1. Yanks won without using BLACKHEAD - the bullpen duo of Paul Blackburn and Brent Headrick - and/or WARCAR - secondary starters Will Warren and Carlos Rodon. Tonight, all arms should be locked and loaded. No excuses. It needs to end tonight.
2. Gag me. Tonight, we won't have to hear any more about the wonderful, beloved, free-spirited Ted Lasso-esque, Disney animation - jolly Payton Tolle, who is cherished by all.
Look, I'm sorry that the guy lost his mom, but God save us from the incessant, chirpy, NBC broadcast booth happy talk.
3. In Houston, the Astros got booed by their own fans. Not only that, but they played in front of thousands of empty seats. They're blaming a spoiled fan base. I say it's karma.
The gristmill of the Gods grinds slowly, but infinitely fine.
Can we scare up a Massachusetts connection to George Lombard Jr? (Damn. Just checked. He grew up in Miami.)
5. Michael King took a no-hitter into the seventh for Sad San Diego. Another reason to loathe Juan Soto.
6. Great to see the bottom of the Yankee order contribute. A solid October could save Austin Wells, who last summer seemed to be the team's Gone Girl. And then there's Anthony Volpe, whose Travolta-like career has already conjured up his obit several times.
How many times have we bade him farewell? Ten times? Twenty?
7. Last night balanced on several fulcrum points that could have crushed us. The lazy DP liner that caught Lombard off second base. The diving shovel toss DP grounder. Both are the kind of plays that haunted us all year. Boston failed to exploit them. Not exactly a team of destiny.
8. I wonder if, deep down inside, Aaron Judge is secretly terrified that the Yankees could get hot and win a world series without him?
Well, it won't happen. Any scenario that takes this team deep into October is going to hinge on Judge's return - for better or worse.
9. In a perfect Yankiverse, we save a ninth inning rally against El Chapo. We've waited patiently. It needs to happen, and I believe the juju gods are ready to pull the trigger.
10. Sonny Gray tonight. Our lefty lineup. That means Jazz, Garcia, McMahon, et al - and Giancarlo. Yes, he'll pinch hit, probably in a big situation with the fans going wild. A classic moment, like the first movie glimpse of Dracula - waiting to happen.
Make no mistake. This aint over. A bunch of moments are yet to play out. How many times this year, after scoring a bunch of runs, did the offense then run ice cold? We must not let this thing survive into Thursday.
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As usual for this year, the pitching simply has to be lights out. No runs, again. All we'll need is 1, maybe 2. And we can do that.
Send 'em home, Max.
Oh god, did you say "Sonny Gray?"
And I love all you say here, Duque, but I don't think I like the "Blackhead" thing.
As for last night, it was fun, and it had moments of small - or small-ish - ball, but it will NEVER compel me to have a ton of hope or to EVER exonerate Hal, Brian, or Boone. That boat left the dock - and then sank - years ago.
It does prove, though, that the young guys did the job. We knew that all along.
It also proves how craven, sick and wrong the Yank-ligarchy is by running out Stanton and Trent. If we ever needed proof that they are incorrigible, there it is.
Let's see if the young guys are allowed to win it tonight. I hope that Sonny doesn't light it up to prove something.
I'm tellin' ya, if there be baseball next year, Cashman will re-sign Trent Grisham to a big contract. They obviously don't think like we do. They think Grisham is the best center fielder in the damn game. They couldn't wait to put him back in there and move Spencer Jones to right field. It's a wonder they didn't take Jones out of the game. That might be next, by the way. Spencer Jones will soon be sitting on the bench.
It's just infuriating, that level of stupidity. Or maybe it's willfulness. I don't know. Are they seeing different stats than we see? I don't think so.
11. I didn't like that Schlittler was still in there for the 7th inning. 107 pitches, time to go to the bullpen. Fucking Ba-Boone rides Schlittler until he gives up a hit. 117 pitches. That could have disaster right there. I don't get it. The most valuable arm was pitching until he was running on fumes. Did ya'll see Schlittler sneak a peak at the dugout after the first out in the 7th? That was "why is The Imbecile not coming out to get me when I've got nothing left in the tank?" The velocity was gone, the stuff was flat, and he really had nothing left. More importantly, you don't want to jeopardize the most valuable Yankee pitcher in generations. Fucking Ba-Boone strikes again.
Agree with you 1000% here. And that's why their arms fail. Boone has such a small baseball mind, he cannot think ahead.
And to return to Grisham, I KNOW you all know this, but his lifetime BA is .217. Think about that. Any other era, he'd be a backup. Why do we even have him on the team. And yes, I know there are other metrics, but I was born in another time and I highly value shit like ERA and BA.
It is willful stupidity. They don't like developing young players. It must be hurting them to see Spencer Jones developing. They want to curtail his development. I still remember Boone's statement in September that Grisham is their best option in center field, or something like that. Boone wasn't making that up. He & Cashman actually believe it.
Not a big fan of Boone.
Not a big fan of Cashman.
Not a big fan of Hal.
I’ll have more to say later.
The stats getting ignored today are still the most important stats: BA, RBI, R, ERA, even W-L record. OPS is a good way to gauge a batter in one overarching stat, but it still don't tell you the probability of him getting a hit at a crucial time. As crude as it is, that would be batting average. When it's World Series Game 7, and the bases are loaded, two outs in the 9th inning, down by a run, I'm looking at batting average, not OBP, not slugging pct, not OPS.
8. The thought did occur in my head that we might be better off with Judge not in the lineup for the rest of this year. I don't think Judge should be too terrified. The chances of this team winning the World Series this year are still infinitesimally small. It's a long way to the top, if you wanna rock n roll.
In 2009, Mark Texeira was hurt and off the roster when the Yankees won the World Series, I believe. That actually might've been a good thing. Even though he had a really good year in 2009, the team didn't miss him at all in the finals.
In later years, Tampa started doing the shift against Texeira. All he had to do was take what they were giving him, but he was always trying to "hit 'em over the shift". He said something like "they don't pay me to hit balls through holes". True enough, but they pay you do whatever it takes to win the damn game, whether it's a single or moving a base runner. They don't pay you to strike out or ground out into the shift, that's for sure.
Now, Aaron Judge is a lot smarter than Texeira. That's how Judge hit well over .300 and almost won a batting championship. But if Judge is not 100%, and you know how Judge doesn't play well when he's hurt, it's probably better if Judge sits on the bench and watches.
5. How much better off would we be today, if Cashman had never made that Soto trade? No question about it. He paid too much. 4 pitchers + Kyle Higashioka for a one year rental + Trent Grisham. That was bat shit crazy.
The other question, how much better off is San Diego with Michael King and without Trent Grisham?
If I didn't watch the game last night, and saw the score 9-0, I would have thought the Red Sox had forfeited...
Lombard had a really great game. Yeah, a bit of bad base running there, getting doubled off, but he must have thought it was going over Dwarf Durbin's glove for a hit. Anyway, I liked his at-bats. He helped break the ice for the 1-0 lead. That's always huge. Three hits, going the other way, taking what the pitcher is giving. He's looking very, very good at the plate.
Boone brought Grisham in because he used a pinch hitter (Garcia) for RF Heliot Ramos.
Garcia isn't an outfielder. So it was the correct time to put Grisham in the game. Someone had to play the outfield. Ramos was out of the game, and there's no other outfielder on the bench.
However, I don't understand the Yankees INSISTENCE on playing Grisham in center field. Just put him in right field and leave Jones in center. It's the simplest solution in the world. Grisham's range has gone to hell, so put him in the cozy, tiny right field at Yankee Stadium. He'll be fine out there. No room to mess things up. Let the kid with plus speed roam in center. It's just such an obviously correct alignment, it's hard to understand how Boone hasn't accidentally stumbled upon the solution.
Max Fried career against the Red Sox:
8 GS, 48.1 IP, 38 H, 9 ER, 4 HR, 16 BB, 59 K, 1.68 ERA
We really do have a bunch of Sox killers on the roster right now.
To really mess with Sonny Gray tonight, the Yankees should bring Larry Rothschild in to throw the ceremonial first pitch.
Boone: "Grisham is still our best option in center field"
Wish we could bring in Gary Sanchez to catch the ceremonial first pitch from Rothschild, but he's going to win a World Series with the Brew Crew.
I might be paraphrasing just a bit, but that's what he actually said.
To really mess with Sonny Gray tonight, the Yankees should bring Larry Rothschild in to throw the ceremonial first pitch.
THAT, my friend, is comedy gold.
I still can't believe, that a few years back, Ca$hman didn't trade Rice or Schlittler for a 37yr old relief pitcher or a 3b who hits .180
Miracles DO happen (I think that Cash might have been distracted by Volpe . . .
I was just thinking this morning, that if King George was still around, Schlittler would've been traded soon after he first came up. All of the other ball clubs would've been lined up to make offers. And maybe we'd get someone like Heliot Ramos for him.
And I was thinking of all the young pitchers we traded away back then, like Doug Drabek, Jose Rijo, Al Leiter.
Ben Rice would've been traded too. Just like Fred McGriff.
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