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?

 

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.  

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!

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.

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

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

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!

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!