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.
About the Author
“There’s your run, guys; make it hold up.”
No.
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“The pen is a team effort, if one guy does the job, the next won’t.”
Really depends on what you (or they) think “the job” is, doesn’t it?
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“Katie S – Gerrit Cole allowed just 3 hard-hit (95+ mph exit velo) batted balls out of 17 total batted balls.
That 17.6% hard-hit rate allowed is tied for his 5th-lowest in any start of his Yankee career, and lowest since June 14, 2022 vs Rays (6.7%).”
How much does that mean when it’s the Rays? Hitting the ball hard isn’t what they do, it’s a ton of soft contact.
“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?”
I don’t know what that means. How is it “built around him,” in what way is its design different to account for him?
The criticism is that instead of having a kick-ass overall offense that becomes awesome when you add Judge, they instead use the fact that Judge’s awesome numbers skew the overall numbers as an excuse to have half a line-up that can’t hit.
They built an offense that led the league in scoring last year and is either leading the league this year or is slightly in second (they were first latest night, but not by a lot).
But said offense is based on Judge being Judge. If the best hitter in baseball by far is suddenly terrible, it’s going to have an oversized impact on the offense.
If Judge was just MEDIOCRE the last twelve games instead of being terrible, they probably have at LEAST two more wins in this stretch of games.
Honestly, that just sounds like repeating the criticism, but as if it were a good thing.
And if they play today Rasmussen gets the start
Judge hit the ball hard twice yesterday, he’s not the problem.Wells, Jazz, Volpe, and McMahon are the problem.
The bullpen is the problem. A great rotation with a shitty pen is effectively only a good rotation.
I know hes had some big hits, but I still say Grisham belongs on that list too.
Judge hasn’t had an RBI in 11 games, yeah, that’s a problem.
Yankees rained out against Rays on Saturday
A doubleheader is planned for September rather than tomorrow.
Rays will have the division clinched by then so maybe they’ll take it easy on us.
Makes sense, since they will possibly need to postpone tomorrow’s game, too! At the very least, they wouldn’t be able to play two.
No worry about the bullpen or WOE today. Maybe not on Sunday either.
Lombard 1-5 with 4 Ks. He’s ready. Elmer 3ip 5r4er 2H 8 Ks 6 BBs
Lagrange I think just can’t control his pitches well yet. Elmer, though, seems to be slowly developing headcase-itis.
Elmer’s last MLB start he only had one walk.
As of an hour ago, the Yankees are insisting that this game will be played as normal. I find that hard to believe.
Looks like it will rain until 2/230. And it will be cool. Wednesday it was 95, last night it was 50. That’s got to be some kind of a record. James Smythe or Sarah Langs should know.
Meredith confident game will start on time with no interruptions.