From Bryan Hoch:
All offseason, the Yankees quietly bristled as their defensive shortcomings were re-examined, a frequent topic in dissecting why a long-awaited return to the World Series didn’t go their way. Run prevention was a buzzy topic among decision-makers, along with a promise that efforts would be more buttoned-up in the new season.
That sparkling defense was on display Friday, particularly from shortstop Anthony Volpe, who ranged deep into the hole for one highlight-reel putout and flawlessly executed a relay that wiped out another threat. The Yankees won their fifth consecutive game, a 1-0 victory over the Rays at George M. Steinbrenner Field.
We work really, really hard on the plays on the physical side, but I think the communication has been great,” Volpe said. “Guys are feeding off each other and just want to back up the pitchers. It’s kind of a contagious feeling on defense; once the ball is put in play, it’s going to be an out.”
First baseman Paul Goldschmidt also spearheaded a textbook fourth-inning rundown that nabbed José Caballero attempting to score against a drawn-in infield, keeping Carlos Rodón’s line clean over six scoreless innings. It marked the Yanks’ first 1-0 victory since June 24, 2023, at Texas.
That was one hell of a win. Rodon shows why you can never give up on him, as the dipshit is obviously SO extremely talented, and CAN pitch like an ace any given week…or he can flame out and pitch like absolute shit for an inning (while pitching great in six other innings to have a seven inning line of, like, 4 runs allowed, so his numbers don’t even look insane in the end). He probably would have pitched even better in this one had he not been sweating like a pig throughout the later innings, causing him to lose his grip on the ball repeatedly. This led to a funny situation where the umpire felt that Rodon was making his hands TOO sticky with rosin, making Rodon wipe off some rosin. It was funny because the umpire wasn’t even REMOTELY suggesting Rodon was cheating or anything like that, as he could plainly see that Rodon was only using the rosin because he was sweating profusely, but, at the same time, you can’t get your hands too stick via rosin, as that’s against the rules, so Rodon was forced to try to find a happy medium. It was pretty weird.
In any event, the Yankees made a couple of outstanding defensive plays, with Volpe throwing out a runner with a DEEP throw from the outfield, then Goldschmidt made the aforementioned excellent fourth-inning play, and when Mark Leiter gave up a leadoff double to Jonathan Aranda in the seventh, Grisham and Volpe did an excellent relay to nab Aranda at third. Leiter then struck out the next two batters, so it’s possible he would have gotten himself out of the inning even if they hadn’t gotten Aranda at third. Leiter and Fernando Cruz continue to pitch well (I’m not going to knock any reliever for the occasional home run, but it’s the walks AROUND home runs that drive me crazy). They each had one terrible inning where they allowed a big home run early in the season following some walks, but they’ve each bounced back in a big way, with Leiter’s ERA now down to 3.12, and Cruz’s is down to 2.53. That’s, of course, pretty darn huge.
Luke Weaver, meanwhile, dominated in the ninth inning for his second save. Again, no knock on Devin Williams, but since they can’t bring both back next year, I’d just as soon as them pick Weaver over Williams, especially since Weaver will probably still be cheaper, even though he’s been so damn good this year so far (it’ll be fascinating to see if Weaver can perhaps make the All Star team as a setup man).
Drew Rasmussen was outstanding tonight, and, of course, it is worth noting that Ben Rice was robbed of a home run in the eighth inning (the wind held it up a bit, allowing the right fielder to make an amazing play. Also, it’s worth noting that the Rays have an oddly athletic right fielder in Caballero, who is a shortstop by trade. The Rays are all about positional diversity, with dudes all playing, like, seven positions each. The Yankees are trying to counter this with their strategy of carrying Rice and Stanton, who can both only DH). Judge also JUST missed a home run that inning. So the weather affected the field of play a bit. It’s going to be crazy playing here in June and July (note that the Rays’ schedule is designed so that they will BARELY play any home games from June 18-Aug 18, since they know how crazy it will be), between the weird wind (since they don’t have bigger stands, the wind has a greater direct impact in the outfield) and the heat and humidity, it’ll be nuts. But hey, it’ll be nuts for both teams, so fair enough. It will almost be as crazy as playing in the burning heat of Kansas City!
So yeah, I don’t even begrudge the offense too much. Rasmussen was excellent, and hey, they got the win.
In other news, the pitcher they got from Boston for Narvaez struck out nine in the High A league last night. Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz is 21 years old. Well, that’s pretty cool.
Tyler Matzek is getting healthy. I assume they’ll let him pitch a bit in the minors first. If he proves to be healthy, I guess you simply just send Winans down (or Headrick, who will presumably be called up for Winans as soon as he is eligible), but if you call Matzek up, who do you get rid of when Lo is ready to return? Gomez probably shouldn’t invest in any long term New York real estate.
The featured image stays true to my promise to always feature the starter if he has a good game, so Rodon gets the spotlight, but it’s him freaking out at the amazing play Volpe and Goldschmidt had (where Volpe made a great long throw, and Goldy made an awesome scoop on the throw, which, inherently, didn’t have a lot on it left by the time it got to him). So it’s really more about the defense, but it’s a cool photo, as it’s nice to see Rodon’s dumb face happy for a change.
I just watched the Aranda play. Pretty amazing. And Volpe’s arm wasn’t supposed to be good!