by Paul Semendinger
March 29, 2024
***
Yesterday was Opening Day, ummm, afternoon, and it was great.
I figured it might be fun to recap some of the good and bad from the Yankees' first game.
I didn't like Anthony Volpe batting sixth. If I were running the team, he'd bat ninth for a month or two to prove he can be a productive MLB hitter. He proved me wrong, for a day at least. Volpe had a great game.
I didn't like Giancarlo Stanton batting fourth. He should be nowhere near the middle of the lineup until he proves he's a hitter again.
I never like seeing Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton hitting back-to-back. The Yankees should have learned the folly of that approach years ago.
I didn't like all the double plays the Yankees hit into and all the men left on base.
I didn't like Nestor Cortes' rough start.
I didn't like Clay's Holmes' rough finish.
I should call this part of the article loves rather than likes:
I love the new-look retro road uniforms.
I love that Anthony Volpe was on base a ton.
I love that the Yankees took so many pitches and were very patient at the plate.
I love that Nestor Cortes didn't melt, and instead, rose -up and pitched well after the initial would-be disaster
I love seeing Juan Soto in the lineup
I love that Soto played well in right field and threw the runner out at home in the ninth inning
I loved the catch Alex Verdugo made.
I loved seeing Jonathan Loaisiga pitching well out of the pen.
I loved Oswaldo Cabrera's homer.
I loved the energy the Yankees played with.
I loved seeing that Gerrit Cole is traveling with the team and offering pitching advice to the staff.
I love that the Yankees battled back and even though they were down 4-0, found a way to defeat the Astros 5-4.
Maybe I should call part of the article a gigantic frustration rather than a dislike:
Give me a break. A huge break. The Yankees, MLB, and/or whomever is out of their mind. As fans. we wait all winter for real baseball, we get one game, and then they put the next game on Apple TV effectively shutting out gazillions of fans. It's bad enough they do this at all, but for the second game of the season? Really? Come on. Talk about not caring about the fans. Talk about being completely tone deaf. What a terrible decision. The worst. Just when we get excited, we can't even see the second game of the year. If the Yankees or MLB ever state that they don't know why fans are deserting the sport, I'll hand them a mirror to look into. They're doing this to themselves. Absolutely horrible.
Finally, we're in Complete 💯% Agreement, that's a first.. 👌👍, I pay $125./ mo. For Yes network on scrotum, I mean spectrum, now after paying for the Yankees games, we find out, we can't see a bunch of them because the Yankees resold them to streaming channel platforms, Apple 🤮🤢, Peacock 😖🤬, what's next ?? I'm afraid to ask !!! Just know this "I will Never pay for Apple TV or Peacock, or any other service because they have a Yankee game,!!! I will not attend any Yankees games, I am a Lifelong Yankees fan, since I was 5,, I'm now 70, I will root for them and only them, forever, I'm a fan of Cashman and Hal, usually a…
Not to steal Phil's thunder, but the lineup is posted (see here https://www.mlb.com/gameday/yankees-vs-astros/2024/03/29/746412/preview)
Cabrera, on pace to hit 162 homers, is back at third. Wells starts, and there are some switches in the order, which -- and I LOVE this -- goes R/L the whole way down.
MLB, and the other sports, like the NFL only care the $$. Did you know that the NFL is putting up their Christmas games up for auction, or, another playoff game is going on Peacock again this year? At least with the Yankees and Amazon, Amazon owns 20% of YES. They all see how much money is out there, so they don't care. Now, the way MLB did the original Youtube, AppleTV, & Peacock deal were illegal in reality because they did them after the season started, after people paid for the MLB subscription or their cable package they took games away. Even, initially moving games that first year to Amazon, same thing.. Where was my rebate?
I always thought…
also loved that Soto made a decent throw to the plate.
of course, I would think that it was only because it was Soto rather than Judge out there
that the runner was sent.
Soto's reputation was responsible for the iffy send decision
and the best part of Soto's play was seeing that he charged the ball and shortened the throw.
Soto made a good effort and it was gratifying to see
I'm hoping to see Soto straining to become a valuable defender.
if he does, Judge will have done well to agree to move to the middle
Couldn’t agree more about the lineup… I hope we don’t see Judge/Stanton back to back again anytime soon. If Volpe has truly turned a corner, we may have found our leadoff hitter for years to come. Too early to tell, of course but yesterday was promising. Great defense by both Soto & Verdugo plus an overlooked sac-fly by Alex that gave us the lead. All in all, aside from the 3 DPs, a pretty solid start.