From Bryan Hoch:
Aaron Judge has hit balls that have landed in upper decks, across concourses and out of ballparks entirely. As the Yankees completed a season-opening sweep on Saturday, the captain found a new target: an ambulance.
Judge’s second home run in as many games helped to power a 3-1 victory over the Giants, a fifth-inning drive off Ryan Borucki that struck an emergency vehicle parked beyond the left-field wall at Oracle Park.
“One thing from the past couple of years we’ve struggled at was finishing series and sweeping series,” Judge said. “Pregame, we talked about it: ‘Hey, we’ve got to close out a series.’ That’s what’s going to make the difference between winning the division or ending up tied. Every game matters.”
Ben Rice pounded a two-run double off Tyler Mahle as the Yankees opened the season 3-0 for the third consecutive year. Aaron Boone’s 700th regular-season managerial victory capped an opening act that couldn’t have gone much better for the visitors.
Well, you can’t complain about a three-game sweep on the road to start the season!
Will Warren wasn’t sharp, but he really wasn’t BAD, either. If this was in the middle of the season, he probably would have gotten the win tonight, but with so much time off, Boone was able to be more aggressive with his bullpen, and, as we have all learned in the past decade or so, it really IS a better idea to use your bullpen instead of having your starter go through the order three times or so.
Big hit from Ben Rice. Giancarlo Stanton is absolutely LOCKED IN right now. It’s hilariously mostly been singles, but he’s been hitting them SO FUCKING HARD, and he’s been doing it with frequency. It’s great to see.
Bellinger opened last season super cold, so it’s nice to see him hitting well. Judge is still under .200, but he has two home runs, so he’ll be fine.
Ryan McMahon and Austin Wells, though, might just suck.
Anyhow, on to Seattle after a rare Sunday off!
“Well, you can’t complain about a three-game sweep on the road to start the season!”
Are you… challenging us?
CHALLENGE ACCEPTED
they’re not gonna win a lot of games when they allow a run
Right!
And worse, they’re wasting all their well-pitched innings now, you KNOW they’ll have none left when they play the AL East!
Jake Bird looked good in this game, but didn’t he also look like he’s one of those dudes who Blake has to hammer it into their heads every game, “Don’t be a dumbass”?
Glad to buy Blake the hammer.
Lagrange 4ip 1r 4K 3H 0bb final
Martian 2-3, Spence 1-3, Waldo 0-3
Martian 3-5, Spence 2-5, all singles, Waldo 0-5.
Loved the infield defense yesterday. Caballero has great hands. Really hope he keeps the starting job when phenom returns – if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.
Also Rice had a good play on the first DP, and some nice stretches later.
Spencer Jones with a HR.
Just watched the end of the NCAA game. Duke choked like Nick Swisher in a playoff game.
What a great 3-point shot by Mullins.
Absolutely but Duke played the last possessions like Boone was their coach. No reason for Boozer to foul anyone away from the basket. Then with less than 10 seconds Duke could’ve just held the ball forcing UConn to foul.
Reminded me of Chris Weber.
The Martian still can’t play left field. Maybe they should try him in center.
https://x.com/nyy_prospects/status/2038393547787841897?s=61
Worth a shot, if only to try and preserve some trade value.
Though if Jones is panning out, I don’t see him being moved off CF just to make room for the Martian to get reps there. Maybe a package of Dominguez, Lombard, and Lagrange gets Mason Miller, if the Padres collapse and sell.
Has Dominguez proven less than Jones and his strikeout rate, which has historically precluded ML performance? I think really much more, until that damned injury 15 minutes into his 1st ML stint.
What was that injury, could it be one of those that needs another year until the player’s really back to normal?
Either way, it’s waaaaaaaaaaaay to early to think that Jones is panning out.
There’s no way I deal Lagrange in a package for Mason Miller. I’d just as soon just use Lagrange in the bullpen if the options were that or trading him for Mason Miller.
How in the world would being a center fielder affect his ability to catch routine flyballs? He just needs to work on his defense period, and since left field would be where the opportunities are in the future, he might as well do it in left.
Brian, I don’t know the answer, but I thought he was always considered a pretty good center fielder, if not more than that, and it was only after his shift to left that people were saying they needed to prepare him first, and may be it screwed with his head.
Good point re: Lagrange possibly being worth more than Miller.
Re: Jones and Dominguez: I’m not sure either of them can hit LHP yet. Definitely need more time to prove that, but we’ll see where they are by July, or whenever Grisham falls off.
Re: Jones’s K rate, I’m inclined to believe it may improve with his new, shorter swing.
Re: Dominguez in CF, I’d imagine the ball moves a bit differently when batted towards left, with more lateral spin/tail. Not sure how/whether wind would be different between LF and CF, and could imagine that such effects might be different from stadium to stadium. But it seems reasonable to assume that a read is a read, and if you can play one, you can play the other too. If the early scouting reports were that he’s fine in CF, and the later ones were that his reads/routes are suspect, then it could just be that the scouts weren’t paying close enough attention or their standards were lower at lower levels, or that the prospect-propaganda machine selected for Only Good News. There’s a decent summary midway down this Reddit thread where someone looks at Jasson’s scouting reports year by year: https://www.reddit.com/r/NYYankees/comments/1p8ygs1/why_was_dominguez_developed_as_a_cf_prospect_but/
“Corner outfielders must master how balls tail towards the foul lines and how to play the wall, which differs from the mostly straight-on reads in center.
A player used to playing deep and charging balls may struggle with the sharper angles required for gap shots when playing a corner.”
Chances are Grisham won’t be here past this year and who knows if he doesnt hit and his fielding continues to deteriorate.
I thought the conventional wisdom is that center is harder because you’re expected to cover more ground and balls coming right at you are harder to read
they never should have moved him from center
Didn’t realize they played two in Buffalo today. Far too early returns after 3 games Martian 308/616; Spence with a home run 333/1052, Waldo 083/166
I’m not big on the betting, but how are the Yankees favorites in a game with this pitching matchup?
Insider trading?
Jones blasted his first homer of the season for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Sunday, a 109.1 mph scorcher that traveled a projected 397 feet.
Jones’ trademark power has been on full display through three games this season: five of his seven batted balls have come off the bat at 104.1 mph or faster, including a 113.6 mph single on Sunday that was the third-fastest tracked ball he’s posted at the Triple-A level.
J
Exciting, but still 5 K’s in his first 13 PA’s. Didn’t see the splits vs LHP/RHP but seems there’s still some work to do.
It’s unlikely he’ll ever be anything, but rooting for him is a free roll.
💯
But it’s such a yankee thing to do. Always go with an older guy over a younger guy.
Ponce carted off field after sustaining right knee injury in Blue Jays debut.
https://www.mlb.com/news/cody-ponce-injured-in-blue-jays-debut