in his first ML game in Spring Training).  Cone said he was so nervous he threw one so high it went up on the screen and he got tossed on his first ML pitch in ST.   LOL


Hopefully, we can get the sweep!

Wednesday, May 9, 2018

Game 1 of 3 for the Rivalry in May

The rivalry game lived up to the hype!  My thoughts:
·         Severino pitched great again, he is working all 3 pitches really effectively and he had his best slider of the year. 

·         Sanchez once again had a bad play allowing a swinging strike to get under his glove for what they rules was a wild pitch, but he should have had it.   It made Severino work harder and that led to the 7th inning where the team felt they had to take him out because of his pitch count was at 109.  This turned into Robertson allowing Severino’s tying run to score.  Also, with Sanchez not hitting that well, we may see Romine more than just for Gray.  I am not giving up on Sanchez as he has had some very big hits, but his ability to receive and block the ball is simply bad.

·         Stanton was our offense with a line bullet HR to left on a fastball and then another to right when he took an outside fastball about 5 rows back in RF.  He also hit a laser to 3rd so it is good to see him going as others have cooled off (Austin, Judge, Didi, Hicks and Andujar)

·         That being said, Walker pinch hit a double and then came around to score the go ahead run on Judge’s bullet single to LF

·         On this single the Yankees had bases loaded with 1 out and Torres was at 2nd and he hesitated as the line drive went through the infield, but the 3rd base coach made his first blunder of the year sending him home.  Live (well on tape but at first glance watching at normal speed), I noticed Torres slow up and because the ball was hit hard I assume he would stop but they kept him running and he was dead at home on a throw that was slow and a two hopper but it was accurate.  This was a terrible decision with Didi and Stanton coming up and with 1 out.  With 2 outs it was probably a bad call…one out was awful.  I hate when people say, he was just being aggressive; that is a bad excuse.  There is a difference between being aggressive and being reckless.  Sending him with 2 outs may be aggressive; sending him with one is reckless.

·         Judge made a perfect throw from right to catch Vazquez trying to stretch a single into a double.  He sure doesn’t rush his throws but this one was caught in perfect tagging position…or as my brother calls it, “a self-tagging throw.”  Judge is a complete player

·         Up 1-0 earlier in the 2nd inning, The Yankees had 1st and 2nd with nobody out and I thought it was a great time to bunt Andjuar.  While I am not a big sacrifice guy unless one run wins a game and your batter sacrificing doesn’t have a good matchup, when you can move 2 runners over it is more advantageous to give up an out to do so.  There have been many of them and Boone has yet to sacrifice, even in these good situations. 

       Andujar made a very nice play on a tough hopper to his left with 2 outs and a runner on 2nd.  It was kind of an in-between hop but he played it perfectly and then threw the runner out!  Torres made an error, but he continues to show a very quick first step and he turns the DP pivot from 2nd to SS very well.

·         Good job by Chapman on a tough 1 run save!


·         16-1 over the last 17 is something we haven’t done since the 60’s.  We are also tied for 1st!

Sunday, May 6, 2018

After the Weekend

This is one extremely fun team to watch!  Adding youth to a good team makes it even more exciting and both Torres and Andujar have contributed to the enjoyment.  Before I get into the previous 2 games, we saw another youngster get into the action today, as Domingo German followed up his excellent relief outing to pitch 6 innings of no-hit ball walking 2 and striking out 9!  He looked similar in that he mixed in a 94-95 MPH fastball with tailing movement, with an excellent changeup (also with a tail and sink) and a good curve.  It was the right move to take him out after 84 pitches even though he had a no-hitter going.  Betances did a decent job in the 7th inning keeping the no-hitter going, but because the score was tied at 0, Boone left him in to pitch the 8th.  I didn’t want Betances to pitch more than 1 inning, but it is possible that Robertson was not available and I understand the thought process as the Yankees offense only had 1 hit themselves.  Betances didn’t pitch poorly but he allowed 3 hits (mostly because of good hitting) before Jonathon Holder came in and allowed a hit.  Sanchez followed with a bad passed ball (his 7th already that doesn’t include the wild pitches he didn’t save) which allowed a run and then a sac fly put us down 4-0 in the bottom of the 8th against a pitcher we only had 1 hit off of.

After 2 walks, Gardner finally contributed offensively, with a line drive single which was followed by a double by Judge where he went with an outside and low fastball to plate Brett and make the game 4-3.  In the 9th, Hicks led off with a double followed by a double by Walker to tie the game.  After intentionally walking Stanton (the right move), Torres hit a 3 run HR for a great walk-off HR.  After 7 innings of 1 hit and no runs, it was very surprising to see 11 runs scored in the final 2 innings…and being down 4-0 things looked bleak.

I mentioned Sanchez with some more poor defense, and it is even more alarming when you compare it to the ease with which our competition blocks tough pitches in the dirt and saves wild pitches.  He did make a tremendous throw to 3rd base where he got rid of the ball lightning quick and threw a pea to 3rd that was a catch and tag at the same time to get the runner stealing.    It was a big play that also underscores why you would like to have him catch, but he still needs work.  I think his stance with men on base is too low on one side and it limits his mobility.

Looks like Romine is the personal catcher for Sonny Gray now as the difference in his ERA between the 2 catchers is almost 4 runs a game.  Gray did pitch well winning 5-2 with Romine on Saturday.
Walker is starting to heat up.  While his overall numbers are still bad, he is 4 for his last 10 with 6 walks and a HBP!

Friday was an interesting game as the Yankees had a 5-0 and were cruising, only to see Cleveland put up a 5 spot to tie the game as Shreve had his worst outing of the year (he grooved too many pitches).  Honestly, this was a game where I thought Betances should have started the 8th because he only threw 15 pitches and 12 were for strikes.  Shreve was bad and then Robertson allowed a 2 run HR and we were tied.  After Judge hit a HR it looked like we were in business until Chapman allowed a single and a HBP.  Then Chapman threw a high pitch for a Wild Pitch that was a high fastball and a tough one for Sanchez.  After a strikeout for the 2nd out we were one out away before Chapman released another high fastball that Sanchez didn’t even get a glove on.  As weak as Sanchez has been, I think he was expecting a breaking ball but maybe he messed up his own signs  Regardless, Chapman was pissed as the game was tied up and he blew a save.  He struck out his 3rd batter of the inning to give the Yanks a chance in the bottom of the 9th.  Stanton led off with a double and with 2 outs Andujar delivered the game-winning hit

Baltimore is 17 games out of 1st place already; the next "closest" is Cincinnati who is 12.5 out.

The two best records in baseball (Red Sox and the Yankees ) play Tuesday – Thursday this week; should be fun!

Thursday, May 3, 2018

A Lot of Sanchez

These Houston games have really had a playoff type of atmosphere and today was no different.

My Notes on the game:

1.     Altuve crushed one down the line that hit off the wall JUST to the side of the thick yellow line on the wall.  I don’t think it is possible to ever hit a ball closer to a line…I wouldn’t be surprised if it did hit the line.

2.     Veterans of this blog know I have a few pet peeves.  One is when catchers with nobody on don’t tuck their exposed hand behind their shin guard for protection.  This is an absolute in my book.  The other is that I think you should still do this with guys on base and if the ball is low or a guy is stealing you have to risk exposing it and you bring it out.  With a runner not able to steal such as 2nd and 3rd it should be tucked.  It surely should not be lazily sitting exposed on your thigh to be smacked by a foul tip.  This is exactly what happened to Sanchez and luckily he didn’t break anything, but it will hurt tomorrow and it is stupid.  It happens a lot more than it should and has knocked catchers out for extended periods of time.

3.     It seemed like Sanchez was walking a lot but when I looked at it he had 11 walks in 110 AB’s (10%) compared to last years’ 40 walks in 471 (8.5%).  I thought it would be a greater differential, but it is a little more.  The equivalent would 47 walks in 471 AB’s.

4.     Sanchez had a terrible defensive night, he had one he simply didn’t move well for, another that was a tough play that he didn’t make and then in the 9th inning with a one run lead Sanchez let a 101 MPH fastball go right "under" him for what would have been strike 3 swinging to end the game.  He actually hopped up to try and glove it rather than using the chest protector (it was odd)…After the runner gained first base, the next batter got a hit and all of a sudden Houston was down one with 2 outs two on and Altuve up. Fortunately, in an exciting sequence, Chapman threw 101 centered right for a swinging strike, then threw a fastball down the middle for a taken strike and then threw 101 right down the middle for a swinging strike 3.  Terrible location, but effective!

5.     BTW, with men on base, Sanchez is uneven in his stance which is limiting his movement.  It is sort of the equivalent to kneeling on one knee and then trying to move left or right quickly; hard to do (even though he isn’t that unbalanced.)

6.     Cone had a cool conversation about how some pitchers dig in on mounds and some don’t and why some move around on a mound for different batters or to get away from the pitcher's spot of the other person.

7.     Ump was better for us tonight.  We got the edge on calls, including a fair ball called foul for Sanchez on a dribbler in front of the plate.

8.     I disagreed with the decision of Boone to take out Tanaka with only 83 pitches in the 7th inning and nobody out and bases loaded winning 3-0.  My reasoning was that Tanaka made an excellent strike 2 pitch and the batter pulled a ball outside through the hole between 3rd and SS…not much you can do there.  The 2nd batter literally stuck out his bat and did a good job getting a soft line single up the middle on another 2 strike pitch that was located well.  The next guy was said to have been HBP, but another incredibly close call.  Yes had a great super slow and I would not have overturned the call either, but if you asked me to make a call from the video I didn’t see anything that showed it hit the sleeve so I would have said no HBP.  Anyway, with bases loaded and nobody out with a 3-0 lead, we brought in Greene.  He did his job and induced a weak hit grounder but we could not make a play on it.  Then he allowed a hit and one of the Sanchez wild pitches he could have had and before you know it we are down 4-3

9.    Green allowed another run after serving up a HR and we entered the 9th down 5-3

10.   Walker led off the 9th with a walk (3rd time on base), Andujar singles going with the pitch perfectly, and Hicks puts together an excellent AB and wins the battle with a single to load the bases with nobody out.  Torres gets a big 2 run single and we plate another run on a fielders choice and go into the 9th up 6-5 and Chapman saved it.  


11.  It was a very intense game! 6-1 road trip!  

Wednesday, May 2, 2018

Wednesday May 2nd

After watching Verlander look so good, our ace gave a dominant performance as well.  Severino threw fastballs at 97-100 mph all night (including hitting 100 in the 9th), throwing a lot of quality and well-placed sliders at 89-90 and probably about 10 changeups, Luis had the first complete game of his roughly 60 starts!  I also thought the ump favored Houston as Keuchel got calls Severino didn’t.  I thought Severino got 3 calls outside the zone and Houston had 11.  For awhile Severino was throwing more sliders than fastballs, but later on, threw more fastballs.  Not sure what the total breakdown was but I would think that out of the 110 pitches 55 were fastballs and 45 were sliders and 10 were changeups.  I still think his changeup at 89-90 is a little fast, but it worked.  What also worked was that he threw 83 strikes and 27 balls, striking out 10 and walking one on a 3-2 pitch.

Stanton had a great game offensively, hitting an outside fastball the other way for a line drive HR, pulling a slider to left (and yes it was a slider even though Flash called it a cutter twice) on a bullet HR and then hitting another fastball that was a ball outside, the other way for a double.  It was great to see a guy who was just pulling off the ball make that adjustment and have a dominant game.

Torres got a great jump on a broken bat hit over 2nd base to make a nice running catch.  He has shown excellent range (getting a quick jump) and a strong arm.  He did get picked off on a running catch by Reddick in RF which was not a good baserunning play, but it was a decent catch and great throw to just nab him.  He needs to get a little more patient at the plate, but he is a player.\

Unfortunately, Montgomery is out 6-8 weeks with a strained elbow.  German will take his place in the rotation.

The Houston rotation is pretty darn good.  While Keuchel is 1-5, everything he throws has movement and in different directions.  He also uses all parts of the plate well.  The Houston view from the camera is a cool one where it is as close to directly behind a pitcher as I have seen and it is slightly to the left (most are to the right or 3rd base side).


20-10 - .667 baseball equates to 108 games.  I would sign up for that!

Through Tuesday Night

You can see what a slightly larger strike zone (in the NL) and excellent pitching can do to an offense.  The first game in Houston saw Morton really mix up pitches on the corners and make the Yankees his the few mistakes that were made…which they didn’t do.  One opportunity had Judge with a 3-0 count and Torres on 2nd down 2-0 in the 8th inning.  My feeling was they weren’t going to give in but they didn’t want to put the tying run on base either so I thought sitting on a slider would be smart and Judge got one that was grooved but he took it for strike one.  I love walks, but in that spot, I want my big guy looking to tie the game on a mistake.  He did end up walking and Gardner got a single scoring one, but that is all we got.  Giles closed out the game by striking out the side and had the type of pumped up intensity you would think he just won/saved game 7 of the World Series.

Fast Forward to Tuesday night where Verlander was amazing.  He was so good that it made me think back to when we were going against Houston for a trade for him and wondering, what if? He was painting the corners with a high 90’s fastball and his slider had amazing movement and location.  He also worked in his curve just for another speed.  I didn’t see many/any changeups, but he threw as good a game as I have seen.  There were only a few bad pitches and we didn’t hit many good strikes either.  I was glad to see him come out of the game after 8 and Houston brought in Giles.  Judge did a nice job of lining a fastball on the outside corner to RF and Didi hustled a gap single into a double and we were in business at 2nd and 3rd with Stanton up and nobody out.  Stanton had a terrible AB.  He waived at a slider that was a ball, took a low fastball and then swung at another bad slider.  He barely held up on a slider in the dirt and then at 2-2 got a hanging slider that he pulled off of and missed.  His front hip is flying open and he is off balance…it was really an awful AB and he doesn’t seem to be picking up the rotation on the ball at all.   Now Sanchez was up with first base open and Houston had a mound visit…Whatever they talked about didn't work as the first pitch to Sanchez was a slider not in the exact same spot as Stanton’s but similarly hittable and Sanchez jumped all over it and deposited over the CF fence for an exciting 3 run HR.  After plating another run on a manufactured run by Hicks who ripped a single, stole 2nd, moved to 3rd on a grounder and then scored on a wild pitch that McCann was very Sanchez like.    Chapman closed out an outstanding bullpen day throwing a tailing fastball at 100 and throwing his breaking ball 7 out of his 14 pitches. 
While on the bullpen, German came in to start the 2nd inning as Montgomery had some shoulder stiffness after a good 1st inning.   German, did a great job pitching 4 scoreless innings.  He showed a good fastball, change and breaking ball and that was very promising.  The bullpen order was interesting as Green came in for the 6th, Betances for the 7th and the normal Robertson and Chapman to close it out, but I was a little surprised that Green came in before Betances and then for only one inning in a tie game and throwing only 9 pitches?  We were fortunate the game didn’t go into extra innings and I would have tried to get more out of Green who looked great.  Betances was his normal, great stuff, but erratic self; striking out the side while mixing in a hit and a few wild pitches.  Both Betances and Robertson threw 19 pitches so I would not have pitched either a 2nd inning; again, fortunately, we scored in the 9th or the Green mistake could have hurt.


After the 3 run HR and the hard hit from Hicks, Giles was removed from the game and he could be seen literally punching his own face coming off the field and then slamming something in the dugout…that guy is wound too tight…but I loved seeing it, as he seems like a real tool!