Damn. We almost did it again. What Good Samaritans are these 2018 Yankees! Last night, they nearly gave away another game to the poor. They lead the AL in errors (18), are dead last in the MLB fielding percentage (.971), and our catcher has contributed three passed balls in the last two games. That's not counting the botched plays that are charitably ruled as hits, several of which have triggered opposing rallies. Nor does it take into account that Yankee pitchers have the third most strikeouts in baseball (190). Imagine how many errors we can stack up if opposing batters start putting more balls into play.
Boston has the fewest errors in the AL (5), and if you seek the Essential Knowledge as to why they lead the division by 4 games, you needn't butt dial the Oracle at Delphi. The box scores paint it quite well.
Last night, we watched Scary Gary Sanchez wave his concrete glove at a pitch barely grazing the outside corner, the ball soaring to the backstop, allowing a two-out run to score from third. An inning later, Ronald "Big Toe" Torreyes - moments after conjuring a YES booth debate on why he doesn't play more - flat-footed a throw to first, which Neil Walker - the veteran 2B-1B who cannot play either position well - failed to snag. It led to another gift-wrapped run.
Around here, outcomes generally dictate our drunken, post-game, prison-riot mood. Last night, we won. So who cares about the diddly shit, right? But to beat the looming powerhouse Blue Jay .500 dynasty, we had to burn our entire big four bullpen lug nuts - wringing nearly 2 innings from Chad Green, the surest thing we have to a lights-out power arm. Tonight, unless Sonny Gray takes us into the seventh - (what are the odds?) - we'll be dealing with Adam "Elizabeth" Warren and the Lost Chasen of Shreveport. Last night, had we simply played solid defense, we might not have wasted so many silver bullets.
You know what the poets say about happenstance: The butterfly flapping its wings in China eventually causes a tornado in the Midwest. That, my friends, is why baseball is a metaphor for life. A botched grounder in April can eventually cause a Tommy John surgery in September. We cannot win the AL East, or even a wild card appearance, with five-inning starters and a Swiss chess defense.
Apparently, this spring, Alex Cora made defense the No. 1 priority for his Redsocks. I'm still trying to discern what Aaron Boone prioritized, beyond his dimples.
Friday, April 20, 2018
The porous Yankee defense is killing us
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9 comments:
This week's episode of "Legion" on FX started with an interestingly visualized (everything visual about that show is interesting and trippy) explanation of how psychologically-caused physical symptoms can actually be contagious--a twitch caused by stress, for instance, leads to others in close social proximity developing the same twitch, even though they do not suffer from the cause.
The Yankees are exhibiting this phenomenon practically every time they take the field. This is why it can be more dangerous to have a Clank in left field than just the balls misplayed by Clank. Weirdly, bad defense, like good hitting, can be catching. I guess you can say the same about pitching, too: lousy starts breed more lousy starts, until a non-lousy start becomes an exception to the rule.
At any rate, I love "Legion" because it has these little educational digressions. That and the fact that I can feel like I'm tripping for a little over an hour without taking any acid. Big plus at my age.
Where does the buck stop with errors? How about Booney Boone Boone?
I continue to think that Boone is a weak, weak link and I continue to maintain my prediction of 83 wins.
I fully understand that my opinions are worthless, but they are mine. They're not yours. So blow me, as the great Jeets used to say.
I love you all.
John,
Do you fear the Shadow King?
It was fantastic to see our closer effectively close. Toonces showed signs of hope as well. Robertson is going through a rough patch but at least he didn't blow the game. our starting rotation is a joke, however.
Kaprielian is emerging from his rehab and will probably join the A's staff in a couple of months. Watch this guy become a real number one or two starter for Oakland. That will drive me insane.
The only trouble with blaming Ma Boone for the errors, 13bit, is that this again goes back to the prevailing baseball wisdom: fielding and fundamentals don't matter.
This notion got imbedded in the heads of every GM, especially our dear Mr. Cashman, despite the fact that he was right there to watch an A's team with great pitching and some fine hitters implode, year after year, in the playoffs against us, the Sox, or even the Twins.
Of course it matters! But Cashman will never pay attention to it, no matter who the manager is.
That said, too, I didn't think the miscues last night were all THAT horrible.
Sanchez was fooled in good part by the batter's check swing, which put his bat almost right in the way of where that pitch was headed. Flat-footed though it was, Toe's toss is easily scooped by a real first baseman.
Why are we keeping this ex-Metsie doxy on the team?
Mike Ford now! Mike Ford now!
And Duque, I love "drunken, post-game, prison riot mood"! Hee-hee! Captures it perfectly,
Duque, how can you NOT fear the Shadow King? And the monk with the teeth chattering thing...and the girls with the mustaches...so much to fear.
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