What drama. What a plot twist. Aaron Hicks' heroic, two-out blast yesterday saved the Death Star from blowing another Game One, even raising the possibility that he could yet salvage a crapola season. (Fun fact: he's hitting .209.) Then, in Game Two, Hicksie reminded us of what always seems to happen after his bat heats up:
He strained something. Tightness in both legs, they say. Huh, I say. The team says Hicks won't miss much time. Huh, I say. We've heard that before...
What drama. What resurrection. Gary Sanchez's heroic, bases-loaded blast in Game Two followed his epic earlier failure, which ignited dark cynicism across the usually hopeful Yankee Radio Network, driven by Jeep. "I just don't get it," grumbled Suzyn, bitterly, after Gary in Game One hit a first-pitch pop fly to left, failing to move the runner to third in a critical situation. Even The Master chimed in darkly, lamenting the lack of discipline - or diligence - or something even worse. This was quickly forgotten after Gio Urshela singled in the winning run. And several hours later, in the nightcap, our two bellwethers of the booth expressed jubilation over Gary's grand slam, both suggesting his season from Hell is about to change. Suzyn, who adopts every Yankee as a biological son, noted giddily that the first guy to greet Gary was Eric Kratz, whom he replaced. A happy family, that's all she wants. And no mother can be happy unless all her children are safe.
And then there was Deivi Garcia who - (yes, I'll say it) - looked every bit like "Little Pedro," as the Gammonites love to suggest. Of course, they said the same of Luis Severino and Manny Banuelos. Little Deivi ripped through the first nine Mets so quickly that his name couldn't even trend on Twitter. He just threw strikes. And for the first time, this godforsaken mini-season might work to our advantage: It's perfect for a young pitcher like Garcia, who would normally face an innings limit by mid-September. Even if he goes the rest of the season - which is unlikely, frankly - he'll have a hard time racking up more than 50 MLB innings. At the worst, he looks like a bullpen asset, leading to Britton and/or the ever-morphing El Chapo.
So, today, we face Scylla and Charybdis - the trade deadline and the Tampa Rays, in that order. Long ago, I gave up predicting Cooperstown Cashman's deals. He never follows the rumors. But I couldn't help but notice this weekend that Tampa - the best run organization in baseball - dealt 32-year-old Jose Martinez to the Cubs for young prospects, even in a pennant slog. The Rays never stop rebuilding. They always look to trade a player with a past for a player with a future. The Yankees would be smart to do the same. How many more salary dumps do we need?
Every day, Boston jettisons another oldster. Yesterday, it was Mitch Moreland. Today, Jackie Bradely Jr. will be gone by dinner time. Next year, they will rebound. Let's just hope Cash doesn't do something incredibly stupid. (Yesterday's effort probably made it impossible for him to trade Garcia, but Clarke Schmidt is still out there.) It's one thing to watch Tampa cruise past us, but I'd hate to see Boston win another ring before we even make it a world series.
Hey, was yesterday the fulcrum point of 2020? Dare we believe?
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5 comments:
A few things...
1) Yesterday's game had some other aspects not covered above.
Mike Ford went the opposite way and so startled the Met left fielder who, rightly so was probably enjoying his time off, that he spun around not once but twice on his way to misplaying the double.
Maybe Mike reads this blog! If so, learn to bunt!
2) The Yankees are looking at Starlin Marte. This is the guy they should have gotten and given the contract to originally. Not Hicks.
And speaking of, the reason that he has stiffness in both his legs is he started to hit which means he had to do some running he didn't have to do before.
Previously his legs were enjoying their time off.
3) One more thing with Hicks. Did anyone else notice that Hicks didn't run when he hit that homer. It was a big time cheapie not a Ruthian blast. He watched it.
According to Yes it was a home run in only 3 of 30 MLB ballparks. If it didn't go out it would have been "nice" if he ended up on second being that the ball game was on the line and all.
4) Still not a fan of Gary. Love the slam! Love the win! Not convinced. Would love to be convinced. This feels like what Duque said yesterday. Now he gets another 100 bad at bats. It reminds me of Steven Drew. Every time he got a hit we knew the experiment would continue.
5) Clint Frazier goes vertical! Again!
6) And last...
Obviously it's only one game but, Devi!
He looks like another guy (Cole) who deeply resents the batter and views him as an enemy.
But even better, I got the feeling he views him as an insect. Something to be squashed and moved on from. He shows contempt for them. Gotta like that.
Doug K.
I cringe every time Sanchez launches a moonshot. Because you know that he'll spend the next two weeks trying to launch a bigger moonshot every time up. I'm very happy that he hit the grand slam (we needed every run of that, it turned out), happy for the Yankees, happy for Gary. But I live in fear of one of his 0 for 34 streaks, with 20 strikeouts. He's got great talent, but he has got to use a cerebral approach to hitting.
The Hammer of God
I don't get what everyone loves about Sanchez? His arrogant bat flip? His batting average of 0.134. He gets one homerun and everyone is all a twitter. Big deal. He is not consistent and heaven knows he is not clutch. He needs to perform or get the hell out of the way. I know ya'll think he's a great catcher but there are a lot of great catchers who can hit - look at Sundays game. The rest of the team needs to be in bubble wrap for the love of God.
Thought Scylla and Charybdis were
forms of VD? now I'm supposed to think that we are getting possibly Mariner minor leaguers? Perhaps beings from Roman mythology?
Quoting Doug here:
"It reminds me of Steven Drew"
...and Bird. There's a Yankee earning his keep with intermittent home runs at all times
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