All Is Right For At Least One Game!

This game was in line with what we should be expecting from this team!

The most important part of this game was watching our top pitching prospect show off his tools and his ability to deal with not having command of his great changeup. In the 2nd inning, with 2 outs and a man on first, Garcia had a 3-1 count on Fisher (Lefty).  Two failed changeups put him in this hole, but he threw a fastball at 90 for a strike.  He then threw a 92 MPH for a strike.  At this point, Garcia was throwing 90-93 MPH fastballs.  I wanted another change even though he wast struggling with it.  His fastball can be a little straight and after the last strike was fouled off I felt Fisher was on it and not expecting a change as he had thrown 3 balls on his last changeups.  He threw a fastball and it was deposited for a 2 run HR.  That was a mistake in 2 ways as I felt it was the wrong pitch, but he also centered the FB.  He still showed off his excellent stuff and I was really jazzed to see him get stronger as the game went on.  Garcia has an excellent curve and he also throws a slider to righties sometimes (definitely his least thrown pitch but it is pretty good).   That is a very repertoire, but you may say 90-93 is pedestrian these days...and you are right.  But, he pumped it up to 95 a hand-full of times and was at 94 many times as well.  I also liked that Boone stuck with him as he was getting stronger and he allowed him to go 7 innings allowing only 5 hits and had no walks and 6 k's.  Remember he did this while struggling with command of his best pitch (the change).  I am real excited about this kid.

The game continued with our lineup looking better as Torres is swinging his bat much better to go along with  DJ, Frazier and Voit to lengthen our lineup some.  Voit only had one hit, but our team walked 7 times and we put up 7 runs.

The 7 innings got us to Britton for an inning and then 1 inning from Chapman and that is our recipe for success.  

So the pitching followed the script (usually it would be 6 innings and then a well matched up 7th and then Britton and Chapman, but this worked.  The team had some hits with RISP and even Sanchez made a defensive play by blocking a pitch and then throwing out a guy trying to get to 2nd on it and he threw a bullet strike (The only good part of his defense...and it is excellent).

Seeing our rookie pitch well for our 22nd win was very encouraging...now we need Judge, Urshela and Stanton back.  This season is moving along as we only have 30% of the year left (18 games).

Tomorrow we have a DH against Baltimore and they are right behind us for the WC so they are big games.

Snatching Defeat From The Jaws Of Victory

The Yanks are simply awful right now.  Some poor decisions by Boone, the players just playing terribly in all 3 phases (fielding, pitching and hitting) and also some tough calls have led to this run of futility.  Injuries have not helped either, but if the people playing were performing, the outcomes would be far better.

First the positives:

Luke has hit really well; posting a .973 OPS.  He is a real hitter and is a guy who should post a mid .800+ OPS and is actually almost identical to his numbers in 2018 with us (Within 2 AB's as well)

Frazier has played very well too.  His .945 OPS has been great and has shown a steady progression of getting better at the plate every year.  His defense has also been better this year.

DJ has an OPS of .901 so no issues there; similar to last year.

The 3 injured guys were all performing well.  Judge (1.081) and Stanton (1.038) are our two best hitters and Gio (.873) are greatly missed in the lineup.

Hicks is in line at a .778 OPS as well.

Now the negatives:

Sanchez: His defense is not better and his offense has been putrid (.565).  He is hitting .125 with 11 walks and 49 k's...and he is healthy.  

Gardner: There have been many plays in the field where he would have made the plays and he is just coming up short.  Compounding his poor performance is an OPS of .603.  If others were healthy and playing, it would not be an issue and he wouldn't have had played as much

Ford: He has been terrible.  For someone who is only a hitter he has an OPS of .500 in 72 AB's.  If he were hitting we wouldn't see Luke who has been very poor in the field still.  

Andujar - started terribly, but has been hitting well of late and is at a total of .643 right now in 50 AB's.  His defense is still bad everywhere.  

Tauchman: His .647 OPS is very weak and he has had 80 AB's.  His defense has been solid though.

Gleyber only has an OPS of .646 and the ball has not been jumping off his bat to the right side.  

Estrada, (.531), Wade (.506) and Higashioka (.385) have been ATROCIOUS  in about .215 AB's.  Higgy's .385 is his OPS and the other night he didn't receive the ball well either.  

The people subbing in have been awful.  We even brought in Jody Mercer to play SS and he was 2-11 with no extra base hits.  

I will go into pitching in my next post.

Quick comments on the last two games with Toronto:

• Leading 6-2 in the 6th inning Green and Ottavino find a way to allow 10 runs while getting only ONE out.  This is not a misprint.
• Last night we were given the bases loaded by 3 walks and didn't score as Tauchman swung at a 3-1 pitch (it was a strike) and flew out.  No chance I am swinging there as I don't think their pitcher could have thrown 2 strikes in a row at that point.  
• In the 2nd inning, we have 1st and 3rd and don't score
• In the 3rd inning, Hicks gets to 2nd on a HBP and a steal and we don't score as he gets thrown at 3rd trying to steal
• In the 4th, we get two guys on and leave them
• In the 5th, we are now down 2-0 because with 2 outs an nobody on Toronto got a bloop single and then a HR.  We load the bases with nobody out and get a weak fly to RF by Gleyber, Tauchman does get a sac fly and then Sanchez strikes out.  
• It is beyond frustrating to see us have so many people on base and we score only one run and they were getting little but scored 2 runs on a 2 out bloop and a 2 run HR.
• We lost 2-1...thus we keep finding ways to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.