From Bryan Hoch:
It was a few minutes after the clubhouse doors swung open this past weekend at Dodger Stadium, and Max Fried was pacing the carpet, stewing underneath his hooded sweatshirt. A sixth-inning lead had evaporated, and for the first time, the Yankees were examining how their new left-hander behaved after being tagged with a loss.
The outcome did not sit well with Fried, spitting that he would “use this as motivation to go out next time and make sure it doesn’t happen again.” None of this was the Guardians’ fault, but they paid the price as Fried hurled six sharp innings of one-hit ball, leading the Yanks to a 4-0 victory on Thursday at Yankee Stadium.
There had to be at least SOME concern about Max Fried after the Los Angeles Dodgers game, but he put those fears to rest with an excellent performance in this game, even though he was frustrating at times in just HOW many pitches he needed to put away the Guardians hitters, needing seemingly seven pitches for each shitty hitter at the back of their lineup. But, hey, he still went SIX innings, so you can’t complain too much.
The Yankees’ biggest foe, soft contact, almost screwed them again when Mark Leiter loaded the bases on a bloop hit, a bouncing groundball that avoided all of the fielders, and then a groundball that Volpe threw away while trying to get the out at third (shades of Game 5 of the World Series…although here, Jazz should have probably made the catch, even though it WAS a bad throw by Volpe). Tim Hill came in, and struck out Bo Naylor, and then retired Jhonkensy Noel to get out of the big jam. The Yankees then added – GASP – INSURANCE runs in the bottom half of the inning, where the Guardians intentionally walked Judge with two outs and a runner on first, moving the runner at first into scoring position, and the Yankees made them pay, with the next three guys getting singles (the last one didn’t score a run, though).
So Tim Hill was allowed to get the 8th inning, and he did it nicely, and Lo was brought in for the quasi-save (I’d have saved Lo for the Red Sox, but I get the appeal, especially since Cruz and Williams will both be fresh for Friday night, and even Lo could probably go an inning on Friday, if need be).
The featured image is Max Fried reacting to a great catch Bellinger made in right. I could barely recognize Fried with that smile on his face.
It’s crazy that the Mets are doing an Old-Timer’s Game, and not a single Met from the 1980s is playing in the game, because the 1980s is too long ago to have players who can even compete in an Old-Timer’s Game!
At least there ARE a few guys who played in the 1980s in the game (John Franco debuted in 1984, Al Leiter debuted in 1987, and Todd Zeile and Robin Ventura both had cups of coffee in 1989).
Is it that the 1980s were so long ago, or is it that cocaine ages a body prematurely?
Wait… there’s not a single Met from the 1980s in the game, but there ARE a few guys who played in the 1980s in the game… what?
None of the players played for the Mets in the 1980s.
Reflecting on the 1989 Yankees, it is still AMAZING to think back on the fact that they traded Al Leiter for Jesse Barfield that season. But moreover, that they traded Jay Buhner for Ken Phelps when they were THREE GAMES UNDER .500 ON JULY 21st! 7.5 GAMES OUT OF THE PLAYOFFS!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUwSxqnRW-8
Forever great stuff. In reading from Chumps To Champs it seems Gene Michaels and a few scouts prevented George from scuttling our successes in the 90s.
Hey Big Fan, how are your folks?
Actually, Brian, I don’t think it does a damned thing to allay worries particular to facing the Mighty Dodgers. They just looked scared in that game.
And there WERE no worries about Fried other than that – since other than that, he’s been absolutely incredible!
(To be clear, I’m hardly terribly worried about Fried against the Dodgers, either, long-term.)
if Warren choked against LA what’s he going to do against the townies? At least it’s not at Fenway.
Lineup
TBD
T Grisham (L) CF
A Judge (R) RF
C Bellinger (L) LF
P Goldschmidt (R) 1B
J Chisholm Jr. (L) 3B
J Domínguez (S) DH
A Volpe (R) SS
A Wells (L) C
D LeMahieu (R) 2B
The hope is that what he’s going to do is learn from it, and be a bit more accustomed to it, and do better!
I’m glad they’re giving Rice a breather. He seemed to be pressing in the last series.
Goldy’s such a good OBP guy that I think that when Stanton is activated, you should go:
Goldy/Rice
Judge
Belli
Stanton
Grisham/Dominguez
Jazz
Volpe
Wells
LeMahieu