Carlos Rodón (#55, 31, LHP, 0-0, 2.08) vs. Merrill Kelly (#29, 35, RHP, 1-0, 1.35)
YANKEES
2B G. Torres R
RF Juan Soto L
DH Aaron Judge R
1B A. Rizzo L
SS A. Volpe R
LF Alex Verdugo L
3B O. Cabrera S
C Austin Wells L
CF T. Grisham L
DIAMONDBACKS
DH Ketel Marte S
RF C. Carroll L
LF L. Gurriel R
1B C. Walker R
3B E. Suarez R
2B B. Alexander R
CF J. Barrosa S
C T. Barnhart S
SS G. Perdomo S
Volpe has finally leapfrogged the shitty Verdugo in the Yankee lineup. Thank goodness for Verdugo’s decent left field defense, as otherwise, he’d be one of my most disliked recent Yankees.
Anyhow, another tough pitching matchup, but perhaps Rodon will show more today than he did in Game 2 (which he wasn’t BAD in, of course, but nor did he look particularly great, either).
Yankee have Soto long fly out. Yankee have nots Gleyber and Judge weak strike outs.
Outside of Ketel ambushing him, Rodon looked good.
The first batter spelled trouble but no harm.
seems rodons control is pretty crappy today
This is why you don’t dick around every fucking batter, Rodon. Holy shit.
Oof. He’s really struggling to command the fastball
It’s so fucking annoying, because when he has control of it, he can be dominating. So why DOESN’T he have control of it!?
It’s, like, dude, you know if your fastball has no movement on it, Major League hitters CAN hit fastballs, right?
I don’t like that he’s seemingly grooving 4 seamers after missing the zone considerably
Yeah, that Alexander 3-2 pitch was INSANE.
Kelly has, like, 40% of Rodon’s stuff, but he pitches with intelligence, and it makes such a huge difference.
Terrible call, but excellent frame job by the Diamondbacks’ backup catcher.
Gleyber practically swung before Kelly even threw his first pitch!
But hey, he got a single after, so it’s all good.
Blaze Alexander is not a real name
Fucking FINALLY.
Yay, Judge.
Finally!
And that there was more good hitting than bad pitching. Good pitchers can still get hit, ya know? But don’t get beat on bad pitches.
Ladies and gentlemen: Jidge.
Boy, does Verdugo suck.
You don’t have to go to 3-2 on every hitter, Rodon.
It’s like he thinks you get extra points for dicking around.
Another grooved pitch following him dicking around. Luckily it was just a single.
The “Name the Yankee” for today is INSANELY hard. I got, but I had to think on it a LOT. It’s a SUPER obscure guy.
Rodon was lucky that was foul. Another grooved pitch.
And then his next pitch was a clear “I was rattled by the previous grooved pitch” wild ball.
You can’t teach Rodon’s stuff, and it’s SO FUCKING GOOD that he really SHOULD be good.
Bout time Aaron (I’m on tape delay)
It’s bullshit, but I think the ump seriously called that a strike, in part, because Gleyber was TAKING
Holy fucking shit, Gleyber, just fucking strike out with Soto and Judge behind you!
That, though, is the smart pitching of Kelly in action.
Yes, Rodon, this is it, just fucking GO AT GUYS.
One of the best things about Rodon in San Francisco and Chicago was that he didn’t give up home runs. He comes here, and it’s home run derby.
Just grooving fastballs.
Marte has been on Rodon all day
Rodon really has no idea where his fastball is going. Has to be a mechanical issue, right?
You’d think, yeah.
It’s always been a mechanical issue, dating back to his highschool/college days. He fights with his mechanics, cant command anything, then he either hurts himself or figures it out and blows people away until his mechanics get out of whack again.
You know who Rodon reminds me of? Farnsworth.
Thank you, Arizona, for Posading your way out of the inning.
Lucky
Yankees plan seems to be tiring gurriel out
I think Kelly deserves a lot of the credit, as he’s obviously deking them into thinking that certain pitches are better to hit than they really are. LOTS of pop ups and weak grounders.
For sure, I was pointing out they’ve hit a lot of flies to that exact spot.
I was just about to say that Alexander should be taking all the way on 1-2. No WAY Rodon was throwing a strike there.
0-2 to a walk. Good job, Rodon.
Soto’s on-base streak in jeopardy.
Solidly mediocre Carlos. Very few swings and misses.
Another lucky break for The Yankees.
They are just throwing up shitty at-bat after shitty at-bat against Kelly. Wells at least hit it hard.
This zone is wild
Does seem like the umpiring this year has been universally pretty poor.
Some REALLY shitty umps so far, yeah.
Man, do I love Ian Hamilton.
I have NO idea why they took Kelly out of the game.
Stanton could’ve done that. Kind of surprised they didn’t use him against the lefty.
VERY good question.
So, will Judge move to center, Verdugo to right and Waldo to left? With Berti on third? Or will Jones go to left, Judge to center, Verdugo to right?
Maybe they plan on pinch-hitting Stanton for Verdugo in the ninth.
You want Stanton against LHPs, 942 vs 640 last year. That’s huge.
So if Soto, Volpe and Waldo don’t get 2/3 hits each a game it’s 2023 again.
Soto streak probably over.
How are you trying to start a fucking wave in the 8th inning of a tie game with your team batting?!!?
CBS: Yankees crack down on how many chains Alex Verdugo is allowed to wear during games, per report
The important things.
How the fuck is Judge THAT far ahead on that pitch!?
Reality sucks
Why are they pinch-hitting for the guy who hit a home run today?
Thundering here, time for some Yankees thunder in AZ.
Verdugo thunder!
The Manfred Man nonsense.
Vertigo whatta steal!
yay
Soto made the call
Ah, the good ol’ “Can any of you assholes hit a fucking single?” challenge that the Yankees failed so many times at in 2023.
Hah, I didn’t realize I was behind (I think I rewound to watch the double play in the 7th)! Well, it’s true, he didn’t hit a single!
Yankee just need one more addition to Vertigo and Jeter Down to get Mookie.
Soto’s streak is probably still in play, since the Yankees will clearly blow this lead in the bottom of the inning.
FFS.
How is that even allowed? You can knock the ball out of the guy’s glove in a collision at first?
id imagine it’ll be challenged and overturned
Fucking hell
um
Volpe had been throwing like shit so far. Not a great development.
Out to prove his gold glove was a mistake?
After looking terrible on Sunday, Holmes actually looks pretty solid and is getting nothing from his defense.
mother fucker
Holmes was actually good this inning. Fuck.
Fuck
I still don’t get it. He tags the guy, and the guy’s helmet knocks the ball out of the glove as he tags him. How is that not an out?
Ask Arod.
It is weird, but it was all in one motion. If you tagged out a guy on an attempted steal but lose the ball in the swipe, he’s safe too
Could Berdti have made the play?
Don’t think so. Hit too weakly.