Arizona Games

Just a quick read on the two games in Arizona:

1st Game:

Greinke shut down our mostly minor league lineup with Greg Maddux type of control.  His slider was just off the plate and his 89 MPH fastball was placed in great spots and then he ran his change-up in to righties and away from lefties.  He then had a really slow curveball that was a true 12-6 one that dropped like crazy.  He was making really good pitches.  Lost 3-1

2nd Game:

I was ornery from the start as Gardner led off with a single (not ornery yet)...Voit works a 3-2 count and Gardner is not running and what do you think happens?  DP by Voit.  How is Gardner not running there?  It didn't get better for me (or the Yankees) as Tanaka really struggled with his control for his 4 innings and I agreed to pull him when he did as he just didn't have it.  Cessa, Kahnle and Ottavino went 4 scoreless innings but the Yankees couldn't score the 3 runs Tanaka allowed.

Other notes on game 2:  Tauchman overthrew the cutoff on a possible play at the plate allowing the batter to get to 2nd base.  I expect more from major leaguers!  The announcer, who was not Singleton, (not sure who he was but he was not good), made a lot of comments I didn't agree with and was just wrong at times.  One time, he was talking about a wild pitch that was a tough block, and the announcer went out of his way to say how that was "not Sanchez' fault as he did everything he could to stop the ball from getting away."  While that can be true and Sanchez has been much more active this year at blocking balls, this was not "doing everything he could."  First, the way Sanchez setup made it harder for him to move quickly (to his right) and 2nd he didn't move quickly and 3rd, because he wasn't able to get outside the ball he wasn't able to turn (block) the ball back toward home plate and the pitch got outside of him and away from him for a wild pitch.  It was one of those plays that pros fairly routinely block and you say, that was a nice block...and it saves two baserunners from moving up; a pretty substantial difference when one scores.

There was a bunt play with a man on 3rd for Arizona where the bunt went straight up off the plate and Sanchez hopped out grabbed it and threw him out.  The ump behind home plate immediately called it fair but after Arizona asked the ump at 3rd (not a challenge) as an appeal they overturned it.  I think the ball was still over the plate and fair and should not have been overturned.  Boone had challenged a play at 2nd base where Arizona in the act of turning a DP (we hit into 2 tough ones) the fielder might have come off the bag early, but while Boone felt this was a "head scratcher" it is one of those plays I would rather them not overturn (very close). Later, Wade had a pitch graze him and without a challenge, Boone asked to appeal it.  Boone seemed very calm and even covered his mouth his hand as he requested help and the ump tossed him very quickly if you ask me.  I thought the ump did a poor job there as Boone did not show him up and later Boone said it was "pretty harmless
comment."

Maybin had a really good feel for the strike zone for us as he walked twice with one of those AB's showing great control of some tempting 2 strike pitches.  He has been a very good pickup for us and is performing better than we could have hoped.  My hope is we won't need him later in the year, but we need to win some ball games in the meantime.


Lost 3-2

Congratulations to CC!  3000 k's is a really remarkable achievement because it shows you have enough quality stuff and longevity to reach that goal. When only 17 players have done it, it says a lot.

Back home with 3 against Minnesota starting Friday as we should be seeing Frazier, LeMahieu, and Andujar pretty soon.  Then, we will only be without Judge, Stanton, Hicks, Didi, Severino, and Betances  :-)