The good news last night was that Ronald Torreyes still does everything the Yankees ask. He's been a godsend, best Gotham utility lug nut since Cody Bellinger's old man. Bad news? Well, in the nine-inning season... insert sigh here... he's not a factor unless somebody goes down.
The good news last night was that Joe has jimmied the rotation so our ace, Luis Severino, will pitch Tuesday. (Seriously, it must be Sevy.) Bad news? Well, the Twins - who last night did something we couldn't; they beat Cleveland - have tweaked their bowel movements so career-Yankee killer Ervin Santana will start the Wild Card. If we had one huge advantage over Minnesota, it was our rotation depth. The Twins have no one like Sonny Gray, Masahiro Tanaka and CC Sabathia. Trouble is, in the nine-inning season, they don't need them...
Yeah, one game. Santana is a righty, which means Joe could use Hicks or the Chief in center - the other as DH. He could play Chase Headley at third and use Greg Bird at first. He can use the hefty lefty lineup - Judge, Sanchez and Castro being exceptions - with Matt Holliday waiting if the Twins bring a southpaw. Why speculate? Joe's binders will decide. It's the nine-inning season...
In a perfect Yankiverse, we'd be pondering the six-inning affair - the fantasy world where we take the lead and shut the door with three continuous, all-star closers. That idea drifted out into the Atlantic two months ago. Dellin "Bean'em" Betances and Aroldis Chapman have become terrifying roller coaster rides - especially Dellin - and lately, David Robertson looks tired. Nobody inspires us like Chad Green, who simply isn't paid enough to close the nine-inning season. So he won't.
Nine innings. Can Sanchez block bouncers in the dirt? Can anybody bunt? Can we manufacture a run, rather than wait for homers? Can the right Judge show up? Can we get to their bullpen? Nine innings. It will start around 8:17 p.m. and be over by midnight. And all that's come thus far - none of it will matter. It's the nine-inning season, folks. Ugh.
Saw an entire shopping cart full of pineapples in my local grocery store yesterday. Took a picture of it and tried to pass it on here, but I can't seem to do it, for some reason.
ReplyDeleteIn any case...not a good omen! Pineapples, pineapples as far as the eye can see!
Meanwhile, ALL-CAPS, you're completely right about those Mets fans.
ReplyDeleteThey insist upon acting as if they are Pittsburgh or some such, a scrappy small-market team that can barely compete against mighty powers such as the Yankees.
It's nonsense. They're owned by a couple of real-estate developers, who are about to cash in on their already highly profitable investment by getting to develop Willet's Point, which the city has cleared of legitimate businesses, and handed over to them.
But—unlike the rest of us!—they believe what they want to believe.
Not a good omen at all Horace. There is no way this team doesn't lose to Minnesota next week. Didn't Ervin Santana beat them in the ALDS when he was an Angel? Expect lots of flashback clips to that when he has a 1 hitter in the seventh inning.
ReplyDeleteAnd as far as Mets fans go. Keep in mind they declared New York to be a Mets town now and they cited 1 poll to back this claim. Assuming this to be true as they do; despite being the more popular team in the Largest market in sports they, as Horace points out, are also some poor team that can't afford to pay their electricity bill and thus it's more impressive they even have a team that can win a few games. In their minds they're all Kevin Costner and Citi field is a Cornfield in Iowa. Instead of Shoeless Joe Jackson they have Black Dildo Plawecki. Nothing brings me more joy than articles like this from a couple of years ago.
http://www.foxsports.com/mlb/gallery/2015-mlb-postseason-new-york-mets-yankees-nym-own-nyc-100915
Every single reason given flopped.
el duque -- Why in the world are you worried about bunting with a lineup that features power hitters nearly from top to bottom? Have you never seen a run-expectancy chart that proves that even a SUCCESSFUL sacrifice bunt, on average, REDUCES a team's chances of scoring a run in that inning? Please advise.
ReplyDeleteel duque -- Here's an example of a run expectancy chart. Please study it so you will understand why every enlightened manager in the game uses sacrifice bunts sparingly to not at all--except, maybe, when the pitcher is batting:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.fangraphs.com/library/misc/re24/
There are exceptional circumstances--such as needing only one run to tie or go ahead in late innings, with a very weak hitter at the plate and another to follow. But in general, this is a seat-of-the-pants losing strategy--provably so.
Thanks for the tip, Leinstery.
ReplyDeleteThe piece is hilarious! It's hard to say which of his "seven reasons" are the most hilarious. Probably that the Mets had a combined $118 million reserved to re-sign David Wright and Curtis Grandson!
But what can you expect from this...I was about to call him a sportswriter. But he doesn't. Instead, he's a "social content developer" for his website. Even funnier.
Yanks should go over 3 million fans on the year tonight—their 19th straight year breaking that mark. Mets have not done it since 2009, their first season in Citi Field—not even in their World Series year. Yanks will finish about 600,000 or so ahead of them in attendance.
Who owns New York?
LOOKS LIKE MISSION ACCOMPLISHED....
ReplyDeleteGIRARDI HAS FUCKED UP BIRD'S RHYTHM, JUST RIGHT....
THOSE PERFECTLY PLACED BENCHING'S AT ALL THE WORST TIMES....
RIGHT AFTER DAYS WHEN HE GETS MORE THAN 1 HIT....
IT'S MANIACAL.....
Spoke too soon, ALL-CAPS!
ReplyDeleteBird is the word. And even the Oft-Hurt Hicks came through today!
The guys we got to get back in the groove are Sanchez and Didi.
Great stat just now on Severino: he led MLB in most starts with 1 run or fewer allowed, at 16. That is also the third most for a Yankee (tied with Spud Chandler and Mussina), and just two behind the record of 18, held by Guidry (1978), and the Chairman of the Board (1964).
Nice game tonight by Estrada, in Fenway. Still, those Sox look awfully shaky to me...
HAHA!
ReplyDeleteBIRD LOOKED SO BAD IN HIS FIRST 2 AT BATS TONIGHT, THAT I GOT DISGUSTED.
THEN BOOM.
HE IS FIGHTING THE "GIRARDI" HANDICAP......
....BUT WAIT!.... DON'T FRET!
GIRARDI HAS ANOTHER GREAT CHANCE TO FUCK HIM UP AGAIN TOMORROW!
HOME RUN TODAY?
I SMELL THE BENCH TOMORROW!!!
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