From Joe Trezza:
Sometimes, it only takes one big swing to break a lineup out of a funk.
The Yankees have now gotten two from Anthony Rizzo in a span of 24 hours, and they hope it means things start clicking again for their scuffling offense.
Only a few hours after connecting for the walk-off single in Friday’s series opener, Rizzo had the biggest swing again for the Yankees in their 5-3 victory over the Tigers on Saturday at Yankee Stadium. Rizzo’s third-inning three-run homer off Casey Mize banked off the side facing of the second deck in right field and into Judge’s Chambers, setting the tone for a team win and setting New York up for a potential sweep on a day that also featured Aaron Judge’s first career ejection.
“Today was excellent,” manager Aaron Boone said. “That’s Rizz right there. Getting to that pitch — it looked like Mize got it in there — and he just put a better swing on it, and really got into it. That was the difference in the game, right there. But a lot of good at-bats had set that up, and we were able to cash in.”
If Anthony Rizzo could start hitting a bit, that’d be a huge help for this team. It’s funny how a couple of good games suddenly has Judge’s OPS at .743 and Rizzo’s at .758.
Waldo, by the way, is back down to .656. That will make LeMahieu’s inevitable return to the lineup a lot less awkward.
Clarke Schmidt frustrates the shit out of me, as he just seems to have a bit of a mental block keeping him from being a truly effective starter, but eh, I guess whatever, three runs through five innings isn’t terrible. But boy, he could be really effective out of the bullpen if they ever get Gerrit Cole back healthy (Cole took another big step today towards returning to the team, but it’s still so early, it’s probably not worth even thinking about, honestly).
Luke Weaver has been quietly excellent, right? Matt fucking Blake is a goddamn genius.
Aaron Judge’s ejection was a goddamn joke. Imagine if it was a closer game and Trent Grisham came up in a big spot because of some dickhead umpire? Ugh.
Judge’s ejection almost got the featured image, but I went with Rizzo’s three-run bomb instead. He CRUSHED that shit (speaking of shit, how is the headline “That’s Rizz right there”?).
watership down
Schmidt isn’t “just good enough” – not long ago a lot of us weren’t sure he belonged in the rotation at all. Now he’d clearly be a great 5 or even 4 (really NEVER getting rocked). And it’s not like he’s barely holding on – he’s pretty awesome, racking up the strikeouts and having easy innings – until he hits that bump in the road.
That suggest to most of us, I think, that it’s psychological. The ability is there, so maybe he’ll get over it and then he’d be something special.
I will add that I do put some of this on the team – we saw them taking him out at the first sign of trouble in a game where they had room to leave him in. If they consistently TELL him that way “we think you break down around the 5th inning”, there’s no way he can fail to see it. And most of us have some sensitivity to how we’re seen. They really should be pushing him, training him, encouraging him to go longer, and they’re really not.
mine eyes have seen the glory.. OF the coming of the lord
berti back! the Jeff posse grows stronger
A Volpe (R) SS
J Soto (L) RF
A Judge (R) CF
G Stanton (R) DH
A Verdugo (L) LF
G Torres (R) 2B
J Berti (R) 3B
J Trevino (R) C
O Cabrera (S) 1B
In today’s episode of House Money, Rizzo and Waldo have each been acting like their old selves, so naturally Rizzo is benched and Waldo gets the start at 1B.
I’m not one for banning books, but if I had to pick one, I’d ban the Booneder.
Not to mention that Nestor, as a ground ball pitcher, will surely benefit from having a novice 1B responsible for picking a plurality of potential putouts.
Sitting the hot hand, punishing success before it might get out of hand and actually stick.
Boone’s trademark specialty.
And we can’t get rid of him.
Booneder 1, Veggie 0 after 2.
Thankfully Nestor taking the defense into his own hands (and Trevi’s) .