2018 Yankee Season Game thread

[jacksonianmarch]

Tick another game off the deficit. Sevy was good. Our pen was great. Our offense had tons of chances and finally broke through. Didi is ridiculous right now. We have the second best record in the AL. We are coming for you Boston

[jacksonianmarch]

And another one. We beat the s*** out of the angels. Tanaka dominated. The bats were hot. The kids were killing it too. Keep this train a rolling tonight on ESPN.

[OH FOY]

If you get your pen going in right direction, then its going to be a dogfight.

[jacksonianmarch]

Our pen has been very solid of late. On this 8 game run, we have 25.2IP of relief pitching and only 3ER.

[jacksonianmarch]

Neil Walker might end up being DFAd when Bird returns. This guy was as steady as they came the last 8 seasons, but he has been nothing but terrible for us. Austin's return from suspension should plant Walker on the bench and Bird's return should free him up for opportunities elsewhere.

 

Also, CC going out for the 7th is always dicey. We have a rested pen. I'd have Green-KRob-Chap ready

[jacksonianmarch]

CC has the lowest exit velocity of all pitchers in baseball. He has successfully changed from a power pitcher to a contact pitcher with impeccable command. Angel Hernandez was behind the plate last night and he was giving 3-4 inches off the outside corner and both pitchers ate the opposing lineups alive with that corner. CC lived out there, and when a hitter would cheat outside, he’d come in with a cutter and break a bat. He was great. Our offense couldn’t bring any runners in aside from Sanchez’ moon shot, but it was good enough for our 9th in a row. Big test coming up with us going to Houston.

[Spudboy]

I though Walker was a timely and solid get.

 

Too bad he is sucking pond water.

[bkzwhitestrican]

Walker looked better at the plate this weekend and I think given more playing time he'd round into form. But it's hard to take Austin out of the lineup when he's mashing. I expect Austin to cool down at some point before Bird returns, and then Walker will get to play more and start to hit. Then when Bird comes back, Austin goes back to AAA (or gets dealt) since he has pretty much no versatility.

[jacksonianmarch]

Austin might take some ABs from Bird. Austin kills LH pitching. He’s also a corner OFer, backup 3b and emergency catcher (he was drafted as a catcher). Austin is no slouch. He has hit every season since he recovered from his wrist injury and he has the stuff to hit for power and average. I think he makes Bird’s recovery smooth and allows us to take our time with him

[bkzwhitestrican]

The questions around Austin have always been what position is he gonna play and can he hit right handed pitching. He has hit righties so far this season but I won't say he can hit them long term based on four weeks of production. And he is a below average fielding first baseman, an even worse corner outfielder, and third base?? Never heard that one before but I can't ever imagine Boone wanting to put him out there unless half the team is injured.

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to rip on the guy. I happen to like him. And he's still young so he has room to improve. But let's not be hasty in anointing him as the next big piece of this team.

[jacksonianmarch]

The questions around Austin have always been what position is he gonna play and can he hit right handed pitching. He has hit righties so far this season but I won't say he can hit them long term based on four weeks of production. And he is a below average fielding first baseman, an even worse corner outfielder, and third base?? Never heard that one before but I can't ever imagine Boone wanting to put him out there unless half the team is injured.

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to rip on the guy. I happen to like him. And he's still young so he has room to improve. But let's not be hasty in anointing him as the next big piece of this team.

 

I don't know if he earns himself a starting gig once we are all fully healthy, but he at least has earned himself platoon time. He can play RF reasonable well. That was his minor league position before we had a need at 1b 2 years ago. That at leads adds to his versatility. Here is the role I see Austin occupying. I see him being in the lineup every day against lefties. He may be at 1b. He may be DHing with Stanton out in LF. He may be in RF with Judge moving to LF. I also see him as a ready made replacement for Bird when he gets hurt (its when, not if). In that role, he will play almost every game against Boston, rack up probably 300 or so ABs and be a pretty solid offensive contributor.

[jacksonianmarch]

In Austin's big league career, he is a .814 OPS player. That's damn good for a guy who doesn't start every game

[bkzwhitestrican]

Morton pitching looks like a video game. How the hell did he get this good?

[jacksonianmarch]

I don't know. Morton looks unhittable. BTW, Gray looked really good too

[jacksonianmarch]

Houston has become our house of horrors

[jacksonianmarch]

We faced a pitched at Florida Southern named John Barnett. The kid had enormous stuff (drafted in subsequent year) but no idea where he was throwing it. We faced him and he had command of everything. We were 1 hit and our 1 hit was an infield single. We would eventually eliminate them from the CWS that year, but man was Barnett good that night. Our coach sat us down after and said, “Boys, you were handled tonight. Nothing you can do, a guy with great stuff was just on. Too your cap and get em next time.” I remember that to this day. Today, Morton just handled us. 98 on the black, changeup working and video game breaking ball commanded to both sides of the plate. The only mistake he made was a double to Torres and Hinch pulled him, nearly coughing up the game. If I were Hinch, I’d have had Morton hand the ball directly to Giles. I didn’t know Morton was this good, but he was Cy Young level tonight against a damn good lineup. Tip your cap and hope you don’t get handled by Verlander tomorrow!

[jacksonianmarch]

Austin should be back from suspension, relegating walker to the bench. My hope is Walker goes on the DL with a phantom injury when Drury comes back and we give him the ST time he missed. Let him get back to being himself on a rehab assignment. The guy who is wearing his jersey right now isn’t right

[jacksonianmarch]

Montgomery out after one inning. Not sure why. Injury bug creeps up again

[jacksonianmarch]

Elbow tightness for JMont. Oh boy

[Meh]

I was hoping we could use him to get MadBum, something like Fraizer, Abreu, Montgomery, and Estrada plus maybe Holder. Hope the kid is okay and it just needs some rest, but it doesn't sound good.

[jacksonianmarch]

Well, next man up. German likely slots into the rotation. He was dynamite last night. He deserves the shot. We call up a minor league reliever and go from there. Of the big name kids, Abreu is still in extended working out an injury, Adams has not earned a promotion, Sheffield is inexplicably in AA for some reason and Acevedo is on the shelf with blisters. We could bring up Sheffield if we had to as he is our best pitching prospect and is currently just mowing down AA hitters.

[bkzwhitestrican]

Sheffield is actually lined up to go in Monty's slot since he pitched last night (6 IP, 3H, 3 BB, 9K). Obviously the walks are concerning but his stuff is top notch. I doubt they'll jump him from AA to the Majors but ya never know.

[jacksonianmarch]

German has been good in a relief role yet he is a starter by trade. His stuff is absolutely electric. He should get first crack and I think he may run with it.

[jacksonianmarch]

Dominant by Sevy

[jacksonianmarch]

22 consecutive shutout innings vs the defending champs. Let see if Tanaka can keep it going. Great to see Stanton break out. We can’t hit Keuchel, but Stanton can! Go for the series win today vs McCullers

[bkzwhitestrican]

And the bullpen hasn't allowed a run since April 26th (0 ER over the last 21 innings). The pitching obviously won't be this good for the whole season, but it's nice to see it even out after such a s***** start.

[jacksonianmarch]

Our pen is full of guys with massive stuff or solid deception (in the case of Shreve). Hale is just a stop gap, but the pipeline is full of guys capable of dominating the back end. It's crazy that the pen has taken off without two of our best relievers from last season. Warren should be back soon and if Kahnle gets the rest he needs to return to the stuff he had last year, we will have a lights out pen for the long haul. The team is really coming together, even with Stanton being middling and Sanchez really only being a clutch player right now with little to no production on the season

[Carpin]

Theee Yankeees win!!!!!!!

 

6 - 1 Road trip

 

Great performance

[jacksonianmarch]

Torres with the big clutch hit. Boone rescued from a late pull of Tanaka. Great road trip

[jacksonianmarch]

The kids got baptized today. Torres with two hits and a 3 run bomb. Andujar sith 2 hits and a walk off single. What a game