From Bryan Hoch:
The deciding play came down to a photo finish, Cody Bellinger heaving a flat-footed prayer toward home plate, then engaging Jasson Domínguez in quiet instruction once the action ceased. The lazy fly had been a “tweener,” in the veteran’s words, and it might have had a different outcome if the rookie had taken charge.
“I think he had a better lane into where I was. I heard it late and I was just like, ‘OK, I’m just going to catch the ball,’” Bellinger said of Francisco Lindor’s sacrifice fly, which sent home the go-ahead run in the Yankees’ 3-2 Subway Series loss to the Mets on Saturday at Yankee Stadium. “We had a good conversation.”
That moment of mentorship represents a blip in Domínguez’s high-stakes classroom work; Bellinger acknowledges the 22-year-old’s game has continued to sharpen since the first days of spring, saying of Saturday’s play: “It’s going to be good for the future.”
I still don’t get why Bellinger didn’t just yell at Dominguez to catch it. But whatever, like he said, it’s a teachable moment for the future, so fair enough. I doubt Dominguez would have gotten Acuna, either. That dude is fast.
Anyhow, like I said in the comments, while this game was frustrating in the short term (and Boston coming back to win to cut the Yankees’ divisional lead to four games), in the long term it was fine, as it was mostly a fluky result, and Schmidt pitched well AND DJ LeMahieu looked sprier than he has in SOME time. I assume he will maintain a 1.900 OPS, right? Of course, when he was up with the bases loaded, he made out (he hit it well, though).
The featured image is the “non-swing” on the Tyrone Taylor HBP that loaded the bases in the ninth, leading to the game-winning sacrifice fly. That is OBVIOUSLY a swing. Fucking ridiculous.