About Last Night: The Yankees Toppled the Rays 6-1

About Last Night: The Yankees Toppled the Rays 6-1

By Tim Kabel

July 20, 2024

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The Yankees began the nominal second half of the season with a convincing victory over the Tampa Bay Rays. Led by the solid pitching of Gerrit Cole and the offensive production of Juan Soto, Aaron Judge, and Anthony Volpe, this game was never in doubt. They won the first game after the All-Star break and the first game of the series against the Rays. Let's see if they can win this series to start things off on the right foot headed into the stretch drive.

On a non-baseball note, I was saddened to see that Bob Newhart died the other day. If you have never listened to any of his routines, do yourself a favor and look them up online. Two of my favorites are the one about the driving instructor and the one about the night watchman at the Empire State Building when King Kong comes to visit. The man was a genius.

Quick Stats – 

·       The Yankees have 38 stolen bases, the second fewest in the Major Leagues.

·       Austin Wells had three walks and a sacrifice bunt.  Hopefully, he will catch today.

·       Aaron Boone now has a career winning percentage of .600. The only other Yankees’ manager with a career winning percentage is Joe McCarthy.  Of course, McCarthy led the Yankees to 9 World Series, winning 7. Aaron Boone watches the World Series on TV every year.

·       Juan Soto had his 9th career 4-hit game, and his season average is now .303.

·       In 121 at bats, DJ LeMahieu is batting .182 and has 0 home runs and 11 RBI. He has 3 extra-base hits. His walk-up music should be Andrea Bocelli’s “Time to Say Goodbye.”

·      On July 19th, 1950, the Yankees purchased the contract of Elston Howard from the Kansas City Monarchs.

·       On July 19th, 1920, Babe Ruth became the first player to hit 30 home runs in a season. He finished the year with a total of 54. The Philadelphia Phillies were the only team that hit more home runs than he did individually. 

Big Story –

The Yankees emerged from the All-Star break with a bang. They beat the Rays 6-1 to begin the nominal second half of the season on a high note. As usual, Juan Soto and Aaron Judge had  big games, but so did Anthony Volpe. The Yankees are going to need contributions from up and down the lineup if they are ultimately going to be successful this season. That becomes problematic with the DJ LeMahieu entrenched in the lineup. When it comes to contributions, his motto seems to be “I gave at the office.” It is not just LeMahieu. Gleyber Torres is incredibly streaky. Trent Grisham had such an abysmal start to the season that he is trying desperately to dig himself out of that hole. Alex Verdugo hit a wall. Ben Rice and Austin Wells are trying to get their footing and become consistent.

Time is running out for some of these players. There are only 63 games left in the year and there are just 10 days until the trading deadline. If the Yankees are not going to get improved production from some of these players, then they will need to make upgrades by July 30th. In the words of Hannibal Lecter, “Tick, tock, Clarice”.

Player of the Game – 

Gerrit Cole pitched six innings of one run baseball, striking out eight and walking only one.

Notable Performance –

Juan Soto was 4-4 and scored 3 runs.

Anthony Volpe was 2-4 and had 3 RBI.

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Better to Forget – 

Alex Verdugo, Trent Grisham, Gleyber Torres, and DJ LeMahieu did not realize the All-Star break was over. They were a combined 1-16 and left 17 men on base among them.

My Take –  

The Yankees are 19 games over 500 and are only one game behind the Baltimore Orioles in the American League East. Things are not as dire as we think. However, this team has major weaknesses and flaws which need to be addressed. They can no longer wait for DJ LeMahieu and Gleyber Torres to resurrect their seasons. That ship has sailed. It's too late. The Yankees need to make moves.

Alex Verdugo looked as if he was going to have a nice year for the Yankees but he has slipped into mediocrity. If they make other upgrades, they can live with him.

The Yankees cannot rely on Giancarlo Stanton to return from the IL and give the team a boost. He is not much of a booster. When he is hot, he can carry a team but, he is a notoriously slow starter particularly when he returns from an injury. If he is going to skip the minor league rehab component, then he will be trying to get himself up to speed on the Major League level. He will be a dead spot in the lineup in a lineup that already has too many of those.

There are just ten days left until the trading deadline. The Yankees need to do something. As I have written before, they need upgrades at second base, third base and designated hitter. If they stumble across a viable option in the outfield who is not costly, they could do that as well.

The point is that the Yankees need to make legitimate moves. They need to seriously upgrade the team. It was perplexing that they brought Jorbit Vivas up last weekend while JD Davis was on the IL but never played him. Then, they reactivated Davis and sent Vivas to the minors. Davis is not the answer. I'm not saying that Vivas is either but, he is young and has potential and promise. Would it have hurt to play him at least one game over either LeMahieu or Torres?

If Brian Cashman’s idea of making big moves at the trading deadline turns out to be signing Martin Maldonado after he was released by the White Sox, I will drive to Yankee Stadium, go into the broadcast booth, and do my best impression of Howard Beale from Network. I will throw open the windows and bellow at the top of my lungs, “I'm as mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore.”

If the Yankees are committed to winning, they need to make bold and decisive moves between now and the end of the month.

Next Up – 

Today, the Yankees will play the second game of a four-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays at 1:05 PM at Yankee Stadium. Nestor Cortes, (4-8, 3.67 ERA) will face the Rays’ Taj Bradley, (4-4, 2.90 ERA).