September 16, 2024

54 thoughts on “Yankees (73-53) vs. Guardians (73-52) Wednesday, August 21, 2024, 7:05 PM EDT”

    1. Kirschner Since hitting a go-ahead HR in Arizona on April 3, when the dugout started barking like dogs, only 8 qualified hitters have less production:

      Since May 1, only 2 qualified hitters have less production:

      Orlando Arcia: 62 wRC+
      Maikel Garcia: 68 wRC+

      Verdugo has a not so nice 69 wRC+

  9. But they’ve got to play Verdugo. Because the only other option is… playing somebody hitting better than Verdugo.
    Wouldn’t want to do that.

    1. On the other hand – how can he possibly be this bad? What happened? I mean, it’s ridiculous.

  12. Verdugo – the new DJLM. And they haven’t even gotten rid of the old one!
    _
    Nice that Kay and O’Neil are recognizing what’s going on with Verdugo. And the lineup in general.

  16. Feels like Judge and Soto have made a tremendous contribution to the Yankees’ baserunning, in that their homers are good TOOTBLAN prevention.

    And just as I find the words for it, Soto has a two-out, three-run TOOTBLAN.

    On balance he’s still ahead.

  18. Soto. I mean, wow.
    “Excuse me” – yes and no. He was fooled on the pitch, but he had the bat control to slow his swing and hit it down the line.
    Crazy stuff.
    _
    Also, a big-time argument for staying with the Yankees is… look what he’s doing hitting in front of Judge! How could you not want to keep that going?

  21. Following up on Brian re: Judge and Soto:
    If Verdugo, DJLM, etc., weren’t so crazily, anomalously, inexplicably terrible, this would be a terror of a lineup just because of those two.
    But some of these guys – yeah, you can slump, you can decline, how can they possibly be THIS bad? Most of them aren’t at an age that would explain it. I mean, there’s got to be an explanation, doesn’t there?

  22. Unfortunately Judge is just one reason to stay, and since this team won’t also win a championship, hopefully Hal can show Soto 600 million more reasons.

  23. Aside from the big two, and maybe wells, the rest of this lineup is really not good. Which just goes to show you how amazing the big two are. This series they’ve knocked in 11 out of the 12 runs?

  30. Smyth Yankees with back-to-back starts of 7+ shutout innings and 0 walks

    Al Orth 1905
    Steve Kline 1972
    Catfish Hunter 1975
    Ron Guidry 1977
    Nestor Cortes 2024

    1. It’s crazy how great of a season judge is having. It’s the best hitting season since Bonds, he’s playing out of position and it’s still kinda going under the radar.

    2. What’s amazing is that Witt and Soto are right there too despite Judge putting up one of the best offensive seasons in 80 years (non-Bonds division). As of this morning only 9 MLB hitters have had a better OPS+ than Judge’s 226. Bonds, Ruth, and Williams.

      Since July 1, Witt has a 1.278 OPS and a .436 BA with 13 HRs 38 RBI. Judge? 1.273 OPS, a .372 BA and 16 HRs and 35 RBI.

      I was thinking that Judge was going walk away with the MVP (still think he is the favorite by a bit), but Witt keeps on hitting. Witt plays a fantastic SS, but Judge playing CF and doing well enough there will probably put him over the top. But what a race.

    3. ChrisS, but “since July 1” isn’t something they’re going to look at. For the season, even with Judge’s inert start, Judge is ahead in OBP, SLG, TB, meaning a very healthy lead in OPS+. Judge is ahead by a significant margin, and my guess is he pulls away.

      Also, 80 years or so makes more sense – Bonds doesn’t count, and we should just stop bringing him up. The Bonds era is clearly a statistical outlier with an obvious chemical explanation, and how good or durable Bonds might have been otherwise we’ll never know, and whose fault is that? Bonds’.

    4. No it’s not, but the point was only that for as hot as Judge has been, Witt is right there with him. It’s pretty amazing to me. Judge is, of course, in another league when it comes to what he’s been able to do.

      Judge missed out on a triple crown in 2022 because of singular talent in Luis Arraez. This season he has a shot at the MLB triple crown and Witt’s BA is the only thing standing in his way.

    5. It is amazing, no denying that. Imagining where we’d be if Volpe were half of that.

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