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Saturday, June 22, 2019

So Where Are We?





1.  The Stanton "hitting honeymoon" lasted one game.  He struck out three times last night, and that "look" has returned to his eyes.

2.  Judge is still looking for his first hit and he launched a throw to second that was caught by Urshela at third.  But he'll get it together.

3.  We scored runs only because of two-run homers, one each by Sanchez and Torres.  At least the young guys are making it happen.

4.  We lost Maybin and have yet another worry about Hicks ( who is hitting below .200 ).

5.  We used the entire pitching "A" team last night (5 in total), and barely got out with the win.  Houston had the tying run at the plate.

6.  Encarnation, at age 36, out-shined Luke Voit as a defensive first baseman, making three " game saving" plays.

So things are good, right?


9 comments:

13bit said...

I'm with you, Alphonso. Many Yankee fans now are drunk with our recent "success" and hey, a win is a win and first place is first place. But...it's not even July yet.

I come from a long line of dark, paranoid, worrying Greeks. We did not come from the sunny islands - where life was still hard, but at least sunny. No, we came from the hardscrabble rock mountains in the north, where one fuckup and you were out of the game forever.

Now, I was born in New York City and had my formative years in Yonkers - which, you could argue, was just as treacherous as the stony Pindus Mountains - but I was made from the DNA of those worrying Greeks, taught by them to always look over my shoulder and to beware the hot poker that was surly aimed straight at my ass if I should miss even one beat.

When I first heard the immortal words of Stachel Paige - "Don't look back, they me gaining on you." - or some variation thereof, I knew exactly what he was talking about.

Anyway, it's July. We didn't have much pitching to begin with and we have had some great performances from some real nonentities. CC is going to try to carry us to the finish, but his knees cannot take the load. Tanaka will do his best, but he has been erratic lately. I have zero expectations for Savvy, if they ever recall him from the coal mines. Happ? Ha! Paxton? Take a hit, my friend, off of this spliff. We shall see. We don't have warhorses. No aces. I guess we shall see. Maybe this group has taught itself how to have heart and win. I have personally been dreading the return of Stanton, who beings the sort of lead duvet feel to the whole team that A-Rod used to being. Big, heavy and somber.

It's not July yet, people.

Anonymous said...

I HATE STANTON.

HE CAN'T HIT A SLIDER, ANY SLIDER, FROM A RIGHT HANDED PITCHER.

SO, WHAT'S IT GOING TO BE?

WE GET TO THE PLAYOFFS AND THIS MUTT GETS UP WITH RUNNERS ALL OVER THE BASES, AND YOU KNOW IT'S GONNA BE STRIKE 3.

HE IS JUST PLAIN ABOMINABLE AS A SITUATIONAL HITTER, OR SIMPLY PUT, CAN'T HIT WITH RUNNERS ON BASE.

AT LEAST NOT IN THIS LEAGUE.

MAKES YOU WONDER ABOUT THE NATIONAL LEAGUE.

WTF WERE THEY THROWING HIM WHEN YOU CAN EASILY SEE HE CAN'T TOUCH A SLIDER?

KIND OF THE SAME THING I'M SEEING WITH ALONSO.

HE KEEPS BELTING HOMER AFTER HOMER ON THE FASTBALL.

WHEN I SEE A PITCHER WHO KEEPS WORKING HIM WITH JUNK, HE FANS, AND LOOKS BAD DOING IT.

THE N.L. IS REAL SLOW CATCHING UP TO A HITTERS WEAKNESS, IMO.

HoraceClarke66 said...

I have no worries at all. I know this team cannot possibly win the World Series or even the pennant with starting pitching this dubious, so I'm just taking this game by game and enjoying each win. Really, it's like, say, when the 1970 Yankees really overachieved, won 93 games...and finished 15 back of the Orioles.

This team doesn't have the starting pitching, it has a good bullpen—but one that's not even as good as 2017's—it has too many one-dimensional hitters who are too addicted to the long ball, it has too many guys who are prone to injuries, and it has a mediocre manager, a preening fool of a GM, and a cheapskate owner who would rather be building a soccer empire.

The New York Yankees have no more chance of winning a World Series in the near future than the Knicks—back in the news—have of winning an NBA crown.

So why worry? Enjoy the wins. It looks as though the Rays and the Sox may—MAY—have too many problems to take us in the regular season, so there's at least a possibility of a division crown, which is something. Our 27th straight winning season is also a strong possibility (though not a lock), and we could even win 100 games, which I thought absolutely impossible at the start of the season.

But a ring? Fuhgeddaboutit!

HoraceClarke66 said...

Very funny post, 13bit!

And ALL-CAPS, while I usually enjoy bashing "the Triple-A-Plus League," I suspect that both Stanton's and the Polar Bear's slugging success has been due in good part to who they're playing for.

Think of how many times these guys must be in games where they're well behind, and the pitcher just doesn't want to walk anybody. Or when they're facing equally mediocre teams, and some marginal pitcher is going to show he belongs in the show by putting one past the big bopper.

A-Rod was, of course, a pretty fair country hitter in Seattle. But look at how his power numbers REALLY took off when he was playing with last-place Texas.

It's like what Leo Durocher used to say: "Never get a bad team angry." These guys used to see a lot of fat pitches in games where everyone was yawning. It's a whole new ballgame at the level of intensity where the Yankees are usually playing.

Rufus T. Firefly said...

Stanton as the new Arod. I can see that.

Alphonso said...

Note to 13bit; we may have already shared this insight but I grew up on Cassilis Ave. in Yonkers. Where were you?

I went to PS #8. You?

13bit said...

We never did talk about this, Alphonso. My initial reaction to your post was going to be - "you probably grew up in another part of Yonkers," mainly because I run into few people from my neck of the woods. Then, I looked up Cassilis Avenue on the map and had a kind of PTSD moment. I spent the first ten years of my life - the whole of the 1960s - on Iroquois Road, which intersects with Tuckahoe Road. I see that, if you go a block or so down Tuckahoe Road and make a right, you're on Cassilis Avenue. Jesus. We well have eaten from the same pizza place. My best friend and I used to spend a lot of time in the bushes along the median of the Bronx River Parkway right around there, drinking beer and smoking week. I spent the next 10 years of my life - and my parents were there for far longer, on the other side of the dead end from Iroquois Road. That whole neighborhood is imprinted on my brain. I thought I was one of the few who made it out intact. Hail, fellow compatriot!

13bit said...

I went to PS 28

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