The Yanks clinched the AL East on Tuesday night. They’ve got eight games left (including a double header next Tuesday in Texas). Under normal circumstances, Aaron Judge would get a game or two off. That’s not going to happen with him sitting on 60 homers.
You know he’s got to be pressing and yet last night he walked four times. He was up five times and the count went full in each at-bat. In the first inning, he lined out sharply to third and after that, he spit on the 3-2 pitch, all enticing, and took his walks.
One of Roger Maris’s sons sits next to Judge’s mother at each game. It’s all exhausting—Michael Kay has to rev up into “historic” mode each time Judge comes up—but in the meantime, the Yanks are winning and all is well.
Everyone should have such problems.
Never mind the great expectations:
Let’s Go-Yankees!
Booooo!
Oh just pitch to him, for the love of god.
Walking him isn't even good strategy, and it's obviously bad sportsmanship.
I bet that Cole gives up more HRs than Judge gets hittable pitches.
There ya go. Make them pay.
Ooooh, good thing you didn't pitch to Judge, he might have homered! You schmucks.
I like first inning runs.
Ohhhh, Rizzo is managing. Okay that explains it.
No Stanton.
Also no LeMahieu, Benintendi, Carpenter, but we’re used to that.
Oh, and Gleyber is the bench coach.
Okay, whatever.
Hmmmm, maybe we could cut a deal with the Orioles. They serve up meatballs to Judge, and we kinda give them a chance to win some games and maybe sneak into the playoffs.
Well done Hixy.
NOW walk him. Go ahead. Walk him.
Hmph.
Well, maybe now he'll see more strike zone pitches.
Oy.
Not a good season for Hicks.
He certainty comes up with unique ways to be terrible.
Jeez Hicks is lost. At the plate, with the glove, and now on the basepaths.
Apparently, Hicks still has his head up his ass.
Who wants him on the post season roster?
There's a very good chance Judge will not hit another HR this regular season. We should be OK with that.
This record thing has grown way out of proportion.
He helps the Yankees in so many other ways.
Rats
The perfect way for Cole to lose a perfect game.
In other news…
Judge .313
Arraez .311
Bogaerts .309
I blame the MLB app. No talk about perfectos after 5 innings.
Cage rattled. Walk 9 batter. Implosion imminent.
Get a fucking grip, meat.
Guaranteed to be down 0-1 in the first round.
I leave for a meeting. Come back and Cole has shit the bed.
Grrrrr.
Grrr
[22] Not if we start Nestor.
Judge pitches per PA is off the charts lately. Unreal.
Rejoice!
Ha, walking the terrorist worked!
HE DID IT!!!!!!!
I’m getting teary eyed
There it is. Congrats and now onto a few more and a hot bat entering the postseason.
Huzzah!!!
Amazing!! Now go win the Triple Crown!
A go ahead, important, clutch Homer to boot.
Guess I should wait a bit before getting hosed for Fri tix.
Whew.
I was on Zoom with my brother and we both had the game on in the background!
I agree with [15] Boatzilla, but still, I'm happy and relieved.
Of course, my MLB glitched right when Judge took that stroll before the monumental swing. I reload and he's running around the bases.
This happens too often to be coincidence. I blame the illuminati.
[34] Maybe he needed a clutch moment to make it more valuable for the team.
Um, the Blue Jays don’t seem to be good at fielding.
How many runs do we need to make this game Cole proof? Or is he done?
I think it was Rizzo.
Boone is obviously a terrible manager. As soon as Rizzo takes over, BOOM, record.
Oh, or maybe it's just a matter of too many Aarons! I bet that's it. When you get close to a home run record, having lots of Aarons around is probably disrespectful to the baseball gods or history or something!
I'm just looking at the replay, and one cool thing is that in the shot from approximately the Yankee dugout, you can see about a dozen fans in Yankee jerseys stand up with their arms in the air as the ball leaves Judge's bat. In slomo it looks like a few seconds later, the Blue Jay fans follow suit.
[41] What's this Rizzo managing thing? I've been very busy this morning. I think I missed a memo.
[43] Oh it's the Day After Clinching tradition! Remember? You don't remember Jeter managing?
Need to get DJ back. And if Carp comes back too I could see him with a clutch playoff hit or three like Straw, Justice, Olerud etc.
I don’t think Judge gets another at bar tonight. I bet they pull him and save 62 for the Bronx.
[44] Started by Torre, IIRC.
[45] Benintendi would help too.
[46] Yeah that wouldn't surprise me.
[44] OK. I get it. Thanks. I actually don't remember that.
Britton should never be allowed near a pitching mound again.
He can work full time as a union rep.
I do not condone lead off walks. WTF!?
Chapman up?
He's going to need at least these 2 runs.
Ha! 3.0
Yup, what are the Blue Jay minor leagues teaching their players?
I just listened to Grandpa Joe's call. It is high. no. It is far. meh. It is gone. True.
Putting Chapman in here is like flicking matches off the strike pad on the box into a giant oil drum of newspapers and dried leaves doused in kerosene, just to see what happens.
Those matches were wet tonight. It's all good for now. Cheers y'all!
A good night!
Man, it looked like that ball wasn't going to go out at first. The apprehension of it made it all the sweeter. What a relief that must be. Now, 3 chances to do it at home, where the pressure is unrelenting. Be nice if he could do it on Friday so he can get a day off this weekend!
I know everyone keeps talking about the pressure Maris felt and the pressure Judge must've felt -- but still. I can't even imagine. He knew his family was dragging from city to city, that the Maris family was there also. And we were even beginning to hear whispers that he might not ever get that 61st home run. Even I was exhausted by the whole thing, and all I was doing was sitting on my couch. I'll admit to being at least as relieved last night as I was excited.
I agree with Alex. I really hope he can get #62 on Friday night so we can all -- Judge included -- relax a bit down the stretch.
Meanwhile down on the farm, AA Somerset won the Eastern League title game last night behind two home runs from Jasson Dominguez. He was a late call-up to Somerset, so even if burns up the Arizona Fall League, he'll likely start at Somerset next spring. Even so, it isn't out of the realm of possibility that we could see him in New York in September.
Actually, it's better than that. The win was a 15-0 no-hitter, and Dominguez homered from both sides of the plate. It's okay to dream about Dominguez in center and Judge in right for the rest of the decade.
So Ohtani has a no-hitter through seven innings. That's all we need. Now he's gonna throw that no-hitter, and we'll have a fresh slate of articles saying that maybe he should be the MVP instead of Judge. I still think 61+ home runs and maybe a triple crown would be a shinier September object than a no-hitter, but this would make the race interesting again.
Never mind.
Hi guys. Been lurking, but not posting. Glad that Judge got #61, hope #62 comes tonight. I guess you probably discussed this, but Judge's season might be the best ever (esp. if he gets the triple crown). OK, at Ruth played in a segregated era, Maris played in an age of expansion and extra games, and those fake HR totals due to PEDs should be ignored. Now Ruth and Marris (and Bonds too, pre-PED) were great ball players, no doubt. But did they face an era like this, when starters go 6, and are followed by 5 guys throwing 99 mph? The other factor: look how many homers Judges leads the majors by.
I’m facing a real dilemma tonite. Do I go to the game close to game time to insure that I don’t get a Cole bobblehead? 0r, if I get one, do I hold onto it until Cole gives up the first home run in Game1 of the playoffs and then hope I’m not the only one who tosses it onto the field?
I doubt tomorrow’s game gets in. It’s been raining all day from the time I got up to now.
Postpone it for a DH Sunday. And the games do matter to get Judge the triple crown and a bigger payday.
There’s Oswaldo
Phew, only one run.
Boo, another walk.
Here yet again in Section 320. This time it is, as the Dylan song which admittedly ripped off Norwegian Wood, the 4th Time Around.
[66] There's been lots of talk about this, actually, for all the reasons you outline. If you discount the pre-integration guys and the PED guys, it's hard to find a season that compares to what Judge is doing.
I saw something interesting at MLB.com. They were talking about something called a Quadruple Triple Crown (4x3) or a Duodecuple Crown. Leading the league in 12 categories, the only ones that matter: home runs, RBIs, batting average, runs, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS, walks, extra-base hits, total bases, wRC+ and WAR
Judge currently leads in all but batting average, and that's the only category that's close. If he can accomplish this feat, he's be just the second player ever. Ted Williams did it twice, in 1942 and 1947 -- oh, and he didn't win the MVP in either year. So to recap, Williams hit .406 in 1941, led all twelve categories in 1942 and 1947, and didn't win the MVP in any of those years. Bonkers. The writers really had it in for him. (Also, this was back when they FIRMLY believed that the MVP should be selected from a winning team.)
This is a sidebar and not a new observation, but look at Williams's number through the 1940s. It's ridiculous. Then look at the MVP voting for 1947.
Awful, right? You'll think that until you see what happened in 1942.
It's amazing, really.
[73] saw that. Incredible. And Ted took time off for war, so ‘47 was really amazing.
I like it!
Here are the voting results from 1947, which is a travesty:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/awards/awards_1947.shtml#all_AL_MVP_voting
And here's 1942, which is even more ridiculous:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/awards/awards_1942.shtml
I think you've got yourself a book idea, Hank.
Let's discuss the fact that Nestor Cortez is miles better than Gerrit Cole. Miles.
Yup. That inning got me thinking about the Bad News Bears in Breaking Training. Their ace was Carmen Ronzonni. A young righty Nestor Cortez. Lol.... Just learned he was Scott Baio's cousin Jimmy.
[76] Who the hell is Joe Page? Looks like a pretty good reliever that year. 7 first place votes!!!
Orioles are chicken shit cowards.
Chicken fucking shit.
Smart running by Gleyber!
Keep the merry-go-round going.
I think I would take Judge out after his plate appearance in the 8th.
Paul made a good point about how they're pitching Judge. I could understand it if they were in a playoff race, but all these guys are competitors. Wouldn't you think you'd want this chance, that you'd embrace it? You get to stand on the mound at Yankee Stadium and face a guy who's having one of the greatest seasons in major league history. You've got the chance to create a story that you can tell your grandchildren one day.
And instead you throw four sliders outside of the zone. Stupid.
Rats.
Well, I guess someone explained all that to him.
I hate that Baldelli is sitting ‘Arise’ like every other day, in hopes of beating out All Rise in the batting race.
[90]. That is odd to keep out your .315 hitter. Is his defense that bad? If only they had a place for someone who can't field.
How does the rain look today?
Gee, even the O’s broadcasters aren’t sure Chapman should be on the post season roster.
I was thinking the same thing about Arraez. He's pulling a reverse Williams. And for some reason I remember George Brett sitting out the last couple days in 1990 to preserve his batting title. I think.
Confirmed. Baseball Reference tells me that Brett was in a race with Rickey Henderson in 1990. Rickey ended the year on a seven-game hitting streak, but he wasn't able to catch Brett, largely because Brett sat out games 157, 158, and 160, took two at bats in 161, then sat out 162. Brett ended the year at .329, four points ahead of Rickey.
Even so, Rickey won the MVP that year. About two months after the season ended, I saw Brett at an L.A. Kings game. I wanted to ask him if he was proud of backing his way into the batting title, but instead I just asked him to sign my ticket stub. I've got it out in the garage someplace.