The End Of A Crazy Year

I liked the lineup Boone used.  I think it was the best lineup with what we have and how we are playing.  Rizzo leading off made more sense than Gardy.

Stanton hit a high fly ball in the 1st inning that he didn't hit that well and for some reason he watched it instead of running.  He should have been on 2nd base and even that pressure changes things a lot.  Eovaldi might have pitched around Judge as well?  I don't get not running hard in a game like this, especially when you clearly didn't get all of the hit?  Remember Tito Perez, of the Mets, when he didn't run against the Yankees in the World Series and we threw him out at home?  I thought that was pathetic.  Hard to be critical of Stanton when he is the only one who showed up in a big way, but it is a little head-scratching.

The big blow in the bottom of the inning happened with 2 outs and Cole walked Devers after getting him 1-2 and not throwing his change or his fastball where he wanted it.  Against Bogaerts, he threw a curve that he missed with, a slider for a strike and then missing after missing with the slider, they decided to throw a changeup?  I think this was a bad decision as it is the same speed as his slider, but it was worse as he threw it right down the middle of the plate and Bogaerts drilled it for a 2 run HR and the Yanks were in a big hole considering how poorly we are swinging the bats.

Cole got through the 2nd but did allow a double.

Cole only threw 3 curves, but he didn't throw any for strikes and that is his slowest pitch and an important one.  He missed many spots by a lot and some ended up being centered and the others were way out of the strike zone.  Contrast that to the Red Sox and when their pitchers missed they caught the other corner many times.  The Red Sox seemed to know what was coming and really sat on the fastball as the damage was done on it.  Schwarber hit a 1-2 fastball that was well above the strike zone for a pulled HR.  That happens when that is the pitch you are sitting on, otherwise, it is impossible to catch up to 97 that high.  We didn't have good pitch selection or execution of pitches.

Holmes did a great job.

Louisiga did his job.  The only question I had was sending him out for a 2nd inning after he hasn't done that since his shoulder injury and he wasn't that sharp.

Severino isn't at full strength yet as he usually has a fastball like Cole, but he was throwing 93-95.  I have faith in him, but he is not the same yet.

I was really surprised that they took Eovaldi out too early.  I was thrilled they took him out as he had good stuff (The best breaking ball I have seen from him) and he was hitting corners on 3-2 pitches.  He even hesitated his windup a little (minny Cortes).  We then greeted the weaker Red Sox bullpen with the play of the game.   Stanton hit a bullet out off the Green monster that I think would have been gone in most ballparks (They said 11, but I am not sure that is accurate), and Judge who was on first because he legged out a grounder to SS was waived around 3rd from Nevin and was out at the plate.  Nevin didn't give Judge any indication of what he was going to do until Judge was 3 steps from 3rd and had already slowed up a little and had to chop step and get going again.  What Nevin needed to do is waive Judge home (all the way from 2nd) so he stays at full speed and then hold him up at the last minute or you keep waiving him around, but by doing nothing so late, and remember Judge saw it didn't go out and the wall is close, Judge slowed up as he got close to 3rd.  You don't want to round the base and then get doubled off either.  Nevins indecision was the most important play of the game (Bogaerts 2 run HR was up there) and was simply a critically bad job on a tough call.  However, if he followed my advice, there is a solid chance that Judge would have been safe if he was running full speed the entire time or you just stop him.  

Nevin has been pretty good at 3rd base, but he has had some poor decisions and they might have been after he had Covid.  This was horribly bad though and had me cursing!

Stanton was the only player who really showed up.  

This team has had a ton of injuries, Britton was a key issue for us and all the pitching injuries were really absurd, but our pitching staff and the coaching knows what they are doing.  Turning Clay Holmes around is a good example and getting a lot from unexpected guys has been impressive.  

Our offensive injuries were hard to overcome.  Hicks was an important player for us (even if not a great player) because we didn't have a CF replacement.  Gardner was forced in again and was mediocre, but hard to expect more from a guy who will probably retire (sadly, he struck out all 3 AB's).  Voit had an injury-plagued year after we kind of made it hard for him.  I think the goal-line offense (Judge in CF and Stanton in RF) was needed for this team, but it never developed and Voit got injured again.  His bat was very helpful for us. DJ being hurt is a big deal and Urshela was pretty banged up in this game as well. 

We have Gallo for another year and I don't love his game.  I like that he does everything above avg, but he seems like a guy who feasts off bad pitching.  

We have to deal with Torres now at 2nd base and we have all this money in DJ who had a poor year.  Putting him at 1B is not a great solution.  We should blow up our Catcher position as neither is the answer.  I like Rizzo, but do we want to spend a lot of money on a 32 year old who didn't play well for us?  Surprisingly, his defense was avg and that was one thing we thought would be excellent.  He also had the last 2 years where his OPS 80 points less than his career so he is showing decline.

Coaching and GM?  I think they both know what they are doing, but neither has gotten the job done to extend the year toward the WS.  The grass isn't always greener (Giant fans know that Gettlemen was a horrible choice).  Have to think about this.

Either way, we need to make some overhauls.  I like using minor leaguers and studs.  I am not a fan of the middle-priced guys on the Yankees other than some bandaids.  Judge is a big decision.  He is arbitration-eligible in 22 and at the least, we do that.  He is 29 and will be 30 at the end of next year.   I don't want a long-term deal with him, but overpaying for 3 years could work.  He is our best player, but his injuries are a concern and they probably will get worse.  Maybe he gives us a discount?  No idea, but I do not want to lock him up until he is 35.  

This is a little all over the place, but I wanted to get down some of my thoughts...

Thank you all for reading this year and the feedback/emails!  It is hard for me to write often, but I will keep trying!  Stay healthy everyone!