From Bryan Hoch:
As an opponent, Ryan McMahon says his scouting report on the Yankees was that they’re “a very dangerous team,” even when the early innings don’t suggest it. Now he’s living it, and so far, it has been everything he hoped and expected.
After a rollercoaster that featured big homers, late lead changes and at least one moment that manager Aaron Boone said could make you “want to pull your hair out a little,” McMahon delivered the final swing: a deep fly that fell for a game-winning single in the Yankees’ 5-4, 11-inning victory over the Rays on Wednesday at Yankee Stadium.
“One thing about this team — and I’ve seen it plenty of times — they’re never out of a game,” McMahon said. “And I think we showed that tonight. We fought our way back after not playing great for the first couple of innings.”
Wow, what a fucking crazy ass win.
There was SO much to hate about this game, from the anemic offense through the first seven innings (despite Zack Littell not even looking that good) to Devin Williams blowing the save in the ninth (a night after he threw 25 pitches, he was somehow not as sharp tonight. Gee, I wonder why?) to Austin Wells inexplicably forgetting how many outs there were in the ninth (so he thought Trent Grisham was bunting in a tie game in the bottom of the ninth inning with TWO OUTS?) to Stanton and Jazz stranding Bellinger at third with one out in the 10th.
However, there was also a lot to like, like Trent Grisham’s game-tying home run, and then VOLPE’s game-tying home run in the ninth, and then Bellinger’s game-tying triple in the 10th, and then Jazz forcing a balk, leading to McMahon winning the game on what SHOULD have been a sacrifice fly, but Jonny DeLuca decided to just let it drop in for a single instead.
Boy, McMahon just makes you feel like he is going to battle every at-bat, right?
The Blue Jays won, so the Yankees remain four games out.
The Red Sox and Rangers won, so the Yankees remain one game and 2.5 games ahead of those two teams. The Mariners lost, so the Yankees move 2.5 games ahead of them, as well, giving them a LITTLE breathing room for a playoff spot.
This would have been a terrible loss, so it was nice that it was not.
The Yankees made another deal, adding Austin Slater as a righthanded outfield bat. With so many outfielders on the team, it sure feels like the Yankees plan to move one of their outfielders, right? Or perhaps they plan to dump Goldy and make Belli their regular first baseman?
The Mariners hilariously re-acquired Eugenio Suarez, who they salary-dumped on the Diamondbacks just last season! The Mariners finally have a decent offense, so they are a bit scary to go with their excellent pitching.
A lot of big-name relievers were traded, and you know what? I’m beginning to reconsider the idea of trading Lombard for Mason Miller. Miller really would be PERFECT here, right? Williams and Weaver are not only iffy, but they’re both free agents at the end of the year. I think the Yankees would be interested in bringing Weaver back, but Williams is almost certainly gone, so having a cheap replacement for the next FOUR seasons would be pretty advantageous from a roster perspective. Would it be worth trading your best prospect? I dunno, but I am beginning to see the argument for it.
The featured image is McMahnon’s game-winner. See Wells in the background being SO excited that he’s not the goat anymore?
Strangest moment – the ground ball to SS with a guy on 3rd and two outs in the 11th. Volpe makes the rather simple play and gets the ‘good play finger point’ from Goldy and high fives in the dugout as if he did something special. Good grief.
Well, I pumped my fist on that one too. That’s how far he’s come since winning a GG as a rookie.
It’s nice that McMahon has come out of the gates hot.
Almost makes you forget they’ve acheived almost nothing to fix their problems, and what they have done might largely have been better undone.
When you’ve developed one star in the last… 20 years? More? Granted, one hell of a star, but still… with a record like that, you better have a stud for GM.
They upgraded third a lot.Peraza and Vivas were beyond terrible. They added two bench player who in theory can hit LHPs.
Grisham who kills righties is not in the lineup against a tough righty. Slater who can’t hit righties is in RF instead. Could Trent be on his way somewhere?
Peplot vs Stroman is not a good matchup.
Lot of heavy rain in forecast.
Bieber to jays. Two teams interest in JC Escarra. In a biggie Mason Miller and Sears to Padres for
Leodalis De Vries, one of the very best prospects in baseball, and three pitchers
I bet the Yankees made Lombard available, and the Padres were just willing to go further.
Padres going all in. De Vries is only 18 and doing quite well in A+ ball this season.