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Post by kaybli on Jul 19, 2024 16:10:41 GMT -5
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Post by ill636 on Jul 19, 2024 16:38:40 GMT -5
And the race to the end starts today. Hopefully, the Yanks can look like the Yanks at the beginning of the year!!!!!!!
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Post by JEGnj on Jul 19, 2024 16:43:09 GMT -5
Well good to get Yankee baseball back. Let's hope they turn things around.
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Post by JEGnj on Jul 19, 2024 16:45:56 GMT -5
DJL batting one step from retirement.
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Post by qwik3457bb on Jul 19, 2024 17:05:30 GMT -5
The Rays start the 2nd half of the season with a dreaded wraparound 4-game series from Friday through Monday at the Stadium. Last week, they took 2 of 3 from the Yanks in Tampa, then took 2 of 3 from the Central Division leading Guardians to close out the first half at even .500, 48-48. At the Break, they're 4th in the East, 10 games out of 1st, 9 behind the Yanks and 5 1/2 behind the 3rd place Red Sox. The Rays have all their starters except for Ryan Pepiot lined up to face the Yanks. Eflin this evening, the red-hot Taj Bradley tomoorow afternoon, Shane Baz on Sunday, and Zack Littell in the series finals Monday evening. All four games are on YES.
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Post by qwik3457bb on Jul 19, 2024 17:06:13 GMT -5
Tonight Zach Eflin takes the mound for the Rays. It's his 3rd start of the season against the Yanks, including his last start 9 days ago in Tampa. No need to rehash his career history, or his history against the Yanks or the name game; i wrote all that up on him 9 days ago. He's pitched very well in both starts against the Yanks this year, the first one six shutout innings against the Yanks in a game the Rays won in 10 innings at the Stadium in April, the last one 7 innings of 4-hit 2-run (1 earned) ball in Tampa, and got nailed for the L in a 2-1 loss, the Rays only loss in that series. On the season, Eflin is now 5-6 on the season with an ERA of 4.25. In 17 starts, he's pitched 99 1/3 innings, allowing 102 hits, 48 runs, 44 earned, 13 HR, just 9 BB and has struck out 78. His WHIP on the season is an excellent 1.117. Eflin is 2nd in the AL in K-BB ratio at 8.67 and leads all of MLB in fewest BB per 9 innings at 0.82.
Repertoire: Rather than give his entire repetoire, all the movement on all the pitches, all the run values, the spin rates, etc. I thought I'd take a look at what Eflin has been throwing against the Yanks to see how he's holding them down so well, despite not being able to gain a win for himself in either of the starts. He's thrown 6 pitches this season: Sinker 31%, Cutter 26%, Curve 20%, 4-seamer and Sweeper 10% each, and Change 3%. In the April start against the Yanks, he threw no changeups and only one 4-seamer, relying more heavily than usual on the sinker and sweeper. The curve was mostly locatied below the knees on the glove side for chases, and it worked, as he got 12 swinging strikes, about 5 more than he's averaging per year for the 78 pitches he threw in that game. Of the 12 swinging strikes, 5 came on the curve. His CSW for the game 36%, well above his season average of 27%. The Yanks only hit four balls in play hard out of 18 balls in play off Eflin, and that 22% hard hit rate is well below his season's average of 35%. He threw slightly harder than average that day, maybe 1/2 mph faster per pitch.
In the start last Wednesday, Eflin again used the FB a lot less than normal, and the curve a bit less often, but used the sinker and change a bit more. He only got 6 swings and misses, but got many more called strikes, 25 of them. His CSW% was 30%, down from the first game, but still above his season average. He was again throwing harder than average, by a bit more than 1/2 mph on every pitch except the change, on which he took off a bit more velocity than usual. He got below seasonal average vertical break on all six pitches. The Yanks made almost no hard contact against him, average exit velo was 80-81. Only 2 balls were put in play with an exit velo above 95, only one of those above 101. As you can infer, his hard hit rate was way below his seasonal avereage. He traded some swings and misses from the first start for a lot of softer contact.
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Post by qwik3457bb on Jul 19, 2024 17:07:59 GMT -5
The Yanks send out staff ace Gerrit Cole for his 6th start since coming off the IL. His last start was his best of the season so far: 6 innings of 1-run ball, allowing 5 hits, 1 BB and striking out 7 in a big win against the O's at Camden Yards one week ago. On the season, Cole is 2-1 with an ERA of 5.40. In 23 1/3 innings, he's allowed 25 hits, 14 runs, all earned, with 5 HR, 9 BB and 26 K's. His WHIP on the season is still shoddy: 1.457.
Against the Rays, Cole has made 19 starts, and been so-so. He's 4-7 with a 3.55 ERA vs. Tampa. In 116 2/3 innings, he's allowed 92 hits, 55 runs, 46 earned, a rather high 16 HR, 34 BB and struck out 167, his most against any team, and his 2nd highest K/9 against any team, 12.9. He made 4 starts against them last year, one poor one, a 5-inning no-decision against them in Tampa in early May in which he gave up 6 runs, 5 earned, in a game the Yanks eventually lost 8-7. His next start was also against the Rays, this time in at the Stadium and he gave up 2 runs in 5 innings in another no-decision. The Yanks won that one, 6-5. He pitched two good games against the Rays in August, getting the W both times: 7 innings of 4-hit 2-run ball, striking out 8 in a 7-2 Yankees win at the Stadium on the 2nd, and an even better game in Tampa on the 25th, Just 3 hits and 1 earned run in 7 innings, striking out 11 and walking none is 6-2 Yankees win.
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Post by qwik3457bb on Jul 19, 2024 17:09:11 GMT -5
Yankees lineup vs Eflin:
Rice went 0-3 with 2 K's vs. Eflin in the game last week
Soto is 14-31 with 3 doubles, 2 HR, 10 RBI, 5 BB, 9 K and 1 sac fly (This year, 3-6 with a K, so...Eflin is giving him singles but no power.)
Judge is 2-15 with 9 K (!!)
Verdugo is 4-17 with a double, a solo HR, 1 BB and 4 K
Torres is 1-12 with a BB, 3 K and 2 GIDP
Wells is 0-2 with 1 K
Volpe is 3-13 with 3 K
Grisham is 2-10 with a double, 2 RBI (1 sac fly; he knocked in both runs in last week's game)
LeMahieu is 5-17 with a solo HR, 1 BB, 4 K and 1 HBP
On the bench: Cabrera is 2-4 with a HR, 2 RBI, Jones is 0-2 with 1 K, Marcus Stroman is 0-2 with 1 K and his oppenent Gerrit Cole is 0-1 with 1 K.
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Rays lineup vs. Cole:
1. Palacios (2B) is 0-2
2. Paredes (1B) is 5-18 with a double, 2 RBI, 1 BB and 4
3. B. Lowe (DH) is 6-30 with an RBI, 3 BB and 10 K
4. Arozarena (LF) is 7-35 with 1 double, 1 HR, 2 BB, 1 BB, 12 K and 1 GIDP
5. J. Lowe (RF) is 0-9 with 1 BB and 4 K
6. Siri (CF) is 2-10
7. Rortvedt (C) has never faced Cole
8. Caballero (3B) is 1-3 with 1 K
9. Walls (SS) is 0-7 with 1 BB and 4 K
On the bench: Diaz (1B) is 14-44 with 2 doubles, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 4 BB and 9 K, and given that record agaiinst Cole, I wonder why he's not playing...maybe nursing a minor injury?
Rosario is 1-11 with 1 BB and 4 K; and his opponent, Zach Eflin, is 0-2 with a K. An increasingly rare game where the two starters have faced each other as hitters. I wonder when the last such game will happen...probably an NL game around maybe 2030?
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Post by qwik3457bb on Jul 19, 2024 17:11:07 GMT -5
Just coming off the All-Star Break, there's been no league action the last 4 days. On Sunday, the Yanks got another defensive and closer meltdown in the 9th, making two terrible defensive plays around two walks by Clay Holmes, wiping out a tremendously clutch 3-run HR by Ben Rice in the 9th that gave the Yanks a 5-3 lead to blow a sweep of the Orioles and first place at the break, 6-5. The loss left the Yanks in 2nd place at 18 games over .500 at 58-40 to start the second half of the season.
In other AL East action, the Red Sox held off a 9th inning rally by the Royals, who helped the Sox out when Garrett Hampson TOOTBLANed himself on an RBI single to center; Rafaela threw him out at 3rd as Blanco scored to make it a 5-4 game. Ferman, who got the single, followed the throw to 2nd, but was stranded there when Kenley Jansen got Nick Loftin to ground out to 2nd to end it for his 19th save. Sox' starter Brayan Bello got his 10th win of the season. The Sox went into the break having won 9 of 12 and 18 of 25. The Rays shut out the Guardians 2-0 for the 2nd time in that series. Ryan Pepiot, who shut down the Yanks in the start before, shut down the Guardians as well: 6 scoreless innings, giving up just 2 hits and no walks while striking out 4. Pete Fairbanks gave up back to back singles to open the 9th, but got the next 3 hitters on a popup, a lineout to deep center by Josh Naylor and a flyout to deep left by catcher David Fry to end it for his 17th stave. The Rays are finally back to .500 (48-48) and are 10 out of 1st in the East, but they're not out of the race because of their starting pitching, which the Yanks will see a lot of. Pepiot appears to be getting himself together, Taj Bradley has been almost unhittable his last 8 starts and the Yanks didn't even face him in the last series, Shane Baz looked awfully good against the Yanks last week, and Eflin owns the Yanks right now. The Jays closed out a dreary 1st half by blowing all of an early 7-run lead against the surging NL-champ Diamondbacks, but Vlad Guererro, Jr. hit a solo HR in the 7th and the Jays' pen held on for an 8-7 win. They're 7 under at the break, and are seriously considering selling off key players, including Guerrero himself, as he's entering his final year of team control in 2025. Ex-Yankee Chad Green gave up a two-out single in the 9th, but got Corbin Carroll to fly out to deep right center to wrap up his 6th save as the Jays backup backup closer (behind Romano and Yimi Garcia, both on the IL before the Break).
The Yanks' devastating blown game gave then another day in which they lost ground to the entire division, and leaves them in 2nd, a game behind the O's, just 3 1/2 ahead of the Sox, 9 ahead of the Rays and 13 ahead of the Jays as the season resumes.
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Post by qimqam on Jul 19, 2024 17:11:13 GMT -5
Turns my stomach every time I see Grisham in the Lineup ...as if we cant find something better than that on the unemployment line |
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Post by qwik3457bb on Jul 19, 2024 17:12:04 GMT -5
Elsewhere in the AL East today, the Blue Jays open up their 2nd half back home in Rogers Centre, starting a 3-game series against the Tigers at 7:07 pm. Jack Flaherty (6-5, 3.13 ERA) starts for the Tigers. Having a fine comeback season this year, Flaherty has pitched 4 very good games in his last 5 starts, marred by one bad one against the Angels 2 starts ago. Chris Bassitt (8-7, 3.52 ERA) goes for the Jays; his hot run has been temporarily halted by back to back mediocre-to-poor outings in his last two starts. The Orioles beat up on the Rangers, winning 3 of 4 against them in a series in Baltimore at the end of June, but Texas gets get a chance to get back at the O's in a 3-game series starting tonight in Arlington at 8:05 pm. The Rangers have won 9 of 13 since losting the first 3 games of that series in Baltimore. O's ace Corbin Burnes (9-4 with a 2.43 ERA, 2nd in the AL) is opposed by Texas starter Nathan Eovaldi (6-3, 2.97 ERA). Eovaldi is two innings short of qualifying for the ERA list, if he goes at least 3 innings tonight without getting knocked around, he'll jump into the top 10 somewhere around #7 or #8. The hot Red Sox begin a West Coast trip of their own against a strong Dodgers team that has been struggling lately because they can't keep their starting pitching in order. Aside from the injuries they came into the season with, they've since added rotation starters Walker Buehler, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and the Annually Injured Tyler Glasnow to their IL. They already have two rookies in the rotation: lefty Justin Wrobleski and London Knack and will be calling up a 3rd on Monday to face the Giants: River Ryan. In the first game of the 3-game series against Boston, Nick Pivetta (4-6, 4.18 ERA) starts for the Sox and Staff Ace Of The Moment Gavin Stone (9-3, 3.26 ERA) goes for LA. Stone has pitched poorly against the D'backs and Phillies in his last two starts. The series opener is at 10:10 pm in Dodgers Stadium.
And, at 7:07 pm tonight at the Stadium, it's Eflin vs. Cole.
Pre-game preview "festivites" concluded, I go to get dinner for myself before the game, about 55 minutes from now. See you then.
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Post by desousa on Jul 19, 2024 17:42:59 GMT -5
I don't know which team will show up in the second half. Will it be a beautiful thing, mediocrity or a bloodbath?
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Post by qwik3457bb on Jul 19, 2024 17:51:10 GMT -5
I don't know which team will show up in the second half. Will it be a beautiful thing, mediocrity or a bloodbath? As my friend Mike likes to say: "That's why they play the games." |
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Post by qwik3457bb on Jul 19, 2024 17:57:41 GMT -5
I put this in the pitcher vs. batter stats for the Rays vs. Cole:
"On the bench: Diaz (1B) is 14-44 with 2 doubles, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 4 BB and 9 K, and given that record agaiinst Cole, I wonder why he's not playing...maybe nursing a minor injury?"
A partial answer comes from NBC Sports News (formerly Rotowaorld Baseball Player News):
"Yandy Díaz is not in the Rays’ starting lineup on Friday as he’s away from the team tending to a personal matter.
No word on how long exactly the Rays expect Díaz to be away from the team, but fantasy managers should swap him out for the weekend if they have a viable replacement available. Richie Palacios will start in his place on Friday night against the Yankees and will bat leadoff against Gerrit Cole and the Yankees."
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Post by chiyankee on Jul 19, 2024 18:07:10 GMT -5
Not a fan of all these DH games for Judge. Did they not notice how much better he hit the first two games in Baltimore when he was playing in the field?
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