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Tuesday, May 22, 2018

Forget Judge, Stanton and Sanchez... the Yanks could break the record for most players to hit 20 HRs

Last week, in their continuing quest to redefine bullshit, the YES team neo-Gammonites announced that the 2018 Yankees had become the earliest team ever to field four batters with 10 homers... or something like that. 

These days, my ears wax over with the continuing lava flow of "unprecedented" historical milestones from the pre-and post-game wonks. Last night, the 2018 Yankees became the first team ever to hit four or more HRs over three straight games! Huh. "Unprecedented!" they say. I say, huh. And don't get me started on David Cone's bizarre fetish over exit velocities, matched only by his infatuation with long dead sitcoms. Last night, he called for a YouTube revival of Hogan's Heroes - perhaps the sickest premise in TV history. (Not to mention Bob Crane's certain "proclivities.") I'm waiting for him to rediscover Happy Days, just to summon the perfect IT IS HIGH headline: Coney Loves Chachi! 

So, um, anyways... the Yanks now lead the majors with 72 HRs in 45 games. Over a full season, that projects to 259.2 dingers - (the 0.2 being a Ronald Torreyes double.) That's only 4.8 HRs behind the all-time record, the 1997 Mariners - who didn't, it should be noted, reach the World Series. 

But another "unprecedented" event could be more rewarding. The Yankees look poised to break the seasonal record for number of batters with 20 or more HRs - which now stands at seven. It is shared by six teams, (including last year's miserable Orioles.) In fact, only the 2009 Yankees - with Tex, A-Rod, Swish, Jorge, Damon, Godzilla and Joggie Cano - homered their way to a ring. 

But look, look, LOOK: Barring injuries, as many as 12 Yankees this year could hit 20.

Aaron Judge, lock.
Giancarlo Stanton, lock.
Gary Sanchez, lock.
Didi Gregorius, lock.

Aaron Hicks, likelihood.
Greg Bird, likelihood. 
Tyler Austin, with a platoon, likelihood.
Brett Gardner, hit 21 last year; he'll heat up, a maybe.
Gleyber Torres, suddenly, a definite maybe!
Miguel Andujar, a decent maybe. 
Clint Frazier, if he gets called up, maybe a definite maybe.
Neil Walker, twice hit 23, hell, he hit one last night, an outside shot at a maybe, baby! 

Twelve candidates. We could not only break the record, we could absolutely demolish it. 

One problem: Boston is second with 68 HRs. They have seven solid bets for 20. Everywhere you look, unless injuries reshuffle the deck, 2018 is a two-team race. After that, as Coney would say in his impression of Sergeant Schultz... "I KNOW NOTHINGK." And it's true. I know nothingk.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Duque, thanks for mentioning the sit com thing as it is starting to drive me crazy. It's like the game isn't even on for these guys. They're just talking to each other about... whatever. Terrible!

Also, HEY Coney watching clips on YouTube is not like watching the show! You had him watch highlights of Sanford and Son but they weren't as good as watching highlights of Taxi? WTF?

They need to go back to calling the game, or at least talking about the game. Even those ridiculous milestones you mentioned above are better than what these guys are doing now.


Also why does everyone always go out of their way to praise Meredith? "That's really great reporting!!!!" But all she said was, the guy who just hurt himself went to the locker room and is going to get an X-Ray. Duh. How about, just, "Thanks Meredith. Keep us posted." I always feel like it diminishes her when they go over the top.

What kind of name is Meredith anyway? "Edith of the Sea?"

As to the HRs. Man, they hit a lot of them. I love that this team can take a punch and then get up off the floor and land one of their own. Like Judge's HR yesterday. Texas ties it up, three pitches later... untied. Fun.

Doug K.



Anonymous said...

YOU'RE GONNA LAUGH AT THIS....

WE ARE HUMMING....

EVERYTHING IS GOING BEAUTIFUL....

THERE IS ONE PLAYER RIGHT NOW THAT WHEN YOU LOOK AT THE NUMBERS, THEY DON'T JUMP OUT AT YOU....BUT THE NUMBERS ARE STILL GOOD.

THAT PLAYER HAS BEEN STEADY, AND CONSISTENT WITH THE BAT AND IN THE FIELD.

HE KEEPS GETTING BASE HITS (WITH OUR LINEUP, DON'T WORRY ABOUT HIS OBP).

HE IS QUIETLY CLUTCH WITH RUNNERS ON BASE, AND HAS A KNACK FOR MOVING RUNNERS OVER AND MAKING CONTACT AT THE PLATE.

IN OTHER WORDS, HE DOESN'T STRIKE OUT EVERY OTHER AT BAT LIKE HALF THE LEAGUE.

PERFECTLY PLACED LOW IN OUR BATTING ORDER, THIS IS THE TYPE OF PLAYER WE NEED TO COMPLEMENT OUR BIG BOPPERS.

HIS NAME IS MIGUEL ANDUJAR.

MY WORRY?

BRANDON DRURY.

IF COOPERSTOWN CASHMAN HAS IN HIS HEAD THAT DRURY NEEDS TO EVENTUALLY TAKE OVER 3RD BASE, OUR MAGIC CARPET RIDE MAY BE OVER.

Local Bargain Jerk said...


What kind of name is Meredith anyway? "Edith of the Sea?"

I will be casually dropping this into conversation with the handful of Merediths I know the next time the opportunity presents itself. Thank you.

TheWinWarblist said...

Mmmmm, can't wait for some salty Edith of the Sea action ...

13bit said...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meredith_(given_name)

Anonymous said...

13bit,

Wow! That was so much more than I could possibly understand. :) I did enjoy the list of famous Meridiths but they left off Burgess.

Doug K.

JM said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
HoraceClarke66 said...

"Edith of the Sea" was actually a big hit for Al Jolson, down in Atlantic City in the summer of 1926. He would sing it accompanying himself on the ukulele.

They don't write songs like that anymore!

TheWinWarblist said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
TheWinWarblist said...

I kinda miss Puckered ...

TheWinWarblist said...

Geechie Meredith

https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=meredi000buf

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