About Last Night: The Yankees Plucked the Cardinals 6-3

About Last Night: The Yankees Plucked the Cardinals 6-3

By Tim Kabel

August 31, 2024

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The Yankees bounced back after losing a series to the Washington Nationals by taking the first game of the three-game series against the Cardinals. The Cardinals are not exactly a juggernaut this season but, they are significantly better than the Nationals. The Yankees rode the solid pitching of Marcus Stroman and a pair of home runs from Austin Wells to defeat the Cardinals. Now, the goal is to win the series. That is never a certainty with this team, this season. However, losing this series would be a Cardinal sin.

Quick Stats –

·       Austin Wells hit his eleventh and twelfth home runs of the season. He now has more home runs as a rookie catcher than Yogi Berra. Only Gary Sanchez, (remember him), has more, with twenty. Could Wells catch Sanchez with over a month to go? Not if he only plays once every three days.

·       Austin Wells is 20 points higher in batting average than Alex Verdugo. Wells also now has more home runs in about 200 fewer at bats. Yet, Wells is the one who sits against most lefty pitchers while Verdugo, who is a much weaker hitter, plays every day. Why? It is a real head-scratcher.

·      Anthony Rizzo is finishing up his rehab assignment with the Somerset Patriots. Before his injury, he was hitting .223 with eight home runs. Yet, Aaron Boone says that Rizzo will be “a real cog” in the lineup when he returns.  I guess cog means something different wherever Boone is from than it does here. Maybe he meant “clog”. Listening to Aaron Boone speak is like going to an art gallery with someone who stares at a painting and says that he sees man's inner turmoil as he struggles against the inevitable passage of time when everybody else just sees six dots on a canvas.

·       Juan Soto is closing in on 100 RBI and should finish this season with career highs in both home runs and RBI.  Hopefully, he will be putting up similar numbers for the Yankees for years to come.

·       The Yankees are 14-11 in the month of August, which does not inspire a lot of confidence for the rest of the season and the playoffs.

·       On August 30th, 1905, Ty Cobb made his Major League debut.  On August 30th, 1918, Ted Williams was born. It was a big day for immortal left-handed hitters.

Big Story –

Austin Wells is really coming into his own this season. He's in contention for Rookie of the Year and had the first two-home-run game of his career last night. After the game, John Flaherty praised all facets of Wells’ game. He stated that Wells handles the pitching staff well, leads the pitching staff, and is becoming a threat offensively. Flaherty stated that down the stretch, Wells should play at least four out of five games. Unfortunately, John Flaherty is not the manager; Aaron Boone is. Therefore, Wells will sit while Trevino plays half the time. Wells needs to play regularly to continue his development and gain confidence. Wells is just another example of the way Boone mishandles his young players. Face it, if Trevino had not been hurt earlier in the season, Wells never would have been given this much playing time.

Player of the Game – 

Austin Wells hit two home runs and drove in four runs.

Notable Performance –

 Marcus Stroman pitched a solid, workmanlike seven innings, putting the Yankees in a position to win the game.

Better to Forget 

Alex Verdugo was 0-3 again and is batting just .232 for the season. Yet, he will be the starting leftfielder tomorrow, of that, I'm sure. If the Yankees don't want to recall Jasson Dominguez yet, they could put Oswaldo Cabrera in leftfield for a day or two, to give Verdugo a break and the fans a break from watching him.

My Take –  

One of my favorite books is The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. It is the story of Santiago, an elderly Cuban fisherman who has had an extended streak of bad luck. He has gone many days without catching a fish, which if you are a professional fisherman, is not a good thing. Finally, the old man catches an enormous fish and struggles to bring it in. It is the story of perseverance, resilience, failure, resilience, and hope. My favorite line from the book is “a man can be destroyed but not defeated.” 

Santiago stubbornly plugs along, hoping against hope that he will ultimately catch a fish again The current Yankees’ team reminds me of that book in some ways. DJ LeMahieu is an old man, at least in terms of a baseball player, struggling to remain in the game.  In LeMahieu’s case, he is not trying to catch a fish, he is just trying to get hits. LeMahieu, like Santiago, is trying to regain his past glory.

Aaron Boone also brings The Old Man and the Sea to mind.  Boone stubbornly plods along, repeatedly playing LeMahieu, Verdugo, and Trevino, rather than deploying younger players who have a much greater potential and upside than the players Boone is running out on the field every day. 

The difference between the The Old Man and the Sea and the 2024 Yankees is that the old man eventually succeeds and although that success eventually becomes a disastrous failure, the overall message is one of hope and optimism headed into the future. I do not believe that LeMahieu will suddenly regain the form of the two-time batting champion he once was. Similarly, Boone’s stubborn reliance on faded veterans will ultimately backfire on him and when he ultimately panics, which we know he will, and returns younger players to the field, it may well be too late. Most likely, those young players will be out of rhythm and will have lost confidence due to the lack of regular playing time. Consequently, they will struggle.

The Old Man and the Sea is a wonderful novel. It is not very good as the blueprint for a baseball team’s season.

Next Up 

Today, the Yankees will play the second game of the three-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals, at 1:05 PM at Yankee Stadium. Will Warren, (0-2, 9.68 ERA) will face the Cardinals’ Kyle Gibson, (7-6, 454 ERA). Let's hope the Yankees have enough Will power to beat the Cardinals.