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Post by chiyankee on May 31, 2024 18:01:30 GMT -5
Three hours from game time.  |
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Post by chiyankee on May 31, 2024 18:02:24 GMT -5
Judge at DH
Grishan in CF
DJ getting a planned day off.
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Post by chiyankee on May 31, 2024 18:03:38 GMT -5
Did you know the Giants were #2 on this list? I would have guessed the Dodgers.
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Post by qwik3457bb on May 31, 2024 18:11:11 GMT -5
Three hours from game time. Never too soon for a game thread for me! Here comes da preview blather... |
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Post by qwik3457bb on May 31, 2024 18:11:57 GMT -5
Jordan Hicks opens the 3-game series at Oracle Park for the Giants. Drafted by the Cards in 3rd round in 2015, he spent his first two years in that organization as a starter, before his high-octane fastball and control problems gave them the idea to turn him into a reliever with an eye on him eventually becoming their closer. Even though he pitched poorly that October/November in the Arizona Fall League, the Cards liked the results and he had an impressive enough spring training that despite having pitched just 14 games in relief in the minors, he opened the 2018 season in the Cards' bulppen. He pitched well in relief in 2018, even tying Aroldis' Chapman's record fastest pitch at 105.1 mph, and pitched better to start 2019. He tore his UCL in June, and had Tommy John surgery. He's a type-1 diabetic, and decided to opt out of playing in the COVID season of 2020 while letting his arm fully recover from the surgery.
He pitched in 10 games for the Cards in 2021 before suffering elbow inflammation that eventually shut him down for the rest of that season. In 2022, he pitched in 35 games for the Cards including 8 starts with so-so results. Finally healthy in 2023, he had an excellent season for a struggling Cards team, so St. Louis traded him at the deadline to the Blue Jays for two pitching prospects, one of whom is pitching well at AAA this season. With the Jays, Hicks pitched even better than he did with the Cards, and Toronto made the post-season, but were swept 2-0 by the Twins in the Wild Card Series. After the season was over, the Jays let Hicks go via free agency and he signed with the Giants, who game him a promise they would let him try to make their rotation.
He pitched well in a starting role in spring training and has continued to pitch very well in the Giants' rotation. On the season, he's 4-1 with an ERA of 2.33. In 11 starts, he's pitched 58 innings, allowing 44 hits, 18 runs, 15 earned, 4 HR, 19 BB while striking out 48. His WHIP is an excellent 1.086. The one knock against his record is that he has trouble going more than 5 innings, which he hasn't done in his last 5 starts. He has pitched three good 5-inning starts in a row, the last one the best one: 2 hits, 2 BB, 1 run, a solo HR and 8 K's against the Mets at Citifield.
This will be Hicks' 1st career start against the Yanks after 5 very strong appearances in relief: 5 2/3 innings, just 1 hit, 2 BB, 7 K's and no runs allowed. He has no decisions or saves against them, and his WHIP is obviously very low, 0.529 against the Yanks. It might not be all that relevant, but the Yanks' quadruple slash line against him is .056/.150/.056/.206 in 20 PA.
Repertoire: Hicks has been a 3-pitch righty his whole career, but in his first season as a starter, he's dramatically cut the use of the FB and increased the use of the splitter to become a legitimate 3-pitch starter (the splitter was rarely used while he was a reliever). He's also greatly dropped the average velocity of his FB so he can go 5-6 innings instead of 1-2. The pitch mix so far this year: FB averaging 95 (down from 100 last season) about 56% of the time, the splitter 84-5 about 24% of the time, and the slider 81-2 about 20% of the time.
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Post by qwik3457bb on May 31, 2024 18:14:12 GMT -5
Playing the name game...the first name Jordan is a very modern thing. Although there are 24 Jordans who've played in the majors, none of them started their careers before 2009. The best of them is probably Jordan Zimmerman, who pitched for the Nationals and Tigers for 12 years, and made the top 7 in the Cy Young voting in two straight seasons, although the D'backs and ex-Yankees starter Montgomery might finish his career better. Both may well be surpassed by O's infielder Jordan Westbug, while D'back shortstop prospect Jordan Lawlar might wind up better than all of them. Of the 11 other major leaguers named Hicks, almost none of them lasted more than 3 years in the majors, and the best player named Hicks in MLB history is, believe it or not, Aaron Hicks, whose career might finally have come to an end with 18 dreadful games for the Angels earlier this season. His career total of 13.5 bWAR currently dwarfs all Hicks competitors, and he's the only one of them who ever got even a downballot vote for MVP.
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Post by qwik3457bb on May 31, 2024 18:15:11 GMT -5
The Yanks send Marcus Stroman to the hill to open the series, and after multiple bumpy starts, has settled down to throw three outstanding games in a row. He's allowed just one run in 19 1/3 innings, winning two of them. On the season, in 11 starts, he's 4-3 with a 2.76 ERA, just outside the AL top 10 among eligible starters, although his other stats aren't as impressive. In 62 innings, he's allowed 50 hits, 22 runs, 19 earned, 8 HR and 27 BB (5th most in the AL), with 53 K's. The 3 good starts have lowered his WHIP to a respectable 1.242.
This will be Stroman's 6th career start against the Giants, and he's done OK: 2-2 with a 3.34 ERA. In 29 2/3 innings, he's allowed 34 hits, 13 runs, 11 earned, 10 BB and struck out 26, though the WHIP is a very high 1.483. His last start gainst SF in June of last year was a bit of a struggle, but it came out all right: 6 2/3 innings, 6 hits, 2 runs, both earned, no HR, 4 BB and 5 K's. (Sound familiar?) He got the W in a 3-2 Cubs' win at Oracle Park in early June.
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Post by qwik3457bb on May 31, 2024 18:20:32 GMT -5
Yankees lineup vs. Hicks...not sure how relevant this will be, it's the first time they're facing him as a starter, but here the stats are:
Volpe is 1-1
Soto is 0-1
Judge is 0-3 with 2 K
Verdugo is 0-3 with a K
Torres is 0-2 with a K
Rizzo is 1-6 with a RBI and a BB
Wells is 0-1
Cabrera is 0-1
Oddly enough, despite playing 5 seasons in the NL while Hicks was in the league, and 3 of them as a nearly full-time starter, Grisham has never faced Hicks before.
On the bench, LeMahieu is 0-3 with 2 BB and 1 K
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Giants' lineup vs. Stroman:
Matos has never faced Stroman
Yastrzemski is 2-11 with 1 BB and 4 K
Estrada is 2-6 with a RBI and 1 GIDP
Chapman is 3-13 with 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 BB and 2 K
Bailey is 0-2 with 1 BB, 1 K and 1 GIDP
Soler is 1-8 with 1 K
Wisely has never faced him
Neither has Ramos
Neither has Brooks.
On the bench: Casali is 2-6 with an RBI and 1 GIDP, Flores is 2-5 with 1 K, and pitcher Logan Webb is 0-3 with 2 K. Stroman gets a break in that the Giants' hottest LH hitter, LaMonte Wade, Jr., was put on the IL 3 days ago with a grade 2 hamstring strain.
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Post by qwik3457bb on May 31, 2024 18:21:36 GMT -5
The Yanks broke open a tense 2-1 game with 5 runs in the 7th, the big blow being a 3-run triple by Soto, and went on to beat the Angels for the 2nd straight day, taking the series in an 8-3 win. The win moved the Yanks back to 20 games over .500 for the 2nd time this season at 39-19. The Yanks haven't lost any of their last 8 series, winning 7 and splitting against the Mariners, and have won 19 of 25 since the O's took 3 of 4 from them. They are just 6-4 in their last 10 games.
In other East games, the Rays came from behind in the late innings twice before walking off the A's in the 12th on a single by Jose Siri, 6-5. The Rays won their 2nd in a row, but just their 3rd in 10 games. Jack Flaherty and two relievers combined on a 2-hit shutout with 12 K's, and blanked the Red Sox 5-0 in Fenway. The Sox have now lost 5 of 7 and have slipped back into a tie for 4th with Tamps. The O's and Jays had the night off.
At the start of the day today, the Yanks win over the Angels increased their lead over the O's to 2 games. The Red Sox and Rays are 10 1/2 back, and the Jays fell to 11 1/2 out of first.
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Post by laurenfrances on May 31, 2024 18:21:37 GMT -5
Just wondering if Giants fans is going to give Judge a hard time. All things being equal he elected to stay with the Yankees.
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Post by chiyankee on May 31, 2024 18:25:48 GMT -5
Just wondering if Giants fans is going to give Judge a hard time. All things being equal he elected to stay with the Yankees. I'm not sure, but I read somewhere that Judge is really looking forward to this game. It's his first MLB game in San Francisco and he has a lot of family and friends attending. |
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Post by qwik3457bb on May 31, 2024 18:28:15 GMT -5
Elsewhere in the AL East today: Rays and O's are underway at Camden Yards (It's not just my imagination, if it seems the O's play at home all the time, by the end of this series, they'll have played 33 at home and just 24 on the road, and 20 of their last 31), and game is 0-0 bottom 1, Aaron Civale vs. Albert Suarez in that one. The Pirates are at the Rogers Centre to take on the Jays, that game is 0-0 top 2nd, Bailey Falter vs. Jose Berrios. The Tigers are in Fenway playing the 2nd of their 4-game series vs. the Red Sox, and they lead, 1-0, top 2nd. Kenta Maeda vs. Tanner Houck in Boston. I'll update all these games just before the start of things in the City by the Bay.
In a little less than 3 hours, it's Stroman vs. Hicks at 10:15 in Oracle Park.
And that wraps up the preview hoo-hah. See you guys a bit later.
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Post by qwik3457bb on May 31, 2024 18:31:00 GMT -5
Did you know the Giants were #2 on this list? I would have guessed the Dodgers. Or the Cards, who like the Giants and Dodgers have had multiple eras several years of very good/great teams in a row. |
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Post by bigjeep on May 31, 2024 18:38:34 GMT -5
Checking in! |
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Post by chiyankee on May 31, 2024 18:41:24 GMT -5
Did you know the Giants were #2 on this list? I would have guessed the Dodgers. Or the Cards, who like the Giants and Dodgers have had multiple eras several years of very good/great teams in a row. I guess the Dodgers were also the lovable loser back in the early days of baseball, they had some catching up to do. |
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