From Bryan Hoch:
It was three days ago that Jazz Chisholm Jr. picked up a cell phone that has hardly stopped ringing since, enjoying a brief introduction to his new manager. Listening to a voice on the other end of the line expressing sincere excitement to play under brighter lights, Aaron Boone had to smile.
“He wants to win,” Boone said, summing up their conversation.
So far, Chisholm has done his part to help every time he’s been on the field. Chisholm homered twice and drove in five runs before Clay Holmes’ blown save preceded a back-and-forth battle that was ultimately decided by Gleyber Torres’ sacrifice fly in the Yankees’ 7-6, 12-inning win over the Phillies on Tuesday evening at Citizens Bank Park.
This is just unreal. FOUR HOME RUNS in THREE GAMES?! And he’s hit home runs off of Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, and Matt Strahm, ALL of them past or present All-Stars. It’s just remarkable. Will Warren struggled early, but for his first Major League appearance, I think he acquitted himself quite well against a strong lineup. He was down 4-1 in the 2nd, and left in the middle of the sixth inning with the Phillies still having only four runs. Good for him. I look forward to seeing him the rotation in the future.
Meanwhile, Clay Holmes blew his fifth save in his last seven save opportunities and, well, THAT FUCKING SUCKS. Stop letting him close!
The featured image is Michael Tonkin freaking the fuck out after striking out Weston Wilson to secure the hard-fought victory for the Yankees.
I can only imagine what the terrible loss will be tomorrow. Each of their last two big series wins also involved one loss that was just BRUTAL. It’s Nestor pitching, so we’re already expecting a poor performance. Maybe he’ll throw a no-hitter and they’ll lose on a walk-off error? And it’ll be scoreless because they’ll have hit into double plays in EVERY INNING? Hmmm….I might be on to something here (well, at least the double play part will happen).
The Yankees, of course, also made a couple of trades, with one of their acquisitions, Mark Leiter Jr., somehow getting here in time to actually pitch an excellent inning in the 10th. I think you will all end up liking Mark Leiter. Don’t let his ERA fool you! The other dude…I dunno, but Mark Leiter will be good here.
Early game today, 12:35 PM.
strong deadline. time to win now
If Chisholm is going to average over a home run per game, then it – yes, it was a very strong deadline.
You have no evidence he will not
i’m high on the new relievers as well. we now have 2 types of relievers – sinker-y and throw-faster-y. the latter makes the former more r-y, and visa versa
wish they got crochet (pronounced crotch-it)
rodon appears to have settled in at 0.8 fwar. ::looks down, 0.8; ::looks up, 0.8
Jazz Chisholm … great Yankee or greatest Yankee?
I don’t get lifting Rice for DJLM in the 7th. Especially for defense when DJ then booted a potential game ender (saved by Gleyber of all people) and predictably popped out in a key spot.
DJ popping out – that is, hitting the ball IN THE AIR!!! – is anything but expected.
i think the rarest sighting in this wide-world is prospect, san diego padres.
I like the acquisition of Leiter if only for the nepo angle. And getting to hear how both his father and uncle pitched for the Yankees every time he comes into a game.
That said, the guy was completely unfazed by the situation.
smells like a QO for ol’ holmes-y, though looking at the rejection benefit(s), the yankees would get a bonus 4th round pick. not the best, not the worst
re: neely and cowles, seems like a bit of rule 5 “wealth redistribution” in favor of the cubs, and, specifically the Hoyer regime. when the yankees invariably are sellers next year, cashman to hoyer “well y’know jed, chapman jr, miller jr, + the goodwill earned from last seasons runneth over for your top 5 prospects should just about do it”
“You have no evidence he will not”
Can’t argue. Once again instinct yields to analysis!
$750k int bonus for Ferguson from the Astros no-less is non-insignificant
I really hate the one inning one reliever rule that Boone seems to embrace. While no one else in the pen should be anointed “closer”, continuing to exclusively use Holmes in that role makes no sense. Weaver threw 7 (!) pitches last night in the 8th. Maybe he pitches the 9th and gives up 2 runs. But using Holmes in that situation given his recent (meaning 6 weeks) performance he should not be given the highest leverage situations.
Holmes may look unlucky, but when you have multiple guy on the bases every damned time, when you can’t pitch a clean inning, then it’s probably not bad luck.
And if it is, there’s no difference between bad luck and bad pitching.
Either way, it’s not what you want from your closer – or any pitcher who’s going to get high leverage situations.
Speaking of DJ, the platoon is on because DJ mashes LHP, this season to the tune of 122/229/122. Rice OTOH has not been much better 120/281/240 Where’s JD David when you need him?
G Torres (D) 2B
J Soto (Z) RF
A Judge (D) CF
G Stanton (D) DH
J Chisholm Jr. (Z) 3B
A Volpe (D) SS
A Verdugo (Z) LF
D LeMahieu (D) 1B
C Narvaez (D) C
I was going to say that the best thing about these line-ups is that they’re all guys I’m interested in watching – Volpe, Rice and Wells, for whom I have real hope, Judge and Soto, Stanton, who can be great.
Watching Torres and DJLM tank was just unbearable. Torres is playing much better, but really DJ should never start over Rice. He should play occasionally, if you really think he’s not done – until either Rice has fallen to that kind of level, or until DJ actually starts to prove he’s not a (semi-)living double-play.
fwiw, sanchez is considerably (not otherworldly) crappier against RHH
“That’s our closer,” Judge said. “I don’t know what else to tell you. That’s our guy. He’s been our guy. I want him out there in any situation, bases loaded and no outs or extra innings or bottom nine, top nine — that’s our guy.”
Last night was especially unlucky. Seems to me Holmes is usually OK when he’s not walking guys or Gleyber and Vertigo aren’t botching easy outs. The only guy I might prefer is Kahnle and he has his periods where all the inherited runners score.
But do you need to have “a guy” if none of them is clearly “the guy”? Just use whoever seems to be performing best for that situation at the time. And the players should say: I’ll do whatever they need me to do. Why worry about Holmes’ sensitivity until he earns it? And maybe he really WOULD say “I’ll do whatever they need me to do.” Let’s give him the benefit of that doubt.
Judge is politic, as always. Has he ever said something like “listen, Holmes has been great for us at times, but he sucks right now and I can only hope he’ll get it back at some point.” That’s not how he sees the captain’s job (and really most would agree), and anything he says needs to be taken in that light.
I don’t know. There’s no good solution. We needed/need a lights out closer, but we didn’t get him. We also need a 1B who can hit LHPs to platoon with Rice though I’d rather see Rice try to figure out than DJ.
Holmes averages a little over a strike per inning, Kahnle is slightly higher and Leiter clearly higher. Maybe Leiter should be the guy.
looks like DJ hit the shit out of that one