First, a word from the last two games against Baltimore:
Ugh!
We play Baltimore 19 games this year and we want to win at least 14 of them. We now have to go 13-3 for the remaining 16.
Game 2 – Paxton pitched very well. He showed his live fastball and walked only one batter in 5.2 innings. I like that we can ensure he doesn’t overextend himself but he should give us quality starts (5 or 6 innings of 2-3 ER types). Tulo hit his 1st homer by going the opposite way, but his swing still concerns me as it is a loopy uppercut. He knows how to center a ball, but I think as he is aging it is harder to do. Hopefully, he can continue being productive for us. Sloppy game from the team with 3 throwing errors. One of those early season games.
Game 3 – Happ simply couldn’t spot his fastball early and left his avg fastball in the middle of the plate and Baltimore took advantage of it. Leaving 14 guys on base doesn’t help 2-12 with RISP). I would not have brought in Tarpley with the game 5-4 in the 8th; this was a time for one of our better pitchers. This was a mistake as we have this great bullpen and we should take advantage of it. Down 4-0 we had been scratching back and against a weaker team, we could have come back. Unfortunately, Tarpley didn’t get the job done as he came in with 1 out and 1 on and allowed 2 runs to score. We did mount a comeback scoring a run and having 2 guys on but Tulo struck out pinch-hitting for Gardner, waving at a slider that was well outside the strike zone.
Last night against Detroit: I thought I was getting some April Fools jokes when I heard that Andujar may be out for the year and Stanton was out for a month, unfortunately, it was not a joke. Hopefully, Andujar can rest for a month and be OK, but his throwing is already an issue and even if he didn’t deserve his throwing error that Bird should have caught, he still has an extra movement in his throw that stops him from having a crisp release; this injury could make it worse.
Having LeMahieu now is very important and fortunately, you can see he can play defense. He is not as comfortable at 3rd base, but I think he will get there.
German, has very good stuff and I stated that I liked him last year, but it is frustrating when he can’t control his fastball well enough. I don’t like 5 walks in 5 innings, but when you allow only 1 hit it is easier to swallow, even if hard to watch at times.
The bullpen took care of the last 4 innings. Britton wasn’t sharp but his stuff can be so good that guys struggle to square up his sinker. Chapman worked an easy 9th and while he hasn’t hit even 99 in the cold, he located well.
We will get to see what Wade can do; this is his chance to show what he is capable of. He was mad he got sent down and now he must take advantage of his chances.
Some notes:
Sanchez has 2 HR’s and the one in the 2nd inning showed off his power to straightaway center. He took a slider out over the plate and extended with great power. He still can’t receive well (the act of catching pitches softly and smoothly without jerking), but he has been much more active blocking. His throwing has been off so far, but he will get it and honestly I thought two of his errors were on Torres as the ball faded toward 2nd but Gleyber just didn’t move on two of them and the one last night would have been an out as it was an easy play for Torres. That being said, Sanchez hasn’t thrown as well as he can. Overall, I am happy to see what he has done and the effort behind home plate…He has not been lazy.
Glad to see Frazier up; he is very important to this team. When you think about not getting Harper Frazier was one of the reasons (a lot of investment was obviously important as well) just like having Andujar was one of the reasons not to get Machado…time for Frazier to step up.
We have to fight through the injuries:
50% of our starting players: (Didi, Hicks, Stanton, Andujar) and the pitchers: (Severino, CC and Betances). Shoot, even our top prospect, Estevan Florial broke his wrist.
2-2 and Boston is 1-4 (there one win was a comeback)
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