From Pat Donnelly:
After a rough start, Carlos Rodón settled into a groove quickly, and the Twins were stuck making right turns at first base most of the night.
Rodón worked six-plus strong innings and the Yankees pounded out 13 hits in a 5-1 win over the Twins on Tuesday at Target Field.
For the fourth time in his past five starts, Rodón pitched at least six innings. On Tuesday, it was made possible in part by a stretch between the third and sixth innings when he retired 11 straight batters. Only two of those outs came by the strikeout, which he was quick to point out.
“I’ve got to give it up to my teammates for really good defense out there today,” he said. “There were some hard balls hit and they made a lot of plays, and we scored some runs and we won the game, and that’s what’s important.”
I mean, come on, after that opening, how can you not be anything but thrilled that Rodon didn’t give up a single run after allowing a home run on his second pitch of the game? He’s still throwing way too many pitches, though.
The offense should have scored more than five (with two men on in the second, Juan Soto had the worst at-bat I’ve seen from him as a Yankee, striking out with basically his whole body swinging at a pitch out of the strike zone), but hey, five runs in a single game after scoring seven runs in Tampa Bay total was still nice to see.
The featured image spotlights Rodon (because he deserves it), but it’s also a funny bit in the game when Ian Hamilton came on, and stranded Rodon’s final runner on third base via back-to-back strikeouts, and Rodon was PUMPED. It was cute.
The Yankees get the Twins’ best pitcher on Wednesday, should be interesting.
Yes, it was an amazing righting of the ship by Rodon. Still, and especially for Rodon, I think a lack of strikeouts has to be a bit worrying.
Also, still thinking about the inherited runner problem. I don’t we should be satisfied with the “percentage chance of a runner scoring from this base with this many outs” calculation as an answer. The decision should take into account the bare fact that you just don’t know whether the starter would have allowed that run to score – and you DO know that the reliever DID allow the run to score. Baseball is a results-oriented game.
This is a good Yankees team. I still haven’t decided if it is a fun Yankees team yet. I could be convinced either way.
There really aren’t any holes either. They have (presumably) improvements coming in the forms of Dominguez, Cole, and DJLM. It’s a good feeling.
The pitchers are destined to return toward the mean at some point, especially the bullen, but it’s fun to watch them play these days.
Does anyone know what kind of 2nd base help might be available at the trade deadline? Gleyber really seems like he’s not the player he was projected to be.
I also love that the division rival is a relatively likeable Orioles team and not the Red Sox or Rays for once.
I think there are some fun indicators. Despite a stinker last night, Soto is fun. Volpe is showing signs. I have hope for Wells. Trevino’s been a monster in limited time–if the Yanks didn’t justifiably want Wells to get more starts, he’d be getting more PT, but a great defensive backup who mashes? That’s the starter on 20 teams. I like Gil and Schmidt going out there and proving the doubters wrong, Nestor is always gonna be a fave even if he doesn’t return to all-star form. Also, the game may be proving me wrong, but I still have a soft spot for Waldo.
As for second base the Yankees are stocked with guys whose defense is good and who can hit at least as well as Punchless Judy, Cabrera for example.
I take it back slightly on Torres. OAA has him as a positive in the field and on the base paths (???) while Cabrera’s defense isn’t great (very limited time at second). So if not Cabrera then Peraza. I do think Cabrera is a guy who will eventually go to another team and thrive ala Estrada and Mateo.
Agree with FGas. I’m excited for most of the starters (something I certainly wouldn’t have thought before the season began). And yes, Volpe’s still compelling, and the catchers, and will Cabrera come around again, and… it’s actually a good deal of fun, I think.
One thing, though:
“The pitchers are destined to return toward the mean at some point, especially the bullen, but it’s fun to watch them play these days.”
Thinking about this, and people often say things like that, as if hedging a bet, as if it sounded super-reasonable… as if players never had breakthrough years, as if projections were a rock-solid predictor of outcomes a year later. But I see no reason Gil can’t keep this up (which doesn’t mean he will); I see no reason Schmidt can’t be even better (which doesn’t mean he will), I certain see no reason why Nestor couldn’t be this good and less unlucky, and so forth.
I think the sustained run of success must be a huge confidence builder for Gil and Schmidt. Perhaps a good test for both is if they listen to some coaching–Schmidt to attack the hitters more when the team is a head, Gil to fill up the zone more.
Agree completely
Waldo is more than fine in a utility role. Peraza or DJ may eventually take over at 3b.
The interesting thing about Gil’s effectively wild profile is that the question isn’t about when batters learn to stop swinging at stuff close/out of the zone, because they already aren’t doing that. It’s if/when they can make any/or solid contact on the pitches in the zone.
He’s basically having a good Blake Snell year. At some point he’ll have an unlucky game where all those walks hurt him, but as Snell has shown, when you just don’t give up any good contact and strike out a bunch of guys, you can have great seasons. It’s just tough to do that reliably for long stretches of time.
If Gil can throw more strikes or get players to chase more, things will get very interesting.
Peraza with a home run this afternoon in AA where Spencer Jones is sinking like a rock 0/3 with 3 Ks down to 240/673. In Scranton Beeter is matching 0s with Garret Whitlock which would be a positive except his line is 4ip 0r 0h 3k 5BB.
A name to watch in AA is 22yo Augustin Ramirez another catcher who won’t stick at the position but is first in home runs, first in walks, second in RBIs, second in SLG and third in OPS in the Eastern League.
Came across an awesome Mike Schmidt quote: “”Philadelphia is the only city where you can experience the thrill of victory and the agony of reading about it the next day.”
Jay Jaffe: At a time when major league catching talent seems pretty thin, the Yankees do have one of the best pairs in the majors. Trevino has bounced back nicely after an injury-marred season and Wells has been pretty solid thanks to. his plate discipline; both are good framers as well.
It also makes it crazy how the Brewers inserted themselves into the Sean Murphy trade and ended up with maybe the best catcher in baseball.
I like Sean Murphy, but yeah, it was weird how quick Atlanta was to dump an All-Star catcher for…a catcher.
He’s probably gonna fall off at the end of the season as all catchers do but as of right now he’s in the MVP conversation. Crazy.
Steve from Tampa: Is it time to worry about Gleyber Torres?
3:23
Jay Jaffe: Yeah. He belongs on the side of a milk carton