From Bill Ladson:
The Yankees played their second straight game without Aaron Judge on Sunday afternoon at Yankee Stadium and first with him on the injured list because of a right elbow flexor strain.
With Judge out of action for at least two weeks, the Yankees need the rest of the roster to step up, and it was newcomer Ryan McMahon who came through during New York’s 4-3 victory over the Phillies.
McMahon, who was traded to New York on Friday, went 2-for-3, drove in two runs and made a couple of nice defensive plays at third base.
The big hit by McMahon came in the second. With the Phillies up, 2-0, and right-hander Zack Wheeler on the mound, the Yankees had the bases loaded with no outs when McMahon doubled past first baseman Bryce Harper to score Giancarlo Stanton and Jazz Chisholm Jr. and tie the score at 2.
It’s really amazing how much better the lineup looks when there’s even a DECENT hitter at third base. We saw it earlier when DJ LeMahieu was hitting a bit. Honestly, I wouldn’t mind them giving McMahon a bit of a look at the #2 hole against righties while Judge is out. McMahon has been the Rockies’ #3 hitter for a few years now, so it’s not like he doesn’t have a bit of experience batting at the top of the lineup, and he has a bit of a different type of a hitting approach than the other guys at the top of the order.
With Rice and Goldschmidt both struggling, it might be nice to get a hotter hitter up top.
Grisham
McMahon
Bellinger
Stanton
Jazz
Dominguez
Rice
Volpe
Wells
And if it’s Goldy starting (and a righty pitching), then I guess:
Grisham
McMahon
Bellinger
Stanton
Jazz
Goldschmidt
Dominguez
Wells
Volpe
In any event, it’s nice to have a good defender who can hit a little bit. As much as the Yankees will miss Judge, and they will miss him a LOT, Judge happened to play a position where they had their most depth, as they were already sitting a good hitter every night when Judge was playing between Stanton (who is in the middle of one of his hot spells), Bellinger, Grisham, and Dominguez.
Carlos Rodon wasn’t good, but he wasn’t awful. The bullpen was excellent, and Boone even did some smart managing by having Tim Hill face the big Phillies lefties in the 8th inning instead of using Hill in the 7th and Weaver in the 8th. Hill has been one of the few effective pitchers in the bullpen.
This was an amazing win, as Zack Wheeler is an outstanding pitcher, and they should have scored five runs on him (an amazing play by Realmuto to catch Bellinger at the plate kept it 4-2 in the fifth).
The Yankees remain at the top of the Wild Card standings…barely. A big four-game set with Tampa Bay this week. The Rays are reeling, and the Yankees need to keep the pressure on them. The Red Sox play the Twins, and of COURSE they miss the one good Twins starter. The Rangers and the Mariners both play shitty teams. So the Yankees REALLY need these Rays games.
Although, again, we’re obviously still talking games in July here, ya know? With a race this close, you can easily get right back into the mix of things later on.
So apparently Amed Rosario IS the Yankees fourth outfielder at the moment. Peraza still on the team.
The featured image is Ryan McMahon’s big two-run double (lost in the win is the fact that Dominguez should have scored on the double, but inexplicably stopped running when he hit second for some fucking reason, and could then only make it to third base).
Andy Martino of SNY reported yesterday that the Yankees actually “seriously considered” a pivot towards selling this summer if Judge was out for the remainder of the season.
Makes sense. They could sell off all of their impending free agents except Bellinger and probably still have enough to stay over .500 this season.
That would have been the smart move if Judge was done for the season
It would be hilarious if the Yanks went on a heater while Judge is out
Rays with four sub 4 era pitchers this series, Yankees with only one.
Molly Knight
@mollyknight.bsky.social
From Jeff Passan: Cleveland Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase has been placed on non-disciplinary paid leave as part of MLB’s sports-betting investigation, sources tell ESPN.
Clase is the second Guardians pitcher on leave tied to the investigation, joining right-hander Luis Ortiz.
Put him in the Hall, his plaque can be next to Pete Rose
That’s awful news, but at the same time, what the fuck, Ortiz? Not only fucking yourself, but ratting out other dudes? Not cool, guy!
He who squeals first gets the best deal.
The Braves have acquired Carlos Carrasco from the Yankees in exchange for cash considerations or a PTBNL, per source. @JackCurryYES was on it.
It turns out to just be money. I don’t mind it, as he wasn’t ever getting called up here (and he shouldn’t have been), so if you can let him get into the Majors, why not do him a solid?
i had really big expectations for the martian as an athletic center fielder. now it looks like he can’t do basic baseball things. are we all the victims of prospect hype or are they incapable of teaching anything? or does he suck? there are so many weird things about this team the last ten years.
We can start with the stupid nickname.
He’s still very young. I don’t mind his young and dumb mistakes. I think he’s had a good overall rookie season. But yes, boy does he do some dumb stuff.
How many position prospects have panned out in the last ten years? One. And he happens to be one of the best players in history. Too good for them to ruin I guess
Judge went out and hired his own personal hitting instructor. And recall what Richard Schenck said last year about the Yankees ruining prospects.
The Rays traded away the demon Danny Janssen. Big relief for the Yankees, as he kills them.
He was in the original lineup for tonight.