From Bryan Hoch:
You wouldn’t be able to tell by looking at the box score, but Ben Rice did claim a piece of the Yankees’ team home run lead on Monday evening. Aaron Judge made sure it lasted for only about two minutes.
Rice and Judge went back to back in the third inning with their 10th and 11th home runs of the season, and Jazz Chisholm Jr. also went deep to continue his hot streak as the Yankees defeated the Rangers, 4-2, at Globe Life Field.
The blasts earned Rice and Judge recognition as just the second pair of Yankees teammates to hit 10 or more homers in the club’s first 29 games of a season, a feat previously achieved only by Yogi Berra and Mickey Mantle (1956).
With their 10th win in 12 games, the Yankees (19-10) built upon the American League’s best record, providing more than enough support for Max Fried. The left-hander hurled six scoreless innings in another gem, picking up his fourth victory in seven starts.
Slow your roll, Hoch, but it’s still great how good Rice has looked this season.
Judge is now over 1.000 with his OPS again. Frankly, the odds have to be pretty darn high at this point that Judge just racks up another MVP, right? As good as Rice is, with Judge now already over 1.000 after being under .800 heading into the last homestand, I imagine Judge will eventually pass him in OPS, and if it’s close between Judge and Yordan, you figure the voters would have to pick Judge if the Astros keep sucking, right?
Camilo Doval continues to be DESTROYED by lefties. He is DOMINATING righthanded batters, but is being CRUSHED by lefties. He can’t be relied on if he gives up a home run every fucking time he pitches. I mean, that’s obvious, but still.
Tim Hill looked like shit, and yet still pitched a scoreless 8th. Bednar was fucked by Jazz making some bad plays behind him (not even counting then committing a two-out error that extended the game), but he pitched fine.
Something that amused me was that they keep showing this family behind the batters, and the kid couldn’t give the SLIGHTEST shit about the game…
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Judge had a good day. Jury’s still out on whether he’s back to his old self.
Glad to see that he stayed locked in for the whole game, though, and went against the small-sample trend that Jomboy had suggested (ie, falling off after his first PA of the day).
I noticed the kid as well, it was hard not too. I don’t know how much those seats cost, but good for them, I guess.
Fucking phones, man.
I think the kid has a mouthful of chaw and his dad told him he can’t spit on camera
Okay, so the Elmer Rodriguez stuff was just delayed, but it appears that people were right. Boone just confirmed that they are, in fact, calling Rodriguez up to make a start this week, although oddly it will be in the Texas series, so they’re giving Warren TWO extra days of rest for whatever reason (I guess it also gives the rest of the rotation extra days, too, right?).
ERC up. Rob Thomson out. Mattingly in at Phillies.
Allegedly the Phils offered the gig to Cora who declined, so they put Mattingly in charge. That’s a tough look for Donnie Baseball.
Cora was upset that they wouldn’t let him borrow the Liberty Bell to relay opposing pitches.
Bam!
I don’t get how anyone thought that a guy was going to leave a last place team to go take over a last place team the SAME WEEK. When has something like that EVER happened? Of COURSE the dude is going to want to take some time off first!
Pinstripe Alley “The Rodríguez call-up comes as part of a broader roster shuffle, with the Yankees reportedly set to send Giancarlo Stanton to the IL and call up Max Schuemann today.”
“Stanton hitting the injured list will clear only one active roster spot, meaning either Schuemann is ticketed to head right back to Scranton when Rodríguez comes up tomorrow, or that the Yankees will option another player—perhaps reliever Jake Bird—to make room for Rodríguez, with Schuemann sticking around until Anthony Volpe’s return.”
Who in the world is Max Schuemann?
Schumemann is a utility infielder who played a number of games for the A’s the last two years, but got caught in a roster squeeze when they signed Andy Ibanez. He’s a fine utility guy, but I have no idea why he is up now, unless they plan to DFA Grichek (and in that case, Schuemann would just be a placeholder for Volpe).
Brian, thanks!
Odd, yes.
They have a roster squeeze coming with Cole and Rodon along with Volpe. It’ll be curious see how they approach the trade deadline with so much starting pitching and if they feel like moving someone for bullpen help or a 3B who can hit.
I think Caballero is a perfectly acceptable SS and has been performing above what Volpe has brought int he past, but I guess they would DFA Grichuk and use Cabby as the 5th OFer and general utility guy?
Okay, looks like their plan is to go with a five-man bench for some weird fucking reason.
Only the Yankees and the Royals have five-men bench in the AL, and the Royals do it because they have three catchers. For the Yankees to do it is really weird. I think their plan was for Ben Rice to become the backup catcher once Volpe returned, but now that the time has come for Volpe to return, they realize that they don’t want Rice to catch, as he’s become too important to the offense.
The Rockies also have a five-man bench.
I don’t think this is a very good idea.
Yes, catchers need rest, but why can’t they just have Rice play first on the days he doesn’t catch? Ohtani hits on the days he doesn’t pitch. It seems perfectly obvious.
Catchers get a lot of wear and tear, and I guess for such an important hitter, they don’t want to risk it?
If Rice was the backup catcher, this roster would make a LOT more sense. With Escarra on the roster, it’s a seriously weird fit.
Seems like a fine idea, didn’t the Rockies just sweep the Mets?
There’s this weird narrative that Rice doesn’t hit as well when he’s the catcher, which is based on a really small sample size (mostly 1B and DH in MLB and mostly C in the minors). IMO, the Yankees just don’t think he’s even acceptable at C.
Rice is a top 10 offensive player in a bunch of measures. Catchers notoriously wear out as the season goes on. If Rice wasn’t playing like an MVP I think they’d give more consideration to him catching.
The odd man out here is really Goldschmidt.
Boonie, wifey, odd man out, sure.
Schlittler and DeGrom tonight. Should be fun and fast-paced. See if this Yankees lineup can do anything against an ace.
Liked parts of this (the video), especially the distinction between the managerial firings in Boston and Philadelphia.
https://www.mlb.com/news/phillies-dismiss-manager-rob-thomson
If Preston Mattingly (Phillies GM) is a nepo baby, does that make Don Mattingly a nepo daddy?
Cutting the chaff was the first step.
First father-son GM-manager in history.