A couple of hours before first pitch every game day, my phone dutifully buzzes to announce the Yankees’ starting lineup. Back during spring training, even when I wasn’t watching the games, I would still take a look at the batting order and marvel. More than once I caught myself saying, “Man, this offense is going to be really good.”
For the past twenty-five years, the Yankees have always been really good, and most years they’ve fielded one of the top two or three offenses in the sport. You know, Bronx Bombers and all.
But this year seemed like it might be different. I found myself wondering about preposterous possibilities. Sure, D.J. LeMaheiu had led the league in batting average and on-base percentage in 2020, but what might happen if Aaron Judge’s name was on the lineup card behind him 150 times? What if Aaron Hicks and Giancarlo Stanton stayed healthy? What if Gary Sánchez hit even .250 with 25 home runs? What if Clint Frazier built on the quiet success of last season and blossomed into a star?
All baseball fans are overly optimistic in March, but none of those hypotheticals seemed unreasonable back then. None of those things even seemed unlikely.
Well, we know what happened. The Yankee bats waited a few weeks to fly north after spring training, and the result was nothing anyone could’ve expected. On most nights through April and into the first weekend of May, manager Aaron Boone submitted a lineup card with three or four hitters batting below .200 because he simply had no better choices. A recent string of games against some of the weaker pitching staffs in the league has restored some confidence and allowed the Yankees to even their record at 14-14, but there are still concerns up and down the lineup.
We’re three days into May and Gleyber Torres hasn’t hit a home run. Aaron Hicks is hitting far less than his weight, Clint Frazier is no doubt wondering if he might be headed back to Scranton, and while there is a Yankee catcher with an OPS over a thousand, his name is Kyle Higashioka, not Gary Sanchez.
Perhaps inexplicably, I remain a Sanchez supporter, but after teasing us with home runs in the first two games of the season, Sanchez has managed just eight hits and a single RBI over the 17 games since that promising start. The player often referred to as the best pure hitter in the organization now has an OPS (.619) that is lower than Higashioka’s slugging percentage (.706). Every single Yankee season preview devoted a paragraph or two to the Mystery of the Kraken, and most observers marveled that a player as gifted as Sanchez could see his skills completely evaporate during what should’ve been the prime of his career. The Yankees are 6-12 in games when Sanchez starts behind the plate, and 8-2 when he doesn’t. At this point, Higashioka is the best catcher in pinstripes, and everyone knows it.
Oh, but there’s good news, and it abounds from the mound.
Everything begins with Gerit Cole, and even though anyone reading this already knows that he’s been the best pitcher in the American League this season, he’s probably been even better than most people realize.
Cole’s “worst” game was the season opener, in which he pitched a pedestrian five and a third innings, allowing two runs while striking out eight and walking two. It wasn’t a bad outing by any stretch, but his five starts since then have been ridiculous. In 32.1 innings he’s yielded just 19 hits and 4 earned runs, but that isn’t the amazing part. He’s posted 54 strikeouts while walking just one batter; over his last three starts those numbers are 33 and 0.
We’re only five weeks into the season, but we’re clearly watching something historic. The most dominant season by a Yankee starting pitcher in my lifetime was Ron Guidry in 1978. (I was nine years old that October when I created a Ron Guidry costume for Halloween; none of our neighbors in Naperville, Illinois, had any idea what I was doing.)
Should Cole approach Guidry’s legendary season — 25-3, 1.74 ERA, 248 Ks — he would cement himself in Yankee lore forever, but the Cole-Guidry comparison is about more than just numbers. When Cole is pitching at home and finds himself in a two-strike count with two outs in an inning, the Stadium crowd will rise to its feet in anticipation, bridging four decades with a tradition that stretches back to June 17, 1978, the day when Guidry struck out 18 California Angels. Unlike any Yankee starting pitcher since that season, including Clemens and Sabathia and Cone and Pettitte and Mussina, Cole is a flamethrower who seems to have the ability to overwhelm any hitter any time he wants. If you haven’t already begun to plan your week around his starts or schedule your DVR to record his games, it’s time to start.
If there’s been a pitcher more dominant than Cole this season, albeit in smaller doses, it’s been closer Aroldis Chapman. Last year we were constantly reminded that Chapman had lost velocity, but that’s no longer a concern. His fastball is regularly topping out in triple digits, and he’s added a sinker that also hits the century mark. If none of that seems fair as you read from behind the safety of your computer screen, just imagine standing in the batter’s box. Chapman has faced 35 hitters in his ten appearances, and struck out 24 of them. He hasn’t allowed a single runner to get past second base. There are certainly those fans who will withhold judgment until they see him duplicate this in October, but Chapman has shown enough to allow me to move past his playoff disappointments.
Built largely around the dominance of Cole and Chapman, it’s been the Yankees’ pitching, not the hitting, that has kept the team afloat and finally allowed them to climb all the way back to an even 14-14. The staff leads the American League in strikeouts, ERA, and strikeout to walk ratio. The top three arms in the bullpen — Chad Green, Jonathan Loaisiga, and Chapman — have combined for a preposterous stat line: 43 IP/56Ks/8BBs and an ERA of 0.83. The starting rotation behind Cole has also been rounding into form, with Corey Kluber, Jordan Montgomery, Jameson Taillon, and Domingo German all posting excellent outings this week, highlighted by Kluber’s eight shutout innings on Sunday, a dazzling performance that gave him his first Yankee win and the 100th win of his career.
I doubt that things will continue exactly as they are. We’ll begin to see more from the offense (Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton have shown encouraging signs), and it’s possible that Gerit Cole might walk a batter at some point, but if we forget the record for a moment, there’s a lot to be happy about after these first twenty-eight games. In fact, I’d argue that if April had gone as expected, with the offense outslugging the opponents on most nights to cover for mediocre pitching performances, we’d all be more worried than we are right now.
Cole has been mighty impressive for sure. Like you, I definitely check in to see when he’s pitching and set the DVR. He’s had such dominating stuff the last three games that he’s making the batters look silly. I keep thinking he’s going to strike out 20 around the fourth inning of every game.
Asstr*s don’t get a new thread? :)
Time to bo the cheaters.
Rats
Very loud thunderstorm.
Kaboooooooooooom! Go Yankees! Cheers to the New Thread!
Stantonian.
Need a takeout slide up the middle
Suboptimal, Clint.
Way to PISS all over the rally, Clint. Ugh!
Shit.
Clint is not a good outfielder. Despite receiving rave review over his Superman catch last week that most MLB left fielders catch standing up. Fucking Bollocks.
[12] Gardy catches that.
Piniella (today) catches that. Just tell him Ron Cey hit it.
Yup, out.
I’d hate to be a baseball hit by Stanton. Or Judge.
Put a star on that one. Good Gleyber pick and toss, Gio with spin-o-rama turn. Now some runs!
Yikes. That's scary.
Aha, my “the Yankees aren’t going to score, might as well walk the terrorists” ploy worked.
RBJ, your terrorist ploy may have concussed the Astros Catcher's leg while bending Odor's leg in the opposite direction.
[19] I wouldn’t be surprised. They are like that. Good thing is I don’t need a gym membership anymore.
One down.
Two.
Strike this cheater out.
Flip him!
I’ll take that.
Congrats to !eans for a no-no
I’m surprised there isn’t a delay, radar looks promising.
They are playing through that heavy rain?
[0] Nice write up, Hank! I've been on team Gary long after a lot of folks jumped off but now..
Interesting conversation about Dusty Baker by the YES team now, he seems a sure HOFer as a manager even without winning a WS..?
The Yanks are playing 90 minutes up the road in Buffalo next month vs. the jays. Going to try and score tix next week. If that doesn't work there is another series at end of September. Go Yankees! The trashstros can go piss up a Fucking rope.
Stanton!!
Not good.
Shutdown inning. Grumble grumble.
This stinks.
That blooper was bad luck..but not those other hits.
Hicks and Gary abs are freaking BRUTAL! Oi!
[36] How much longer can Boone stick with them both?
Well Gary seems to have earned back-up catcher duty and there are many outfield options. Frazier? Yikes.
Stanton comes alive!
Not many outfield options.
Judge overruled.
A hot Stanton can really 'carry' the team.
[38] Frazier..what happened to him? Was he never as good as advertised or did the Yankees jerking him around have a bad impact?
Mr OK JT. I don't see numbered comments on my phone. The humanity! Frazier is a good hitter. Streaky. I've been super down on his defense since the get go. Concussing himself several years ago was scary. But he looks sketchy on routine outs imho.
[43] Ara JF, I forgot about that concussion! Possible long term effects of that? I'm still unclear as to why Stanton can't play the OF, is he at such risk of injury?
Hicks with a hit!
These Houston games have been fantastic.
Anyone thinking that the Yanks are being too cautious (on the season) about sending runners home from 3rd?
[44] He had TWO concussions. He's lucky to even be playing baseball right now.
[46] Hey Boat! TWO..I didn't remember that. How was your GW, I didn't leave the house much..
Sanchez with the BB!
About sending runners, maybe Nevin getting cautious after all their outs-on-the-bases earlier this season.
"Bases loaded for Brett Gardner." Not a phrase you want to hear these days.
[47] Yo, my main Jazz man. I didn't do dick over Gaijin Week. I had some work (of course). Went to a book store. That's about it.
Houston 3
Stanton 3
[49] Garner lets him off the hook there, he couldn't find the plate..
Yeah, and now the 'Emergency' will be extended two more weeks from tomorrow? Oh well, I got beer and records to get to at home so..
[45] probably, but I remember watching the game where two Yankees got thrown out at home. On the same play.
[51] Actually, I've been listening to a lot of music from the late 60s and 70s. For example, Lee Michaels. I image you would like Lee Michaels on his Hammond. Guy is incredible, IMHO.
[52] Maybe Phil Nevin just sucks at his job.
C'mon, Judge! Find a gap!
[53] Not heard much of Lee Michaels, will check him out.
ICYMI, everyone needs to go check out Mike Trout's stats this season..
Fucking Bollocks!
[56] You have may have heard his 2 kinda hits, but dig deep. He does an amazing, looooong version of Stormy Monday. It's on tweeter.
[54] I wonder how much autonomy Phil and Aaron have in their jobs. Analytics department has set rules to hold up in certain situations, go in others. Taking the mystery out of baseball.
If Gary catches that it's a strike. WTF!?
It's so much fun to hate Altuve.
[59] Puppet Masters rule the Yanks.
[58] Sorry I mean "YouTube". Doh!
Loaisiga is a BEAST.
Hope they can win it before that stupid man on 2B extra-inning nonsense..
Yeah. Last night the booth was commenting how Judge paid no mind to the little cheater when on 2nd. They use to chum it up a bit.
Sweeeeeeeeeeet!
Hicksy!! Maybe he should always bat righty?
Woo-hoo!
Gritner!
Gritner!!
Stanton is unstoppable.
I’ve gotta help my parents pick up their place in the morning for Mother’s Day. 86 y.o. So I do the lifting. Night all.
Is Chapman roided up or something??!
101 on the outside lower corner is just..yikes!
Yankees win, night all.
Chapman is unhittable.
Fantastic game. Night gents.
Time for a sweep.
Dang, Stanton.
Wow, Pujols DFAed
Welp.
Clint! And with a man on.
At least they are only solo shots.
Hmm, not gd.
Well that’s worserer.
Very good Gleyber. Shift got the shaft
Shit
No Strasbourg.
Le Machine! Nice way to lead off.
Boo.
And some more boing.
Good to see from the Kraken.
Nice leather, Clint
More Le Machine.
Nice.
As is that WP.
Ugh, more suboptimal.
Yup.
Blegh! Two sucky BP games in a row.
Is Gleyber simply incapable of getting in front of ground balls? I'm so tired of seeing his matador "defense".
So they’re back to .500 which seems about right. They’ feel like an engine with a timing belt issue. I think they have the hitting (but Frazier, Sanchez, Hicks could be a worry all season). I think they have the starting pitching (but except for Cole, no one has been consistent) and the bullpen should be solid (except when they’re not, like last night and tonight). Maybe the hitting, starting pitching and relief will hit on all cylinders one of these days. If not, it’s going to be a long sputtering grind to September.
Scherzer. So a 1-0 loss.
Gleyber ties it up!
So doing dishes and walking the terrorists worked so far.
Hmmm,
Gleyber for the win!
Hooray, Gleyber! Getting off the schneid!
I wonder if it makes any sense for the Yankees to hold out Chapman until the 10th since it’s good to have a strikeout pitcher on the mound with a man starting the inning on 2d base.
I’m liking these walk off wins
Can we please beat these stupid Rays?
All rise!
Dunno why I even bother with the MLB app on my phone anymore it always freezes up at some point. Usually, it's right before some Yankee offense. So I missed Judge's bomb.
Wait, maybe that's a good ju-ju thing like "walking the terrorists."
Anyway, I'm on the laptop now. Next time we need some runs I'll switch to the phone.
It’s no longer fun watching Gary.
Gift run,
It seems like they should have gotten more out of that inning.
(But isn't that always the case this year?)
Sigh
What is the point of getting to 0-2 only to throw a batting practice pitch?
Gary felt he wasn't doing enough damage with strike outs so he went for a double-play.
Nice work.
Sanchez turned into Greg Bird except he had the audacity to stay healthy. Surely he won't be on the roster next year, right?
I suppose if they had another catcher he'd be trade bait this year. Let's be honest, a full year of Higgy won't do.
Howls Anthony Seigler doing? Dammit a year of lost development.
Monty looks pretty good though.
This game is rollin' along.
Ok, that was fun.
More talk about trading Gary, please.
Too busy to obsess how much I hate the fucking rays and their hell-hole of a "stadium." Go Yankees!
Gleyber fail.
Diaz had no interest in swinging. Chapman shouldn't have nibbled.
Thank goodness. Cheers, y'all!
The Yankees win!
That's was a little too exciting in the 9th, but we'll take it.
Fuck this stupid Fucking horror show of a "stadium."
I hate the Trop.
Ok, I get MLB celebrating players’ notable achievements, but why Ryan Braun’s 350th homer? He’s a cheater and a liar.
Clint tossed!
Miller is a dumb fuck. Frazier sucks but he didn’t make a scene and truth be told half the pitches outside are being called strikes. When do they realize they’re not the reason why we watch.
[134] [135] Yeah that was ridiculous. Boone should have got himself tossed too complaining.
I hate the Rays and their awful dome stadium. Arozarena..have the Yankees ever gotten him out??
Second and third, no outs, Yankees run scoring probability approaching zero.
Must score!
Ok, a sac fly.
And that’s it.
[140] It's enough for Cole!
Hot damn! I'd let the man finish bit
Posting fail.
....but that's just me.
Dammit, walking the terrorists didn’t bring any insurance.
Hell yeah!
Phew, Yankees win!
Let’s sweep
Boo!
Double boo
Is it a requirement that Taillon go at least 4 innings when pitching bad but no more than 5 innings when he's pitching well? Trying to figure out binder logic.
It’s hard to win when you don’t score any runs.
It's hard to score runs when most of the lineup bats .200 and only swings for the fences.
But here's hoping for the 5 homer comeback
Money Ball was on TV yesterday. There's a scene where Billy Beane fires the head scout and then ask a random person if they had any baseball experience. When they say they played T-ball he makes them the new head scout.
I feel like in the fictional movie about Brian Cashman, aka Homer Ball, there would be a scene where he goes to the local gym, asks some random muscle head if they had any baseball experience. When they say T-Ball he signs him to a contract.
Seres win, not a sweep.
If Kluber can cut down on the walks he could be dominant again but 17 walks in 35 innings is a hot mess. Tonight, particularly, just challenge the Oriole bats.
Shit, Hicks with a torn tendon and now Stanton scratched.
Kenny Singleton is back! Great to hear him again.
What’s with those ugly O’s caps today?
Stanton..will he be out awaje? Need to catch up non the news
All rise
[158] Military appreciation night.
I’m stuck with the Os broadcasters.
[160] Seriously?? That’s just so gross, how many times do they have to do this in one season, looking from abroad it’s just really creepy how much MLB fetishizes the military., makes us look like so violent
[161] You are violent!
Seriously, I agree. Disgusting and ugly.
But, deep down I think it's mostly about marketing and selling merch. Green is everybody's favorite color.
[158] What happened to Stanton this time?
[162] Hah! You know, I did read that ‘Jazz corrupt the the youth’ :)
If for marketing then it’s even worse, who would buy one of those caps, they’re hideous.
[164] Violent Americans, of course!
Basically, the Yankees have 3 guys who can hit in this line up. After that it's bleak as hell.
[165] Boat, did I ever tell you about the time I was in Shake Shack here and these two American guys were about to get it on, one in a MAGA hat and one in a BLM shirt? The Japanese staff were just petrified, thankfully they were separated before it got physical but the f-bombs and insults were flying. (Wasn’t me in the BLM shirt!)
[163] quad tightness.
[167] No. I'd love to hear that story. I'm surprised you didn't jump into the fray. Glad I wasn't there, I'd probably do something stupid.
[169] MAGA guy was talking to his friend about ‘the police in the US need to crack down on those criminal protestors’ (to be fair, he was not being loud at all, though I disagreed with him of course). BLM guy was nearby and heard him and said something like ‘protesting isn’t criminal’ and they started talking and within about 2 mins voices raised and things like ‘You’re a bunch of thugs!’ And ‘You’re a typical expat fascist!’ I was two tables away watching it all. BLM guy finally said something like ‘You’re why everyone hates Americans around the world!’ and MAGA guy was like ‘Try that shit in Japan, the police here know what to do and will lock your ass up!’ I really did feel bad for the shop staff, you can imagine their faces
1500 Ks for Klubot.
[170] Great theater. It sounds like something you would only see in the USA.
My friend got profiled by the cops the other day while visiting me in Ogikubo. They hassled him for his gaijin card and he blew up. Then he called me and went back for more with me (the guy who walks past them everyday)as a prop and chewed them out again.
Hooray, Judge
Judge and executioner.
Frazier is just awful with baseball fundamentals..
Frazier makes Posada look like Rickey Henderson. He's Fucking cluess! Booooooooooooo!
WTF!
The Higgirella Story is officially over.
Wade can't hit. He can't bunt. What the hell is he doing?
Damn, safe.
[179] nor hold onto the ball.
Jesus Christ, Wade can't field either. He needs to be gone.
[179] Sorry, I am behind.
Wow. This team is failing on so many levels. It's difficult to argue that Boone is not a big part of the problem anymore.
[181] I mean "sorry" to you. Doh!
Grr.
[182] Boone doesn’t seem to bring anything positive we can see, is he ‘that’ good in the clubhouse to make up for the other things?
Losing to Baltimore, never acceptable
[187] Bring Back Buck.
We need T-shirts.
The last time I felt good about Boone's pitching decisions was never.
I’m so old I remember being happy when Gary was at the plate
I think I'm in moderation jail for mentioning a type of wear clowns wear on their feet.
Bad luck for Gary, but I’m pretty much done with he and Frazier and Wade..this team really lacks depth
Imagine buying tickets for this game?
I'm willing to give Frazier more time. It's not like he's had years of mediocre play (ahem Hicks) or being constantly injured (ahem Stanton, Judge, Hicks, Voit)
Speaking of which maybe someone should tell Stanton and Voit to cool it in the weight room? Surely that's where they are getting hurt, because neither moves around much on the field
Yay, a hit for Miggy Jr.
Dang, that sarcasm font still needs work.
Using the same font, maybe this will boost his trade value?
Hot diggity damn!
Oh Geo!!
I think Gio took Miggy's powers when he got hurt.
I was a big proponent of Clint in the early days. Nowadays it is not so easy.
Crap MASN only available on the main tv. No more game for me.
Nice win
Yankees win, night all
Hey, the offense is showing up!
Nice to know other teams can play crappy baseball.
Judge!
DP please.
Thank you.
Not enough to overturn.
Balk!
Luuuuke!
Nice play, too.
Yankees win. Sweep tomorrow.
What's a Ryan LaMarre? Never read the name before. And oh, boy, Miggy Jr. in the outfield
Hooray, Kraken. He's only mostly dead.
Belly to belly. Yankees just needed bad Orioles pitching.
You can stop giving up hits, Monty.
Judge is imitating Gleyber from last year.
I picked a good pitch to tune in for! Hot damn!
This sucks.
Walking the terrorists didn't work