Ugly Reality: Last night, it sure didn't seem that way.
Last night, they looked like a team to worry about.
Seven takeaways...
1. Barely 24 hours after boasting of his newfound batting discipline - the "70 percent" solution - there was Jazz Chisholm Jr., swinging from his gonads, seeking to launch balls into the Atlantic Ocean. He came up twice in the late innings - fanned twice with lusty, primordial, air-filled slashes. WTF? Shades of the "torpedo bat."
2. Likewise with Ryan Marlboro. Last week, he was the Second Coming of Jamie Moyer, the soft-toss tactician who could bewitch opposing lineups. Last night, he was on the Edwar Ramirez side of Nestor Cortes. The grim reality? We have a three-man rotation - Fried, Rodon, Schmidt. Then it's cross your fingers and bleed the bullpen.
3. We love our Captain. But why why why can't I shake the feeling that, whenever the hot lamps of national TV find him, Aaron Judge goes a bit knock-kneed. On a road trip to Pothole City, he hits HRs in bunches. But when a Fox Sports truck pulls into view, everything reverts to a mouse pulling a pumpkin. Last night... 0-4 with three Ks. Are we asking too much of one human being?
4. DJ LeMahieu with a huge single, almost saving the game. Over 58 at-bats, he's at .259 with one HR (belted against the Mets, in his third game back.) Over his last 15 games, he's at .327. Is he real? Is he Memorex? DJ has until the trade deadline to prove himself. There is no first-runner-up, no in-house replacement. But if he fails, if he tweaks something, or if the juju gods simply scorn him, Cashman will surely make a move. Eight weeks to show what's left in the tank.
5. On bullpen matters, I try to give Aaron Boone a benefit of the doubt. From our seats, we cannot know the private conversations between a manager and his lug nuts. But last night, seeing Ian Hamilton emerge in the 9th, who DIDN'T feel the sense of immediate dread. Hamilton cannot put batters away. He gets two strikes, then crumbles. Damn. It sucked to invest so much bullpen energy - to pull within one run - and then end up with Hamilton out there. Was there any doubt that he would give up two runs and turn the Yankee comeback into a nothing-burger?
6. For six months - ever since Boston signed him - I've fantasized about the return of Aroldis Chapman - watching el Chapo disassemble in a tight game, to see the torrents of sweat pour off his visor like an open tap of Pabst Blue Ribbon, to watch his terror grow, to cackle as he self-immolates, as he always used to do against the Redsocks. Remember the Devers HR? The crushing defeats?
So, last night, we finally get our chance, he mows us down, 1-2-3. We sank without a bubble. Is that how this ends?
7. Against Boston, nobody needs to remind Yank fans of how quickly the worm can turn. The Redsocks have basically sucked since 2018 - (Note: the Yankees drought extends to 2009) - but they always save their resurgences for us.
If they win tonight, they leave NY with a .500 record and a young lineup with a renewed sense of hope.
And if the Yankees let this happen... well... let's not, okay? Let's not.
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16 comments:
It would not be unprecedented or unusual for a great star to try to do too much in a struggling lineup. As usual, one wishes there were some cool, wise old baseball head around to help him put things in perspective.
The Roman numbers "2004" are actually an ancient Sumerian code that stands for: "Your Bronx asses are cooked for 1000 years."
"numerals," damn it, numerals...higgly diggldy dop, Ortiz ran up the clock...
Aroldis is another example of same. So many guys who became complete wrecks here, somehow managed to right themselves elsewhere. One hears much blather about the usual suspects: the intense NYC media market (one with, what, maybe 2 newspapers that actively follow the locals?), the demanding fans, etc.
Truth is, the Yanks are a badly run team whose owner doesn't care.
Brigadoon Refsnyder now at .292 for the season, with 4 homers.
“Truth is, the Yanks are a badly run team whose owner doesn't care.”
Shoot!
Dagnamit!
Poopers!
How disappointing!
I know it’s highly unlikely that he will even approach this level of productivity, but can we at least give Allan Winans a fucking look? He has an ERA of 0.23 (not a typo) over 39 innings. We need pitching; he’s been untouchable. What’s stopping us?
BTR, you already know the answer to that question: incompetence at the top. We will forever be punished by those who cannot recognize quality pitching and/or cannot develop arms and then there are those who cannot be trusted to properly deploy said arms when they get them.
Everyone rises to their own level of mediocrity and the Yankees are populated at the top with mediocrity.
Platoon against lefties. He's carved put a decent career doing it.
👍👍👍👍
Just wanted to add that Boone left in Yarby, who had nothing, until the game was out of reach (8 runs) and made a comeback improbable.
Our Aaron-Boy
That was the version of The Yarlboro Man that I thought we were getting. The one that everyone except the Yankees punished like a pinata. Sorry to see him revert against the Red Sox. Ugh!
I knew Chapman would pitch well. Though I think he might have strained his groin on that last play.
Chapman looked different compared to when he was here. He not only had better control, but the stuff was pretty filthy good.
Refsnyder chronicled how Yankee coaching/management nearly ruined his career by trying to turn him into an infielder, trying to make him into an uppercut swinging home run hitter. You know that, if it happened to him, they must have been doing crazy stuff like that to everyone in the organization.
We are cursed with an organization that, if we're lucky, we win in spite of, and not because of.
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