Mason Fluharty (#68, 24, LHP, 5-1, 3.71) vs. Cam Schlittler (#31, 25, RHP, 10-6, 2.19)
BLUE JAYS
CF B. Bateman L
RF Nathan Lukes L
C A. Kirk R
DH J. Sanchez L
SS E. Clement R
3B K. Okamoto R
1B B. Valenzuela S
2B C. McAdoo R
LF Myles Straw R
YANKEES
1B P. Goldschmidt R
3B Amed Rosario R
LF Heliot Ramos R
DH Ben Rice L
SS G. Lombard R
CF T. Grisham L
RF S. Jones L
2B J. Caballero R
C Ali Sanchez R
I legit don’t get why they’re burning their only good lefty as an opener.
Please, Mitch Garver, join this team. It will be very funny to see the changes in this lineup when they bring in the righty.
Time for Ben Rice to go on a tear? But he’s batting .158 in his last 30 games, so what would a tear look like?
Starting PGold for defense-genius
Three baserunners and only 13 pitches to get out of the inning.
Ramos is a veteran; we must keep playing him and batting him high in the order.
Lombard definitely does expand the zone a bit.
TERRIBLE challenge.
That was a Juan Soto-style stolen base by Grisham.
How is this a thing AGAIN?!
Revenge of the replay?
This is too funny that they are getting the benefit of it BOTH times!
Jones does NOT want to be sent back down!
Thought that was going foul, but it didnt
Me, too.
Good managerial stuff
Jones, eh.
He was total TRASH for a week, and now he’s hot as fuck. I hope it holds up!
This team and its love of walking shitty #9 hitters is just beyond me.
Jones has a huge follow through kind of like Bellinger . The opposite of Trent.Much prettier. Hes up to 232/740.
Notice how Lombard changed his mind on where to throw mid play?
Yeah, he’s CRAZY good.
That was a pretty concerning walk. I like how Blake was clearly, like, “What the fuck?” with that walk.
Yankees need to get Josh Smith then they’d have alias Smith and Jones in the lineup.
Well done!
I did a bit on that show years ago.
https://legendsrevealed.com/entertainment/2014/01/30/did-a-tv-series-once-not-even-stop-production-when-one-of-its-two-leads-killed-himself/
If Clement could play the Yankees every day, he’d be a Hall of Famer.
The Jays just own Schlittler. It’s crazy how poorly he pitches against them.
How is he having so much trouble with Myles fucking Straw!?
Finally. What a good/annoying outing by Schlittler.
Was Grisham telling him NOT to advance?!
Nicely turned
I honestly don’t even mind that error. Just a fluke play.
This is a weird game.
Another awful, dreadful Ben Rice AB.
Terrible, terrible at-bat right there. I also hate the idea of Jazz coming into the game to bat second and fuck shit up.
Lombard also with RISP Fail.
Yep, he HAS to stop expanding the zone on 3-2 counts. It’s now a “thing” for him, and other teams are going to exploit the shit out of that.
Or he becomes Volpe Part Deux.
I’m torn on that challenge. I get why he tried it, but, I mean, two strikes, one ball, just trust your guy.
O’s up 5-3 on the Rays in the eighth, Bosox up 5-4 in the sixth.
I guess that’s it for Schlittler at 95 pitches. Unless the Yankees score a few more, which would mean Schlittler won’t come out for the seventh.
I can live with six.
I don’t love Cabby actively looking for a walk there with shitty Sanchez on deck.
But Kubek is best remembered for a ground ball to the throat
Forbes field Paul
I had NO idea he was the Blue Jays announcer for so many years.
Yankee-like bunt attempt there by Straw.
That went from amazing to annoying very quickly.
He held that a long time.
It is funny that there clearly just isn’t a rule for it because you NEVER see shit like that.
I’m an idiot. There IS a rule that explains it clearly. The ball can only be dropped in such a way as it is clear that the fielder had complete control and was getting rid of it deliberately.
The Rays lose.
If Boston only had 3 runs this game they’d just concede out of embarassment.
Fair.
If Headrick and Blackburn go bad, as reliever are wont to do, the Yankees are fucked.
It is insane HOW bad of a fielder he is. Holy shit.
I have no idea how this guy was an all-star. He’s not good. They can let him go. It’s ok.
I think even Blackburn was, like, “Is this mofo going to catch THAT one?”
With Bellinger here Ramos needs to be strictly a platoon player who when he starts is replaced in the late inning for defensive purposes. Spence has to stay. But what about when/if Judge is back?
If/when Judge gets back, he should DH a lot so he doesn’t keep diving and injuring himself. Between the rest and DH days needed to keep Judge, Bellinger, and Grisham healthy, I think Jones will still be able to start almost every day.
If Judge is DH’ing as much as I think he should, then Rice will play less, but with the way he’s declined over the season that’s really okay. For all we know Rice is nursing some injury that he hasn’t told anyone about, and he might actually benefit from a brief IL stint. If not he might still benefit from the phantom IL just to clear his head and reset his mechanics. (Hopefully between Rice and Garcia there’s someone who can hit enough to play 1B in the early innings, with Goldy as a defensive replacement.)
He caught it, wow.
Like I said above, I think even Blackburn was shocked he caught it.
Did Boone seriously just bench Ramos!?
Just used Garcia to pinch hit with a RHP. Boone will probably put Schumann in left for the 9th.
I am so out of touch with pop music. I know no Jay Z songs, one Beyoncé, and no Taylor Swift’s
Lombard, again expanding the strike zone.
Yep, this is now very much a THING. I have no idea why Woods-Richardson threw him a strike the previous pitch.
He has to get control of that tendency, or they’ll eat him alive.
Grisham adds to the RISP Fail.
They love taking strike three.
Never easy. Never fucking easy.
That was not on Jones, by the way. No one could catch that. Not even, like, peak Brett Gardner.
Bosox win.
Bednar better not let Bateman hit for the cycle.
Yay, win.
Nice bounce back by Bednar.
Four total hits; one was the Jones 2-run HR. And yet they won. So they failed to score 5+ runs in three straight games.
Another Yankees prospect goes on the 60-day IL, this time Ben Hess. No reason mentioned that I have seen. His season had already been shortened by an earlier injury.
You can never have enough pitching prospects.
From Katie S —
Cam Schlittler: 14th game with 6+ IP and 1 ER or fewer allowed this season.
That’s the most in MLB.
Schlittler walked a few but kept the ball in the yard and limited the damage. His FIP will go up and his ERA will go down. The Jays are one more game out of the playoff picture.
Would really be great if the offense could get to Cease tomorrow.
I’m surprised his fWar only went up 0.1 to 5.0
WAR for pitchers is largely based in FIP and its components (walks, strikeouts, homers, innings). He struck out only 4 and walked 3, but didn’t allow any homers. So not a great game by that measure, or by WHIP, even though his ERA dropped a tad.
Of course there are objections to FIP. Context independent statistics are fundamentally limited as a measure of performance and even as a predictor of outcomes, because in a real game, context matters. In this case, a smart pitcher knows how to use a good infield.
oh, boh. I thought he had 6 ks, but agree on your points. Fip predicated WAR is my preference, though I think more can be done w/ WPA. It’s possible Cam was nibbling some (didn’t watch the game) but still induced weak contact, worked around certain hitters, etc etc.
Roster crunch is solved by gravity:
https://www.mlb.com/yankees/news/giancarlo-stanton-left-calf-strain-could-end-2026-season
That frees up the DH spot for Judge, and Rice, and Garcia, and …
Such a dork and a loser.
Aaron Boone on Giancarlo Stanton: “I’m bummed for him. He’s been working his tail off every single day here, trying to get this thing right. I think you all know how bad he wants to be on that field, contributing to a championship. Obviously, that’s disappointing. Hopefully, we’ll just continue to work to get him right and healthy.”
Giancarlo Stanton strained his other calf. He fell while running. Moderate grade strain, Aaron Boone said. He may be out for the season.
He needs to retire but I can’t blame him for taking the money. He’s like Ali when he fought Holmes. A few sessions with David Ortiz’s nutritionist might’ve fixed him up. His body can’t do this ant more.
It’s as if he’s too stupid to take the right steroids.
One more season and they can buy out the last year