I know what you're thinking. No way we sweep Seattle. They're too good, our starting pitching is going to be Nestor, Who the Hell Knows, The Lousy New Guy, and Gil. Maybe two out of four. Maybe.
We could really use three out of four, but the reason it's unlikely--as is a sweep--has nothing to do with the above.
It's simple, and it's something I didn't realize until Big Head Kay pointed it out during a recent game: we kind of suck at day games.
Paul O'Neill mumbled an excuse about veteran teams not doing as well in the daytime. Which is exactly the opposite of what I'd expect. I mean, the light's better. You see better. You should play better.
But no. Day/night BA, .211/.250. Day/night slugging, .333/.427. OPS? .635/.763.
I can't explain it. Are our old eyes too weak to handle the full force of the sun? Even on a cloudy day? Or are we channeling Bela Lugosi (who's dead, according to Bauhaus)?
Just plain weird. But with day games on Saturday and Sunday, we'll be lucky to win one. Probably when Gil is pitching. Or, of course, maybe neither. So we better have our act together tonight and tomorrow night.
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In other news, I see we brought Wendy back to our bullpen. Hope Mr. Pan shows up.
No, they are old, and just like myself, they perform best at night.
[Insert crude joke here].
Maybe being so old they need their noon nap like I do
The Archangel
It's not the sun...maybe it's not enough sleep?
ICS tested positive for COVID via rapid test. He's waiting results for PCR.
Rob Brantley is on the roster in his stead.
Other roster moves...
08/05/21 New York Yankees optioned CF Greg Allen to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders.
08/05/21 New York Yankees activated LHP Wandy Peralta. (From COVID list)
I guess the J&J ain't so good or something like that
Day game after night game probably explains most of it. The old bodies don't have enough time to recover from their exertions during the previous night. That, combined with Boone resting everyone except Gardner.
The Hammer of God
I don't get sending down Greg Allen. This is why I'm sure that Brett Gardner will be here next year as well.
The Hammer of God
I'd rather have Allen instead of Peralta, easy. Maybe it's just so we have warm bodies to put on the mound today and tomorrow with short stint starters.
God, I hope so. I'm really starting to hate Gardner. And I hate to do that.
It's all so fucking exhausting.
Gary Sanchez down with COVID.
Gardner has a .740 OPS since early June. Basically, since the sticky stuff crackdown he’s been fine for a fourth outfielder.
The issue is how the Yankees use Gardner.
He should never been in the lineup vs. LHP. He should be used sparingly, starting like twice a week to give the big guys a day off their feet and coming in late as a defensive replacement for Stanton.
There’s a role for Gardner on the team, but Cashman/Boone are just so insistent on him playing every day it’s crazy.
Good points, Zach. But I'd still rather have Allen in the game instead. Just an opinion.
I guess the Toronto guy they picked up off waivers can't be sent down? He runs well. That's it. Allen is a more complete package. Plus the new guy walls around with his mouth hanging open all the time. What is he, a four year old? Shut yet mouth, man.
Walks, not walls. Cripes.
Yer, not yet.
I hate autocorrect.
A .740 OPS is crappy when there are better alternatives. Also his defense is overrated--he is MINUS one defensive run saved. He has only one stolen base. He He should be DFA'ed. Allen or Florial would be better overall alternatives against RHP.
I agree.
Boone actually just said he sent Allen down because they were so lucky to get a player of the caliber of Davis at the trade deadline. Holy fuck, is he full of shit. And a fucking idiot.
Greg Allen has a .655 OPS career so he’s the better alternative? Or do you think based on his first five games with the Yankees that suddenly he’s good now? The Yankees DFAed Allen back in February and ALL 29 TEAMS passed on him. For a reason. Allen was 5-25 (.200) in his last 10 games before being sent down. I don’t get the hype.
As for Florial, he’s already been pushed from Single-A to Triple-A in one season. That’s a lot already. If he’s actually a talented prospect, keep him down there until he’s tearing the league up. (Florial is hitting .208 in AAA.) The last thing we need is Florial up here listening to Marcus Thames’ advice.
Gardner has slowed down defensively but he’s at +1 DRS in 500 innings in CF this year, which is perfectly fine for a fourth outfielder. The lack of stolen bases is annoying, I get it. But as always, Gardner grades out as a well-above baserunner this year: going first to third and second to home in singles, etc.
Gardner is fine as a fourth outfielder, but Boone and Cashman insist on asking him to do more. That’s the problem.
We should be running out the outfield of LF Stanton, CF Gallo, RF Judge every day, with Gardner coming in for defense late and occasionally giving guys a day off.
BUT GARDNER IS NOT BEING USED AS A FOURTH OUTFIELDER. HE IS GETTING 2/3 OF THE STARTS IN CENTERFIELD. THAT'S NOT FINE. AND THAT'S THE PROBLEM. Either Florial or Allen would be a superior combination of defensive/offensive/running skills.
Can someone explain why Jonathan Davis is in CF tonight instead of Gregg Allen?
Florial was doing fine up here. Sometimes players neeed reps at the ML level to jump-start their careers. It's not always a linear process of reaching X threshold at AA or AAA before coming to the majors. A lot of players say that it's actually easier to hit in the majors than at AA or AAA because pitchers are around the plate more.
Gardner has a defensive WAR of ZERO for 2021. He sucks. He's washed up. He's a burden on the roster. His farewell tour is going to cost the Yankees a shot at the postseason.
But Gardner's a lefty...
And sometimes new players who can't make it for long can still fool the league for a month or two. But apparently Coops hasn't learned that, no matter how many rookies shut down the Yankees, year after year.
And the Yanks can't play in the daytime because they're out catching Covid and who knows what else at night.
Yes, I'm still pissed. But it's because of the lack of heart and effort, something that's too often evident. And the lack of a manager.
I realize that you can't be Earl Weaver or even Sparky Anderson these days. But there's really no way Ma Boone can sit these guys down in the lockerroom and say, "Hey guys, I know it's a long season. But it's dangerous out there now, and can you just cool it for another couple months so maybe this will all mean something?"
Apparently not.
Did Lorna Boone REALLY say that about the new guy (Davis) and "caliber?"
I just looked at his MLB.com page.
Age 29.
Speed? 11 SB in 120 games. That's right, he's been in 120 MLB ballgames, total.
208 ABs, BA .183, OBP .285. There's no power there.
Maybe he is a really good fielder?
Or maybe Boone has warmed up to the idea of getting silent messages thru via . . . irony?
To sum up Davis, and Boone's comment -- Suckitude, writ large!
As Bitty commented above -- "it's all so fucking exhausting."
@Anon Greg Allen was sent down to SWB…
Gallo!
What was Sterling's call?
Classic Sterling, a show tune!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pal_Joey_(musical)
What did he say?
@JM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRH0-np5QGU
That's a good one Beau...
Swung on, a high fly to deep right, getting toward the wall, that ball issss GAHHHHHN ! Joey jacks one to right field. A three run home run to give the Yankees the lead! Who is he? He’s Pal Joey!
If you have the MLB app, fast forward to 4:03 for all the glory.
Thanks, Beau.
And thanks, Ranger.
Amazing how fast we can look this stuff up now...
Speaking of musicals…. John hasn’t sung for us a while. He’s been so depressed. A good Yankees streak would cheer him up and get in him singing again.
Could we get the Houston trainer to do our covid test. I'm sure he does a good honest job. I guess these other teams are just luckier than we are
John is jizzoing over Rizzo's scoop on Odor's low throw.
Chapman will definitely blow this.
Where's Ridings?
Walk the lefty 8th hitter. Please
This is hell
Chaphole.
So unnecessary.
My god
Take him out. For Christ's sake.
Do we really want to see this team in the postseason?
We are about to lose. Just become one with the pain and helplessness.
As our Sage and Seer 13Bit said, "It's all so fucking exhausting."
He's not a closer anymore.
Bring in Lasagna before it’s too late.
I blame Boone.
Terrible field manager.
That was stupid.
Can we please have a 1. 2. 3. Inning?
To quote JM…. “Unnecessary”.
Maddening.
That was an adventure…
So here’s how this game went…. We’re all having a good time, about to shoot a big wad, suddenly things go soft, and I end up barely grinding one out alone. Plus sweat.
Ranger--I know Allen was sent down. My question about why Davis is on the team instead of Allen still applies. What conceivable rationale is there? It seems utterly arbitrary and perverse.
Keep in mind that Pal Joey's game winning pop-fly down the right-field would have been a routine out everywhere--and I mean everywhere, including most high-school stadiums--except in the shopping mall in the Bronx and, ironically, Fenway. Chapman's outing was typically erratic and sloppy, culiminating in a laser shot that missed being a three-run homer by an eighth of an inch off the bat. That means that Cashman's pastiche--it's hard to bestow it with the honorific "team"--is barely clawing its way to some of these victories--each win in Miami was a crap shoot, they couldn't sweep lowly Baltimore, etc. I would still be shocked if this COVID-wracked, Cashman-blighted, aging, erratic crew makes a real run. If it crashes and burns, as seems more likely, it will mark the beginning of a long decade in the desert for the Steinbrenner mafia formerly known as the Yankees.
@Anon...Michael Kay addressed this on his show yesterday...he said Allen is a good player, has gotten some key hits...but the Yanks are seeing something that we're not. I'm taking that as something metrics centric that's in the decision making process. Best answer he can give I guess.
Thanks, ranger. But that's still rather mystifying. Someone ought to be able to pinpoint the analyitical issue. I think Cashman's just confused and insecure and clueless. Davis is a sideways move at best, a guy who appears to have nothing to offer--even less than Allen on the face of it. There's got to be something more to this if we credit some degree of rationality or competence--but I think that would be an unwarranted assumption. I heard Boone babble something about "major league experience" in an interview with Carton and Roberts--but Davis's MLB experience is one of chronic failure. These are just basically dumb, panicked frauds in way over their heads.
@Anon...both these players are marginally major leaguers...we're not talking about Mike Trout are we? As for the analytics, a lot of those numbers are not privy for us folks who are arm chairing a roster...unfortunately the business has gone in this direction...
Ranger--that's my point. They're interchangeable at best, with Allen seeming to have the edge. Everyone is privy to most of the analytics numbers on various Web sites. There's no there there. It's an incomprehensible move. Davis is a nonentity. Swapping him in is inexplicable. My theory is more sinister--they are attached to Gardner, and with the switch-hitting Allen on the team they have no reason to retain Gardner. Someone higher up in the hierarchy--Levine, Steinbrenner, whoever, thinks Gardner helps to attract TV eyes or fans in the stands. So they dump the switch-hitter and grab a right-handed hitter to have an excuse to retain Gardner.
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