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Post by kaybli on Jun 10, 2024 17:56:21 GMT -5
Soto is back but now Judge takes a rest day.  |
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Post by rizzuto on Jun 10, 2024 17:58:17 GMT -5
Soto is back but now Judge takes a rest day. Perfect time to rest Judge, when he's white hot.  |
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Post by chiyankee on Jun 10, 2024 18:00:16 GMT -5
If anyone deserves a day off, it's the big guy, but this is 4 straight games without the Soto/Judge Dynamic Duo.
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Post by qwik3457bb on Jun 10, 2024 18:03:48 GMT -5
Soto is back but now Judge takes a rest day.
Perfect time to rest Judge, when he's white hot. And Stanton and Rizzo too, despite both of them having solid records against Lugo...hey, crack analytical staff!! Maybe playing the Royals at home isn't the best time to send the spring training "B" team out there! Especially facing Lugo. |
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Post by qwik3457bb on Jun 10, 2024 18:04:47 GMT -5
The vastly improved Royals, who have the best record at home in MLB at 24-11, and who lost 104 games last season, are finally seeing the fruits from their multi-year tear-down and rebuild from the aftermath of their World Series win in 2015. They're plaing nearly .600 ball so far this season and 39-27, and trail the Guardians by 4 games in the Central.
They send out their brand new surprise ace, Seth Lugo, to open the series against the Yanks in KC. Lugo was taken by the Mets in the 34th round of the 2011 draft. He climbed their farm system steadily if unspectacularly, having decent but not great season at AA and AAA in 2015. The Mets AAA team moved to Las Vegas, one of the fairly high altitude parks in the PCL (almost 2500 ft) and an extreme hitters park. He got pummelled in 11 starts, 3-3 with a 7.28 ERA in 55 innings. So, to get him read for the majors, they shifted him into a hybrid starting/middle-long relief role, and he did somewhat better, a 3.46 ERA in 13 innings in 8 games. Called up as an injury replacement, he pitched well in 8 games, but was returned to AAA for 2 games. He came back to the majors in mid-August, and after 3 more games in relief, the Mets put him into their rotation and he pitched very well. In 7 starts, he went 5-1 with a 2.68 ERA. At that point, it looked like he had a reasonably bright future in the Mets rotation. But he pitched for Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic and suffered a partial tear of his UCL. Opting for treatment and rest, he missed the first two months of the season.
After rehabbing in High-A and AA for 4 games, the Mets called him up in mid June, 2017, and he stayed in rotation until mid-August. After two weeks on the DL for a shoulder impingement, they put him back into the rotation for the rest of the season. Lugo, possibly because of the two injuries, did poorly that year going 5-7 with a 4.71 ERA, half good games, half bad ones. Having all of their regular starters (Harvey, DeGrom, Syndegaard and Matz) back and healthy left no room for Lugo in the rotation, so the shifted him to the pen. And there he remained for the next 5 seasons, making just 5 spot starts in 2018 and 7 more in 2020. He was a very good reliever for the Mets in those 5 years, 21-17 wtih 16 saves and an ERA of 3.25 in 329 1/3 innings with a K rate over 10 per 9 and a K/BB of better than 4 to 1.
After the 2022 season, he became a free agent, and left the Mets for the Padres because he wanted to go back to being a starter and the Padres said he could start for them. He pitched well for the Padres for 7 starts before getting knocked out in 2 innings while trying to pitch through a calf strain. The Padres put him on the DL for a month, and when he came back, right back into the rotation he went. He made 26 starts in all for the Padres last year, and the overwhelming majority of them were solid: 4 starts of 5 or more runs, 21 starts of 3 runs or less. For the 2023 season, Lugo went 8-7 with a 3.57 ERA. In 146 1/3 innings, he allowed 140 hits, 62 runs, 58 earned, 19 HR, walked 36 and struck out 140. His WHIP for the season was a solid 1.203. The Padres might well have re-signed Lugo to fill out their injury-riddled rotation, but decided instead to cash in Juan Soto's final year by getting the Yanks to trade them half of a pitching staff for Soto. One week later, Lugo signed with the Royals.
This year so far, Lugo has shocked all of MLB by fronting the rotation for an upstart Royals team. He was brilliant until his last start, when the Guardians got to him for 5 runs in 6 innings in a no-decision. In 13 starts, he's 9-1 with a 2.13 ERA. In 84 1/3 innings, he's allowed 67 hits, 21 runs, 20 earned, 8 HR, 19 BB and struck out 71. His WHIP on the season is an outstanding 1.020. He leads the AL in wins, is 2nd in pitcher bWAR, 2nd in innings pitched, 4th in ERA, 10th in WHIP, and 9th in both fewest hits per 9 innings and HR per 9 innings.
Lugo's record against the Yanks is very good, and in his two starts against them, he pitched very well. In 2018, he threw 6 innings of 2 hit ball, striking out 8 in a 2-0 Mets win over the Yanks at Citifield in mid-June. In 2020, while still trying to stretch out his arm in his 2nd start after beginning that season in the pen, he went 3 2/3 innings, allowing 4 hits and solo HR for 1 run while striking out 7. He didn't qualify for a win in that game at the Stadium, which the Yanks eventually won 5-2. His totals against the Yanks: 12 games, 21 1/3 innings, 14 hits, 6 runs, all earned, 2 HR, 8 BB and 31 K. His WHIP against the Yanks is 1.031, and their team quadruple slash line against him is .184/.259/.276/.535.
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Post by qwik3457bb on Jun 10, 2024 18:08:05 GMT -5
Repertoire: Lugo is a rather extreme "kitchen sink" righty. He throws 2 types of fastballs, 3 types of slider and 3 other pitches. He has the usual FB and sinker, both about 92. He has a slider, a sweeper and a slurve. The slider is faster with less break, averages 87, the sweeper is 5 mph slower, has almost a foot more horizontal break and more drop, the slurve is 2 mph slower than that, and a bit more horizontal break. The curve is more up and down, less horizontal break and more drop and is more or less the same speed at the slurve. He also has a cutter with only a tiny break both ways thrown 3 mph faster than the slider. And he has a change about 86. The mix approximates this way: the two fastballs, 49% of the time, roughly evenly split. The 3 sliders 21% of the time, and sweeper > slider > slurve. The curve about 20% of the time. The change about 6% and the cutter about 4%. If forced to describe Lugo, I'd say he's what Clarke Schmidt would be with significantly better command; so many different pitches and locations nobody knows what's coming.
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Playing the name game...There have been 12 other Seths in MLB history. A biblical name from early on in Genesis, the son of Adam and Eve who isn't Cain or Abel. It fell out of favor in past decades, but has beome more popular in recent years. Only 3 of the other Seths began their MLB careers before 2000. Of the other 12 Seths, the only one with a significant career is Seth Smith, and outfielder who has 12 seasons in MLB for the Rockies, Padres Mariners and Orioles, lasting long enough get almost 1000 hits and over 100 HR in the majors. There are 4 other Lugos in MLB history, but the only one with a significant career is someone I knew personally, but not closely. That was Julio Lugo, who played mostly shortstop across 12 MLB seaons for 7 different teams, Mostly the Rays, Astros and Red Sox. He was also the shortstop of the 1989 PSAL champion Ft. Hamilton Tigers, the school I taught at for not quite 30 years. I talked to him a few times before and after some games, and I attended the championship game at the 2nd Yankee Stadium, won by the Tigers with a late 6-run rally.
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Post by JEGnj on Jun 10, 2024 18:09:08 GMT -5
Soto back at DH but Grisham and Jones? Swap out Dugo with Stanton and we have the freshman team starting tonight.
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Post by qwik3457bb on Jun 10, 2024 18:10:15 GMT -5
Carlos Rodon will try to keep his personal winning streak alive. He's won his last 6 starts and will open the series for the Yanks. He's throw six straight quality starts as well. On the season, he's 8-2 in 13 starts with a 3.08 ERA. In 73 innings, he's allowed 59 hits, 26 runs, 25 earned, 11 HR, 20 BB and has struck out 71. His WHIP for the season, quite high in his first few starts, has come down to an excllent 1.082. In the current streak of 6 good starts, it's just 0.834.
Pitching in the same division with the Royals for a long time, he has an extensive record against them, but not a good one. He's 3-6 with a 5.27 ERA in 11 starts. In 54 2/3 innings, he's allowed 70 hits, 34 runs, 32 earned, 7 HR, 20 BB and struck out 55. His WHIP against them is a very poor 1.646 and the Royals; team quadruple slash line against him is correspondingly bad: .314/.374/.471/.844. This record is somewhat exaggerated by his last start against the Royals, the last start of his season last year, the worst start of his career, allowing the first 8 to reach on a single, walk, double, home run, single, single, single, and walk. Matt Bowman came in and allowed all three inherited runners to score, 8 runners and 8 earned runs in 0 innings. Obviously pitching hurt, if you take that game out of his total split against the Royals, the ERA drops to 3.94, although the WHIP is still high at 1.500.
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Post by qwik3457bb on Jun 10, 2024 18:11:22 GMT -5
Yankees lineup vs. Lugo:
Volpe has never faced Lugo
Soto: Fangraphs has him starting at DH, and if he does, he's 3-10 with a solo HR, 4 BB and 4 K
Torres is 0-4 with 1 BB and 2 K (Judge sitting tonight)
Verdugo is 1-4 with 1 double and 1 K
LeMahieu is 5-11 with 2 RBI and 2 K
Grisham is 0-1 with a BB
Jones has never faced him (Stanton and Rizzo sitting tonight; Stanton is 3-11 against Lugo with a solo HR and Rizzo is 3-9 with a solo HR as well.)
Trevino is 0-1 with a K
Cabrera hasn't faced him.
On the bench: Already mentioned Stanton and Rizzo, Judge is 0-5 with a K.
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Royals' lineup vs. Rodon:
Garcia is 1-1
Witt has faced him once and walked.
Perez is 9-20 with a double, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 1 BB and 6 K, with 1 GIDP
Velazquez is 1-3 with 1 K
Loftin is 1-1
Fermin has never faced him
Renfroe is 0-5 with 2 BB and 3 K
Blanco has never faced him
Hampson is 0-4 with 3 K
On the bench: No Royal not in the starting lineup has batted against Rodon.
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Post by qwik3457bb on Jun 10, 2024 18:13:44 GMT -5
Last night, the Yanks avoided the sweep with some late HR heriocs: Grisham with the monster 3-run blast in the 6th off of Glasnow, and Judge with the vital insurance run HR in the 8th off Ramirez. Luis Gil battled but the Dodgers knocked him out in the 6th, ending his white-hot run. Weaver and Holmes combined for 3 innings of relief, allowing 1 cheap run, and the Yanks hung on to win, 6-4. The win put them back at 25 games over .500, 46-21.
Also yesterday, The O's did NOT sweep their series with the 3rd straight win over the Rays, it's a 4-day wraparound series with the last game this evening. They did beat them for the 3rd game in a row, with Adley Rutschman hitting a grand slam and knocking in 6 as the O's pounded Tampa, 9-2. The Red Sox salvaged the final game in Chicago by coming back and tying it with a ru in the 9th and getting 2 in the 10th to beat the White Sox 6-4. The Blur Jays also came back to win in 10 innings, also 6-4. They got 3 in the 10th, then hung on as the A's scored their ghost runner on a couple of ground balls, but nothing more.
As of this morning, the Yanks now lead the O's by 2 1/2 games. The Red Sox are in 3rd, 12 1/2 back. The Jays are back in 4th, 13 games back, and the Rays are in the basement, 14 games out of 1st.
Elsewhere in the AL East today: The O's are in Tampa, playing the finale of the 4-game set. Corbin Burnes vs. Ryan Pepiot. That game is 1-0, top 2nd. Gunnar Henderson led off the game with his 21st HR. The Jays are in Milwaukee to start a series against the Brewers at the same time the Yankee game starts, 8:10 or so. Jose Berrios, 5-4 2.80 ERA vs. Colin Rea, 4-2 3.53 ERA. The Red Sox have the night off.
In about an hour from now, it's Rodon vs. Lugo at Kauffman Stadium.
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Post by qwik3457bb on Jun 10, 2024 18:14:24 GMT -5
Preview yadda-yadda done, I go for a light dinner.
See you guys at game time.
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Post by bumper on Jun 10, 2024 19:02:26 GMT -5
If anyone deserves a day off, it's the big guy, but this is 4 straight games without the Soto/Judge Dynamic Duo. agree. he hasn't sat out a game all season so guess they wanna give him a day. probably just be a rest day, but maybe he's a little banged up. just like w soto, all of a sudden we heard he was playing through "something". maybe meredith has some info on the pre-game. great to get soto back but yeah sux that we'll missing the dynamic duo.
said a couple times yesterday that stanton was sitting today. boone had already said yesterday that he was giving the slumping rizzo a couple days. don't care about their very small sample numbers against lugo, who's apparently a different pitcher now. in any case both have been terrible lately. didn't do much for stanton against glasnow.
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Post by qwik3457bb on Jun 10, 2024 19:02:49 GMT -5
Rays took a 2-1 lead on the O's, but Baltimore tied it in the 3rd, and took the lead in the 5th on a 2-run double by O'Hearn. O's up, 4-2, bottom 5 in Tampa.
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Post by qwik3457bb on Jun 10, 2024 19:04:11 GMT -5
We pay for one lousy game of Kay, O'Neill and Cone with a series of Ruocco and Nelson. Ah, well.
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Post by qwik3457bb on Jun 10, 2024 19:10:35 GMT -5
Despite his 2-14 with 5 K's struggles in the Dodgers series, Volpe is 14th in the AL in BAVG (.280), 19th in OBA (.342), 8th in runs (47) and 10th in steals at 12.
Royals lead the AL with 63 steals, and they have nearly an 80% success rate, 13 caught steals.
They're 4th in slugging and 4th in OPS.
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