We are seven up, eight in the loss column.
We've been overwhelmed in our last six series, thrice by division rivals.
We have 18 games left against divisional foes: Six vs. the Rays and Redsocks, three against Toronto (after today) and Baltimore.
We cannot hit. Our stars are either hurt or ineffective.
Our best bullpen pitcher is Ron Marinaccio, and we have begun to overuse him, as we've done with all the others.
We face three ace pitchers before boarding the West Coast plane next week. By then, our lead in the AL East could be down to four. Four.
We are squandering one of the greatest first-halves in Yankee history.
Boos now rain upon our players, who have lost their confidence.
Sir...
You know what to do.
Yours,
A friend
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31 comments:
Thanks, Paul.
But we need a good Joe: Girardi, Madden, Torre, anybody, PLEASE!
We'll get on the Zoom thing soon. The old Rona Virus finally got me after over 2.5 years of evasive action. Down, but not out. See you all on the other side.
13 Bit,
Sorry to hear you've got the rona. It will pass. Watch out for the first time you feel good (great even) it's a trick. Don't push it. You need to feel good for three days.
piiax
At this point I'd take any of those Joes because Boone is apparently Joe Btfspik.
@ 13...If you've got Corona, don't forget to add a slice of lime.
Seriously, the newer strains are milder than the original and I'm sure you've been vaccinated so that's a good thing. I had it before they knew it existed, at least publicly, in January, 2020. It was bad. Then I got the variant around New Year's this year and it was like having a cold. Just drink liquids and do 2 grams of C a day and you'll be fine. Hey.....maybe you'll be able to make the last visit to Toronto at the end of September!
Oh no Bitty, feel better friend! And please take Doug's advice, give yourself at least week of recovery,,,,
Tick, tick, tick, tick-BOOM! Gene Mauch.
The other day, in a game they're losing 3-0, stupid Boone brings in Marinaccio to get out of a last inning jam created by Chapman. Why waste your best reliever in a game you're going to lose? Dumb, dumb, dumb.
Well, Boone did do one thing right yesterday. He put Judge in the 3 slot, although it didn't work out, it was still the right move. He'll probably move Judge back to the 2 slot today. Or maybe Judge needs to rest today.
Someone on WFAN brought up the fact that Judge has hit 29 solo homers this year. That's 63% of his homers. I looked it up to confirm and also found that the Mets Pete Alonso has hit only 12 solo homers out of 29 total. That's only 41% of his homers. Alonso hits 4, cleanup spot.
I calculated probabilities of Judge coming up with at least one guy on base, assuming he hits 3rd and the two in front have .350 on base %. It's something like 58%, as opposed to just 35% if he hits 2nd. Not saying it would make a huge difference, because there just ain't enough good hitters on this team. But hitting Judge 3rd should help a bit by increasing the probability of a big 1st inning.
BTW, with the Yankees struggling, all of a sudden they've stopped resting Judge. Back in June or July, with a day off the following day, they'd have Judge riding the bench. To back now, that was pure folly, hubris. Wouldn't Boone like to have some of those 1-0, one hit losses back now?
13, hope your case is easy and swift, like a Yankee striking out on three pitches.
It occurs to me that Boone has the hardest job on the Yankees: facing the reporters after the game and acting like he gives a shit. He's got to get better at it.
@Stang...he has to tighten it up....:-)
He still has time....lol
Mr. bit,
The Mustang said it best: "Hope your case is easy and swift, like a Yankee striking out on three pitches."
Stang is also clearly a Batgirl movie fan (learned this from a post he made yesterday)
How about giving Peraza a shot.
Bitty, please be careful and yes, get better! Now!
Who is NOT a Bat Girl fan?
Mr. Bit, may you prevail over Rona with the same elan as The Great DiMaggio did with the heel spurs.
Great points, Hammer. Taking that 23 percent differential, that could have meant an extra 10-11 runs. Distributed across the right games, who knows? Maybe 3-4 more wins?
And yes, we were all decrying the "two straight days of rest" strategy. There were any number of games back in June where Boone did not go all-out to win. We were saying then that we might come to miss those games.
Now we do. A 10-12 game lead right now—instead of 7—would be huge.
I really believe Boone cares about winning. But like the high school nerd that can't negotiate a date with girls in his class because of his social skills, Aaron can't negotiate wins because of his baseball managing skills.
Stang... Speaking of Batgirl, do you go to the SD Comic Con most years? You might have met my friend that has had a booth for 20 plus years and gives talks on everything Batman related. I guess he's kind of a main attraction there.
Carl, I've gone to SDCC maybe once in the last 20 years... I might know of your friend, though. Any friend of Batman's...
@ Hammer....What you say about Judge hitting third or cleanup is true. But you know the Yankees analytic crew will counter with the idea that if Judge hits second or leadoff, he will have an extra 100 + at-bats and so he will hit an extra 8 home runs at least.
Personally, I'd rather see Judge hit behind Stanton at number 4 because he would protect Giancarlo better than Stanton protects Judge. Judge has better pitch recognition than Stanton especially on off-speed and breaking pitches so with Judge hitting behind Stanton, Stanton would see a lot more fastballs in the strike zone to hit.
@ Stang....They're doing a Broadway play next year based on his Batman childhood dream, so you probably do know him.
Carl, I think I know who you mean. Michael U. Don't know him personally, but quite aware of him.
I'm late to the blog thanks to the 3-hour time difference here in CA, but Bitty, I hope your case is mild and you're back in full drinking and cursing mode soon.
Meanwhile, I'm waiting for my wife to get up so we can go to the ER and try to get her the painkillers she needs, post an early June operation. When we get back to NYC, she starts chemo. It could be a rough offseason for her, but I hope the chemicals finally wipe out the lingering cancer she's been dealing with the past 5+ years.
The losing streak is bad, but life has a way of putting things in perspective.
It's easy to forget given the time that has passed, but watching Chapman fall to pieces (even The Great Rivera could get rattled) from base-runners darting around, I have to wonder if Boone should try some disruptive tactics on the basepaths. Not necessarily straight steals, but some small ball that gets the defense over thinking. Boone has never shown any offensive imagination, if not now, when? Earl Weaver, who hated straight steals and hit and runs was a proponent of the run and hit. Earl was an early, and very enthusiastic proponent of stats, as I am sure you Old-Timers remember. FWIW, younger fans would really get a deeper understanding of the game if you can find the great book, "Weaver; On Strategy". IMHO, he was the Father of the modern game.
Be Better Biity! Bash Ba-Ba-Booney!
Watching the game off and on while working on the house.
I'm done with Gleyber after swinging at ball 4 and ball 5.
JM...I hope your wife does well with the chemo. There are also new treatments being developed what seems to be weekly. Especially immunotherapies and other targeted genetic regimens. I'm sure the oncologists have discussed these with her. Keep the faith.
Stat puts Yankees offensive funk in historic perspective.
From MSN:
The New York Yankees are mired in an extended funk, which understandably has manager Aaron Boone upset. But the funk goes beyond simply the team’s poor record. The mighty Bronx Bombers have been anything but of late and are in an offensive slump not experienced by that franchise in over 100 years.
While New York is 2-9 over its last 11 games, the pitching would suggest that things should be better. The Yankees have only surrendered 43 runs — or 3.9 runs per game — during that stretch. Offensively, though, it’s been a slog. New York has scored only 21 runs — or 1.9 per game. Even those numbers are enhanced by one game where the Yankees scored eight runs. Or, to put it another way, they’ve scored 13 combined runs in 10 of their last 11 games.
In the same period, the Yankees have a team batting average of .178. The last time the Yankees struggled like that offensively, Babe Ruth hadn’t even made his MLB debut.
Over their last 11 games, the New York Yankees have scored 21 runs while batting .178.
Prior to that, the last time the Yankees had so few runs while having such a low batting average for an 11-game span was in May 1914.
Given their tremendous history, that may not seem like such a big deal. But the Yankees consistently struggled in the years before Babe Ruth’s 1920 arrival. In general, offense around baseball was down in those years, hence the term, “dead ball era.” New York also had struggles in the mid-late 1960s, another pitcher-friendly era in MLB history. And from 1989-1992, the Yankees never finished better than 76-86.
So, while New York has an unprecedented amount of great history, there’s also plenty of futility to choose from. Yet, no 11-game stretch over the last 108 years has ever been this bad offensively.
@ Stang....Bingo!!
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