7-1 Start!

Quick recap on the two Oriole games

•  When Cole is on the mound you feel like this game is ours.  I am not sure why Boone let Cole go out there for the 7^th inning after getting through 6 innings with one run and we had a 7-1 lead?  Cole did end up allowing 2 runs in the 7^th and threw 102 pitches.  Why stretch him to 100 in that situation and so early in the year (his 2^nd start?) 
• Judge and DJ were the hitting stars as DJ picked up 4 hits and Judge homered.
• In the 2^nd game against Baltimore, Happ was just not sharp and 4 runs in 4 innings tells the same story.
• O’neill says a lot of things that I just disagree with.   He talks about momentum being so important and while he has come around a little on statistics, he is very far away from reality on them still.  I won’t go into all of Oneill’s comments, but Cone is on the other spectrum and I am a large fan of Cone’s.  One of Oneill’s comments about a mediocre pitcher on Baltimore was, “his changeup is bar far his best pitch… outside of his fastball”   Really???
• The Yankees scored 5 in the 1^st and fell behind 6-5 going into the 9^th before Judge stepped up and hit a 3 run HR
•  Loaisiga allowed the 2 runs in the 8^th, but he looked very good.  His breaking ball was very sharp and he also was throwing 96-97.  He had some control issues at first, but he will be a big part of our team.
•  Britton was very sharp in getting the save

Quick recap on the Red Sox 3 game series at empty Yankee stadium.

•  This Boston team is simply not a threat to us in its current makeup. 
•   Sanchez – He has great bat speed and will hit a lot better, but he is lost at the plate and his defense is annoying the heck out of me.  This one leg down thing is a bad idea and it will start to hurt his blocking ability.  I stated in my previous post that his thigh was exposed, but with nobody on base I saw he was protecting his thigh with his open throwing hand…so his thigh should be fine…I don’t understand what the Yankees are doing with him defensively, but it is wrong.
• Montgomery did a nice job of mixing up his pitches and throwing strikes.  5.2 ininngs with one run
• Chad Green came in and was dominant in 2 innings striking out 4.  I liked that he worked in his breaking ball more.
• Saturday’s game I missed as I didn’t record it so I don’t have much to say other than Judge homered again, Torres committed his 3^rd error (There will be a lot) and the pitcher Nick Nelson had a hitless 3 innings of relief striking out 4.  I watched some highlights and he looked to have a decent slider a good change and a 96-98 MPH fastball!
• Sunday’s game had a lot going on in it.
•  Paxton usually throws 95-96 MPH and he had his lowest velocity game in many years (maybe ever in the majors) as he was about 92.  He was 3-4 MPH lower than normal and that is significant and it showed poorly in his performance
• Hicks misplayed 2 balls into doubles that he probably could have caught both of them.  Hopefully, that was just a glitch in the matrix.
• Paxton bounced a pitch well in front of the plate and because Sanchez had his knee down, he didn’t move at all and the ball ricocheted off of him to the backstop.  This moved the runner to 3^rd and then Paxton was reluctant to throw another breaking pitch with Sanchez’ lack of ability and threw a fastball that was hit for a 2 run 2 our HR.  Sanchez is a mess around the dish right now.  At least he got an important hit and his first extra-base hit of the year.  He is now 2-22 with only one walk and 12 strikeouts
• Andujar is only 1-8 but he should be able to hit well.  He did boot a single and turned it into a triple with poor fielding of a grounder (ironically)
• Gardner has not looked good so far having only 1 hit in 16 AB’s…it was a HR though.  His fielding has not been sharp either.
• Tauchman will probably see a little more duty all over as he may be our 2^nd best OFr..  Normally Hicks can play defense in CF better than Tauchman, but we want to keep everyone healthy. 
• I wouldn't be shocked if Britton kept the closer job.
•  Judge has been amazing.  Not only did he double off a runner from the field, but he has also had huge hits that were game-winners (last AB).  Judge now has 6 HR’s and 14 RBI’s in 8 games.  For perspective, if this was a 162 game year that would be 122 HR’s and 284 RBI’s in a year J

And finally, I have discussed this many times, in fact, scroll down a few posts to the 10-30 one and I go into this again.  This is about the play where there is no stretch from 1B on a play in front of the plate.  This allows a lot of close plays to be safe when they should easily be out.  In this case, you can see the huge difference in not stretching and in fact, not even getting the feet correct and gaining one foot, let along 3 feet easy.  He was still barely out, but the next time maybe not.  Where the ball is would already be in the mitt with a even a slight stretch.  You can also see the feet where they are in line with the invisible line to 2nd base.  Luke is also toward the back of the back of the bag and not on the side.  I get not being able to use your right foot on the bag even if that got you your best stretch, but just stand up from your desk and do what Voit is doing (his arm isn't even stretched) and then take a long stride with your right foot and extend your arm...how many extra feet would you get?  3-4 feet?  This is almost all first baseman as well as I have documented.  It amazes me this still goes on.

Great start to the year, but all the Covid cases concern me as to what will happen as we move forward.  Also, what happens if the Yankees get hit later in the year when the playoffs start?