From Courtney Hollmon:
For five innings on Tuesday night, Gerrit Cole looked every bit like the rotation anchor the Yankees needed to kick off a critical late-season road swing, setting the stage for a 7-3 victory over the Angels.
Then, with one sharp swing of Christian Moore’s bat, a comfortable four-run cushion evaporated, Cole’s night ended abruptly, and the Yankees’ veteran ace walked off the mound at Angel Stadium visibly frustrated — his final line failing to tell the full story of his outing.
Cole’s numbers — 5 1/3 innings, eight hits, three earned runs, one walk and five strikeouts on 90 pitches — looked like a typical mid-rotation battle on paper. But for a Yankees team currently 4 1/2 games behind the Rays in the American League East race, Cole’s 18th start since returning from Tommy John surgery was a continuous grind — a constant battle through traffic and deep counts before his night unraveled in the sixth.
One day after she made that weird (and incorrect) statement about the Yankees clinching home field over the Red Sox, the same writer used the phrase, “looked like a typical mid-rotation battle on paper,” and I have NO idea what she means by that.
In any event, great win.
Brent Headrick gets the featured image for a HUGE strikeout with the tying run on third base and one out in the sixth inning. It still is kind of crazy how many of the Yankees wins have been, “Please bail us out of the shit, Brent Headrick and Paul Blackburn!” But hell, they keep DOING so, so that’s nice (and Headrick has been getting a lot more rest lately, and I think that’ll make him much sharper as they head to the playoffs).
Boone moved Spencer Jones up to cleanup, and it worked well. I imagine Boone’s plan is to go:
Rice
Bellinger
Judge
Jones
Garcia Jr.
Jazz
Lombard
McMahon
Wells
when Judge returns. The issue is who gets cut? I guess it has to be Rosario, right? Goldy is there to pinch hit against lefties, and Grisham will be there to pinch hit against righties, so there really is no role for Rosario on the team. You COULD just run one man shy in the bullpen, but with Schmidt returning, I legit don’t think there’s room even if you were to remove someone, right? Or IS there?
ERC goes down when Schmidt returns. So then your 14-man bullpen is…
14 Schlittler
13 Cole
12 Fried
11 Rodon
10 Warren
9 Gil
8 Bednar
7 Blackburn
6 Headrick
5 Hill
4 Schmidt
3 Schreiber
2 Fulmer
1 Yarbs
Hmmm…I guess you really COULD afford to just send Gil down and have “only” thirteen pitchers for the last weeks of the season. You could then afford to carry Rosario for a five-man bench in the playoffs, as you don’t need more than 11 guys in the Wild Card round.
Your 11 guys:
11 Schlittler
10 Cole
9 Fried
8 Rodon
7 Bednar
6 Blackburn
5 Headrick
4 Hill
3 Schmidt
2 Schreiber
1 Fulmer
With Gil or Warren MAYBE making it, in which case you would just sit Fulmer or Hill.
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By the way, I think I hate that lineup. I think it might be what Boone wants, but I don’t want Judge batting third just to fucking split up the lefties. How about instead…
Rice
Judge
Jones
Garcia Jr.
Bellinger
Jazz
McMahon
Lombard
Wells
A. It gives Rice protection from Judge, B. It gives Judge more at-bats, and C. It keeps Judge/Jones back-to-back, I want to really fuck with other teams in the playoffs with those two dudes coming up back-to-back, D. Belli hits lefties really well, so he’s basically breaking up the lefties by putting him between Garcia and Jazz anyways, and E. I don’t like Lombard hitting too high up in the lineup just yet.
I like that lineup, but against a RHP starter I wouldn’t care so much about the lefty lane. I’d bat Lombard 9 as a second leadoff guy to set the table for Rice, and I’d bat Bellinger ahead of Judge. Goldschmidt and maybe even Ramos can always PH for if needed, with Caballero running if he gets on, or Goldy staying in for defense if the Yankees go ahead.
vs RHP:
Rice
Bellinger
Judge
Jones
Garcia Jr
Chisholm Jr
McMahon
Wells
Lombard Jr
vs LHP:
Goldschmidt 1B
Rice DH
Judge RF
Jones CF
Bellinger LF
Lombard SS
Chisholm Jr 2B or McMahon 3B
Wells C
Caballero 3B or 2B
I still wish Judge could DH but hopefully he will just play it safe like Bobby Abreu.
A scout’s opinion on some AAAA RailRiders. Sees a MLB future for all of them. Says Beck is a 5th starter if he gets a curve instead of a sweeper. Compares Waldo to Mariano Duncan. Says Earthling should just focus on batting lefty and learning defense. Says Volpe could be a valuable second baseman if he stopped believing he was a home run hitter.
https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/scout-sizes-anthony-volpe-oswaldo-104217489.html
UJD, thinking of you. Hope your mom is doing okay and hope you are too.
i don’t think rosario gives you anything oswaldo wouldn’t provide at this point.
Rosario can at least theoretically get a hit.