by Dale Mather
May 2, 2023
***
NOTE - We welcome Dale Maher as a guest writer today!
***
About Last Night:
Cleveland 3 Yankees 2
The Yankees went into the ninth inning winning 2-0. The Guardians tied the game on a couple of singles and errors, the the go-ahead run was walked home. The Yankees in turn had no answer and lost, at home, 3-2.
Quick Stats:
* Jose Trevino hit the longest home run of his career (425 feet)
* Domingo German was brilliant allowing 1 hit through 8 innings of work. With his pitch count in check, Aaron Boone sent him out in the 9th inning. German gave up another single and got the quick hook after recording one out. The crowd clearly wanted German to finish the game, but instead Boone called upon Clay Holmes who quickly ran into trouble and the rest is history.
* The Yankees managed only six hits
Big Story:
Unfortunately the biggest story happened before the game with Aaron Judge going on the 10 day IL retroactive to April 28th. We also learned that Jonathan Loáisiga will need elbow surgery to remove a bone spur and isn't expected back in action till late August at best. You could say the other big story was the bullpen imploding in the 9th to waste the fantastic start by Domingo German.
Player of the Game:
Domingo German for an exceptional 8 plus clean innings. Domingo was throwing first pitch strikes and getting ahead with his fastball while using his curve to throw hitters off balance and it worked very well.
Notable Performances:
Jose Trevino had his longest homer of his career at 425 feet in a tie game of zeros. German was masterful through 8, but we have to mention the Yankees offense for again making a mediocre pitcher look like an ace.
Better to Forget:
The Boonehead move of pulling German with two outs to go in the 9th and his pitch count well under control. Had Aaron Boone not pulled German and the Yankees lost, we would have torched Boone for not pulling him, but this Yankees fan felt German would have finished the complete game shut out. Shoulda, coulda, woulda...
My Take:
Although German was terrific, the Yankees can't expect to win games with 1 or 2 run performances from the struggling offense. Things need to be shaken up soon and quickly before the East deficit is too much to come back from. The Yankees are dead last in the East and the injuries are mounting. Perhaps some call ups can spark the team. Although Jasson Dominguez isn't tearing things up at Double-A, there are some players who could get a shot. Andres Chapparo could give the Yankees just the spark they need to rejuvenate the offense.
Next Up:
Yankees and Cleveland will tangle again Tuesday 5/2/23 at 4:05.
Yankees Ace Gerrit Cole (5-0 1.11 ERA) will be apposed by Tanner Bibee who currently is 1-0 on the season with an 1.59 ERA.
With very little offense of late, Yankee fans will be hoping for another quality start by Cole of 7 innings or more of one run ball. With any type of offensive output this should be a win for the Bombers. Keeping our fingers crossed!
Pulling a starting pitcher with 88 pitches and only 2 hits after 8 1/3 is ridiculous, I though Sunday's 15-2 loss was embarrassing enough, but they out did themselves last night blowing an easy win. 2nd highest payroll in baseball and they do not have a closer or left fielder? And now, they are in last place.
Nice stuff, Dale, and welcome!
With all of the rules made to speed up the game, I couldn't help but wonder if they should eliminate the 3-batter minimum rule (since we've picked up so much pace anyway). I can't help but think that someone else (Mike King, for example) wouldn't have been warm and ready to go if Holmes faltered in a world where he could have been pulled prior to facing three batters...
pulling German was a reasonable move that went deeply, disastrously south.
THANK YOU DALE!
Is Mariano busy?