I have a ton of things to say about the last 13 games since I posted, but if I got into the weeds about an 0-2 pitch that is grooved and then hit for a big HR against us 8 games ago, you guys would rightfully fall asleep (even if grooving 0-2 pitches is what actually keeps me up at night).
Many people have been pointing to the new acquisitions as the reason why we have been playing so much better of late, but the numbers do not point this out. Rizzo has a .784 OPS since coming over which is worse than his previous years. (around a .900 OPS not counting 2020 as this was an aberration year). Gallo has been pretty bad at the plate with a .634 OPS since coming over and he has a lifetime .822 OPS. Now, their own offense is not the only thing to look at but, defensively Rizzo has actually been fairly weak so far with us, consistently missing scoops and even botching some plays. I don't expect that to continue though. Gallo has played a solid D, he had one ball that he misplayed, but it would have been a really good play. Overall, while their play has been pretty mediocre, their presence in the lineup and forcing the opposing managers to have some lefties in there have helped other players. Let us not forget them working the count and making it harder for opposing pitchers.
Most of our turnaround has been other players playing closer to the back of their baseball card.
Luke's comments about playing time - I get him being proud and confident, and I think he was being honest and not trying to cause an issue. But, I would rather him just say "I am confident in my abilities and know that I can help this team win, just as Rizzo does. I will do whatever the team wants me to do. "
Luke has had an OPS of over .900 since being a Yankee and needs to play fairly consistently. I have to say that the lineup I put out there a while ago (The Goal Line Lineup) is pretty awesome. Stanton in RF, Judge in CF, Gallo in LF with Rizzo at 1B and Luke DHing, should score a lot of runs and with Urshela at 3rd (need him healthy) we could use Velazquez at SS as his D is great! Add in Sanchez and DJ (who is still having a bad year with a .717 OPS)
Speaking of Sanchez, his OPS on the year is a respectable .753. I don't understand how the announcers keep saying how much better he is since he stopped his leg kick? Yes, he has put the bat on the ball more, but the output is not good. It has sapped him of most of his power. the other night he hit his first HR in a month. His OPS over the last 28 days is .542; that is awful. If I were Gary, I would use the leg kick until I got two strikes and then I would look to make more contact. Keep in mind that his OPS in the first half of the year was .785. I honestly don't remember when he stopped using the leg kick, but while he may look better, function before form is important. Also, while strikeouts tick everyone off, they are way better than DP's and they do make the pitchers work at least for 3 pitches.
A couple of comments on the games:
Judge made a great throw to 2nd base on the throw beat the runner and for some reason instead of snapping the tag down in front of the bag, he reached for the runner's chest and the ump called him safe. It was very close and I actually think he might have been out, but it was so close that on review they did not overturn it. This became huge because a few pitches later the runner stole 3rd and Sanchez threw a pea and nailed the runner by 10 inches, but the ump screwed up and called him safe (terrible call) and we didn't have a challenge to overturn it.
Odor is simply an awful fielder PERIOD! He also is not good offensively (.692 OPS this year). While we went through a stretch of hitting where that might have been acceptable, it simply isn't. Velazquez should be on this roster because he should be a defensive replacement or a pinch-runner. Wade has been very useful of late. Being able to play all over the place (and is better defensively than Odor) and while Wade has had only 67 plate appearances in the 2nd half, he actually has an OPS of .850! So I would keep Velazquez and drop/release Odor.
I am ready to go to the box and use technology to make the calls behind home plate, as long as they can adjust to every player. The plate umps are simply not good enough and it annoys me.
Kluber had decent action on his pitches, but he had very little command of where they were going. he would nail a slider just off the plate and then he would hang the next one. Before he walked the batter to load the bases, I said that if he walks this guy I would take him out. I was considering taking him out anyway just because he hadn't pitched in a while. But after walking the batter, he had to come out. Grand Slam later and we lose. Bad job by Boone there.
Just the overall theme in recent games of making such poor 0-2 pitches and hanging so many breaking balls and changeups. I also had a lot of issues with the pitch selection and they really ended up hurting us. One example, and it doesn't matter that it cost us, but it is something Sanchez needs to learn and that is when you have a batter on 0-2 or even 1-2 and you have thrown some fastballs and you throw a great breaking ball that well off the plate (almost in the dirt) and the batter still got a piece of it. Why would you throw that again? Where would you try to put it? Of course, we did throw it and got more of the plate and it was hit for a 3 run HR. Every situation is different and nuanced, but that is fairly routine.
Rizzo did make an excellent play at 1b when he was even with the bag and it was bases loaded. A bullet was hit to him and it stayed down and he was able to get the glove down with very little reaction time.
Cole had excellent stuff even to the point where when he made a mistake they couldn't hit him well (other than one hanging slider). Both his curve and slider were sharp, his change was running and his FB was consistently 99. 15 k's and no walks is awesome. I think he finished 31 swing and misses I know it was at least 30) which was a career high for him!
Anything less than a sweep of Baltimore will be a failure (even if a failure may still get us into the playoffs). I would MUCH rather win the division than have to play a one game elimination game.
Enjoy the Labor Day weekend!
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