By Andy Singer
April 30th, 2023
The Big Story
The Yankees’ bats went completely silent on Saturday night, making Nathan Eovaldi look like Sandy Koufax and Nolan Ryan had a baby. The truth of it is that while Eovaldi deserves credit for attacking the strike zone, he wasn’t exactly facing a Yankee offense that was up to the task of facing even a pitching machine at a batting cage. Further injury added to insult in this one, as Jake Bauers, who many of you know I’ve stumped hard for since March, left hist first game as a Yankee before even getting a single at-bat after slamming into the LF wall following a spectacular catch in the bottom of the first inning. To paraphrase Steve Martin in the movie My Blue Heaven: It was a disappointing game on many levels.
A Deeper Dive
What A Catch, But What A Cost
Jake Bauers made an incredible first impression as a Yankee. After tearing apart AAA with his rebuilt swing, restoring some of the promise he showed as a consensus Top-100 Prospect years earlier for the Rays, Bauers and his sweet left-handed swing seemed poised to take the Bronx by storm. He got off to a good start, making a phenomenal read off a hard hit ball to left field with two outs and a runner in scoring position in the first inning while ranging into the wall to grab the liner with little regard for his body. Check out the catch for yourselves:
Unfortunately, Bauers left the game with a sore knee. X-Rays were negative, but we know where this story goes as Yankee fans. Bauers was fun while he lasted. It was the last fun I had all game.
Brito Was Pretty Good
Jhony Brito has been Jekyll and Hyde thus far in 2023, 2 really good starts, 2 really bad starts. Well, now he found the middle ground, with a solid, yet unspectacular start. Brito kept a similar gameplan to his first 4 starts, but showed command far more akin to his first two starts:
That’ll play, but Brito made one big mistake:
I liked Ezequiel Duran far more than most when he was a prospect in the Yankee system, and shots like this are exactly why. 112 MPH off the bat on a flat change-up down and in. Duran timed it and clubbed it. I think the guy is going to have a good career. Gallo was worth a risk at the time of the trade, but shots like this are proof that Duran could come back to haunt the Yanks.
Despite the homer, Brito did enough as a 4/5 starter to get the win. The Yankees’ offense was just too putrid for words, so Brito takes a tough luck loss.
Even odder was the fact that the Yankees only allowed Brito to throw 59 pitches. Brito threw a couple of flat change-ups in the 5th inning, but I thought he was mostly fine otherwise. Why not let him soak up an extra inning or two for an overworked bullpen?
A Complete Game Shutout For Eovaldi
On some level, I’m really happy for Nathan Eovaldi. I’ve liked him since before he pitched for the Yankees, and I continue to be amazed at the quality of his pitching even after the horrible injury he had to his elbow (his was not just a standard Tommy John Surgery). Even with his funky short-arm delivery that I am sure is due to his injury history, his stuff is very good. However, he wasn’t exactly pitching against the 1927 Yankees tonight, and I’m also not sure he was good enough to deserve a shutout. Judge for yourself:
That’s a lot of fastballs right down the pipe, and the Yankee offense was unable to make him pay. Good for Eovaldi, but the Yankee offense was offensive.
Player Of The Game
None. No one on the Yankees deserves this honor. Nathan Eovaldi deserves this honor by default, and he does deserve credit for shutting out a supposedly Major League lineup, but I can’t bring myself to say anything positive about the Yankees.
Notable Performances
Aaron Hicks hit a lineout at 97.1 MPH and a grounder at 105.2 MPH. That counts for notable in this offense, sadly.
Jhony Brito chucked 5 innings with 5 K, 4 H, 1 BB, and 2 ER.
Nathan Eovaldi threw a complete game shutout with 8 K.
The bullpen didn’t give up a run, so I guess that’s a positive.
Better To Forget
The Yankee offense. I honestly want to pretend that the Yankee offense doesn’t exist, and I suppose that in reality, it doesn’t exist.
My Take
I just want to pretend that this game (and the one before it) didn’t happen. It was a pathetic display at the plate, and Jake Bauers got hurt before I ever got to see him hit live. I was taught as a young child that if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say it at all. Unfortunately, my job is to write about the Yankees, and I don’t have anything nice to say. I didn’t see an approach or a plan from any of the Yankee hitters tonight, Rizzo and LeMahieu included.
There’s only one positive for me to take from this game: it was fast enough that I could still watch Game 6 of the Devils vs. Rangers series. That’s how bad this game was. I love baseball, but were I a coach on the Yankee bench, I would have found a way for the ump to run me from the game just so I didn’t have to watch it anymore. I’m the Optimist-In-Chief around here, but this was that bad. The Yanks are banged up, but there’s no excuse for an offensive effort this putrid.
Looking To Tomorrow
Nasty Nestor faces off against Martin Perez tomorrow at 2:35 PM. Maybe we can pull an accidental win out of it.
when you are working rookies into the line-up, you expect that the veterans will provide cover for the kids on the nights when good pitchers are dominating the fledglings.
Looks hauntingly familiar to 2022.