Cole Ragans (#55, 26, LHP, 11-9, 3.14) vs. Carlos Rodón (#55, 31, LHP, 16-9, 3.96)
ROYALS
3B M. Garcia R
SS Bobby Witt R
DH V. Pasquantino L
C S. Perez R
1B Yuli Gurriel R
2B M. Massey L
LF Tommy Pham R
RF H. Renfroe R
CF G. Hampson R
YANKEES
2B G. Torres R
RF Juan Soto L
CF Aaron Judge R
C Austin Wells L
DH G. Stanton R
3B J. Chisholm L
SS A. Volpe R
LF Alex Verdugo L
1B Jon Berti R
You would think this would be a major mismatch in favor of the Royals, but you forget that Jon Berti is in the game now, so that changes everything. I’m sure Ragans saw that and was, like, “Oh, fuck.”
And clase reminds us that Rivera was the greatest. Rivera never gave up 3 runs in a post season game.
Ragans had a lower ERA but Rodon had 5 more wins. And we all know the most important statistic for a starting pitcher is wins. Ergo, Yankees win.
How could Boone NOT want to get a 34 year old with a career 92 OPS+ who never played 1B into the lineup against a pitcher with a reverse split. Berti was one of Cashman’s hidden gems.
The offense is struggling and Berti will be the key. And that’s why Boone is one of the top 5 managers in the game.
It’s win, win for Boone. If he does something good Boone gets the credit. And if he fucks up just blame Rizzo’s injury.
let’s fucking go
rodon looka strong
Where the fuck was THIS version of Carlos Rodon the last two seasons!?
Impressive Carlos.
Fuck yea.
This looks familiar
All right. Time to baserun their way out of this inning.
Man, Judge sure does love to strike out in the playoffs.
It is hilarious how they get guys on base in the first ALL OF THE TIME, and it just never works out.
strong fb by ragans tonight
strong curve as well
strong wells got fooled as well
The chokiest chokers who ever choked.
Highest post season strikeout rate in history. Does that go on his plaque?
Total embarrassment. Ragans was struggling, so they just got him through it, so he can calmly shut them down the rest of the night.
Ragans gonna settle down and throw 8 more scoreless now.
Clever tactic, take the bat out of the hands of the only Yankees who might hurt you and pitch to the others.
Also, why in the world does Stanton keep getting into situations that specifically involve his shitty speed fucking the Yankees? That would have been a hit for a lot of different players (not as bad as the play in Game 1 where probably 95% of the league would have gotten to first on the hit).
I guess he’s an upgrade over the Martian but not enough where if he gets on next AB I wouldn’t pinch run The Martian.
rodon leading the pack
Like Rodon, where was THAT from Volpe the last two seasons?
At the very least, they’re adding to Ragans’ pitch count.
no chance, royals. no chance
ragans, we hardly knew ye
That’s what a shitty ump does to the hitters, they have to swing at pitches they might have taken otherwise.
Thank God savvy Boone pushed all the right buttons to get Berti in the lineup.
Damn. That was a good pitch, too.
Well, THAT was frustrating.
That first pitch against Witt really makes it seem like Rodon’s emotions might be getting the best of him.
HE CANT HIT YOU RODON
Wow, they got lucky on that Pasquantino liner.
rumble time
Soto always has fun
Judge just needs one blast to loosen up
HOLY SHIT, BOB COSTAS, HOW DID YOU BLOW THAT CALL THAT BADLY!?!
I never thought that had a chance
Me neither, which is why Costas’ call was so crazy.
It didn’t seem like a home run at all to me, but Costas was all home run voice right away, so I thought I was mistaken, but I was not. TERRIBLE CALL, Costas.
He’s got John Sterling Eyes.
Volpe and Schmidt thought it had a chance
ragans is shook
Off line throws are good.
I might pull Ragans if I’m KC. He has NOT been good tonight.
Costas, Bobby Wiit Jr. can’t win ANOTHER Gold Glove when he has never won the Gold Glove. What a shitty job with that, too.
Rodon sure does like to give up home runs.
Who’s surprised that Rodon did that?
Gurriel is a HUGE pest out there.
They’re having better ABs
Why are they airing Boone’s interview NOW?!
let’s fucking go rodon
Stanton doesn’t look that locked in to me. When he’s locked in he puts it in the seats.
Oh my god, Rodon, don’t throw him balls to keep him from bunting, you idiot!
Oh good. The Rodon Suck Inning.
Bogart we’ll always have Paris.
Rodon I’ll always have the first inning.
This could quickly get out of hand.
what thenfuck curve ball call was that
don’t throw a fucking curve ball in that count/situation/sequence
i like that Rodon’s attack is “ball 6 inches high followed by ball 6 inches low” and the Royals keep bailing him out on the latter.
His pitch selection has been TERRIBLE.
What’s it like to have guys who get big hits at the bottom of the lineup?
One more run and this game is nearly done.
wells has to go out there and calm rodon down more. when he’s missing so much w his fb you have to be the calming hand
Are they going to mention that Verdugo didn’t hit the cut off guy? That cost a run.
ca$hgod
RAB Allowing two-out, two-strike, RBI singles to the No. 9 hitter who slashed .230/.275/.300 this season is no way to go through life.
He could have just walked him if need be. Giving him a pitch with that much plate was so stupid.
wind out. time to take a breath in and redouble
Thanks for nothing, Rodon.
As of today KC is the better team.
Dead team walking. They were incredibly lucky to win game 1.
Yankees need to shut them out and score 4 runs to win. Insurmountable.
He doesn’t need a quick inning. Without a bunch of walks the Yankees will never get to 5.
volpe looks really composed
Reminder: This is the Game 5 pitching matchup. Should it get that far.
They should at least CONSIDER Luis Gil for Game 5.
They should consider lots of things.
However, Boone.
way to bail him out, alex
I was expecting a DP.
i hate that the martian isn’t playing
That was a good pitch to swing at up 2-1
fuck
Berti and Gleyber both hit the ball hard. Very frustrating.
In what world do you give a 34 year old mediocre hitter his first start at a new position in a playoff game against a pitcher who his better against RHBs. I could maybe see it if Reagan’s had a big normal split. Waldo in a tiny sample is hitting 317 left on left and Rice at least has some power and could get lucky.
Meek resposne by them. Not surprisingly.
But Berti is just another sub replacement 34 year old that Cash found at the bargain bin at TJ Maxx.MLB This game is on Choke Rodon. When’s the last time a pitcher looked so dominant and shit the bed so early.
I mean, I think it’s partially on the offense, but yes, Rodon in that inning is a perfect example of the old saying, “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face.” Rodon and Blake clearly worked out a very specific plan on how Rodon should approach the game, and Rodon was following it…until he got punched in the face with Perez’s home run, at which point he forgot how to pitch.
Cashman to Hal, hey, Hal, I found a 10¢ bottle in this pile!
It was an effing solo home run to tie the game. If that makes you lose it you might be battle chicken.
I don’t disagree. Rodon certainly appears to be a headcase.
That was borderline. Could’ve been a ball.
The Yankees have basically sucked at hitting for quite a while. Their run total is an illusion? They’re easy to shut down for any halfway decent pitcher as opposed to some of those good tame os the lat 90s to early aughts.
Pedro was 11–11 vs the Yankees.
Their approach at the plate has been no approach for months.
They got the Royals’ All Star pitcher out of the game in four innings. I don’t think their approach was bad against him at all. Now, against the bullpen, yes, they’ve been dogshit so far in two innings.
Judge has been invisible and Soto has 3 ground ball singles. Most ground ball single are at least partially luck.
Three hits in 5+ innings is good, isn’t it?
It’s just complete guesswork what the ump will call on all of the close pitches.
Mutts would be like 50/50 to win from here. The Yankees are more like 2/98.
That was a great throw.
I’ll ask again at what point do we start considering judge an Arod head case 2005-2007? Or worse, a nick swisher choke artist.
Swisher in one interview admitted that he gripped the bat tighter in the playoffs – ie choked. It’s why Jeter was called clutch. He wasn’t awesome in the playoffs; he was simply just as good as he was in the regular season. Judge, year after year, looks like a different player in October.
2004, 2007, 2009 Arod was pretty good.
and wtf volpe
At least Witt Jr. also has to hear the junk about his lack of clutchitude.
I hate how well the game story is set up for the Royals. 8-9-1 here, so Soto and Judge won’t come up with anyone on likely.
And yep, Judge will now lead off the 8th, so, well, you know, that’s not good.
Berti has hit the ball hard so well tonight, and none of them have been hits. So frustrating.
How did you take that, Gleyber?!
A fourth hit, wow. We can all feel better now.
Can Costas not see the field?! He reacts like everything hit into the outfield is a home run. It’s so fucking annoying.
He’s Got John Sterling Eyes.
Soto’s flyball didn’t even hit the warning track!!
How do you not pinch hit The Martian for Berti?
It’s crazy how one meltdown inning is going to lose them this game.
Amazing how a game can be a complete snooze while also being irritating as hell.
The Mets would at least tie the game here before losing it. Yankees are already on the way to KC.
Like, again, he can’t even just ground into a NORMAL double play, he has to ground into a double play where only he and, like, five other guys wouldn’t have beaten it out.
Three more years of it to go.
If Berti’s lineup spot comes up in the ninth and he’s allowed to hit, I will be very, very displeased.
i hope they can snap out of this win one, lose one, before next season. but not the boone way we expect.
Why are they giving up on the game?! It’s a three-run game! You can’t be punting the game!
Forget it, Jake. It’s Boonietown.
If you look at the stats, this is just a pure BABIP variance game…….frustrating as hell to watch but not necessarily a sign of doom
I do tend to agree on that. If the Royals had been beating up on the other pitchers, or even been scoring in the other innings, I would be more irked about it. This game was pretty flukey.
I thought Mayza didn’t make the roster.
If only Rodon hadn’t made the roster.
I doubt Gil would do any better. And this isn’t a defense of Rodon.
De Los Santos and Leiter both better than Erceg.
The Yankees couldn’t afford Erceg. It wasn’t like they picked Leiter OVER him.
Couldn’t afford him? Like in 2017 when they couldn’t afford Verlander?
No, that was Hal just being cheap. I mean they didn’t have the prospects to get him.
THAT one Costas DIDN’T even get pumped for!
3/97
No it would be Martian
How is that your 2-0 swing, Verdugo, you piece of shit?!
WTF, why let Volpe and Berti hit?
I mean you Cabrera and Rice cooking
I cannot believe that Jon Berti is actually hitting here. Boone is just unserious.
Really Berti hits for himself against a RHP?
This game must be on delay because I get Twitter updates before I see the play.
I couldn’t even finish “Don’t worry, Gleyber will tap out weakly to waste the rare Berti hit” before he tapped out weakly to waste the rare Berti hit.
It was weird to see him swing first pitch like that when he’s been getting so much better at seeing pitches.
Honestly, as good as Gleyber has been doing lately, why not just lead off Soto and Judge? Why do they need to get Gleyber on ALSO to bring Soto to the plate after the first inning? It seems like very poor decision-making to not just lead off Soto and Judge.
Boone will say he loved Berti’s AB’s and he will ignore the 34 yos career numbers to start him for the rest of the series.
Ohtani leads off, why doesn’t Soto?
Royals get Erceg, Yankees get the 10¢ deposit bottle.
Cashman’s act wore out years ago, 2017 in fact.
3/19 RISP,19 LOB, this series.
The Yankees way.
Rodon career post season era 11.37
Hey, I just checked real quick and it appears that Rodon still sucks. I was as surprised as anyone.
What, you’re not ultra confident in Carlos Rodon, game 5 elimination starter?
Game5? That was the last game for 2024 in the Bronx.
WOE rears its ugly head. How can the Royals get clutch hits from guys picked up from waivers and the presumptive AL MVP looks like he did as rookie in 2016? The rest of the team is just as bad.
Whatever. We’ll always have April and May and part of June.
Recent headline, you’ll recall:
…
“Yanks set sights on proving that ‘we’re the best team in baseball’”
…
Interesting way to go about proving it.
What year was it when the Yankees came into the post-season not hitting at all… and somehow managed to survive until somehow, half-way through their second series or something like that, it suddenly clicked, and then they couldn’t be stopped?
2000 regular season ended terribly and playoffs started badly and then boom!
But why is anyone surprised that a team that has played 500 ball for 90 games continues to play 500 ball? I assume they’ll win 1 of the next 2 and then game 5 is a coin flip.
Luis Tiant RIP
Pinstripe Alley
“Carlos Rodón opened Game 2 of the American League Division Series on Monday night firing on all cylinders. He hollered when he struck out Maikel Garcia to open the game. He shouted “let’s go, boys” to his infielders when he put away Bobby Witt Jr. on strikes. Then when Vinnie Pasquantino went too far on a check swing to end the frame, he looked positively dumbfounded at his own prowess.
As Josh Diemert noted in his recap, for the pitcher who the Yankees brought in at six years and $166 million to essentially be a “second ace” of sorts behind Gerrit Cole, last night was another chapter of a familiar theme: an inability by Rodón to handle adversity. Before Perez’s homer, he was untouchable. Afterward, he was unwatchable.”
I’m sure they had him on a short leash knowing they had an off day and the bullpen is well rested, but they can’t be massaging Rodon’s ego when he immediately gives up the lead and then a line drive single. That should have been Ian Hamilton’s entrance. Instead he was three batters too late. Ballgame with this offense.
Meanwhile Higgy is smashing HRs for San Diego and will probably be elected mayor.
I’m writing him in for senator