From Bryan Hoch:
“Suits tomorrow.”
That was the late-night directive from Aaron Judge, sent via text to teammates ahead of Friday’s home opener at Yankee Stadium — crisp shirts, pressed slacks, shoes shined to a gleam.
Call it Fifth Avenue meets 161st Street: the Yankees were dressed for business. Judge made sure they handled it, too, launching a first-inning home run in their 8-2 victory over the Marlins.
“That’s Cap again, setting the tone,” said Ben Rice, who homered and drove in three runs. “Everybody was fired up and happy to continue that momentum out on the field.”
Down a run early, Judge jumped on a Eury Pérez slider that landed in the left-field seats for his third homer of the season. The Yankees seized control and didn’t let go, continuing one of the best seven-game starts in franchise history.
Only the 1933 Yanks (7-0) opened better than this group, which has been powered by dominant pitching, timely hitting and athleticism. The 2024 pennant-winners were the most recent Bombers squad to win six of its first seven contests.
Right off the top of the bat, let me note that Will Warren really SHOULD have the header image for this one. Two runs in five and two thirds innings is a good performance. It’s not AMAZING, but it was good (and the reason he didn’t get through six was a bouncing ground ball that just found a hole followed by a weakly hit ground ball that was hit too softly to throw the runner out first. That brought up the red-hot Liam Hicks as the go-ahead run, and as a lefty, you really couldn’t NOT bring Tim Hill in there. Even if he gives up a hit, it’s unlikely to be a home run, while Warren had already given up two home runs, the first two home runs allowed by the Yankees this season).
So under most circumstances, he’d get the header, but Cody Bellinger made one of the most amazing catches you’ll ever see. Look at where the ball is in that screenshot, and know that he somehow CAUGHT THAT BALL. It defies logic, it practically defies physics.
Beyond that, the Yankee offense did a good job. They had some bad luck (Grisham was thrown out at third on one of those BS replay calls that should not be part of the modern game. “His toe was off the bag by a tenth of an inch! Out!”) and they STILL scored eight runs!
The Yankees made sure to stop Giancarlo Stanton’s hot streak by giving him two days off, but Rice and Belli continued to be hot, and Judge showed signs he might not have become a bad hitter out of nowhere.
Meanwhile, Jazz and Wells are both rocking sub .500 OPSes, but McMahon and Cabby, though, are both somehow rocking sub .400 OPSes, with McMahon sub .300!!!! That’s berry berry bad.
But, let’s be frank, a few really good hitters in a row will still score you plenty of runs, and even Grisham looks normal out there. THREE WALKS for him!
The bullpen looks good enough that I am increasingly unsure of how, exactly, you send either Headrick or Bird to the minors at this point when Gil returns. Cade Winquest STILL hasn’t pitched, but to be fair, neither had Ryan Yarbrough, so I don’t hate using Yarbrough today (I don’t LIKE it, though, as I think Yarbrough makes more sense to piggy back Weathers if need be, but I guess that’s what Blackburn is for, as well).
The Blue Jays have been struggling with some shitty teams to start, so that’s nice.
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