These last three games have made me think the Yankees have put the awful 25 games to open the season behind them.
The Yankees had a chance to sweep the Astros, but didn’t. They still won the series, which I would have signed up for prior to the start of the three games. The Yankees have won 10 of their last 14 games, and while they have played mostly bad teams during that time, these last three games have made me think they have put the awful 25 games to open the season behind them.
The Yankees’ season has been defined by letting opportunities slip away. The series against the Astros was no different.
The Yankees’ season has been defined by letting opportunities slip away. Whether it’s leaving the bases loaded, not putting a hitter away with two strikes, losing a game in which they led or not winning a game they had countless chances to win, it’s been a theme for 2021. The series against the Astros was no different.
1. The Stadium was rocking the entire series and it’s hard to believe it was only at 20 percent capacity. I missed hearing that sound and that noise and that atmosphere. The “Fuck Altuve” chants for three days and “Fuck Your Birthday” chants on Thursday were magnificent. It’s too bad the birthday chants got ruined by his go-ahead home run in the eighth inning off Chad Green in the series finale.
2. Entering Tuesday’s series opener against the Astros, I would have gladly signed up for winning two out of three and simply winning the series. But now that it actually happened, it feels like a letdown, the same way it felt like a letdown going 3-1 against the Indians or going 8-3 in the recent 11-game stretch. It could have been more and should have been more.
When you win the first two games of a three-game series and have Gerrit Cole going in the third game, and have a one-run lead with six outs to get, and you lose, it’s going to feel like a letdown. The same way it was in Cleveland when the Yankees won the first three games of the four-game series, had a three-run lead in the fourth game and blew it. The same way it was going 8-3 against the Indians, Orioles and Tigers.
3. The Yankees have a weekday afternoon game problem. (They also have a problem winning games started by Cole as they’re now 4-3 in his starts.) They lost on April 1 (Opening Day) to the Blue Jays (3-2 in 10 innings). The Rays came from behind on April 9 to beat them 10-5 at the Trop. The Blue Jays walked off on them on April 14 (5-4). The Orioles walked off on them in 10 innings on April 29. And then on Thursday, the Astros came from behind to beat them 7-4. The Yankees are now 0-5 in weekday afternoon games. Most of the time you can attribute it to Aaron Boone mailing it in with a lineup reminiscent of a mid-March spring training game, but not on Thursday. On Thursday, the Yankees had their best possible every lineup (just not in the right order), and they lost.
4. My current Bullpen Level of Trust (Scale of 1-10):
Aroldis Chapman: 9.8 (No one has been this high since 9.9 Mariano Rivera) Darren O’Day: 8.6 Jonathan Loaisiga: 8.4 Chad Green: 7.9 Lucas Luetge: 7.6 Wandy Peralta: 5.0 Michael King: 4.9 Justin Wilson: 2.6 Albert Abreu: 2.3 Luis Cessa: 1.9
5. I have never felt this good about Chapman before. No one has. My confidence in a Yankees lead being protected in the ninth hasn’t been this high since Number 42 was on the mound.
I really, really, really trust O’Day, and it’s crushing he’s currently on the injured list with a rotator cuff (never want to hear that term) issue.
Loaisiga has gone from unpitchable in high-leverage spots in October to now being the most trusted active member of the bullpen behind Chapman. I wanted Loaisiga in the eighth inning on Thursday, but understood why Boone went to Green.
When Green walked the leadoff hitter, facing the bottom of the order, I had a bad feeling. That feeling came true. I still trust him, but I have seen him do what he did on Thursday one too many times to trust him more than the names above him.
Peralta gets a 5.0 starting position as a new member of the bullpen. I think there’s a very good chance he becomes this team’s version of Everyday Luis Avilan from last season and Boone goes to him too much and in too big of spots and it backfires, but so far so good from the lefty.
King hasn’t allowed a run in three appearances and 11 innings this season, but I’m not a fool. That’s not enough to trust him after his 2020 overall performance. I’m not a fool, like those who thought Nelson was suddenly going to be David Robertson in 2021 after his 2020 overall performance.
Wilson is the same pitcher he was six years ago with the Yankees, Abreu hasn’t pitched enough for me to get a feel for him and Cessa will never not be the least trustworthy member of the Yankees bullpen unless Nelson is called back up.
6. I think the Yankees have turned their season around. Normally, I would be hesitant to make a claim like that, but I saw enough of a change out of the team this week to believe their level of play in the season’s 25 games is behind them and they will continue to be the team they were expected to be in 2021. (Now watch them get swept by the Nationals this weekend.) The Astros are the best team the Yankees have played this season and they handled them in the first two games and had a lead with Green and Chapman lined up to get the final six outs.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m still scared of the Astros. With or without George Springer, Justin Verlander and Cole, I still wouldn’t want any part of the Astros in a postseason series. I didn’t want any part of the Angels in the 2009 ALCS after what happened in the 2002 ALDS and 2005 ALDS. I didn’t want to see the Tigers in the 2012 ALCS after what happened in the 2006 ALDS and 2011 ALDS. There are only team I ever feel confident about seeing in the postseason: the Twins and the A’s.
7. It took Rougned Odor going on the injured list to get him out of Boone’s lineup, and if Odor hadn’t been injured on Tuesday, you can bet your ass he would have been playing on Wednesday and Thursday, forcing DJ LeMahieu off second base where he is a three-time Gold Glove winner. I would think once Luke Voit is back (and how is he not already back given his performance in Scranton?) that Odor is a full-time bench player and Tyler Wade is back off the roster. That is unless the Yankees sign Albert Pujols since he won’t cost them anything and there’s nothing the Hal Steinbrenner Yankees like more than acquiring free players. I’m kidding, but only half kidding. I could easily see Pujols batting fifth as protection for 4-hitter Odor. That’s something these Yankees would do. In all seriousness, this should be the lineup once Voit is back:
DJ LeMahieu, 2B Giancarlo Stanton, DH Aaron Judge, RF Luke Voit, 1B Gleyber Torres, 2B Gio Urshela, 3B Clint Frazier, LF Gary Sanchez, C Aaron Hicks, CF
I said that’s what the lineup should be. If you think Hicks is ever hitting any lower than sixth, you haven’t been paying attention. Boone would bat Urshela (his current cleanup hitter) ninth before he ever bats his personal favorite Hicks ninth. This will be Boone’s lineup with Voit:
DJ LeMahieu, 2B Giancarlo Stanton, DH Aaron Judge, RF Luke Voit, 1B Gleyber Torres, 2B Aaron Hicks, CF Gio Urshela, 3B Gary Sanchez, C Clint Frazier, LF Gio Urshela, 3B
8. If Boone moves Stanton out of the 2-hole, he’s an even bigger idiot than I already think he is, and I’m not sure that’s possible.
I have (like most Yankees fans) heavily criticized Giancarlo Stanton for the majority of his Yankees tenure, and rightfully so. Overall, Stanton has been a bust for the Yankees. He has barely played since the start of the 2019 season and now he’s 31 and relegated to being a full-time designated hitter and his contract is on the brink of becoming an albatross. With Stanton, it’s a matter of staying healthy, and given everything that has gone on with him the last two years, I hold my breath watching any movement of his in the box and on the bases. But what he’s done over the last 12 games is why I and most Yankees fans have been so hard on him. Because we know this level of him exists.
Since April 23, Stanton is 25-for-52 (.481/.509/.904) with four doubles, six home runs and 11 RBIs. He’s not only getting hits at a ridiculous rate, he’s getting big hits as well, something he has rarely done as a Yankee. In the 2020 postseason, everyone saw what Stanton is capable of when he’s healthy, and we’re seeing that player again right now. This is the player I thought the Yankees traded for prior to the 2018 season. This is the player who I thought would put the Yankees over the top.
9. The Kyle Higashioka Starting Catcher train is slowing down. I would say it’s already stopped, but with Boone running the team it’s going to make much more than the three-week slump Higashioka is in for him to lose the job, even though it took Sanchez with an actual career resume less time this season to lose the job. That’s the difference between being a Boone favorite and not.
Higashioka is 5-for-34 going back to April 14, hitting .147/.275/.382 in his last 40 plate appearances. The job was never going to be his forever, and he lost his grip on it faster than even I thought he would.
Jameson Taillon pitches Friday and is coming off his best start of the season, which Sanchez caught. Then Corey Kluber is pitching on Saturday and coming off his best start of the season, which Higashioka caught. Boone doesn’t believe in hot like the idiot he is, but he does believe in personal catchers. I think Sanchez plays on Friday and Sunday and Higashioka plays on Saturday. This could be the beginning of Sanchez regaining his job. I hope it is.
10. The Yankees are now 16-15. They have won five of six and 10 of 14. It’s good, but they have a long way to go to undo the damage they did in April and the first 25 games. This weekend is going to be tough. The Nationals can’t hit, but with Patrick Corbin and Max Scherzer on Friday and Saturday, it won’t be easy, though it never is for these Yankees, not even in two out of the three games they played against the Tigers.
After the Nationals, there’s a day off on Monday and then it’s three more against the Rays. I wanted a 6-3 homestand and three straight series wins. (It could have been even more than that if not for Thursday’s collapse.) I still do. Take two of three this weekend and I’ll be happy, even if I will have a hard time accepting only taking two of three, like I always do.
The Yankees had their biggest win of the season on Tuesday night at the Stadium, beating the hated Astros 7-3.
The Yankees had their biggest win of the season on Tuesday night at the Stadium, beating the hated Astros 7-3. After getting back to .500 on Sunday after wasting April, maybe the Yankees have finally turned their season around.
It took 29 games, but I finally watched what I thought would be the 2021 Yankees. After wasting all of April and a golden opportunity to separate themselves from the Blue Jays and Rays, who
It took 29 games, but I finally watched what I thought would be the 2021 Yankees.
After wasting all of April and a golden opportunity to separate themselves from the Blue Jays and Rays, who also slogged their way through the season’s opening month, the Yankees looked like the preseason heavy favorites in the American League on Tuesday night in their 7-3 win over the hated Astros.
Even at only 20 percent capacity, the Stadium sounded alive and gave the Astros the kind of attention they have long deserved for their 2017 actions, which went undisciplined and unpunished. The atmosphere in the series opener made me wish the next time the Astros play in the Stadium, whether it’s this October or sometime in 2022 that there will be a capacity crowd and that there will be as many holdovers from the 2017 Astros as possible. That means I need the Astros to re-sign impending free agent Carlos Correa.
The Yankees’ offense finally looked fearful in a first inning, taking a 2-1 lead after two batters (on a DJ LeMahieu single and Giancarlo Stanton home run) with the first five batters of the game reaching base safely against Zack Greinke. But with a one-run lead and the bases loaded and no outs, the Yankees’ offense did what it does best, scoring only one more run in the inning, completely letting Greinke off the hook and allowing him to settle down to pitch three more scoreless innings.
A first-inning home run given up to the weaselly Alex Bregman to ruin the moment for Yankees fans in attendance letting the Astros have it wasn’t enough for Scumbag Domingo German. Scumbag German allowed a moon shot to Michael Brantley in the fourth and a wall-scraping double to Yuli Gurriel in that same inning. Scumbag German was bad yet again (5 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 2 HR), but will be given the ball five days from now because why wouldn’t he be? All I can do is continue to root for him to pitch poorly and for the offense to do enough to overcome him pitching poorly, like they did on Tuesday, and eventually, hopefully, he will pitch himself off the team and out of the organization. That’s the goal. My goal, anyway.
The Yankees broke a 3-3 tie in the sixth, when with the bases loaded (again), LeMahieu hit a slow roller up the third-base line that Bregman barehanded and threw away down the first-base line. All three runners came around to score, including Rougned Odor who collided with Martin Maldonado at home plate. The infield single and throwing error gave the Yankees a 6-3 lead and yet another Stanton single (he had four hits in the game and his average is now up to .297 after going 22-for-his-last-53) made it 7-3, which it would stay.
The top of the order finally did its job as a collective group, going 8-for-19 with six walks, five runs, a double, a home run and four RBIs. Tonight the top of the order was LeMahieu followed by Stanton then Aaron Judge, Gio Urshela and Gleyber Torres. (I don’t know why Odor was knocked out of his new home in the 3- and 4-spots in the order and demoted to ninth. It’s almost like Aaron Boone finally figured out Odor isn’t any good.) The bottom of the order had a forgettable night as Clint Frazier, Brett Gardner (who entered the game for Frazier and got a plate appearance), Aaron Hicks, Kyle Higashioka, Odor and Tyler Wade (who entered the game for Odor after the collision at home) went a combined 1-for-13 with three walks, two runs and five strikeouts. (Those hitters are a story for another day.)
The bullpen continued to do its job. Lucas Luetge, Jonathan Loaisiga, Wandy Peralta and Chad Green pitched to this line: 4 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K. I don’t know that I have ever been as comfortable with a Yankees bullpen as a whole than I am right now. (Don’t worry, I knocked on wood after saying that. No, really, I did.) Now that Nick Nelson is in the minors and Boone has finally figured out in his fourth season that Luis Cessa is only to be used when the result of a game has been determined, I feel confident with anyone who comes in out of the bullpen. (OK, maybe I don’t feel confident when Justin Wilson comes into a game, but I’m trying to be positive here after a big win.)
The Yankees embarrassed themselves in April. They crawled their way back to .500 by (barely) beating up on the offensively-inept Indians, early-rebuild-stage Orioles and forever-rebuilding Tigers. They were given a gift by the Rays and Blue Jays who failed to run away with the division, while the Yankees were scoring two runs a game, booting ground balls, dropping fly balls, running into outs on the bases and when only one of their starters could get through five innings. They went into Tuesday’s game riding a three-game winning streak fresh off a scheduled day off (not a Boone-scheduled day off) with a .500 record for the first time since April 12. They ended play on Tuesday with their fourth straight win and moved above .500 for the first time since April 6.
After nearly five weeks and 18 percent of the season being completed the 2021 Yankees I expected to see finally showed up to play. They better not disappear again.
The schedule gets tough again, and we’ll find out if the Yankees turned their season around or just beat some bad teams.
The Yankees erased their embarrassing 11-game stretch against the Rays, Blue Jays and Braves in which they went 3-8 by beating up on the Indians, Orioles and Tigers to go 8-3. Now the schedule gets tough again, and we’ll find out if the Yankees turned their season around or just beat some bad teams.
1. Don’t let the weekend fool you. The Yankees swept a bad Tigers team. Not just a bad team, the worst team in baseball. The Tigers are 8-21 with a .276 winning percentage and -62 run differential. “Good” teams are supposed to beat a team like the Tigers. The Yankees are supposed to be a “good” team.
Outside of Friday’s win (10-0), it’s not like the Yankees easily handled the Tigers either. They won 6-4 on Saturday and 2-0 on Sunday. Two two-run wins, needing to use elite relievers in both games. That’s not all that encouraging given the Tigers’ lineup or their starting pitching. A win is a win and the Yankees got three of them against a team whose season is already over.
2. It’s scary to think where Gerrit Cole’s career would be without Kyle Higashioka since Higashioka is the reason for Cole’s success. That’s what everyone on YES and in the mainstream media wants fans to believe. Cole dominated the Tigers (6 IP, 4 H,0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 12 K) and lowered his ERA to 1.43 on the season. He has now faced the Blue Jays twice, Orioles, Rays, Indians and Tigers, allowing two earned runs or less in every start. He has been awesome and it hasn’t mattered who was behind the plate. Jorge Posada could be catching him and he would still be awesome. I don’t mean Posada in his playing days, I mean current 50-year-old Posada, who retired nearly a decade ago.
3. Aaron Judge returned to the lineup on Friday and hit two home runs, including a grand slam. It’s miraculous how his “lower-body stuff” and soreness from traveling disappeared! Thankfully, Judge must have experienced ideal traveling conditions on the way back to New York from Baltimore to keep him healthy and allow him to play against the Tigers all weekend. Let’s hope he sat on the couch Sunday night and all day Monday and is able to arrive at the Stadium on Tuesday without any further travel complications.
4. Why does Aaron Hicks bat left-handed? (The bigger question is why is Hicks a Yankee or why did the team give him a seven-year, $70 million extension). He’s not any good at it. Hicks is batting .250/.300/.607 as a right-handed hitter this season and .115/.236/.180 as a left-handed hitter. He has a .715 career OPS as a lefty and a .760 OPS as a righty. Maybe he just can’t switch hit anymore?
A .300 on-base percentage (which he has as a righty) isn’t good, let alone for a guy whose only skill is supposedly getting on base, but at least as a righty he hits one out every once in a while, like he did on Friday. If you’re Hicks and you’re batting .139 with a .499 OPS like he was entering Friday’s game, and you hit a home run, you can’t be staring at it and flipping your bat.
5. Rougned Odor is very bad, though for some reason he bats third and fourth in the Yankees lineup. Why? Because he bats left-handed, of course! Odor has four home runs in only 67 plate appearances and still has a .642 OPS. That’s how bad he has been. He only has six other hits as a Yankee, all singles.
Odor went 1-for 10 on the weekend, but did hit a solo home run on Friday as the 9-hitter, so that allowed him to bat third on Saturday and fourth on Sunday. Aaron Boone is such an idiot. He really is.
Odor has now batted third (1), fourth (4), fifth (1), sixth (2), seventh (3), eighth (1) and ninth (6). He shouldn’t be in the lineup ever (he shouldn’t be on the Yankees). If he must be, then he needs to bat ninth. Only ninth.
6. Jameson Taillon won a game for the first time in two years on Saturday. He still only gave the team five innings, but I think that’s all he will ever give the team at most The Yankees seem to want to keep him around 80 pitches per start (74, 84, 80, 82, 79), and with trouble he has putting away hitters with two strikes, it’s always going to take him that many pitches to get through five innings. He has now had two good starts, one OK start and two bad starts as a Yankee. He’s been about what I thought he would be.
7. Corey Kluber was great again, however, everything from the weekend needs a disclaimer because again it was against the Tigers. Kluber was OK against the Blue Jays, awful against the Rays, bad against the Blue Jays, blah against the Braves, great against the Orioles and outstanding against the Tigers. He now has a 3.03 ERA on the season thanks to his last two starts.
Were his last two starts against the Orioles and Tigers Kluber getting back to being his old self after not pitching in basically two years? Or was it two starts against two bad teams? I hope it’s the former and not the latter.
His next few starts won’t be against the hardest of offensive competition either as he is lined up to face the Nationals, Orioles and Rangers his next three starts. He will see the Blue Jays at the end of May, so we will have a better idea then if the Yankees hit it big on his one-year deal.
8. The Yankees went 8-3 in the 11-game stretch against the Indians, Orioles and Tigers. It could have been more and should have been more, but it did erase the 3-8 they went in the previous 11-game strech against the Rays, Blue Jays and Braves. They are fortunate the Rays and Blue Jays both got off to nearly as bad starts as they did.
Have the Yankees really turned their season around? I want to believe they have, it’s just to hard to trust them given how bad April was and how they only went 5-3 in their last eight games against the Indians, Orioles and Tigers.
9. The Yankees will be tested over the next 10 days with nine games against the Astros, Nationals and Rays. The Astros have had the Yankees’ number for three years straight (since they didn’t play in 2020), the Nationals have managed to stay afloat at .500 without Juan Soto and Stephen Strasburg and the Rays are 5-1 against the Yankees this season despite being 10-14 against everyone else.
The Yankees wasted April. With the Blue Jays (14-13) and Rays (15-15) both struggling, they had a chance to create early-season separation from their two competitors for the division. Instead they’re in fourth place in the East and half-game out of last.
10. The Yankees have been managed like they had built a five-game division lead in the first month of the season and they played some of the worst baseball any Yankees team has played in a long, long time, including the 2013 Yankees. That can’t continue. I don’t think it will on the playing side, though I’m sure it will on the managerial side.
They have six games against the Astros and Nationals then an off day and then three games against the Rays. The best possible version of the everyday lineup needs to play in these games. There have been enough personal days off through 28 games and look where it has gotten them.
The Yankees were given a gift to not be buried in the division and spending the next few months trying to climb out of a deficit. They’re at .500 with new life and they can’t afford to screw it up this time because the Rays and Blue Jays might not give them another chance. The Yankees have five months to be the team they were expected to be, and it begins on Tuesday.
