From Bryan Hoch:
There were 569 days between Gerrit Cole’s appearances on the Yankee Stadium mound, with what he characterized as an “efficient and optimal” rehab from Tommy John surgery providing ample opportunities to experience different roles.
He hung on dugout rails from coast to coast, acting both as fan and teammate. He huddled with pitchers in clubhouses and tunnels, imparting philosophy as an auxiliary coach. Arguably most rewarding of all, he spent a rare summer immersed in household duties as a husband and father.
Still, none of those roles fit quite like this one: Yankees ace. Cole reclaimed his Bronx office on Friday evening with six scoreless innings of two-hit ball in a 4-2 loss to the Rays.
“It was a long road, and yet at some point tonight, it was almost like I’d never left,” Cole said. “It felt really, really good to be out there.”
Cole described the night as “lovely,” and it played out cinematically — until the ending spoiled the script. José Caballero’s error on a short-hop liner opened the door in a four-run Tampa Bay eighth inning.
Sorry, folks, something came up last minute, so I missed the game (and the game thread) last night.
Glad I missed this one, as boy, it sure looked like a painful loss.
The featured image is the Murphy’s Law aspect of this game, as Tim Hill could have easily gotten the runner at home on this ground ball had it not tipped JUST off of his glove, and the tip made it pop up just beyond Cabby’s glove, too (Cabby made an error to start the inning). Hill tagged for three earned runs was really a lot of bad luck.
And I don’t even mean the typical “put the ball in play and the Yankees will fuck it up” stuff, but truly just bad luck. Similarly, Aaron Judge hit a ball that on most nights would have tied the score in the ninth, but in this one, it just died at the warning track.
The offense continues to be the main problem, as Cole was amazing, and I truly don’t think you can knock Tim Hill too much. This is on the offense.
They simply can’t suck this bad. Again, they were leading the league in runs before this one! This is not a bad offense, but it is playing like total shit right now, and Aaron Judge is the main culprit at the moment. The offense is built around him, and I have seen some folks criticize that approach, but that seems to be the most logical thing in the world, no? To assume that Aaron Judge will be good? I bet he WILL be good this season. He just sucks right now.
They might get a couple of days off due to a crazy storm this weekend. They could use it.
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