What about that upcoming four-game set against Tampa? The odds of the Yankees sweeping the Rays are roughly equivalent to those of Mitch McConnell unveiling an erection on the U.S. Senate floor. The Yankees will be runners-up.
Ten takeaways from a day when three out of four of NYC teams - the Giants, Jets and Yankees - all won. Sorry, Mets.
1. Cam Schlittler should be a lock for the Cy Young, but this crapola about winning the MVP? Nope. He's the Yankee MVP, for sure. But Yordan Alvarez in Houston could win the triple crown. (He's two HRs behind Junior Caminero, with 40, and tied with Ben Rice, at 38.)
2. By now, the tabs have secretly decided never to use one particular headline: "Hail Schlittler."
3. Since returning, Anthony Volpe is 4-14, due to his amazing first night back, when he went 3-4 with a grand slam. Since then, he's 1-10 and reverted to the Volpe we remember. Yesterday, he made a fine defense play, throwing out the runner with a Jeteresque leap. I think one verdict is in: He can play 2B, defensively.
4. But will he ever hit? He has the Minnesota series to start. Otherwise, Volpe Derangement Syndrome will return. At that point, he will disappear on the roster behind Jazz Chisolm and Amed Rosario. He'll be home for October.
5. You know who deserved a better shot this year? Oswaldo Cabrera. Guy homered twice yesterday for Scranton - 19 on the season, batting .287 at Triple A. He played three games for the Yankees - three - went 0-9, and vanished along with J.C. Escarra and their adorable CarShield commercial. Oswaldo is 27. I still think he will have a decent career. But not with us.
6. Note to the Captain: Any time now, sir, feel free to stop lunging and start hitting. Any time now...
7. Let's give Cooperstown Cashman credit: Luis Garcia Jr. turned out to be a great trade deadline pickup. We spewed hot bile over Cash's failure to improve our bullpen and catching situations. (Which remain problems.) But Garcia is the real deal. He's hit .307 with 7 HRs as a Yankee. We have him under contract through next season, if there is one.
8. The Yankees are two different teams:
a) when Hendrick, Blackburn and Bednar pitch the final three.
b) when the rest of the bullpen must pitch.
Conclusion? A shitload of pressure - maybe too much? - hinges on Clarke Schmidt.
9. The Jets and Giants are undefeated! That will grab a bunch of tabloid back pages through October. It could be the difference in our final race.
10. Prediction? Knicks in five.
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17 comments:
Unfortunately, the daily Murdoch is currently plotting to make #2 a reality. We all know it.
#1, Guidry deserved the mvp in 1978 and was robbed.
Volpe being Volpe.
Schmidt being missed.
Judge being lousy.
Schlittler being Holy Fuck.
When Ryan Weathers makes it back, we'll have two guys in the bullpen who can pitch long relief. And possibly do it really well. That'll greatly improve the bullpen.
I wouldn't send Luis Gil back down. Let him continue to work himself back to where he was when he won that rookie of the year. I think they're mishandling him. You know how good Gil would be if he pitched for Tampa.
Judge never hits against the Mets, Red Sox, Tampons, ASS-stros. That's four teams that pretty much own him. But especially the Mets and the Red Sox.
You just have to hope that he finds his stroke in the playoffs. I wasn't expecting much for the remainder of the regular season. Should he have taken a 4-5 game rehab assignment in the minors? Maybe, but I don't think it makes much difference. When he comes back from the minors, I think he still struggles about the same.
I really did think Judge might go hitless down the stretch run of the regular season. Maybe 80 at bats. So, 3 hits so far? I'll take it.
Hey, CONGRATULATIONS to the Battlin' Bronx Bastards! They clinched a playoff spot, right? So they're in, even if the ceiling collapses and Tampa uses the Bronx Bastards to wipe their cheatin' Tampon asses. Three cheers for the Bronx Bastards: HIP HIP HOORAY! HIP HIP HOORAY! HIP HIP HOORAY!
Gotta question your police work there, Hammer, as the great Frances McDormand says in Fargo...
He DOES hit against the Mets:
37 games, 14 HR, 26 RBI, .280/.374/.644/1.018. And he's at .896, with 34 homers, against the Red Sox.
Numbers are considerably worse against TB and Houston.
LOL! Not much of a stat guy, as ya'll know. Hee hee. Just going on feel.
BTW, David Bednar is having a really great year. Especially when you compare other closers around baseball. The other day, that guy O'Brien blew it for the St. Louis Cards. And yesterday, Anthony Munoz, trying to do a five out save, blew it in the 9th for the M's. If Bednar had pitched poorly this year, we'd be at least ten games worse.
Well, if he's at 1.018 OPS against the Mets, that's still well below what he does against other teams, no? A healthy Judge, (the great version), is the 1.150 OPS monster.
.896 against the Red Sox. Still very good, compared to other players. But again, that's well below what he does against most other teams.
Everyone has certain teams that he doesn't perform well against, for whatever reason. Unfortunately, in Judge's case, Tampa and Houston are some of the biggest rivals for the Yankees.
What is aggravating is that those teams have guys who absolutely kill the Yankees. Whilst we've got no Red Sox killers, no Tampon killers, no ASS-stro killers.
That guy for the ASS-stros, Josh Hader, I don't think he's blown a save this year. He was injured, so he has not pitched a full season. But I think he's over 20 saves now and ain't blown one yet.
I wanted Hader when he was available as a free agent. The funky follow through throws off the batters, I think. That rear leg and foot kicking up just after he lets the ball go. It's gotta bother the hitter. It's a distraction.
I wanted Hader, too. If we had him, I think we'd be a favorite for the Series; Bednar could set him up.
Or...if we had Weaver, Holmes, and Torrens—all given away for nothing—we'd have a solid chance.
Yeah, that's the way it goes with Brian Cashman's Yankee management. Also, that guy the Red Sox got from us, Garrett Whitlock, now one of their best relievers, a set up man for Gunslinger Chapman. BTW, the Gunslinger is doing extremely well. Ain't it funny how we can't fix anyone who starts to spiral out of control, but they go somewhere like Boston, and everything is great again? Yesterday Gunslinger closed out another game. Unlike when he was here, he never seems to have one of those crazy meltdowns. He is as dependable as an old pair of blue jeans.
Fucking Sonny Gray, Sunny Gray, Sunny Grey, whatever his name is.
Oh, almost forgot Nathan Eovaldi, sponsored by Nathan's Famous Franks and Antonio Vivaldi's School of Music. Eo won a World Series with Boston and World Series with the Texas Lawmen. After he left here, he got exponentially better. First in Boston, then in Texas.
It might be tiresome to some people, but I think we gotta beat on that fallen horse again: it's the managing and coaching here. Boone is a jackass, that we know. And the manager is in charge of his coaches, right? I don't think the coaching here is any better than the managing.
We've seen an awful lot of guys struggle here, then go elsewhere and they're great. Some, like Sonny Gray, were good before they got here, then they sucked when they were here, then they were good again after they left.
If you told me 20 or 30 years ago that the manager and coaches were responsible for fucking everything up, I probably would have pooh-poohed it. But now that I've seen how bad Boone & his coaches are, I can't rule out anything with these guys. The fucking Dodgers won in 2024 & 2025. But if Boone & his coaches had been there, do you think the Dodgers win? I'd say, resoundingly, HELL NO!!!
Yesterday, Blackburn came on in the 8th inning, replacing Brent Headrick. The leadoff hitter for the Mets was Francisco Alvarez. Wouldn't it have been better if Headrick had faced Alvarez? Because Alvarez is a terrible hitter against left handed pitching. At least, that's what I seem to recall from listening to Mets broadcasts. Alvarez has reverse splits. But Boone brings in the righty Blackburn who immediately gives up a single to Alvarez.
Yanks lucky again yesterday. If the Mets were a better team, they might've swept the Yankees in this series. That's why the Mets are well under .500 this year.
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