Sunday, June 2, 2024

"Now we are become Death, destroyer of worlds."

 

Which is what we Yankees fans prefer, of course.

Saw a stat the other day that I could barely believe. For 16 straight games, May 12th to May 29th, Yankees starters pitched at least five innings and gave up no more than two earned runs.

This is a record. Quite a record. In fact, it's never been done before.

At least according to that unimpeachable source, the YES channel scroll, it's never happened before in the history of major-league baseball—going back to at least 1893, before which the rules of the game were considerably different.

Never done before. Not in the Deadball Era. Not in the Power Pitching Era of the 1960s, when pitchers threw bullets off a mountain top.

Sixteen straight games, every starter throws at least five innings and allows two or fewer earned runs. 

It went: 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 2, 1, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 2, 1. 

The streak only ended when Carlos Rodon gave up all of 3 earned runs in 6 innings against the Angels. Had Boone pulled him a batter earlier, the streak would still be alive, at 19, after Reet Poteet gave up just 2 in 5 innings last night.

I mean...WTF?

Okay, granted: through almost all previous eras of baseball, a starter was supposed to go longer than they are today, which must have affected the ways they pitched. But still. This is ridiculous—and hey, whattaya know, it's resulted in a lot of wins.

Your New York Yankees are now 41-19. Those "Terrible Thirteen" games, most of them on the West Coast, that I thought were going to be a hidden sandbar to the Yankee Clipper of our dreams? The Yanks are 8-4 in them, with one more to go this afternoon.

Aaron Judge is hitting like the Judge of yore (2022). Juan Soto is playing like a multi-armed, fire-breathing deity of yore. The Yankees lead the American League in home runs, walks, OBP, OPS, OPS+, OPS+ or - (all right, I made that up), ERA, shutouts, saves, etc.—and are close to the lead in everything else.

I know, I know. It can't last. Not like this.

The depth is as thin as the crust of a crême brulée. The bullpen is surviving on smoke and mirrors—or maybe a smoky, mirrored crême brulée. 

Forget "The Terrible Thirteen." Waiting just ahead is "Baseball Blackjack." Twenty-one straight games against the Dodgers, Braves, Orioles, plus the sorts of teams that tend to play their series against the Yankees like their own, personal World Series: KC, Minnesota (hellbent on revenge—again), Boston, and that rapidly deflating team in Queens.

And we haven't even made it to where Brian Cashman decides to put the team "over the top" with his genius moves at the trade deadline.

Still...it's nice to dream, isn't it? A little dream of total dominance and destruction? What's so wrong with that? 

Oh, and happy Lou Gehrig Day. This is the day, 99 years ago, when The Iron Horse ("Biscuit Pant" to his teammates), started on his 2,130-game streak. 

May our pitchers' streak last as long!







 

85 comments:

AboveAverage said...

Boy Oh Boy - That Cillian Murphy sure does look a lot like J. Robert Oppenheimer . . . .

AboveAverage said...

SotoBlasto

JM said...

I thought that was the guy in Twin Peaks who said,"Got a light?" then crushed your head.

Judge steals.

JM said...

I was out walking so I'm just catching up with the DVRed game.

JM said...

Nestor isn't nasty today.

JM said...

Soto bunts!! For a hit!!

I've made it to the fifth.

Rufus T. Firefly said...

Glassman didn't pull a muscle scoring from first on that double. His running style reminds me of the Adam West Batman. Only Adam West was intentionally funny.

AboveAverage said...

Blacked out here

Rufus T. Firefly said...

AA, you need a magic tv box.



...or were you talking about your day drinking?

JM said...

Boone brings in Santana. The international symbol for giving up. Mercifully, Torres makes a decent play.

Jesus Christ. Why is Santana still here?

TheWinWarblist said...

Okay, I finished up in the garage in time to see the Verdugo double. Nestor's command wasn't great today.

Rufus T. Firefly said...

Winnie, "Joe's Garage"?

Parson Tom said...

yeah, Horace, the Yankees are running like "a tremendous machine" and it's too bad this season is longer than the Belmont. You can't keep this pace without someone springs a leak in some valve and the whole thing blows up and dies on the homestretch.

and in other news, judging from this creampuff article, the Yankees are planning to use The Martian as an excuse for not signing Soto.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5533122/2024/05/31/yankees-jasson-dominguez-rehab/

TheWinWarblist said...

Porschestrasse. The Garage of horsepower ... and dead batteries.

JM said...

Nestor isn't the Nestor we knew. He's as mediocre as Snell. Who, I must say, I'm glad we didn't sign. No matter what I said preseason.

TheWinWarblist said...

So many dead batteries...

TheWinWarblist said...

Biscuit Pant!!

AboveAverage said...

He is not our Carlos Santana

Rufus T. Firefly said...

White flag Santana.

AboveAverage said...

Gee Skip, think you should make a pitching change, do yah?

JM said...

Santana blows the game. Again.

Why hasn't he been DFA'd? Now Boone takes him out after the predictable damage is done. How many games will Boone cost us this year? 10? More?

Rufus T. Firefly said...

Winnie, are you lucky enough to have two? Double the pleasure. Double the fun. And Double the deutchemarks.

Rufus T. Firefly said...

Parson Tom, better to use the Martian *and* Soto to jettison the Glassman.

TheWinWarblist said...

Ahem. There are 6 Porsches in the garage. And 2 of the other non-Porsche vehicles have a combined 1000 brake horsepower.

JM said...

That's a lot of Porsches. Are you an unsung billionaire?

TheWinWarblist said...

We have became Death, the destroyer of car batteries.

TheWinWarblist said...

I am not a billionaire, but I do make a preposterously good living as a doctor.

TheWinWarblist said...

Wow, the SF bullpen is dealing.

TheWinWarblist said...

Tonkin? That's the same as forfeiting.

TheWinWarblist said...

I hate Boone so much.

JM said...

Ours isn't. Gulf of Tonkin and Santana. Jesus.

JM said...

Ours isn't dealing.

JM said...

Boone sucks.

Rufus T. Firefly said...

Winnie, schumacher sc1343 battery tender. Auto on/off/restart. I have 7 of them. My extra vehicles tend to be john deere, but the concept is the same. Better investment than a battery.

JM said...

This conversation is way over my head. Living in NYC for so long, I'm completely divorced from any of this stuff. Haven't had a car since 1984.

JM said...

And Tonkin is back. Boone decidedly throws in the towel.

JM said...

God bless Volpe.

JM said...

Soto!!!!!!!! Holy shit!!!

Doug K. said...

Lotta triples!

Doug K. said...

Soto smacks a two run HR! Unreal.

JM said...

Clutch hitting.

JM said...

Wow.

Doug K. said...

Maybe that reliever is like what's his face. The buff guy who used to relieve for us. Super fast but super straight.

JM said...

Judge steals again.

JM said...

What an inning.

JM said...

Stanton nails a double!

AboveAverage said...

Wowzer!!!!

Doug K. said...

Kyle Farnsworth

JM said...

Yes, that was him. I couldn't remember to save my life.

Rufus T. Firefly said...

Doug, Farnsworth. Or worthless if you think about it.

Glassman with a meaningful hit? What next? Cats sleeping with dogs? Pizza without rat feces at the stadium?

JM said...

Stanton really is pretty good with guys in scoring position. Like all baseball players, he fails a lot more than not, but he doesn't suck at all.

JM said...

I can't believe I'm defending him, but it's true.

TheWinWarblist said...

Oh I have all sorts of battery tenders. Doesn't helps if you forget to connect them and/or the outlet pops the circuit breaker.

JM said...

Doesn't KFC have battery tenders? Something like that.

Doug K. said...

Shit it's Clay Holmes

Rufus T. Firefly said...

JM, they taste like batteries.

Doug K. said...

Gleyber made the play! In the 9th! Will wonders never cease.

TheWinWarblist said...

Ahem. Ahem. La la la!

TheWinWarblist said...

I'm quoting AA tonight:

ThhhhhhhhhHAAAAAAAAAAA YANKEEEEEEEEEEEEZ WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN!

JM said...

Thuuuuuuuuh Yankees win!!!

Doug K. said...

Huh? Wow! That was something. The whole trip.

JM said...

This team is not 2022. Not with Soto.

JM said...

I'm stunned.

AboveAverage said...

Amazing - and great jawb Winnny!

Glad you’re still - with us.

DickAllen said...

Empty the bank for Soto, Hal.

This guy is a monster.

BTR999 said...

Fiver
😀😀😀😀😀

DickAllen said...

Maybe the one thing going for Stanton right now is that he doesn't need to be a savior.

With Judge and Soto, Giancarlo is very nearly the forgotten man. Pressure's off him, and it seems that he can't handle pressure.

LONG LIVE JUDGE AND SOTO!

Do whatever it takes to make this guy a Yankee for life Hal.

DickAllen said...

I can't believe I'm saying this, but...

I feel hopeful.

TheWinWarblist said...

DICK!!! NOOOOOOOO!!!

Joe Formerlyof Brooklyn said...

Didja know there is a Yankees GM approval poll?

I did not.

I'm not voting in the Presidential farce, but I just did vote on this one.

You can, too, I guess --
https://tinyurl.com/3v3mks58

Apologies to the site's geniuses if this violates some tenet of the true faith.

Rufus T. Firefly said...

Winnie,

If you have a 356, I'll replace the battery if you give me a ride in it.

Rufus T. Firefly said...

Joe,

I believe the results of that poll as much as I believe the Venezuelan election results.

HoraceClarke66 said...

Bunting? Stealing? Tripling?


WTF is going on???? (I don't know, but I like it, like it, like it...)

Rufus T. Firefly said...

Maybe Boone got his balls back from the ex and decided to ignore the ANALyticals

HoraceClarke66 said...

Yes, if the Yankees don't re-sign Soto, why...they are REALLY going to get a piece of our minds!

Probably, the last piece left.

And Joe FOB? Hey, I already said, if Cashman gets us a ring this year, I will tip my hat and call him my daddy.

Rufus T. Firefly said...

Trevino just quoted the Master in the postgame: "a bloop and a blast"!

ranger_lp said...

If it's not Judge...it's Soto. If it's not Soto it's Judge...

Ohtani who?

DickAllen said...

Sorry Hoss. The Intern will never be forgiven.

Too much water under the bridge.

Rufus T. Firefly said...

I hope Ohtani stubs his toe on the stairs at Yankee stadium. Running to see his bookie before the game.

HoraceClarke66 said...

Jeff Nelson complaining on the postgame about how long the game was. Jeff, feel free to retire from the booth anytime.

Rufus T. Firefly said...

Give me Flaherty and Cone every game.

AboveAverage said...

Dick - you sure that that was water - - - under the bridge?

AboveAverage said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
DickAllen said...

AA, I'd like to throw The Intern off the bridge and into the water. In cement shoes.

A month of winning baseball doesn't excuse that fool's pathetic history.

edb said...

This is true. Cgeapskate Hal, you had better sign Soto!