By Paul Semendinger
April 23, 2024
***
About Yesterday Afternoon - The Oakland A's, of all teams, defeated the Yankees 2-0.
Quick Stats:
WP - Lucas Erceg
LP - Victor Gonzalez
HR - Zack Gelof (Oakland)
Big Story:
The big story, and in a way this can't be over emphasized, is that the Yankees, who started the season so well, so exceptionally, have, in essence, given all that back. The Yankees are 3-5 over their last eight games. And for much of that time, they haven't hit.
If the Yankees look up, they'll see that they are no longer in first place.
In 2022, the Yankees, for most of the first half, were a seemingly invincible team. Then they had a very bad second half (following by a boring and uninspiring 2023). This is beginning to feel like 2022 in microcosm. A great start, and then... frustratingly poor baseball. Now, it's too early to push the panic button, of course, but this team is starting to have that same feel - they start to go the wrong way, and they have no idea how to fix it.
Like I have noted a few times already this year, this was a game the Yankees should have won. Good teams win winnable games, bad teams don't. When your starting pitcher goes seven innings and allows but one hit and no runs, you need to win that game. The Yankees did not.
Player of the Game:
Former Yankee J.P. Sears. He went 6 innings, allowed three hits, walked one, and allowed no runs.
Notable Performances:
Carlos Rodon - 7 innings, 1 hit allowed, no runs
Mason Miller (Oak) - 1 inning, 3 strikeouts, 100+ MPH fastball
Zack Gelof - Game Winning Home Run
Better to Forget:
The Yankees have completely stopped hitting.
Anthony Volpe is 2 for his last 25
Aaron Judge is hitting .174 for the season. He has struck out 31 times in 23 games.
Anthony Rizzo is 3 for his last 22
Giancarlo Stanton is 3 for his last 17
I could go on, but, I can't.
My Take:
In Today's Tuesday Discussion our writers will share their thoughts on Aaron Judge. Are they concerned? Stay tuned! (Spoiler Alert - I am.)
Aaron Boone was tossed from the game for saying... nothing. A fan yelled at the umpire and he tossed Boone. That's completely unacceptable. Don't they have replays? It seems in the postgame comments that the umpire also had no remorse or even the ability to say, "I might have been wrong." The umpiring right now isn't good and it's situations like this that make it look worse. Here's an idea - when you make a mistake, admit it.
Great teams win their games against the bad teams. The Yankees have to be defeating teams like the A's.
Next Up - These two teams battle again tonight at 7:05 p.m. Marcus Stroman starts for the Yankees.
Manfred should dock him a games pay at the minimum for being unprofessional to say the least. Any ump who ejects someone and then has the audacity to say I don’t care who said it your gone is not someone deserving to be an MLB umpire. I watched the game and after Boone was told to zip it the camera stayed on him and he did . Absolutely disgusting
Hunter Wendelstedt is a moron to make a comment about the rejection BEFORE watching a replay of the ejection. For MLB to not have yet made a comment about this is utterly disgraceful. Unfortunately for both Hunter and MLB there is both video and audio so there is not a lot of he said, he said. Yes, I know this involves the Yankees so absolutely no one in any position to comment by MLB could care less since this involves the Yankees as the victim, not the bully.
no, they haven't given it all back.
they are failing to maintain a ,750 winning percentage.... and it's quite irksome to see the team sliding down to ,650
the offense is underwhelming
BUT but but
the starting pitching has been pretty darn good
Rodon looks like the guy they hoped for
Schmidt looks like he's growing into his stuff
and
Gil just might be someone capable of replacing Michael King.
I expected the Yankees to have a really bumpy start to the season after learning that Cole was injured and out of action.
it hasn't been at all a bad start
and might not end up being all that bad
offense comes and goes
but, if the pitching holds up,…
Rodon also looked good against Miami. But, Toronto, Houston and Arizona all knocked him around pretty good. So what does that tell us? Pitch him against AAA level, rebuilding clubs? Not bad for $162mm. Good gig if you can get it!
On the plus side, the starting pitching this season has exceeded expectations. I predicted comeback seasons from Carlos Rodon and Nestor Cortes, but most Yankee fans considered them question marks and didn't have high hopes for them. I had full confidence that both would return to being the great pitchers they are capable of being. Even without the ace Gerrit Cole, the starting pitching has been phenomenal. It's the hitting from several key players that's bringing them down, and the bullpen hasn't always been effective this year. Hopefully, that will all change.
Hunter Wendelstadt is a disgrace to his dad, the late Harry Wendelstadt, who probably rolled over in his grave after his son behaved the way he did. Harr…