As Joe Girardi would say, “It’s not what you want.” A bad combination last night for the Yankees in the series opener:
- large strike zone from the home plate umpire – mostly up and down — and generous strike calls on the curve balls from Bauer
- Sonny Gray continued a bad streak of needing to throw a lot of pitches to get through an inning, and throws way too many pitches that are 4 feet outside. He is a good #3 starter but not a top of the rotation guy in my opinion
- Sanchez’s inability to block pitches cleanly (4 wild pitches) although I am not sure any of those were really his fault
- A team with home run hitters being over-matched against a hot pitcher for the 2nd half of the season. We have see this before this season with the Yankees, and we have seen it before against the Indian pitchers.
The good news? Betances pitched a clean inning, Todd Frazier has another hitless game under his belt so that the projection for his next home run stays on pace for April 9, 2018, they were not no-hit, and the team survived several innings from Jaime Garcia pretty much intact.
Is the series over? SU says no. Will Kluber match Bauer’s stellar performance tonight? Could very well be. But the Yankees managed to beat Chris Sales this season and they have certainly faced Kluber before. SU says put Frazier on the bench tonight. Perhaps a guy like Torreyes with a short, quick swing can put the ball in play and provide a spark. I know Girardi wants Frazier at 3rd with CC starting and lots of ground balls potentially but Kluber feasts on the big swingers and the Yankees have plenty of those type hitters.
SU note to FOX on the broadcast: if you are showing a check swing, there is only one view that is necessary – from the side. Stop with the 3 different looks. Second note to FOX: it is unnecessary to always show the shots of the fans right before every pitch. It’s dizzying for the viewer and you are getting back to the action at the last minute. The broadcast actually seems to have trouble following the ball in play in the outfield. Focus on that.
SU is cranky – too many late nights and a lackluster effort last night. But as we all know, a series can have its ups and downs and its Minolta Turning Points of the Game moments. Look for one of those tonight.
Sports Update Intergalactic 
Much made of the decision to start Bauer. Even after the game they were talking about how Francona made a gutsy call. Don’t the announcers have access to the same stats that they are showing on the screen? Bauer’s numbers over the second half of the season match up with just about anybody. He’s been incredible. Maybe the conventional move would be to start Kluber in game 1 but it’s not like starting Bauer was so outrageous.
I don’t know if the strike zone on the screen is perfect or not but Bauer got a lot of strike calls just outside the zone. Kudos to him for taking advantage of that. Maybe Sonny Gray should have been watching. Umps can be generous to pitchers sometimes but you’re not going to get the benefit of the doubt when 1/3 of your pitches are in the dirt. Sanchez needs to work on his defense but there were at least two that got away that nobody is going to block (including one that somehow bounced up and over the screen).
Between the last two games I think we’ve seen the entire Yankees bullpen and they’ve all pitched well. This is good news as it doesn’t look like they’ll be getting any length from the starters.
Finally, last night’s game illustrates the Yankees’ view of this season. They had Gray and Garcia on the mound. These were their mid-season pickups and neither is a top of the rotation type guy. The teams looking to win it all went after bigger names. The Yankees just grabbed some stopgap guys to fill spots in the rotation while some key starters were injured. Sure, when you’re in the playoffs you’re trying to win it all. But last night’s pitchers were evidence of the team’s view of this season…wait till next year.
Todd Frazier is 3 for 23 lifetime vs Kluber with 10 K’s but in the lineup. Why?!