Game 22: Rays (Civale) at Yankees (Gil) 1:35 pm EDT

Embiid playing hurt may be the difference in the series.

I was thoroughly against it ... You dont mess with a young hitter when he is on fire like that. 
I also think it had a negative effect on Gleyber's fragile pysche getting moved out of the leadoff spot

Yea Randle getting hurt was a major bummer. I still think we can make it to the eastern conference finals without him. With some luck we could even go further perhaps.

I was a Lakers fan as a kid. My favorite player was the Logo. Don't watch the NBA game anymore because it's unrecognizable to me. Can someone explain what a charge and a block is? Don't think the refs understand. 

Aaron Civale starts for the Rays. This is his 6th MLB season, the first four with the Indians/Guardians. Last year, he started 10 games for the Rays after they picked him up in a trade and pitched poorly: In 10 starts, he was 2-3 with an ERA over 5.00. As usual, the Rays worked with him over the winter, changed his pitch mix to throw more fastballs and slider, fewer cutters and curves, and got him to drop his change and use a splitter instead. So far this year, he's pitching much better. In 4 starts, he's 2-1 with a 2.74 ERA. In 23 innings, he's allowed 17 hits, 8 runs, 7 earned, and 4 BB with 26 K. Civale has always had a very good K/BB rate, but so far this year, it's better than 6 to 1. The only flaw in his pitching early this season is that he's allowed 5 HR in those 23 innings, and that extrapolates to about 40 HR in a full, 184-inning season.

Against the Yankees, Civale has made 5 starts and hasn't fared well. He's 1-3 with a 4.78 ERA. In 26 1/3 innings, he's allowed 28 hits, 16 runs, 14 earned, 3 HR, 10 BB and has K'd 23. His WHIP against the Yanks is a sub-par 1.443. This is his first start for the Yanks since he joined the Rays. The Yankee team quadruple slash line vs. Civale is .283/.357/.465/.822.

Repertoire: Civale is a 5-pitch righty. His FB averages 92, and he uses it about 40% of the time, His other pitches are a cutter 87-8 he uses about 25% of the time, a curve about 77 and a slider about 80, both of which he uses about 16-17% of the time, and a splitter at about 85 that he uses about 2-3 times a game.

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Luis Gil for the Yanks...we know his story: elite stuff, and very questionable command of it. He has the ability to dominate and will do so against some batters every game, but until he gains consistent command of the strike zone, he won't be a top of the rotation starter, and will struggle to make it through 5 innings in a game.

In 3 starts so far this season, Gil has yet to have a decision. In 14 innings, he's allowed just 6 hits, 6 runs, all earned. He hasn't yet allowed a HR, but has walked 14, a batter an inning, while striking out 20. His ERA is 3.86, and his WHIP is 1.386. The opposing teams' quadruple slash line against him is a very weird .133/.344/.200/.544. Today will be his first-ever appearance against the Rays.

Why does it seem like every starter the Yanks bring to the majors lacks the command of the strike zone needed to pitch well in the majors?
A rhetorical question, I suppose. The Rays don't seem to have this trouble; neither do the Mariners.

In the AL West, nobody is playing well. The Mariners and Rangers are both playing .500 ball, and they're tied for first, the M's are 10-10 and the Rangers are 11-11. The Angels have played poorly, 9-12, on pace for 69-70 wins, but just 1 1/2 back in 3rd. The A's are playing about as expected, 8-13,on pace to win a little over 60 games, and are 2 1/2 back in 4th, and have lost 4 of their last 5. The Astros have multiple pitching injuries, and still haven't recovered from the Yanks' 4 game sweep in Houston to open the season. They're 7-15, in last place, but just 4 games out of 1st.

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In the NL East, as expected, the Braves are dominating. Their 14-5 record is the best in MLB. The Phillies started 2-4, but have won 11 of 15 since, including their last five games, and are now 13-8, 2 games back of the Braves in 2nd. The Mets started worse than the Phils, losing their first five games, but have 12 of 15 since, winning 6 in a row now, including 2 in a row against the Dodgers in LA. They're 12-8, 1/2 game back of the Phils and 2 1/2 out of 1st. The Nationals are playing somewhat better than expected; at 9-11, they're in 4th, 5 1/2 games out. The Marlins were not expected to be a great team, but they were expected to be respectable. Instead, they've suffered multiple key injuries to their starters, and their offense has been dreadful so far, dead last in the NL at 3.59 runs/game. They're a brutal 5-17, better than only the Rockies in the NL, and are dead last, 10 1/2 games out of 1st.