Split with Cleveland

The first game was just a disaster.  Cleveland really had some very good AB's and then it just got out of hand.  Green didn't have good control, but he made some pitches a team struggling would have offered at and Cleveland was very disciplined and then crushed the others.  The game might have been different if Torres didn't rip a line drive right at 3rd base with the bases loaded.

The 2nd and 3rd games were thoroughly enjoyable to watch not only because we won, but the pitches were so critical almost every step of the way.  The game really was hanging in the balance on so many pitches and that is what makes it exciting to me.

In the 2nd game, Tanaka threw very well and allowed only the 2 solo HR's.  Leading into the 8th 3-2, every runner mattered and Britton came on and induced a ground ball that Didi threw to 1B and Ford simply didn't catch it.  That is a very rare occurrence but no all of a sudden the leadoff batter is on in a one run game (and it wasn't form our usual leadoff walk which drives me crazy.  After a sac bunt, Britton was able to get the last two outs.  In the 9th, guess what happened?  Chapman made me crazy by walking the first guy on 5 pitches.  After that, Chapman was very sharp getting a pop up and 2 k's for the save.

In the 3rd game, we had some fireworks in the 6th inning.  The umpire had a terrible call on Maybin striking him out.  Maybin had a reasonable reaction and calmly told the ump he didn't agree with the call.  As he was going back to the bench he was still annoyed and the Yankees bench started in.  Eventually, CC, Grander and Boone got tossed.  Boone protected his players so I didn't have an issue with him, I am not sure what CC said, so lets assume that was warranted as well.  My issue is with Gardner and his childish banging the bat on the dugout roof.   Yes, the umpire should not have been looking into teh dugout and yes, Gardner was thrown out the other day when he didn't say anything and teh umpire lied that he saw him talking (which is total BS), BUT, he was banging on teh dugout roof and that should not be allowed in my  opinion.  If a player wants to hit something once when they are mad at themselves that is fine with me, but instead of yelling at the ump they create loud noises, should not be allowed...and it is childish.  Maybe we are getting a reputation, but I will say the calls have been bad at times.  Chapman got his 35th save and was very sharp, hitting 103 for the first time this season (at least from my memory) and having his good breaking ball!

The 4th game was really decided a lot by the home plate umpire.  It was a terrible game for him and is the reason I am all for the digital umpire to make the calls.  I assume they can adjust the strike zone for each player up and down and if so, I would rather have that then this inconsistent garbage we are getting.  Judge took a ball very low that was called a strike then swung through a FB before doing a good job taking a slider that was low AND away.  Strike 3 and he is walking back to the dugout.  In a game where we kept leaving 2 guys on base early on, the terrible calls made a huge impact on the game.  There had to be 8 other calls I was pissed at.  That is unacceptable and I would like to see the umps get suspended or "benched" for poor play.

One last note, as much we have noticed Sanchez has been better behind the plate.  He threw one into CF yesterday and I realized that he has now made 13 errors this season.  Keep in mind the errors are not what we usually have an issue with Sanchez on; usually it is his poor framing or poor blocking of balls or just getting mixed up.  While he has been better there, 14 errors for a guy who has missed a decent amount of games is a lot.  There are two other guys who have 10 errors so he has 40% more errors than the next closest guy.

Ok, really one last note...Ryan Ruocco did a very good job in place of Kay and he brings more to the table than Kay.  Ryan goes to a lot of stats, but he understands the context they need to be used in and also understood most of the nuances of the issues with most some of those stats.  Good job Ryan