About Last Night: Should Have Been A Rain Out

By Paul Semendinger

August 9, 2024

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About Last Night:

Last night, the California Angels of Los Angeles; Anaheim defeated the Yankees in what would have been considered a TKO in boxing in the fifth round. It was in the fifth that the game went from 2-1 in favor of the Angels to 8-1. That was, basically, all she wrote.

The Big Story:

It was a rainy night. I love a rainy night. But I didn't love this game. With six runs in the top of the fifth inning, the Angels put the game away. The Yankees scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth and one in the bottom of the ninth, but they were never really in it. The game was not as close as the 9-4 final score seemed that it might have indicated.

Player of the Game:

• Tim Anderson (Angels): 6 ip, 3 hits, 1 run, 7 strikeouts (WIN)

Notable Performances:

• Jazz Chisholm - 1 for 4, HR

• Oswaldo Cabrera - Home Run in the 9th

• Mickey Moniak (Angels) - 2 for 4, great catch in CF robbing Juan Soto of a homer

• Nolan Schanuel (Angels) - 3 for 5, HR

• Zach Neto (angels) - 3 for 4

Better to Forget:

• Nestor Cortes: 4.2 ip, 9 hits, 6 runs (all earned) (LOSS)

• Enyel De Los Santos: 1.1 ip, 2 runs (both earned)

• No Yankee had more than one hit

My Take:

When I am on Grandpa Duty, a job I love more than words can say, I only get to see the Yankees in passing moments. I don't mind, at all. Being able to spend so much time with my new grandchildren is a gift from God. I am treasuring every minute. That being said, back home for the long weekend, I looked forward to sitting down tonight to enjoy a nice Yankees game. The fun didn't last long.

Nestor Cortes is now 5-10, 4.42. That's not good. It's bad. Last year he pitched to a 4.97 ERA. Cortes was amazing for a period there, but he hasn't been a quality starting pitcher for two seasons now.

The concern for the Yankees is that it's not just Nestor Cortes pitching poorly. Yankees have problems in their starting rotation. Since June 1, Marcus Stroman's ERA is 6.32. Gerrit Cole hasn't proven he is back yet. His ERA for the season is 5.09. Carlos Rodon, pitching tonight, comes in with a 4.37 ERA. This isn't great.

Teams will have ups and downs. The key is to not have long periods of bad baseball. The Yankees went through that from mid-June through the end of July. Since then, they have won series against the Red Sox, Phillies, and Blue Jays. They just lost this series to the Angels. This is the ebb and flow of baseball. Coming up they have the Rangers (54-61) and then the abysimal White Sox (28-89). Following the White Sox, the Yankees play the Tigers (55-60). Each of those are three-game series. The Yankees need to, at least, go 6-3 against those clubs.

Anthony Volpe fouled a ball off his foot in the second inning. He played until the eighth inning when he was removed for foot pain. I don't know, call me too cautious, but on a rainy, wet night on a slick field, wouldn't the smarter move have been to take him out earlier? Volpe is one of the players the Yankees are basing their future on.

A month or so ago, Michael Kay went on a rampage about his TV booth is the best in New York. I'm sorry. It's not. It simply is not. I find myself, most often, watching the games with the sound off, but on occasion I want to hear what the announcers are saying. As I watched last night, I listened to Michael Kay and Paul O'Neill talk incessently about how they were almost hit by a foul ball with lots of silly laughter. That promted my mute button to be pushed. Later, I tried again. The announcers went on and on laughing about divots in golf. Mute. Finally, I tried a third, and final time. I heard about the new cartoon series on the YES App. Michael Kay had to note that there isn't enough ink to draw his big head. It seems every time I listen to a game, Michael Kay has to say something about the size of his head. I don't understand his fascination with this at all. It was overkill twenty years ago. It seems that sometimes, being silly is the goal, rather than talking baseball, and, for me, that gets in the way of me enjoying the game.

The other night, Michael Kay was discussing the Andy Pettitte Challenge where people are encouraged to run a certain amout of distance over three months. I don't recall who he was doing the game with, I think it was Paul O'Neill, who asked, "Do you think Andy will run that much?" Kay responded, "No." I thought to myself, "Really? Here's a guy trying to encourage others to get more fit and the announcer promoting the event put down the guy who is encouraging the whole thing?" I found that whole exchange very odd.

Michael Kay has great talent, but far too often, for me, at least, the discussions in the booth are about things other than baseball and seemingly used to try to get laughs. They can do better. Much better. I thought Michael Kay and John Sterling were great as a team back in the 1990s. The focus then was baseball. It worked. I wish it worked more often when I watch the games today. Maybe they just had a bad night...

Next Up:

The Yankees will play the Texas Rangers tonight at 7:05 p.m. Carlos Rodon takes the mound for the Yankees.