Yanks score once - a HR by a guy who's never hit one at the MLB level - and beat, gulp, their Babadook... Frank Lary, Roy Halladay, Felix Hernandez Nathan Eovaldi.
Now it's Colorado, the Wretched Rockies, a team chasing historical mediocrity - as we feature the game's best hitter (Aaron Judge) and pitcher (Max Fried.)
What could go wrong?
Welp...
Considering that we remain a juju god-fearing site, here are 10 reasons to fear the Rockies' table-scraps lineup.
1. This is exactly the kind of trap series that annually kills us: On a winning streak, we visit the worst team in baseball, and they eat our lunches.
This especially happens when - as the Rockies apparently are planning - said-opposing team use starters with ERA's over 6.00. We've seen this movie countless times. You can see the zeros piling up.
2. A media-fed mini-crisis is being sold on who will play 3B when Chaz Chisholm returns, probably two weeks from now. Should DJ LeMahieu move? Or Chisholm?
For once in his miserable life, I believe Aaron Boone has the right solution: Fukkit. Let's cross that bridge later. Seriously... by the time Chisholm is ready, DJ will have tweaked something and no longer be an option.
3. Am I hallucinating, or does Jorbit Vivas look like a tough out? Okay, I know, I know - he hits a HR so I'm measuring his plaque - but yesterday's big blast follows a game in which Vivas begot one of the best - and longest - plate appearances of the year - his prolonged at-bat that ended with the Mets' Pete Alonso botching a throw. At 5'9," Vivas looks like a fire hydrant. Look: He's not Altuve. He's not Caleb Durbin, either. He was hitting over .300 at Scranton. Let's hope the brain trust doesn't Boone him.
4. Every year, it seems the Yankees go through a hot period - like, around now - when they look like baseball's best team. (This year, because of the Dodgers and their Japan pipeline and cooking of the books, that cannot happen.) Last year, between May 12 and May 25, they went 11-2. They absolutely killed the month, then collapsed in June.
Just sayin...
5. While I have you... A few words on Paul Goldschmidt. Guy's a rock. Lately, there's talk about the need to find a position for Ben Rice - (and, yes, we all want to clear the way for a homegrown Yankee) but a platoon with Goldschmidt? Fuck, no. This guy is a gamer - seven time all-star, four Gold Gloves, .290 career average - numbers worthy of The Hall. When he steps to the plate, you know we're getting a quality at-bat.
And this season, he is doing the impossible:
He is protecting Aaron Judge in the lineup.
6. As the Yankiverse waits on Anthony Volpe, I find myself checking frequently on the progress of George Lombard Jr., now at Double A Somerset. He's hitting .290 on the year, most of it at High A, and supposedly showing a fine glove at SS. He's 19, and his stock is soaring in the prospect rankings. In simple terms, he's where Volpe was about five years ago.
I believe the Yankees are committed to Volpe for the rest of 2025. They seem to love him, and the guy does exhibit team spirit. But I wonder... some players are not meant to go home. To stay the Yankee SS, Volpe doesn't need to hit .300. But .235, with little power? That won't cut it.
Lombard will play the entire year on the farm. But I'm watching. Wednesday, his most recent game, he went 1-4 with a K.
7. I'm fine with the Yankees using Luke Weaver as their closer until he cannot handle the job.
Devin Williams had his shot. He blew it. He might be straightening himself out. Fine. But Weaver is our best pitcher out of the pen. By far. Until he fucks up, he's The Man.
8. Speaking of The Man... The Martian couldn't quite lift-off yesterday, following his walk-off HR the day before. He went 0-3 (though against Eovaldi, a great pitcher.) Still waiting for that streak - that moment when he starts raking, and never stops. Remember: He's only 22, and he missed two entire seasons of development - (one for Covid, one for elbow surgery.)
9. The biggest threat to the balance of this team remains Giancarlo Stanton. Nothing against the guy - he seems a great teammate - but when he returns, it's going to be a big round peg being smashed into a small square hole.
10. Again: See Number One. Beware Colorado! BEWARE! I don't trust air that doesn't taste like tailpipe.
Posts
20 comments:
Reasons to be cheerful, part 3.
We have to keep Jorbit, just for his name, if nothing else. And Stanton isn't coming back anytime soon. And I bet Chisolm has a "setback."
But it's baseball, and you can't predict baseball, Suzyn. Guys who come back from the IL and get inserted into a team that's been on a hot streak can wreck the chemistry. It's pretty strange how that happens over and over, but it does happen a fair amount.
The Shadow knows. But not me.
Man, where is everyone? The wind just blew some dry sagebrush past me...
Come back, Shane!
PS, the weather sucks, and I hate late games. I can barely (rarely?) stay awake for east coast games.
I'm in a foul mood. In other news, water is wet.
feeding the beasts - hand carving each coffee bean before roasting them individually and brewing them into a pot of steamy hot tasty goodness and commenting on your previous OVERNIGHT post (love these by the way because they give the impression that IIHIIFIIC never sleeps) first.
the yankees continuing to win sorta, kinda, uh, uhm, like you know, negates the belief that Baby Boone is an idiot.
even though everyone of us knows that he is an idiot.
however success breeds a cascade of positive outcomes. the more the yankees win, the more atta boys are shared in that clubhouse and beyond.
and we all love it when the Yankees win.
and we all love it when we can pile on our manager
so maybe........MAYBE bababoone IS the idiot we all need and deserve.
SO on this Friday morning I would like to proclaim the following:
LONG LIVE THE IDIOT !
El Duque is correct. We always look great in the Spring and then stall. At this point last year weren't the Yankees being compared to the best Yankee teams of all time record wise? Then they played some thing like .500 ball from the All Star Break on?
It's a long long way from May to September.
Gotta keep it rollin’ against the lowly Rockies. Don’t try to hit the ball 600 feet in the thin air, just stay focused.
Goldschmidt’s gotta play. Rice can spell him at 1B , then split AB’s with Stanton. Stanton will likely get hurt again, so there’s your window for Rice. Can he get AB’s at catcher? Escarra is a nice story, but little more than that. Wells has a lot of holes in his game. Also, Rice was seen taking grounders at third, but that would be a risky move. I suppose when Chisolm comes back (I think it’s going to be a lot longer than 2 weeks) I’d say DJLM to third. Look, this team needs a regular third baseman - there were plenty of low cost options last winter (Urshela, et al), but Steinington was done spending. Perhaps they have faith in our own J-Rod at SWB?
AA, I always think we win despite Boone, not because of him. And if he wasn't such an idiot, we'd win even more.
Exactly, JM.
Butt Boone Bashing Brightens the day….
Shane: I've heard about you.
Wilson: What have you heard, Shane?
Shane: That you're a low down Yankee liar.
Wilson (breaking into a sinister smile): Prove it!
BANG! BANG! (All hell's breaking loose) ["Modern Day Cowboy" courtesy of the band TESLA]
Aw, shoot 'em all
Bang, Bang, blow you away
It's a showdown
In a no man's land
For the cowboy
Of the modern day
Showdown
Don't be hangin' round
Cuz the cowboy'll blow you away
Another 1-0 win! Amazing! I can't remember ever seeing the Yankees win two 1-0 games in one year. You could go for years without seeing a 1-0 win. The hardest score to win by, bar none. And I think Rodon started both of these games. We might have to stop calling this guy "Rodent" or the new prima donna Coors boy.
The Martian hasn't really had a hot streak all year. He's learning major league pitching. I think sooner or later he'll break out and have a real hot streak. Makes you wonder how high he can go if he's already taking off from a fairly high plateau.
It looks like they may have something here in Jorbit Vivas. He's definitely showing something. Lots of positives to his game.
Rodon looks a bit more comfortable in his skin of late.
They did play some teams lately that haven't been ripping the cover off the baseball. But still, it seems that maybe we underestimated Yankee pitching. Rodon has been much better than most of us expected. And the new kid Will Warren looks like we undersold him - he's learning at the major league level and suddenly looks kind of ... good.
Unfortunately, Clarke Schmidt is still ... Clarke Schmidt. And Anthony Volpe is still ... Anthony Volpe. Those two really haven't raised their game.
Actually, if Rice can play a decent 3B, there's our solution. Peraza doesn't look like a major league hitter to me. Some complain that he doesn't get enough playing time to prove himself, but a guy who doesn't project to be a big time hitter has to earn playing time by gettin' it done. And if he doesn't hit much, then can't complain.
Boone is so stupid, that sometimes the moves he makes stupifies the other team. And that sometimes works out in a positive.
This being baseball, I think it works something like this: Boone gives away about 20 games a year with stupid mistakes. But sometimes the stupid mistakes actually work out and result in wins. So some of the wins would not be possible with an intelligent manager at the helm. How many of these backward wins are there? Maybe 8, maybe 10. So the net result is that he gives away about 10 wins. If we had Bruce Bochy managing, the Yankees would win another 10 games on top of whatever Boone produced at the end of the year. Hardly an exact science, but it's definitely a real phenomenon. We'll have to come up with a new name for this strange effect. Kind of like a "placebo effect" in drug testing.
When the Yankees lose, especially in close games, it's frequently almost entirely Boone's fault. The odds-defying moves he makes are mind-blowing.
I wish we had a smarter manager. Baseball strategy is not like playing 3D chess or trying to solve the Middle East conflict; there's only a limited amount of maneuvering and options one can make. Not much critical thinking is needed. But BaBoone doesn't even possess that small amount.
In addition to lacking the ability to make obvious decisions during the game, he lacks the basic skills needed to lead a modest-sized group of people. He's not a leader. He's both a yes man and a patronizer. He doesn't know how to motivate or cajole a diverse group of individuals, whether it's through firmness, flattery, or any other method. He projects an aloofness-almost an indifference in trying. I'm not implying that the Yankees need another George Steinbrenner-like, military-style skipper. But they do need a manager who invests as much time trying to improve the performance of his players as he does blowing smoke up the asses of the press or pleasing his bosses.
Pretty good analysis, Carl J. Weitz. And Hammer, I can only remember multiple, 1-0 wins from back in the pre-DH days, when pitchers threw off mountains and middle infielders were lucky to hit singles. Sure is an odd season—but I'll take it!
Post a Comment