Remember that game in the loss column the Yankees gained Sunday against Boston? It's gone. Funny how they go. It's as if the universe farts. We're now five behind hateful Tampa and three ahead of the vengeful Redsocks, holding the tie-breaker, if it matters. (And Boston just lost Will Contreras, their best hitter, to a hammy. Hail, the Immortal Hammy!)
Ten takes...
1. The world is discovering what Yank fans have known for months: Trent Grisham has deteriorated into a bad CF, a defensive liability currently mired in a 2-for-37 slump. It's been a hard year for Old Slow Foot, ever since he accepted the Yankee one-year qualifying offer of $22 million, prompting Food Stamps Hal to close his fanny pack for the rest of the winter. Last night, Grisham botched a throw home after an errant pickoff attempt, though the game was pretty much over. Right now, across the Yankiverse, he's about as popular as data centers and Flock cameras.
2. Last night, the Death Barge reverted to its One-Run-Per-Game mode. Spencer Jones homered, and that was all. It came in the fifth, when the Yankees were down 4-0, and you could argue that they needed base runners more than a solo shot, but - fuck - that's the Yankees, eh. It was Jones' 8th HR in 181 at-bats. Over a 500 at-bat season, that would mean 28 HRs. Hmm. He's hitting .238. Gallo?
3. When Aaron Judge returns, Jones will either take over in CF or board a bus to Scranton. Weird, eh? You either take the arguably most vaunted position in sports - centerfield for the New York Yankees! - or head to the mud yards of Moosic.
4. Elmer "the Glue Gun" Rodriguez got pasted last night - gave up four, didn't survive the fourth. It's been a moon since a Yankee starter effectively killed a game. The year began with high hopes for Rodriguez and Carlos LaGrange, the early sensation in Camp Tamp. Neither came through. (They claim LaGrange might still pitch this season - he's recovering from a bum shoulder - but nobody's betting on it.)
5. That means that, basically, the Yankee farm system didn't produce one pitcher of magnitude this year. (Schlittler was last year.) Not one. Brendan Beck doesn't cut it. Not one. Remember how they called their camp "The Gas Station," and how they boasted about developing young arms? Not one.
6. WTF with David Bednar pitching the 9th, in a blowout, and giving up three? I suppose he needed the work? Yikes. What a fiasco.
7. Clarke Schmidt and Ryan Weathers may soon join the bullpen. During their careers, both have been starters. What could go wrong?
8. Heading into last night, the Angels were 52-85, tied with the homeless A's for the worst record in the AL. This was the kind of game you cannot afford to lose, and the Yankees lost by nine. WTF?
9. The Boston radio announcer, Will Flemming, apologized for calling Jazz Chisholm a bush leaguer. I realize that Jazz talks too much, but nobody turns a DP more fearlessly (with his hat somehow glued to his head.) And frankly, when an old, Wonder Bread white guy from Boston attacks him, I automatically suspect race is an underlying factor. (BTW: I wonder if his pals call him "Phlegm?"
10. Gerrit Cole tonight. Must game. Knicks in five.
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