Game 143. Yanks go 2 for 15 w/RISP, lose, 3-2, see WC lead shrink to 2 1/2 games.

The Yanks (89-54) are hearing footsteps.

By losing to Seattle, 3-2 today, the Yanks lead over Oakland for the top wild card spot shrunk to 2 1/2 games.

Time to get nervous, Yankees fans.

What killed the Yanks today was that they were 2 for 15 w/RISP.

This team doesn’t bunt, as I mentioned at our recent Lehigh Valley Yankee Fan Club Meeting. 10 sacrifices all year. I mentioned that in the old days, Phil Rizzuto would have had that many at the All-Star break.  (Rizzuto led the majors 1949-1952).

In 1930, Babe Ruth (BABE RUTH!) had 21 sacrifice bunts. Lou Gehrig had at least 10 each season from 1925-1930, including 21 for the great 1927 squad. Joe DiMaggio had 6 in 1939.

As recently as 2004, Derek Jeter had 16. That is 6 more than the WHOLE YANKEES TEAM has this season.

The game has changed, and not for the better. Instead of a well-rounded team, you have teams that rely strictly on the HR, don’t hit-and-run, can’t steal bases and don’t bunt runners over. Sound familiar?

MeanwAnhile, Seattle won the game because they DID bunt a runner over.

The Yanks scored in the top of the first when Stanton and Andujar had back-to-back doubles.

But after getting the first two guys out in the bottom of the first, CC gave up four straight singles. Two runs. Seattle up 2-1.

Now, for a rookie manager, I think Boone has done a good job. How can you argue with 89-54? But….

I realize he was hired to project more calm as opposed to Girardi’s tenseness. But still, there are times when you have to light a fire under the team and bitch them out if necessary.

Girardi’s strength was bullpen management. Some of Boone’s bullpen decisions I question.

But I think the most questions I have regarding Boone is his lineups. Nothing consistent, and the biggest problem I have is this:

Why does he continue to bat Gary Sanchez 4th (as he did today) or 5th in the lineup? Sanchez is now hitting .181 on the season. What other manager bats a guy hitting .180 something 4th or 5th in the lineup? When will Boone ride the hot hand and have Voit cleanup, Torres 5th and have Sanchez and Walker 6th or 7th, instead of Sanchez 4th and Walker 5th?

Here are the numbers and today’s lineup. Batting averages as of the game’s finish.

4th. Sanchez .181 (PR for by Wade later, Romine finishing the game).
5th. Walker .221
6th. Voit .306
7th. Torres .280

Now, based on that, who should be batting 4 and 5, and who should be hitting 6 and 7?

Really?

Three singles and a bases-loaded walk to McCutchen tied the game in the fourth. But they had the bases loaded, no out and only scored that one run. No bunt by Hechevarria or Gardner with the bases loaded, and Stanton grounded out.

Voit doubled to lead off the sixth. He was left stranded. Torres nor Hechevarria with a bunt.

In the bottom of the eighth, a walk, steal, sac bunt and fielder’s choice brought in the winning run for Seattle.

Littleball, which the Yanks need to employ.

You can’t just rely on the HR. They didn’t get any today, and lost 3-2 as a result.

Andujar 2 hits, RBI
Voit 2 hits (once again, why him 6th, and .181 Sanchez 4th?)

Sabathia 5 IP, 2 R, 7 H, 1 W, 4 K.  3.54
Green 2 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 3 K.  2.54
Betances (L, 4-5, 2.56) 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 W, 2 K.

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Game 15. Yanks maul Marlins, 12-1.

You kind of wish this didn’t happen against two Yankees’ legends, CEO (Yankees #2) Derek Jeter and manager (Yankees #23) Don Mattingly of the Miami Marlins, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

The best way, it seems, for teams to get healthy right now is to play one of the Florida teams, the Rays or Marlins, because both stink.

Still, you have to win the game. The Yanks, playing after two days of rain outs, pounded the Marlins 12-1 to go to 8-7 on the season.

Going into the game, the Yanks were the perfect .500 team at 7-7. What do I mean by perfect? They scored 77 runs, and gave up 77 runs. The offense was 10% above league average, the pitching 10% below league average. If that isn’t a perfect .500 team, what is?

Before the game, some news. Jacoby Ellsbury is morphing into Carl Pavano. First a rib cage injury, then a hip injury, now it is his plantar fascitis. He hasn’t played a game for the Yanks yet, hasn’t played since how many weeks ago in spring training, is the #5 OF, is owed $68 million over this year and the next two…. Sheesh.

As for Brandon Drury, he is taking meds to calm down the migraines, but still has blurry vision. Blurry vision he says he has had over the last several years, and he admits to stepping in the batter’s box with the blurry vision! Which makes what he has done in the majors so far that much more impressive and scary. Blurry vision while facing a 100 MPH fastball? No thanks. Get that vision and migraines taken care of and hopefully, the situation isn’t major.

If he was a good player with blurry vision, what could he become with clear vision?

Now to the game. A mauling which you wish didn’t happen against Donnie and Derek, but what can you do?

Ex-Yankee Caleb Smith (there with the Yanks briefly last year) started for the Marlins and got mauled.

The Yanks scored in each of the first five innings.

In the first, Gardner singled,  Judge walked. Stanton walked to load the bases. After Didi popped up (He would make up for it later), Sanchez’ IF single brought home a run. After Hicks popped up, Austin walked to make it 2-0.

In the second, Judge homered (4) to make it 3-0. Judge became the fastest player ever to 60 career HR.

In the third, two more runs. Didi walked, Sanchez singled. Hicks doubled both home. 5-0.

In the fourth, with two out, Stanton was HBP. Didi hit a HR, his first of two on the night, to make it 7-0.

To the fifth, and the Yanks put up four more to make it 11-0. Austin led off with a double and Andujar doubled to make it 8-0. Torreyes singled Andujar to third. Gardner walked. Judge singled in a run. After two outs, Sanchez singled in two to make it 11-0.

In the seventh, Didi hit his second HR of the game (5) to make it 12-0.

Meanwhile, Severino was dealing. 6 IP, no runs, one hit. Miami got its only run of the game in the eighth, after Seve was out of the game.

15 hits, 8 walks, 1 HBP.

Didn’t realize. Jace Peterson back with the team…

Gardner 2 hits, walk, 2 runs scored.
Judge 2 hits, HR, 2 runs scored, 1 walk.
Didi 2 hits, both HR, 3 RBI, scored 3 runs. Walked. How he has developed.
Sanchez 3 hits, scored one run, drove in 3. Starting to heat up. Walk.
Hicks 2 RBI, walk
Austin 2 hits, rbi, walk.
Andujar 2 hits, scored one, drove one in. Walk. He’s starting to get hot.

Some guys, notably Andujar and Sanchez, seem to be picking it up. A good sign. Getting Hicks back helps, too.

Severino (W 3-1, 2.63) 6 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 1 W, 8 K
Warren 1 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 1 W, 2 K. 3.18
Shreve 1 IP, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 H, 2 W, 1 K. 0.00
Betances 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 2 K. 7.04

Sad NBA note. #15 for the Philadelphia 76ers, G Hal Greer, passed away on April 14 at the age of 81. A great guard for the 76ers in the 1960s, and on their 1967 NBA title team.

From Wikipedia:

He played for the Syracuse Nationals / Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1958 through 1973. A guard, Greer was a 10-time NBA All-Star and was named to the All-NBA Second Team seven times. He was named to the NBA’s 50th Anniversary All-Time Team and he had his uniform number retired by the 76ers.

Greer had an unusual but highly effective free throw technique, shooting a jump shot from the charity stripe. He is usually considered the third-best guard of the 1960s, behind Oscar Robertson and fellow West Virginia native Jerry West.

 

 

 

Game 5. 2 HR, 8 RBI for Didi in 11-4 Yanks’ win.

It is hard to follow a legend, but Didi Gregorius is doing a good job of doing so.

Last season, Didi hit 25 HR to set a new Yankees’ record for HR by a SS, breaking Derek Jeter’s record.

Today, in the Yanks’ home opener, he set a record for RBI by a Yankees’ SS in a game with eight.

He picked up Giancarlo Stanton, who in his first home game as a Yankee, went 0 for 5 with 5 strikeouts. If 0 for 4 with 4 strikeouts is known as the golden sombrero, is what Stanton did called the platinum sombrero?

But hey, it takes a team. When Didi cools off, that is when you hope Stanton and Sanchez (now 1 for 19) take off.

With the 11-4 win over the Rays on a miserable, cold, rainy day, the Yanks go to 3-2 on the season.

The Yanks struck first. In the bottom of the second, Didi, who was 4 for 4, scored 3 runs and drove in eight, hit a double. With one out, Neil Walker walked, and with two out, Tyler Wade singled in Didi. Wade would be robbed of his first MLB HR later in the game.

A single, walk and error by Drury enabled the Rays to tie the game in the top of the third. It would have been more, but Gardner, after catching a fly out, nailed ex-Yankee Rob Refsnyder at the plate as Refsnyder was trying to tag up and score.

Didi hit the first of his two three-run HRs in the bottom of the third to put the Yanks up 4-1.

Jordan Montgomery only gave up one run in five innings. The first time through the rotation, the starters have given up 0, 1, 2 (1 earned), 1 and 1 run. Good. Now to go deeper into the games, as they have lasted 5 2/3, 6, 5, 4+ and 5 innings. Need a little more length.

The bullpen was supposed to be a strength, but it has been shaky so far and was again today. Jonathan Holder replaced Montgomery in the sixth and after a strikeout, gave up a double, single, single to make it 4-2, and single to load the bases. Out he went and in came Kahnle. Kahnle got a big strikeout but then gave up a double that tied the game up before a ground out ended the inning.

In the bottom of the seventh, Tyler Austin doubled and Brett Gardner put down a sac bunt. An error on the bunt enabled Austin to score and Gardner to reach second. Aaron Judge singled Gardner to third and after Stanton struck out, Didi hit his second three-run HR of the game to make it 8-4.

In the bottom of the eighth, with one out, Tyler Wade and Tyler Austin walked. Brett Gardner beat out an infield hit to load the bases and Aaron Judge walked to force in a run. After Stanton struck out yet again, Didi blooped a 2-run single to make it 11-4 and complete his 4 for 4, 8 RBI, 2 HR day.

Gardner 2 hits. Scored 3 runs.
Judge 2 hits, scored twice. Walked twice. RBI.
Stanton 0 for 5 with 5 strikeouts.
Didi 4 for 4, 2 HR, double, scored 3 runs, Drove in 8.
Sanchez 0 for 5, 1 for 19 for the season. Slow start.

Montgomery 5 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 4 W, 4 K.
Holder (H) 1/3 IP, 3 R, 4 H, 0 W, 1 K. Silly hold rule
Kahnle (BS, Win) 1 2/3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 4 K
Robertson 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 0 K.
Shreve 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 2 K.

I won’t post stats until we are further along into the season.

Jacoby Ellsbury, trying to get over an oblique strain and expected back later this week, has apparently turned into Carl Pavano. Now, while rehabbing the oblique strain, he has hurt his hip. No timetable for him to be back.

With all the outfield injuries, the Yanks picked up Trayce Thompson off the Dodgers on waivers. Thompson’s dad, Mychal, played for the Lakers with Magic and Kareem in the late 1980s, and his brother Klay is with the Golden State Warriors.

Trayce is 27 and can play all three OF positions. A righty bat, he only got in 27 games for the NL Champion Dodgers last year, going 6 for 49, 2 doubles, 1 triple, 1 HR, 2 RBI.

He spent 2015 with the White Sox and 2016 and 2017 with the Dodgers. In 151 MLB games, 407 AB (about the equivalent of one full season), he has just a .233 batting average but does have 19 HR and 50 RBI. OPS+ 103. He didn’t play in the postseason with the Dodgers.

 

 

Yankees thoughts after getting Stanton.

From the NY Post. Interesting words from new Yankees manager Aaron Boone. Could this be his managerial style (barring the fights, controversy and drinking that went with Billy?)

Q: If you could pick the brain of one manager in the history of baseball, who would it be?
A: I think I’d want to go back and just sit down with Billy Martin … see what’s going on there. I’ve heard, obviously a number of (chuckle) incredible stories over the years, but he’d be a guy that I think it’d be cool to sit down with and just hear him talk about the game.

Q: What do you think you might ask him?
A: (Chuckle) I don’t know if I’d ask him much. I’d rather just be a fly on the wall and sit there and say, “Just start telling these stories.” I don’t know, “Just tell me about back in the day,” not only as a player but then obviously all of his managing stints and just the colorful character that he was. I would just want to sit there and listen to some of the stories he I’m sure has for days.

Also, an interesting article in the Post about how Jeter may NOT want to help the Yankees, despite what you may see on Twitter or YouTube about any possible “collusion” because of the Stanton deal.

Jeter does hold grudges, and still may hold one because of his last contract negotiation. He really (as the article points out) hasn’t shown up at the Stadium that much since his retirement, and now, as a part-owner of the Marlins, could be expected to show up even less—and this may have occurred even without his new ownership or new fatherhood.

Also, don’t you think Jeter would be aware of the backlash that would (and is) occurring anytime he makes a deal with the Yankees?

Also, …

All the talk will be about Judge and Stanton, and deservedly so, since you have the two HR leaders from last year on the same team, with 52 and 59 HR respectively. They are the ones who finished as the AL runner up for MVP and the NL MVP.

But let’s not forget…

Gary Sanchez also was in that HR derby at last year’s All-Star game, and actually was the one who knocked out Stanton. Sanchez, despite missing a few weeks last year, hit 33 HR. And how can you forget what he did at the end of the 2016 season?

Didi Gregorius set a Yankees’ SS record with 25 HR last year, and how could you forget the two HR he hit in Game 5 of the ALDS off of Corey Kluber, the CYA winner?

Lastly, Greg Bird. Yes, Bird had a poor year because of the ankle injury that cost him most of the season and that required surgery. But remember the great spring training he had?

Not only that, but when he came back and was healthy, he hit .253-8-25 in his last 29 games.

Let’s do some math. 29 x 5 = 145. Basically a full season of 162 with some days off for rest.

Now multiply x 5. .253-40-125. Forget the batting average. 40 and 125.

Add this to Judge, Stanton, Sanchez and Didi. And don’t forget that Gardner even hit 20+ HR last season.

I think a lot of people are going to overlook Bird, and barring injury, I think he will shock some people next year.

Some people have come out with their lineups. Here is mine as for now, and my reasoning:

Gardner
Judge
Bird
Stanton
Sanchez
Gregorius
Hicks
Headley
Torreyes/Wade/Torres

Ok, some people may wonder why keep Judge at 2. Here’s why: 127 walks, which led the AL. An OBP of .422. You want guys with high OBPs in front of Stanton. Some people have Didi Gregorius #2 in the lineup. Not me. Didi only walked 25 times last year. OBP .318, over 100 points lower than Judge. Give Stanton more opportunities to drive in runs. That is why I have Didi in the 6 slot. Get a high OBP guy in front of Stanton.

Bird #3. You want to break up the righty bats. And with Stanton hitting behind him, Bird, whose lefty swing is tailor made for Yankee Stadium, gets protection like Maris got when Mantle was hitting behind him. Or Ruth got with Gehrig. Judge on base, you don’t want to face Stanton, Bird gets more pitches to hit.

Sanchez 5. Protects Stanton.

Torres could be in the minors until June. So Torreyes is probably a stop gap 2B until Torres is ready. Keeping Torres down for 2 1/2 weeks delays his free agency a year and keeping him there until early June delays his arbitration another year. Besides, he hasn’t played too much at 2B so he can get experience there and when he’s ready in early June you can bring him up.

Torreyes, despite hitting .292, doesn’t have much power, and only walked 11x in 2017. Hence the 9 spot.

A tough lineup to crack. Ellsbury, who is behind Stanton, Judge, Hicks and Gardner, becomes the most expensive defensive replacement (and with those guys, it won’t be necessary; all are decent outfielders)/pinch runner ever. Now if the Yanks can move Ellsbury and his no-trade clause, then that can open a spot for…

Clint Frazier or Billy McKinney. Otherwise both are blocked and could be trade bait for ….

pitching help.

Also blocked, for now, are Thairo Estrada (by Torres, Didi and Headley) and Miguel Andujar (by Headley and possibly Torres).

Not trading any of those top prospects in the Stanton deal (Guzman and Devers, both of whom haven’t even played at Low A Charleston, went in the deal) leaves you open to trading one of those top prospects for a top of the line starter.

You also have pitchers who are top prospects who are, as of now, blocked. Chance Adams, Justus Sheffield, Albert Abreu, Domingo Acevedo and Domingo German to name five.

So the Yanks, should they need to make a deal, still have top prospects to trade. Also, they could try to find a taker for Ellsbury or Headley, but may have to eat $$$$ in order to do so.

Only by dumping Headley do I feel that they can retain Todd Frazier. The Yanks still want under the cap, and that became more difficult with getting Stanton.

The Modern Era HOF voting will be announced tonight. We’ll see if anyone gets in.

From mlb.com: The 10 Modern Baseball Era finalists include nine former players and one former executive: Steve Garvey, Tommy John, Don Mattingly, Marvin Miller, Jack Morris, Dale Murphy, Dave Parker, Ted Simmons, Luis Tiant and Alan Trammell. (One -time Yankees in bold).

 

 

 

Things not as easy for Jeter now that he’s in the front office.

In his short time as a Marlins’ executive, Derek Jeter has made, and may yet make, some unpopular, controversial decisions, and the public relations, which always were so good when he was Yankees’ SS and captain, have been pretty bad.

First off, he let some popular Marlins figures go, including “Mr. Marlin”, Jeff Conine. Some people were offered positions back, but at significant pay cuts.

Jeter knew coming into this job that he inherited a mess. Lots of cost-cutting and decisions would have to be made that will make Jeter look like the bad guy. This was the first of those types of moves.

Some moves may be necessary, but Jeter will and has come across as heartless, cold and calculating.

Secondly, the problem with Giancarlo Stanton and his huge contract. 10 more years, $295MM. Stanton most likely will be traded this offseason, and it most likely won’t resonate well with Marlins’ fans who will hate to see the 2017 NL MVP go. Stanton won’t be alone, either. Other Marlins players will go as the Marlins seek to gut the team to get to a very low payroll.

Now, another move that is just bad P.R. and may be the icing on the cake so far. A Marlins scout was just let go. The problem is, this scout just had surgery for colon cancer, and needs a kidney transplant. The scout was informed of his layoff while he was, yup, in the hospital, and Jeter did not inform the scout personally but some underling did the dirty deed instead.

Jeter is finding out being a front office exec of the Marlins is a little different than being the beloved captain of the Yankees.

Did Chris Carter fiasco help push Girardi out?

There are reports coming out that Brian Cashman wasn’t too enthused about bringing back Joe Girardi after 2012.

In 2012, the Yanks won the division, won the ALDS over the Orioles, but were swept by the Tigers in the ALCS. It’s best remembered as the year when Derek Jeter broke his ankle in Game 1 of the ALCS.

So what happened since then to make Cashman turn from tepid to a no as far as bringing Girardi back now?

Time, for one. He may have decided that Girardi was burned out.

You also wonder about the handling of Chris Carter, as well as the handling of some other players.

Carter was signed as insurance in case Greg Bird struggled. As we know, Bird had a great spring training, got hurt at the end, started the year off with a horrendous 6 for 60, went down, and eventually needed surgery on his ankle.

It wasn’t until September and the postseason that we got glimpses of the real Greg Bird.

Meanwhile, Chris Carter was filling in and doing a poor job. The Yanks had to release him after he hit .201-8-26 in 62 games, OPS+71. His defense was poor, also.

At one point, when asked about Carter, Girardi answered “he’s what we have.” Not a ringing endorsement.

It seems Girardi wanted to move Carter out before the front office did. The front office wanted to give Carter more time to come around.

Eventually it became obvious to all that the Yanks had to move on from Carter. He was terrible.

While I am kind of neutral as far as should Girardi have stayed or have been let go (I’m more concerned with who the replacement will be and that person’s qualifications), and I did have issues with some of Girardi’s managing, on this one I have to agree with Girardi.

Chris Carter stunk.

But was the disagreement over Carter the straw that broke the camel’s back?

I hope not, because on this one, Girardi was right.

 

Ex-White Sox CF Landis dies. Thoughts on Jeter being an exec.

Jim Landis, CF for the Go-Go White Sox that won the 1959 AL pennant, died at the age of 83. He hit .272-5-60 with 20 SB that year with an OPS+ of 108 and finished 7th in the MVP voting.

A 2x All-Star and 5x Gold Glove winner, he played for the White Sox from 1957-1964, the KC A’s in 1965, was with the Indians in 1966, and split his final season of 1967 between Houston, Detroit and Boston.

His best years were from 1958-1961, with 1961 being his best when he hit .283-22-85 with 19 SB and an OPS+ of 123.

His 162 g. average was .247-11-56, 17 SB and an OPS+ of 99.

He went 7 for 24 with 1 RBI in the 1959 WS.

Meanwhile, a good article I read recently raised questions. Derek Jeter has already pilfered Gary Denbo from the Yankees’ front office to go to work for the Marlins. How many others may he try to steal? If Jeter raids the Yankees for front office talent and even coaching talent, will the beloved captain become not so beloved anymore?

Sounds like sacrilege, but…

Imagine Matsui or Tino or maybe Paul O’Neill being hitting coaches for the Marlins. David Cone or Andy Pettitte as a Marlins pitching coach (although, to be honest, I can’t see Cone or O’Neill leaving the comfy broadcasting booth of YES). Mo as bullpen coach? Posada as bench coach or even manager?

Can you imagine a Yankees’ Old-Timer’s Day without Jeter, Matsui, Mo, or any of the rest that I mentioned, because they are all now working, managing or coaching the Marlins? Would be kind of boring, right?

Will the most beloved Yankee since Mattingly, and one of the most beloved Yankees ever, tarnish his sheen with a raid on Yankees’ talent to build his Marlins teams?

If so, how will the Yankees’ fan base react?

This will be interesting to see.