Whether he beats Maris or not, Aaron Judge's historic HR chase should conjure both a smile and grimace: The latter resulting from the most painful collapse in Yankee history, a meltdown of such proportions that Judge would surely leave next winter.
In fact, the Yankees are delivering a message to America, if not the world: Nothing is guaranteed. Anything can be toppled. It can happen here.
Last night, as you surely know by now, the Death Barge lost again to a team that fails to make the expanded list of wild card contenders. It was their third straight loss after a brief winning streak that seemed to suggest all was well.
Are there hopeful signs? Maybe.
1. Back from the injured list, Clay Holmes pitched a scoreless seventh, actually recording four outs after Gleyber flubbed a DP relay. If Holmes is truly back - we'll need a few outings to know - it would boost a bullpen of tired arms that, come October, will depend upon Luetge and Bard, rather than Tramp Stamp Chapman and Buttocks Britton.
2. Oswaldo Cabrera keeps pushing on, though still without a HR. Last night, he went 1-4 with two Ks and a game-ending shot that died at the track. Cabrera is 12-for-46, batting .261 in his cup of coffee. He hit 9 HRs this season at Scranton (batting .269 over 197 ABs.) Does he have power? He seems to put the barrel on balls, but they don't leave the park.
3. Frankie Montas went six innings, gave up four earned runs. That won't cut it. If the playoffs began tomorrow, our rotation would probably be Cole, Severino, Cortez and repeat. Like Sonny Gray before him, Montas would be a candidate to miss the postseason. In five games with St. Louis, Jordan Montgomery is 4-0 with an ERA of 1.76. His overall ERA - 3.29 - is better than Cole's.
What a disastrous trade deadline we had. And now, with six games left against us, Tampa doesn't need help from anybody else. Yikes.
Posts
57 comments:
The Boston Massacre in reverse is all teed up for Tampa. A Rays sweep (following our next two losses in LA) would make it basically a tie.
If it guaranteed the demise of Cashman it would almost be worth it. But it won't.
First of all, there hasn't been a good baseball player named Frankie, since Franke Frisch. as a matter of fact there hasn't been anyone named Frankie since the 60's (Frankie Avalon, Frankie Valli, Frankie Laine) so why did we get this guy? Another thought, there has never been a good player named Sonny. Sonny Siebert was not good, mediocre at best. When your team is sinking faster than your 401k, you need to look at things from a different perspective.
Mike Ford doesn't get a mention. How soon we forget. But the baseball gods didn't forget.
The biggest tell with Montas is, he seems to have many of the same facial expressions that Gary Sanchez had.
That does not bode well.
Celerino -
I did a quick Google search and you're right. No good Frankies since Frish. Also no good Celerinos period. :)
When you go against two league leading powerhouses like the A's and Angel's (with Babe Ruth, mind you), you have to expect some losses.
I won't let Brian Cashman's roster incompetence, Aaron Boone's bungling, or the lifeless "effort" from 90% of the roster ruin Aaron Judge's historic season for me. I never had high expectations for the 2022 Yankees, so I'm not too disheartened by this collapse. They'll still make the playoffs thanks to Manfred's expansion to 12 teams (what a joke) and meet an early exit, as was foretold.
For Judge to lead the league in HR by such a gap (14 HR!) in a year power is down (lowest league SLG since 2014) is such a joy.
Judge is only the 10th player in MLB history and 3rd in Yankee history to have multiple 50-HR seasons.
Babe Ruth
Mickey Mantle
Aaron Judge
Hell of a list.
If he can hit 12 more HR in our final 33 games, he'll have the AL single-season record.
Zach, the downside is this is -- high probability, I think -- the last time we'll see All Rise in pinstripes.
@ZacharyA...I'm anticipating a Wild Card series with the Yanks against the Orioles. We all know how that ends...
God, this team sucks.
Reading the above comment about the facial expression of ICS, I checked the stats.
Garyy is hitting .213, with a .283 OBP. 12 HR, 46 RBI. This seems (kinda) in line with what he did with NYYs, except for 2017 -- a year of bright shiny promise. He hit .278 that year, with 33 hr and 90 RBI in 511 PAs. He struck out 120 times (!) in that year.
This year: 99Ks in 347 PAs
59 games started at catcher. Caught stealing 12, SBs by opponents 24
Errors 3, passed balls 4
Seemed to me the PB number was lower than with the NYYs, but that's b/c of an old guy's memory. Sanchez did experience 18 PBs in 74 games started at C in 2018.
@Joe that's why we have to enjoy it while he's here
Can't wait to see how Cashman replaces Judge. I assume we'll go down the same path as the 2013-2014 offseason when we lost Cano: Brian McCann, Jacoby Ellsbury, Carlos Beltran, Brendan Ryan, Brian Roberts, etc. That worked out well.
Cashman has already replaced Judge, with Harrison Bader.
Aaron Boone sure put up a doozy of a lineup yesterday, and then punctuated that with a dumb decision to pitch to Ohtani.
Let us examine the lineup yesterday. Judge hitting 2 again, but this time with Benintendi, of all people, hitting 3. Would someone explain why a singles hitting lefty hitter hits 3 against a lefty pitcher? Isn't it more natural to put Benintendi 2, so that he can hit a single, and then have Judge hit a moonshot? Isn't the reverse what happened in the 8th inning yesterday? Are they not ignoring the rules of probability, and too strictly adhering to the rules of sabermetrics?
And Judge got walked several times just to get to Benintendi. So Ben-bo provided zero protection for Judge.
When Trout hit a single, Ohtani was there to hit the moonshot, because Ohtani was hitting 3. You'd think the Yanks would have the brains to pitch around Ohtani or just walk him. But no, their pitchers can get anyone out, so they pitch to him and bang-zoom.
Interesting tid bit, Susan Waldman brought up the issue of where will Ohtani go when the Angels ownership sells out. (Moreno has been rumored to be shopping his franchise). And she was wondering if Ohtani has changed his mind about playing for an east coast team.
Zach,
You should have listed the immortal Zoilo Almonte first.
I hear Cashole is considering him for a plaque in monument park.
The most likely scenario with Judge during the winter is that at least two other teams (Mets & Dodgers?) will venture to pry him away from us, with never-before-heard-of figures, possibly approaching 700 million. And that the Yankees will make their "fair" offer of $375 million.
So if you're Judge, do you give the Yankees a huge hometown discount and re-sign here or leave for greener pastures?
I don't think Judge is stupid, so let's say that his assessment of the Yankees's situation is similar to ours: that the Yankees, run by Brainless Cashman, and guided by HAL, the all-knowing financial supercomputer, won't win a World Series for at least the next quarter century. So, Judge will conclude that leaving for greener pastures will probably greatly increase his chances of winning at least one World Series before he retires.
It's that chance of winning at least one championship & making twice as much money versus taking a hometown discount & getting a plaque out in monument field one day. It's whatever makes him happy. I think I'd choose the winning, even if I got only half the Yankees's offer. It would be hard to swallow seeing Judge retire without ever having lifted a championship trophy. And how many of these crazy collapsing seasons can anyone endure without losing his mind (and his hair)?
It seems Boone never puts out the same lineup in consecutive games. Problem is, the lineup is full of players who should be hitting at 7, 8, or even 9. I’d move Trevino up as high as fifth.
Still wondering if Boone actually constructs these lineups or if they are handed to him by the washouts in Anal-lyrics.
BTW, what did happen to Beltran? No mas?
If I remember correctly, Beltran struck out looking.
Hammer, re the lineup: EXACTLY!!!
I've been saying this ever since we got Beni (without the jets): he's a natural No. 2 hitter.
And sure enough, in the 8th last night, after Judge's moonshot—Benintendi whacked a line drive single back through the box. Nearly took the pitcher's head off.
The whole thing of hitting Judge second makes NO sense. First off, if the idea is to just have Judge get more at-bats—which it seems to be—then why not hit him first?
Second, what the Sabremetricious ignore is the fact that pitchers do not pitch as well with men on base. THEY JUST DON'T. Among other things, they have to pitch from the stretch.
That is why managers have tried to bunch their best hitters together for the last 150 years. Men on base mean constant distractions, along with the knowledge that you have to pitch to the guy at the plate.
DJ and Beni are—besides Judge—the Yanks' best OBP guys. You have them BOTH in front of him, you double your chances of having someone on base for this next homer. AND...if you bat your best power hitter second, you cannot physically have a three-run homer in the first inning—always a bone-crusher.
A host of FAN Brian Tierney, A Yankee Fan, waxed poetic. It does not matter what fans think whne a team is run by idiots. Going on the cheap and not bright. Compare Olson's and Freeman's stats to Rizzo's. Whether it is Cheapskate Hal or Genius Cashman or both. Trading a starter for a player on the IL. Bringing in scrub players, specifically pitchers. Trading for Montas, the next Sonny Gray. The result, 6-5-4-3-2-1- Collapse.
Celerino, I beg to differ. Wilfred Charles "Sonny" Siebert was a very good pitcher, 140-114, 3.21—and even better before his arm went, at 36.
I saw him take a no-hitter into the 9th in 1970, against our New York Yankees. First batter up—that is, ME—singled off him. Clarke broke up 4 different no-hitters that year. Jerry Kenney followed with a double, which should have told Sox manager Eddie Kasko his pitcher was done, but instead he left him in to give up a single to Murcer, then a home run to Roy White that landed in the bleachers just a few rows in front of where my father and I were sitting.
Sox still won, 7-4, damn them. But it was a redeeming inning.
Doug K.: I beg to differ. Celerino Sanchez gave us a great couple months in 1972.
Publius, good point. Montas' performance, statistically, might not have seemed so bad last night...but then you realize that one of the runs was a towering shot off the bat of Mike Ford. Oy.
What about the Giants, Hammer? Would they be in on the Judge sweepstakes, too? I would think they might.
The Yanks right now are operating on one of Brian Cashman's many, almost psychotic delusions: 'Hey, we have a big lead, we can just coast along until October, and make sure we get this team right for the playoffs.'
Umm, no, we can't. Teams can't just turn it on and off at will. And this means that Judge may well see the greatest accomplishment of his career swallowed up by almost crazed disgust with this team as if collapses.
Why would he possibly want to stick around for more of the same, with an even worse team next season?
Had to bring up The Archangel's great comment from deep in the midnight roll last night:
"I, for one, am looking forward to the Montas Spring Training stories about how he is all settled in NY, has worked all winter on being in the best shape of his life, fixed a flaw in his delivery and will win 20 games as NY's All-Star No. 2 starter.
What do you say, over and Under for the first story Feb 16th.?"
EXACTLY, Archie!
Basically, you can just reprint the spring training stories on Sonny Gray, 2018, and Joey Gallo, 2022, and change the names. This is why rooting for the Yankees under Cashman has become such a dispiriting exercise.
I think Judge will end up in San Francisco.
They only have $85M on the books for 2023 and only $14M guaranteed for 2024.
And this is a franchise that regularly ran $150M - $200M payrolls from 2014-2019.
They need a big power bat in the middle of their lineup. Last night they had Wilmer Flores batting third and Joc Pederson batting 4th.
Judge grew up in central California.
It's a really good fit.
Yeah, that's what I was worried about, Zach—thanks for providing the numbers. And the Giants were a serious contender last year.
Judge would probably have a blast there, close to family and all. And on a team that actually wants to win.
The killer would be if he goes to Queens. That would mean what the TV commentators like to call a major paradigm shift, a change in the balance of baseball power in this city unseen since at least 1969, and maybe going all the way back to late 1914, when the colonels purchased the Yankees.
As a great man once said, we're as doomed as doomed can be, y'know.
Concur Zach. Smart money's on Judge the Giant.
I HAD THAT SAME EXACT THOUGHT IT'S ICS SANCHEZ IN PITCHER FORM
Getting back to more serious topics:
Best Kinks song ever? I'm thinking "Lola," though "Apeman" is right up there.
Also quite high on my list: "Come Dancing."
And yeah, Joe, no matter how many of his acquisitions look like deer-in-the-headlights when they come to NYC, The Brain NEVER, but NEVER seems to consider their emotional/psychological make-up.
Frankie Say: I Want to Go Home
We Say: Go, Already
I wish all Yankee fans would commit to a global boycott until Cashmans punk ass is fired....he singlehandedly tanked this season
Hoss, it's too late - that balance of power has already shifted over to flushing.
Hoss, best Kinks song? For me “Waterloo Sunset”, yes to “Come Dancing” and of course “Lola” and “You Really Got Me”. Two lesser known favs of mind are “God’s Children” and especially “Get Back In Line”
The alter ego to "You Really Got Me" is "All Day and All of the Night", which is a heck of a song too. Always loved that raunchy guitar sound on Day/Night. Very similar to You Really Got Me but it has a bit more stutter step, and that makes it groove even more. And the sloppy garage band sounding solo fits it to a tee.
Frankie Montas gave up four to the Angels. What'll he do against the Ass-stros? Yeah, I heard he has good stats against them, but then again, he had good stats against the Angels, until last night.
It could very well be that Judge goes to San Fran. It checks all the boxes for him: California (home); they know how to build a championship club; they have the money to pay him.
Is Dave Righetti still with San Fran as part of management? Righetti never got a championship with the Yankees, but he handled a championship staff for a 3 out of 5 win dynasty. Good for him!
The Giants won WS championships with Rags as pitching coach and Hensley Muelens, of all people, as hitting coach. It's Judge's destiny. The reverse DiMaggio.
The above (especially Waterloo Sunset)plus... Mr. Pleasant, Celluloid Heroes, 20th Century Man
So many great songs. Yes on Lola, also Sunny Afternoon. But I have a soft spot for the Low Budget album and many of the songs on that, as well. and let's not forget All Day and All of the Night
@ Horace....my 2 favorite Kinks songs are both political in nature.
A Well Respected Man and Catch Me Now I'm Falling.
Also, there was a Sonny with a great rocket arm-Sonny Jurgensen. If only he could pitch. And speaking of pitching....was there a better kiddie TV toy salesman than Sonny Fox?
I predicted These Our 2022 New York Yankees [TM] would win 80 games. I believe they can still pull it out.
I just want my sense of smell to return. Fuck the Yankees.
13bit,
At least you don't have to smell the stinking corpse that was once the NEW YORK YANKEES.
There is that .
I am also going to indulge in a little I-Told-You-So-ing. A number of the Commentariat prior to the All Star break were projecting how many wins These Our 2022 New York Yankees [TM] would win "if they only played .500 ball down the stretch. "If." I tried to point out the the season is long and CashBrain still lived, but so carried away were you (you know who you are!) that you opined optimistic thoughts in this sage and even-keeled blog. RANK OPTIMISSIM!! As if the Special Masters of JuJu would turn a blind eye to such frippery.
Do These Our 2022 New York Yankees [TM] seem like they can play .500 ball? Do they?
Fuck.
WHAT THE HELL IS THE MATTER WITH ALL OF YOU MISCREANTS.%^&*(?<
Hal just bought a 10% interest in an Italian soccer team and we have gone almost 5 hours without any pithy (derogatory) comments.
Folks snap out of it. I'll start.
Hal likes teams that only score 0 or 1 a game.
YES will now have EXCLUSIVE broadcast rights to all AC Milan rights to all full game replays. [Actually, that may be true.]
@ 13 Bit...my daughter had Covid about a year ago. Her sense of smell was altered and so many of the things she enjoyed eating and drinking either had no taste at all or made her nauseous. Like coffee, eggs and wine to name three. Most of the lingering effects have passed with time but she still isn't 100% pre-condition. This is common with many Covid patients and the average time to mostly return to normal is 3-6 months. Unfortunately, a certain number never get their full sensation completely back. Some have to retrain their brain to remember these tastes. She had to continually sniff certain substances under her nose and it helped a lot.
I had Covid but only minor taste/smell alteration. Mostly, those perceptions were only muted and not altered. I hope your post-Covid circumstances are better than hers.
Arch is correct. Now you know why Hal is so compulsively parsimonious when it comes to the Yankees.
The New York Yankees are becoming a minority investor in Italian champion AC Milan, the second soccer team the baseball power will partially own after MLS’s New York City.
A Los Angeles-based fund that includes LeBron James also is becoming a minority investor in the seven-time European champion under RedBird Capital Partners, The Financial Times reported Tuesday. RedBird is nearing a deal to purchase a controlling interest in Milan for 1.2 billion euros ($1.2 billion).
Gerry Cardinale, who founded RedBird in 2014 and is a managing partner, announced a preliminary agreement in June to buy Milan from fellow American firm Elliott Management. The closing is to take place by the end of September.
Yankees Global Enterprises, the baseball team’s parent company led by the Steinbrenner family, will take a stake of about 10% in Milan, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because the final deal has not been announced.
“We’re very confident that the Yankee brand is the most famous sports brand in the world, and we think we can help boost the revenue of AC Milan by being associated with it,” Yankees president Randy Levine said Tuesday.
Milan declined to comment.
The Yankees agreed in 2013 to purchase a 20% stake in the New York City Major League Soccer team that launched in 2015. City Football Group, Manchester City’s parent company, is the controlling owner.
Yankees Global Enterprises also owns stakes in the YES Network and Legends Hospitality, formed in 2008 with the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys.
“It came about based on our relationship with Gerry and RedBird that goes back over 25 years,” Levine said. “The Steinbrenners were one of the original investors in RedBird when Gerry started it. We worked very closely with Gerry when he was at Goldman Sachs in building the YES Network and Legends Hospitality. He was involved with Goldman’s work on the new Yankee Stadium when RedBird was formed and YES was purchased back from Disney, RedBird became a partner with us and YES.”
The Yankees, 27-time World Series champions, are signing a separate marketing agreement with Milan, a 19-time Italian champion, that will include broadcasting replays of games on the YES Network, as Manchester City does. There also will be cross-merchandising between the pinstripes and the Rossoneri.
“We have a little familiarity with soccer — we’ve learned a little since our relationship with City Football Group,” Levine said. “We think it’s a good investment. Like with Man City, we do not intend to get involved in running the soccer side. We leave it to the experts. We’ve got enough to do on the baseball side.”
New York City plays most of its home games at Yankee Stadium, and Levine is helping lead the search for a site for a soccer stadium for the MLS team.
Milan is coming off its first Italian title in 11 years.
Main Street Advisors, the fund supported by Lebron James, also counts the rapper Drake among its partners, as well as English Premier League club Liverpool and the Boston Red Sox.
Under the radar Kinks' Klassics...Sweet Lady Genevieve, Salvation Row, The First Time We Fall In Love, Underneath The Neon Sign, The Informer
What the heck? How can any Kinks song outstrip You Really Got Me? All Day and All of the Night, way up there. Lola was good. Sunday Afternoon was good. Come Dancing was silly and buried somewhere in the bottom half of their output. Apeman? Oy gevalt. Davies being completely goofy, which is allowed, but one of their best?
My head is spinning. Kind of like whenever Montas pitches.
JM -
I think the distinction is, the two songs you mentioned are better Rock songs. Classics.
But the ones we are talking about touched us in a more content driven emotional way.
They set moods or made a point about the world at large.
"You Really Got Me" has drive, and is great but it doesn't resonate (except as a truly great rock and roll song - which it is.)
Waterloo Sunset tells a story. Sunny Afternoon brings you to a place. Celluloid Heroes sums up how fleeting fame is. Low Budget was written when he went broke. There's a depth that the others can't (and don't have to) touch.
So now we're talking about The Kinks? Wow. You're old.
I love the Kinks, but I like some covers of their songs just as well or even better,,, Victoria by The Fall, Lola by The Raincoats, and Celluloid Heroes by Joan Jett. You have all named my favorites, though I'd add Destroyer and Victoria to the list.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot, FUCK CASHMAN & FUUUUUUUUCCKKKKKK HAL!
Nobody mentioning The Village Green Preservation Society?? Are you all mad?
"Do You Remember Walter"? "Animal Farm"?
If Sunny Day brings you to a place (an English place, no doubt) then this song does a better job. Courtesy of the Moody Blues:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fMgzz3vs0w
And if you contemplate being brought back to a place in YOUR life consider this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ViJn-FFJaA
Great they can fuck up multiple franchises then
Post a Comment