Five wins, one loss. As Phil Rizzuto would say: Not chopped liver. We still lead the AL East by a game. We're still waiting for the big dogs to awaken.
Remove Juan Soto and the re-engineered Anthony Volpe, and we have the same zombie walkers who in recent years made a 2-run lead feel insurmountable. Last night, after Nestor Cortes gave up three runs in the first, I assured myself that a) this is not 2023, b) the team has big hitters and c) these Yankees don't fold. Then they folded.
Okay, one game, one loss, one re-enactment of the past. It was destined to happen. One inning in, the Yankees were fried. A lame home plate ump didn't help - Judge got screwed on a low third strike - but fukkit, the Yankees weren't going to score eight runs, and they weren't going to go 6-0.
Thoughts...
1. Nestor needs to get his shit together in first innings. Whatever he's doing in pregame warmups, it's not working. Nice to see him fight through and pitch five innings. But his prep needs to change.
2. Via a headset, Gerrit Cole spoke from the dugout for an inning, assuring everyone that a) he feels well, b) he's following specific protocols to heal his arm and c) he never even tries throwing. Asked if he feels compelled to throw a pitch, he said yeah, so he throws with his left arm. Crazy. Either way, Cole has a bright post-career future in TV, chewing cud with Coney.
3. After Nestor, the Yankees wrangled three innings from a "V. Gonzalez" and a "J. Cousins," two emergency tote bags from the Scranton Shuffle. I believe MLB has a looming problem in the numbers of bullpen arms being used. Six games in is too early to be changing rosters on a nightly basis.
4. On that note, the Yankees traded Nick Ramirez to LA for cash. (My guess is he had no options, and they would lose him anyway?) And they signed ex-Met Phil Bickford to a minor league contract. The gristmill keeps grinding.
4. Monday, the Yankees will be playing Miami during the eclipse. It won't be that spectacular, NYC being far from the Zone of Totality. But I'm wondering who will come to bat during the moment, probably around the fifth inning. Sorta historic, doncha think?
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We are getting a 90% eclipse here in the city, which ain't bad. My eclipse glasses--ISO certified!--should be arriving today.
I would say that Nestor sucks and is done, but it's what he does AFTER the first inning that makes me think, "uhhh, maybe not." Whatever he's doing to warm up, like Duque said, ain't working. It looks like he should throw a lot more pitches before the game to tire himself out a little. Because once he gets through that first, he's doing just fine.
The big dogs are all suffering from ED. It's pathetic. I don't mind a slow start from a couple of them, but from all of them? No.
These new bullpen guys are no Nick Ramirez, that's for sure.
Well then. Last night seemed familiar.
Fuck Hal.
Allow me to point out that today is Wednesday - aka, Hûmp Day.
With that now in mind, today also brings us the second 2024 start of the newly reprogrammed CARLOSS RODON.
This is a man not in control of his emotions.
There is no green Vulcan blood flowing through his veins. In Trek lore he is more half-human half-Klingon .
Taking the ball coming off our first loss of the season, I expect to see him to be wound tighter than _________.
(Please feel free to provide your favorite wound tighter example in your comments)
So once again…after a few bad calls, a Gleyber misplay or someone turning on one of his meatball pitches, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Rodon lose his calm and act out a bit more today. Something with a touch more dramatic flair.
I’m not saying he’s going to flop down onto the rubber and try to mount the mound with a half dozen thrusts and gyrations but something special might be in the cards for us today.
Stay tuned…..
Then again, AA, he just might flop down onto the rubber and try to mount the mound with a half dozen thrusts and gyrations.
Why do we sign these head cases instead of comparable pitchers who aren't thusly afflicted? Cashman has a long history in that regard.
I'm feeling a little better about my 87 win prediction...
Great point, JM.
To try to offer an answer to your question - Cashman likes to think of himself as superior to most people - especially ball players. That’s why he tends to prefer to sign the thusly afflicted. Makes him feel superior.
Oh and what’s your wound tighter than?
I’m sure that Winny has at least one that he could share.
Through the first six games of 2023, the Yankees scored 29 runs and allowed 14 runs.
Through the first six games of 2024, the Yankees scored 26 runs and allowed 20 runs.
I'm not gonna complain about a 5-1 start, but keep a weather eye on the horizon.
Tighter than Mother Superior's Posterior?
OK, tighter than a tick's ass....
Here comes the shit ....
Yeah, we were waitin' for it. And now here it comes ... here it comes ... here comes your 19th nervous breakdown!
AA, do you remember that game where Dave Righetti blew a save in the 9th by giving up a big homer, might've been a grand slam, and then in a righteous fury he threw the new ball from the umpire way over the centerfield wall? Must've thrown that ball at least a 100 mph for it to clear over 400 feet. That was a helluva a throw! Our manager went out with the hook.
I think you hit the nail on the head, AA. Everything Cashman does is centered around proving that he is superior to anyone else in the game.
Hence all the dumpster diving. Maybe 1 in 25 of his dives produce something of worth, but those are the ones that everybody remembers.
Re. Eclipse: What is the big effing deal with this? Sit in a dark room. Turn on a flashlight. Point it at your face (but don't stare into the light, you could go blind). Close one eye. Take a ball and pass it in front of the flashlight slowly, so that the light is completely blocked by the ball from hitting your eye.
Congratulations! Ladies and germs, you just created your very own solar eclipse. Now let's go play some Twister! (Hope ya'll brought some hotties!)
Hoss - sometimes all you need in life to hit a nail on the head is a HAMMER of GOD!
And yes Hammer, I recall that Righetti throw.
Personally….I’d rather see Rodon mount and hump the mound because it would just be something so perfect, so right for the times.
We all need, we all deserve our real world SLAPSHOT moment.
Wound up tighter than a rutting bull (with a dozen hot cows standing in the next pasture)!
AA, "Cashman likes to think of himself as superior to most people - especially ball players. That’s why he tends to prefer to sign the thusly afflicted. Makes him feel superior."
There is a name for this in psychology. Is it the Napoleon complex? Is it small penis humiliation syndrome? For example, Adolf Hitler really wanted to be an "artiste", but the morons at the art academy told him that his art sucked. Therefore, he went on to become dictator of Germany, whilst stealing everybody's famous artwork. Just too effing bad that those stuck up university art professors didn't tell that bastard that he was the new Vincent Van Gogh.
Napoleon was short, so short that if you called the "Little Corporal", you might get yourself guillotined.
Trump supposedly has small hands. Does that mean he has a small weiner? Okay, low blow. But he sure acts like it. That woman (who he denied having sex with) said Trump's performance was ... meh.
Hammer, haven't you ever experienced an eclipse? Very forking weird. The light is eerie. Your pets might go nuts. It's pretty great, imo.
Duque, I had the same thoughts about Cortes and his pre-start warmup and prep. Or is analytics polluting that too?
Anytime Judge, Rizzo, & Stanton want to start hitting would be alright by me.
Stanton striking out a jaw-dropping 50% of the time. Paging James Rowson, this is what you’re here for.
Still, 5-1 is a good place to be. Let’s see how they respond today; typically they perform poorly on day games following night games, plus this is getaway day. If they phone it in during game # 7, that’s a bad sign…
@ JM, I'm not sure ... is it that really that glorious? Don't have any pets (thank God) but I do have a pair of nuts that like to go nuts when I watch the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders!
@ BTR999, No one can cure Stanton of his ills. That man's ass belongs on the bench, riding the pines, until his contract runneth out.
5-1 is a good place to be, indeed. We knoweth that they won't go 4-158!
Hammer, I can only give you my opinion on the eclipse. If you can go where there's a full 100% eclipse, you can look at the sun directly when it's fully covered, and that's supposed to be especially interesting. I don't remember ever experiencing one of those, myself.
As my Uncle Joe used to say, to each their own. (I had three Uncle Joes as a child. Also had two Uncle Als and Aunt Janes--married couples--one on each side of the family.)
The first Joe mentioned would only buy Hellman's mayonnaise, by the way. I do the same, for no good reason.
JM, I don't mean to sound like such a sourpuss. You should enjoy the event. I'll watch it too, on the news highlights! For those in the full eclipse path, I don't know that looking at it during the full eclipse is such a great idea. I'd stay inside and watch the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders myself. "... the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were fair ..." Genesis, Ch. 6.
JM! Thrusts and gyrations! Thrusts and gyrations!
Tighter than two coats of paint.
Watching the moons of Jupiter pass in front of you is more fun. At least it was until she got old and quit her job at the Kitty Club.
In the NY Post, it says Volpe has a stomach ache since the Great Mexico City Escapade. Wonder what went on down there? Hmmm. Could it be whorin' ... and drinkin' ... and drinkin' ... and whorin' ... and whorin' ... and drinkin' ... and drinkin' ... and whorin'? Yeah, sounds like them good ol' boys had a helleva good time down there!
Now Rufus, you really are my kind of man. Great thinkers think alike.
Hammer,
Was that you with the Benjamins down at Mons Venus during spring training?
Met a nice lady there that had an encounter, well maybe several 3 minute lap dances, with the subject of another of Hoss's books. She said he tipped well (the subject, not Hoss), but she needed to pee, so she left him to the other remora's. In the dressing room (an oxymoron if there ever was one) Joe Redner, the owner, asked her how the guy was. She replied, he was great, but he's a bullshitter. Told me he was fucking Reggie Jackson. DEAD. FUCKING. SILENCE. amongst Joe and the Kitty Kats. Joe: "ummm, that *was* Reggie Jackson"
Joe is the perfect strip club owner. Likes guys, not girls. Never samples the product. Pretty easy to talk to also. You'd never guess he was the owner if you didn't know beforehand.
By the way, the girls there miss you.
Nah, sorry, Rufus. Wasn't @ spring training, but it does sound like a lively place. Mons Venus, eh?
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