June 22, 2025

79 thoughts on “Yankees (28-19) vs. Rangers (25-24), Wednesday, May 21, 2025, 7:05PM EDT”

    1. Heim got a single off the end of his bat on a 50 degree night, his hand went numb and in the bottom half he couldn’t even throw the ball so the catcher had to come out.

  22. Hill lat 5 games before tonight batters 333/385/667 for the season 250/769, last year for the Yankees he held hitters to a 549 OPS

    Hamilton came into the game with a 5.65 era.

    Some problems in the rear of the pen.

    1. Boone even gave J C Escarra a green light in a big situation. How nuts was that? I don’t mind PGold getting a green light.

    2. If they had a shot at PGold they would’ve taken it. I’m not a believer in that play and a quick throw might’ve got Trent before PGold scored.

  32. I can’t believe I can’t find this game on any channel.
    …
    But now they’re tied in the game started by Yarbrough and De Grom.

    1. Twice over the weekend Pinstripe Alley was complaining about Boone trying to “steal outs.”

  49. I was feeling pretty good about belli and martian.

    not playing jasson last fall should have cost someone or their job. or at least playing verdugo.

    it really ranks up there with getting into a land war in Europe or going in against a Sicilian when death is on the line.

    Anyway, great win, as usual in spite of Baboone. But I’ll take it.

    Judge still over 400 too. Nice.

  50. unexpected. Love Jasson being the hero, I hope it boosts his confidence.

    As remarked above maybe when Yarbrough pitches a quality game and the opponents squander a DeGrom start, well, maybe this team is good?

    However I have vivid memories of promising starts turning into shit, so, we’ll see

  51. It’s a little to easy to say “pitcher good=Blake, pitcher bad=pitcher sucks.” But honestly Schmidt and Gil surpassed expectations and so have Yarbrough and Warren. Feels like Brian’s enthusiasm is entirely warranted.

    1. I thought Brian’s confidence was in Blake’s ability to help fringe relievers solidify their stuff, not turning potential starters with great stuff into really good front-line starters, no?
      But whatever – really, I totally agree. We’ve often wanted to change the coaches, but I don’t imagine anyone wants Blake fired.

    2. Yes but also I think Brian has credited him for working with starters? I mean Rodon has been surprisingly good this year too (he says, as the monkey’s paw curls)

    3. Actually, I’m pretty sure his take was (back then) that there was little he could do for established high-level pitchers, but I’m sure he didn’t mean to exclude the possibility. I don’t know how much credit he gets for Rodon, but he certainly didn’t hurt! Add Warren, and it starts lookng pretty good. And then if Schmidt gets back to where he was in the 1st half of last year, then this team has a lot to look forward to.
      If only Volpe could hit some!

    4. Actually, I’m pretty sure his take was (back then) that there was little he could do for established high-level pitchers, but I’m sure he didn’t mean to exclude the possibility. I don’t know how much credit he gets for Rodon, but he certainly didn’t hurt! Add Warren, and it starts lookng pretty good. And then if Schmidt gets back to where he was in the 1st half of last year, then this team has a lot to look forward to.
      If only Volpe could hit some!

      Yeah, that’s it exactly. For established high-level guys, you can obviously do some tinkering (they’ve been tinkering with Fried’s pitches), but it basically comes down to the guy doing what got him his big contract. Max Fried isn’t, like, “Okay, now that I got $200 million, let me fix how I pitch!” Similarly, Blake is not teaching Carlos Rodon how to pitch. I also wouldn’t give him credit for Ryan Yarbrough’s recent success. Yarbrough had a good year just LAST YEAR. Which is why Toronto DFAing him is still so baffling.

      Now, what I think he DEFINITELY is doing is working with Rodon on focusing. Rodon has acknowledged that before, and we’ve even seen it during games when Rodon struggles. I wouldn’t put, “Helps Rodon focus” on par with the work he definitely has done with the younger starters like Schmidt, Gil, and Warren.

      The guys I credit Blake for are the young starters, and the veteran relievers who are “desperate” to turn their careers around, like Warren. You can tell from Cruz’s discussions of his work with Blake that he considered himself in that category this offseason. He knew he had the stuff, but he also knew he had to improve on his pitching style dramatically to be a stud out there, and Blake worked with him EXTENSIVELY in Spring Training to alter his pitching approach.

    5. Note, though, that even in the case of Yarbrough, he specifically cited Blake as the reason he signed with the Yankees. He wanted to work with Blake. So maybe he IS doing something different thanks to Blake. I don’t think so (as he looks pretty darn similar to how he looked last season), but I could be mistaken.

    6. Rodon 2021/2022 185/137 ERA+
      2023/2024 63/102 first 2 years with Blake

    7. Yeah, but we saw how it happened.
      I hardly think it’s reasonable to attribute Rodon’s catastrophic collapse to Blake – something was horribly wrong with him, and for a long while it looked like he’d never recover what he’d lost.
      The extent to which his apparent resurrection may be attributable to Blake, however, is worth discussing.

    8. I think there’s also the Coach Cole factor. He’s in the dugout every game and working with the pitchers – especially Warren. The guy eats and sleeps pitching and will talk with anyone willing to listen.

    9. I think there’s also the Coach Cole factor. He’s in the dugout every game and working with the pitchers – especially Warren. The guy eats and sleeps pitching and will talk with anyone willing to listen.

      I agree that Cole has a major impact (he and Blake explain things very differently, and I know Will Warren specifically noted that he appreciates hearing from them both, to get as full of an understanding as he can get), but I also think that he’s mostly in sync with Blake’s philosophies/approach.

    2. Throwing that splitter is hell on the arm, maybe he’s been overcompensating to avoid the elbow stress.

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