From Bill Ladson:
After allowing 20 earned runs in his previous 13 2/3 innings, left-hander Carlos Rodón didn’t pitch badly against the Reds on Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium. But the long ball did him in as the Yankees were defeated, 3-2.
Unlike his previous three starts, Rodón didn’t let the first inning get out of hand. In fact, he retired the Reds in order. But in the following inning, Rodón found himself behind when he allowed a two-run homer to Noelvi Marte.
“I kind of pulled that fastball down and in. That ball was supposed to be up,” Rodón said.
Rodón settled down until the fifth inning, when he allowed a solo homer to Stuart Fairchild to make it a three-run game. Rodón made the mistake of throwing the slider to Fairchild down and in.
This just speaks to my frustrations with Carlos Rodon as a person. Clearly (CLEARLY) he actually accepted some coaching this time around, and he was MUCH better, and even there, he just loses concentration and misses location. Just DON’T LOSE CONCENTRATION. For fuck’s sake, all you have to do is do your job for 100 pitches or so. DON’T miss spots. If they hit good pitches, they hit good pitches, but don’t miss your spots.
The difference in how Rodon looks when he is not pitching like a moron to when he is pitching like a moron is like night and day. Even with the injury, he clearly has the stuff to succeed. He just is a moron. This game, he pitched just well enough where a non-pathetic lineup that wasn’t sitting its third decent hitter would have scored three runs.
Granted, the Yankees’ best hitter is the one who choked the most, with Judge grounding into an inning-ending double play with the Yankees trailing by a run in the seventh inning, and runners on first and third and one out.
The featured image is Rodon being a baby about being taken out in the sixth inning, down 3-0.