Bark. Huh? Bark! What's up with Lassie? Barkity-bark! What's the problem, girl? Barkbark, bark. Jeb, I think she's trying to say something. Bark, woof, barkbark. She wants us to follow her. Bark! Go ahead, girl. Bark woof! She's heading to the back 40, to that old abandoned well. Bark, bark, bark!
Okay, for a moment, let's accept the concept of literary arrogance. Let's say Aaron Judge is - well - Timmy.
I realize it makes no sense. Judge couldn't fit in a well, much less fall into one. But right now, across the Yankiverse, he is definitely missing, and one Yankee bat is barking, and it's Volpe's, and he wants us to follow, so whacha gonna do? Okay, girl, lead the way! We're right behind you.
Before plummeting deeper into this hole, let's establish one thing: Lassie never bit people. She snarled and pawed you but never tasted the tangy sweetness of human flesh. (Unlike the wolfish Rin-Tin-Tin, who went straight for the testicles. Damn dog loved chewing a nut sac. Cujo barely ate better.)
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| Last seven days, Yankee hitters |
But... anyways... where were we? Ah, yes... Judge Timmy is gone, and Lassie Volpe is barking at us. He wants us to follow.
Over the last 15 days, Volpe is hitting .396, the sixth highest BA in all of baseball.
Over the last seven days, he's at .364, ranked 19th in MLB.
Lately, he has been our most productive hitter, while batting 9th, in front of Ben Rice, which means seeing hittable pitches. Bark.
Meanwhile, Jose Caballero seems to be running himself ragged, playing everywhere and, at times, hardly resembling a MLB outfielder. But Cabby has earned the right to fuck up. He's been one of the steadiest Yanks, and everybody knows Volpe - the fair-haired local boy - didn't deserve to have the SS position kept open for him.
Still, here we are. Lately, Volpe is going with the pitches, hitting to right, and lashing line drives, rather than trying to power balls halfway to White Plains. At 25, he's hitting .267 on the season - serviceable - and fielding his position.
Dare we believe that, in year four - with George Lombard Jr. breathing down his neck, with the team in need of a spark, with Judge barely halfway through his rehab, with a two-game lead (loss column) in the AL East, and with Boston on the horizon - Anthony Volpe might be the one to lead us?
Hard argument to make. Still... what's that sound?
Bark.
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12 comments:
I always maintained that Volpe has got talent. Would be a much better hitter on another team with better coaching. He's at his best when he hits the other way and when he hits liners. Perhaps he's stopped listening to Yankee coaching. Perhaps he got private lessons from hiring personal coaches. He's certainly got the money to do that now.
I heard on the radio that Austin Wells got instruction from Yankee minor league coaches during his rehab stint. That the coaching seems to have worked. That he looks better. Hell, why couldn't they do that up here? Is there some kind of allergic reaction to giving a struggling player appropriate batting instruction up here?
Don't look now, but The Martian zapped a big home run yesterday. (It was right handed, against lefty ace Tarik Skubal.) Dominguez has been hitting right handed all year. When they called him up for the first time, he'd been destroying the ball right handed in the minors. Hmmmmm, as Jim Kelly said to the evil Han in the martial arts classic "Enter the Dragon", been practicing, huh?
On the other hand, Dominguez has not been hitting from the left side this year. They must've forgot about the left side. Hey, switch hitting is tough: you've got to practice twice as much as other players. You have to take batting practice from the left side, batting practice from the right side. Has to be done everyday. And if you're struggling from one side, then you have to do a lot of extra work on that side. So it takes a lot of time and energy.
This means there is correspondingly less time to work on defense. This means that moving such a player around to learn and play new multiple positions is not a great idea. Dominguez seems to take to playing in right field a lot better, and he himself says this position feels "more natural". Just hopes that he doesn't crash into the fence and damage his knee like that unfortunate kid - what was his name - Dustin Fowler, I think severely injured his knee on a utility box in foul territory, in his major league debut, no less.
Looked better? Wells is 1 for 10 with 3 strikeous since returning from the IL. He certainly doesn't seem any more accomplished.
With his speed, you'd think he's be a natural in center. But never mind: as long as he's hitting!
As for Volpe:
"So save your auditions for somebody
Who hasn't got so much to lose
Cause you can tell by the lines I'm reciting
That I've seen that movie, too..."
Was Duque saying Volpe is a dog?
Well, one thing we know, his girlfriend sure ain't a dog.
Perhaps they spoke too soon. So he was 1 for 7 before last night. Definitely trade bait, but I don't know that we could get a box of donuts for him.
Talk about the all-important loss column, you'll be feeling something special is lost when Lassie bites your sac. el duque is having quite the week: first Jazz and his ding-dong gets rung and now a rescue dog bites us in the balls to help save our season. Thank you, Dog God.
WHO LET THE DOGS OUT...WHO, WHO, WHO, WHO, WHO?
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