The series against Baltimore showed that where we are, the third place team behind Tampa and Baltimore, is what we are.
A third place team.
The question is, can the Yankees do anything about it.
The cavalry that they are waiting on is comprised of Stanton, Jackie, Kahnle, and Rodon.
The first three are supposedly just days away.
If this were five years ago that actually might get it done but last time I checked waiting for ageing veterans to come back from injuries to save the day doesn't generally work.
As an aside, Boone kind of reminds me of Capt. Parmenter a little bit.
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The clock has struck twelve. As much as it pains me to say it. He needs to be sent down.
One can only hope that Jackie is the first to tweak something so we can get Peraza back up here before he gets Florialed or worse, traded.
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Last
El Duque calls up the Yankee PR Department and requests an interview with Aaron Hicks for his blog. The person on the phone says, "I'm sorry, Aaron Hicks has been DFA'd."
The next day he calls them again and asks to get an interview with Aaron Hicks and the person on the phone says, "I'm sorry but Aaron Hicks has been DFA'd"
The next day El Duque calls again and the person says, "El Duque... Aaron Hicks HAS BEEN DFA'd!!!"
And El Duque says, "I know... I just love to hear you say it."
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26 comments:
I fell asleep during last night’s game. No, seriously! it was kinda, you know, boring.
I like Cabrera as much as most, but his offense has been nonexistent. Then again, he was never forecast as an everyday player, more of a late inning speed and defense option. He’s a bit overmatched and over exposed playing everyday.
That “cavalry” coming to save us does look a bit ragged. All have significant injury histories in common, and I’d wager at least two of them will break down again. F-Troop indeed.
The minors aren’t exactly bursting with talent. Will Warren got lit up the other day. Hope to see Peraza back soon, and maybe Florial (gasp!) too.
I can only reiterate what I said yesterday - this year is going to be a struggle. They’ll be periods of good play followed by deflating series like this one. In the end, as the saintly Bill Parcells observed, you are what your record says you are. (Suzyn Waldman nodding her head vigorously at this; the indefatigably cheery Nancy Newman’s smile finally dims a bit). So…89 wins and a quick, yet dreary, playoff exit.
Book ‘em Dano!
LOLOL!
A visit to the brighter side: I was reading a review of the new Yogi movie. Here's a sentence that stuck me upside the head:
"Only two major leaguers have ever hit more than 350 home runs while striking out fewer than 450 times."
Joe Di and Yogi.
By way of contrast:
- - - GStanton has struck out 1707 times. All by himself. He's hit 382 HRs.
- - - Judge has K'd 959 times while hitting 234 HRs.
- - - Aaron Hicks has hit 101 HRs. In the process, he's struck out 721 times.
Make Yogi + Joe Di seem just a bit supernatural, don't it?
Randy Vadquez tonight. With Scranton, 1-5, 4.85 ERA (elite spin rate on his sweeper though!). The thought of listening to Justin Shackil describing Randy Vasquez trying to get outs against Boegarts, Soto, Tatis, Machado, etc fills me with despair.
Anthony Volpe this month:
.180/.229/.393
Oswaldo Cabrera this month:
.197/.275/.328
Brutal.
Vasquez woefully inconsistent in Scranton
.
Can he scrape out 5 innings against the Padres, last in BA in MLB?
Probably not.
“IT IS AARON BOONE!”
(Damnit - I meant to type . . . )
“IT IS BALLOON ! ! !”
(f troop memories intact)
May 26, 2023 at 11:07 AM
To quote the great Dennis Green "They Are Who We Thought They Were"
Duque:
The calavry will not help. Done aldson can no longer hot the fastball. Stanton will take a month to hit. He hit .211 last season and may hit that again. I was at the game last evening. Boring!!!! As son as I saw the lineup, I knew that the Yankees would have trouble scoring. The Yankees no brains admin believes that the team will make the playoffs and excel. Not with this lineup.
Sorry, I meant Doug.
"One day, whole tribe fall off cliff..."
Great stuff, Doug—I miss that tribe of former Borscht Belt comedians.
The writer is also calling for cutting Jackie Schmuckleson, but this is my favorite of the points he makes.
Stop using Clay Holmes as closer
Holmes, who has a 3.15 ERA in 20 innings, is five for seven in save opportunites, but a deeper dive into the numbers raises alarms. At Yankee Stadium this season, Holmes has 6.30 ERA and has given up 17 hits in just 10 innings.
The veteran reliever is walking 3.72 batters per nine innings, and hitters have a .385 batting average against Holmes when they put the ball in play.
Six Yankees relievers have a better ERA this season, including Michael King and Wandy Peralta.
The Yankees must stick with a closer-by-committee approach. Holmes became a star in New York as a setup man, and that's role he must resume.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/three-moves-to-improve-the-yankees/ar-AA1bJsp7?rc=1&ocid=winp1taskbar&cvid=37601012b866410ca12f34052621bfd4&ei=7
Sterling not slated to rejoin Suzyn until June 6. He's sick, but says it's not serious.
Meanwhile, RIP Ed Ames, singer, actor, tomahawk thrower (and not at all an American Indian).
One under-discussed issue plaguing the Yankees is how they no longer grind out plate appearances.
Baseball Reference tracks each team's "pitches per plate appearance" on offense every year. The Judge-era Yankees have been extremely consistent in making pitchers work hard. But suddenly, that's disappeared.
Pitches Per PA, Yankees Team Rankings
2017 - 3rd
2018 - 3rd
2019 - 2nd
2020 - 4th
2021 - 1st
2022 - 4th
2023 - 25th
Last night was another example. We allow Kyle Gibson, of all people, to get into a grove and complete 7 shutout innings. He's the seventh pitcher already this year to do that.
7+ Shutout Innings vs. the Yankees
2017 - 7 times in 162 G (4.3%)
2018 - 6 times in 162 G (3.7%)
2019 - 1 time in 162 G (0.6%)
2020 - 1 time in 60 G (1.7%)
2021 - 4 times in 162 G (2.5%)
2022 - 10 times in 162 G (6.2%)
2023 - 7 times in 52 G (13.5%)
This is new. And it's bad.
Great post Doug! And Yep, third place indeed,,,, I was momentarily high on huffing the fumes from May! GREAT points everyone! And WOW, I haven't thought about F-Troop in years, something in the air during the mid sixties ( Vietnam War?) that brought about a comedic critique of the military> McHales Navy, Gomer Pyle, etc
ZacharyA
The pitches per at bat stat is truly disturbing.
The Yankees always seemed to good for 20 pitches an inning and this year the innings have flown by and I attributed it to the pitch clock but I see that it is really that they stopped grinding.
Thanks for showing us that.
Ken -
Interesting point about the "goof ball army" sit coms of the 60's. Maybe they WERE stealth anti-war. Never thought about it before.
Then again there was Sgt. Bilko in the 50's and CPO Sharkey in the 80s? And of course the ultimate anti-war sitcom M*A*S*H. But none of those were goofy.
Hogan's Heroes were smart but they were beating Nazis not trying to out wit their CO for profit (McHale, O'Rouke, Bilko)
Interesting stuff.
Very bad, Zach. 4-5 AAA hitters in the lineup every night probably the reason.
Great stats, Zach, thanks. And something that again suggests a lack of effort—unless maybe it's the kids being overanxious.
But I don't think so. This is a bored and complacent team.
Thanks for that, Zach. It's depressing, but explains things.
@ Zach, It's hard to believe that these guys have ever been at or near the top of the list for grinding out pitchers during the Judge era of 2017 to the present. I mean, since you dug it up, it must be true, but man, I never thought these guys were any good at grinding down pitchers.
If a lineup has a lot of home run hitters, it could be that the pitchers are being more careful. For instance, with Judge, obviously, every pitcher has to be careful not to make a mistake. And I never thought that Judge was particularly good at grinding out an at bat. He'll hit home runs on mistakes. And he'll occasionally hit even a decent pitch well. But if you make good pitches, you'll get him out. He's not been one of those guys who fouls off 10 pitches every at bat and drives pitchers crazy by spoiling even the tough pitches.
I wonder what the ASS-stros of last year were on that list of making pitchers work. Because they showed during the World Series last year that they really could grind down pitchers. Dusty Baker preaches contact to his hitters and despises the strike out. I don't see that the Yankee manager or coaches preach anything of the sort to their hitters. Not that Boone jumps for joy when a Yankee strikes out, but it's merely considered a necessary evil, one that's tolerated because the strike outs are considered to be the price for hitting a lot of home runs.
A lot of times, the team that ends up winning the World Series has a lineup that grinds down pitchers, never seems to give away any outs. I don't consider any of the Yankee teams during this Judge era to have had that kind of lineup. We haven't seen that in a Yankee team since maybe 2009 and, of course, during the glory days of 1996-2000.
C'mon, Hammer! All you have to do is HIT STRIKES HARD!
Doug K., it's something that I immediately placed the "Wheretheheckarewe" reference.
Censors made f-troop change the original Indians tribe name. First they tried to use the Fakawi. When they couldn't use that, they considered guardians but decided that was way too stupid of a name.
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