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Bad Timing: The Late Season Yankee Outfield

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(Presswire)

Now is the August of our outfield discontent. Aaron Judge is out, Giancarlo Stanton has a minor-but-nagging injury, and Shane Robinson has started ten of the last 15 games. Neil Walker started in right field yesterday. The perfect back up option–Clint Frazier–is also injured and the Judge injury happened so close to the non-waiver deadline that the team wasn’t able to get a suitable replacement in time. Bad timing has defined the Yankee outfield for much of the season, especially now in the penultimate month of the season.

When Aaron Hicks was injured in the first series of the year, Clint Frazier was dealing with his first concussion of the year. When Aaron Judge was injured, Frazier was dealing with his second concussion of the year. There is no better example of how cruel baseball can be with its timing than this. Frazier has shown all year that he’s done with AAA and is ready to contribute to the big club in a big way, yet he’s been unable to because of things he can’t control. Dealing with that alone would be challenging. Dealing with it while also being the subject of myriad trade rumors and speculation, along with an uncalled for, low blow from the team’s lead broadcaster is almost daunting. If Frazier can make it through this year in one relatively whole piece, he’ll be able to make it through anything as a baseball player.

In April, Aaron Hicks had an above .800 OPS and Aaron Judge had an above 1.000 OPS. Giancarlo Stanton had a .737 OPS that month, while Brett Gardner put up a paltry .601. Then, in May, Hicks OPS’d below .700 while Gardner got hot (.917 OPS) and Judge (.965) stayed hot. Stanton also improved to an .847 OPS. Stanton then had a great June while Judge was solid and Hicks got hot. Gardner, however, cooled off. July saw Hicks, Stanton, and Judge all rake while Gardner was merely adequate. That was the closest we’ve come to seeing all four of them clicking at the same time. Sure, it wouldn’t be likely that all four would hit to their max at the same time and it’s hard to complain with the Yankees’ results this year (try as we might), but getting them all on the same page at the same time would go a long way towards easing some ruffled hearts and minds.

The latest bit of bad timing–non Clint division–was Judge getting hurt just six days before the trade deadline. At that time, it’s unlikely the Yankees were focused on trading for another position player as they were trying to (successfully) beef up their pitching. There was still almost a week before the deadline, though, and we’re nearly halfway through August and the situation hasn’t quite been addressed. I’m sure the front office is working on it and we just don’t know, but it’s getting a little too late for a lack of action. There are concerns with acquiring a veteran–the Yankees have already given up prospects and there might be a lack of playing time for said veteran when Judge returns and, of course, the luxury tax concern.

To the the first two, I say, “Who cares?” To quote a great philosopher, we’re trying to win a ring around here. Despite the Red Sox’s dominance, the Yankees could still win a World Series this year and they should be doing everything they can to help that cause.

To the third, I roll my eyes. The luxury tax plan helps no one but the team’s bottom line and I remain unconvinced that they’ll go out and spend that savings money, especially with a crowded roster as it is.

It’s hard to fault anyone for the Yankees’ current outfield situation. When healthy, Judge has been himself. Stanton has turned back into the beast he is, Gardner has been mostly fine–despite a poor second half so far–and Hicks has been the AL’s best center fielder not named Mike Trout. Neither Clint Frazier nor Jacoby Ellsbury can or should be blamed for injuries. Aaron Boone can’t be blamed for playing the pieces he has. Brian Cashman probably didn’t have this in his plans, either, but he’s in position to make things recover a bit. Is it likely the Yankees catch the Red Sox and win the division? Not really, but they should make every effort, given how good this team can be and has been at times this year. Bad timing be damned; go get an outfielder and try to win a ring.

Game 116: A Rainy Day in New York

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(Presswire)

The bad weather season continues. The Yankee Stadium gates are open and no delay has been announced, but, looking at the weather forecast, it sure doesn’t look like there will be much baseball played in the Bronx today, if any.

On and on it does. The rain is supposed to stop sometime tomorrow morning. I’ve seen worse weather forecasts turn into playable conditions, so maybe they can get this game in. If they try, make sure you have a lead after the top of the fifth, fellas. Here are the lineups. Note today’s right fielder:

New York Yankees
1. LF Brett Gardner
2. DH Giancarlo Stanton
3. SS Didi Gregorius
4. 3B Miguel Andujar
5. 1B Greg Bird
6. 2B Gleyber Torres
7. RF Neil Walker
8. C Kyle Higashioka
9. CF Shane Robinson

RHP Lance Lynn

Texas Rangers
1. RF Shin-Soo Choo
2. 2B Rougned Odor
3. SS Elvis Andrus
4. DH Adrian Beltre
5. 3B Jurickson Profar
6. LF Joey Gallo
7. C Robinson Chirinos
8. 1B Ronald Guzman
9. CF Carlos Tocci

RHP Drew Hutchison

Like I said, it’s raining. Not much right now but more is coming. First pitch is scheduled for 1:05pm ET. We’ll see if that actually happens. YES with have the local broadcast and MLB Network will have the out-of-market broadcast. Enjoy the game.

Injury Updates: Stanton still has tightness in his hamstring. Aaron Boone said it’s not getting worse, but it’s still there. The Yankees absolutely can not afford to lose Giancarlo right now. It seems more DH days are in his immediate future … Walker was unavailable last night because he was sick, and because his neck was stiff. Seems he’s all good to go now though.

Yankeemetrics: Windy City Sweep (August 6-8)

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(Getty)

Lynn FTW
The Yankees snapped out of their offensive funk and bounced back from their worst loss of the season with a drama-free 7-0 blanking of the White Sox in the series opener. It was their ninth shutout of the season, two more than they had all of last year. The last time the Yankees compiled at least nine shutouts, including two by individual pitchers, at this point in the season (111th game)? 1998, of course.

The offense was powered by some timely hitting in the early innings and a couple late homers from Gleyber Torres and Neil Walker. For Torres it was his 18th dinger of the season, tied for the third-most by an American League rookie second baseman all-time.

Most HR by AL Rookie 2nd Baseman
Year HR
Joe Gordon 1938 25
Alexei Ramirez 2008 21
Gleyber Torres 2018 18
Alfonso Soriano 2001 18
Tony Lazzeri 1926 18

Yes, four of the five on that list wore Yankee pinstripes in their rookie campaigns.

Lance Lynn helped to stop the bleeding as he produced a historic outing in his first career start for the Bombers, allowing zero runs over 7 1/3 innings. Lynn is the third Yankee in the last 25 seasons to throw at least seven scoreless innings in his starting debut for the team, joining Jose Contreras (2003) and Mike Mussina (2001).

But Lynn was even more dominant, giving up just two hits and one, and earns our #FunFact of the game: He is the only pitcher in franchise history to pitch at least seven innings, allow zero earned runs and no more than three baserunners in his first start as a Yankee.

Plus, combined with his clean 4 1/3 inning relief appearance last week, he is the second pitcher in the last 100 years to start his Yankee career with consecutive games of four-or-more scoreless innings pitched. The other was Allie Reynolds, who threw back-to-back shutouts in his first two games as a Yankee in April 1947.

(USA Today)

Miggy, Sonny to the rescue
The Yankees avoided what would have been their second demoralizing and disastrous loss in three nights by surviving a 13-inning, crazy 4-3 win on Tuesday. They improved to 18-12 in games decided by one run this season, matching their win total from all of last year (18-26).

The game started as an unlikely pitchers duel between CC Sabathia and Reynaldo Lopez, and ended with an even more unlikely pitching hero on the mound, relief ace Sonny Gray.

Sabathia was in vintage form, using his changeup/slider/cutter mix to get a whopping 22 whiffs, his most in any start since June 7, 2012. Thirteen of those 22 came via his signature cutter, easily the most swings-and-misses he’s ever gotten with that pitch in a game since he added it to his arsenal a couple years ago. He was pulled at a season-high-tying 103 pitches after striking out 12 batters in 5 2/3 innings pitched:

And let’s celebrate Sabathia’s tremendous outing with some #FunFacts:

  • Second-oldest Yankee (38 years, 17 days) to strike out at least 12 guys in a game, behind only Roger Clemens, who had two 13-K games at the age of 39 in 2002.
  • Last lefty as old Sabathia on any team to have 12 strikeouts in a game was a 44-year-old Randy Johnson for the Diamondbacks in 2008.
  • Last southpaw age 38 or older with a 12-plus-strikeout game in the American League was Thornton Lee, who had 13 strikeouts for the White Sox on June 12, 1945 against the Indians.

The offensive hero of the game was Miguel Andujar who made sure the fans got free baseball when he crushed a game-tying solo home run in the seventh inning. Andujar (15) and Gleyber Torres (18 homers) are the first set of Yankee rookie teammates ever to hit at least 15 homers in the same season.

(USA Today)

Giancarlo Stanton gave the Yankees a brief 3-1 lead with a two-run homer in the top of the 10th. But that advantage soon vanished in the bottom of the frame when Zach Britton picked the absolute worst time to give up his first career extra-inning home run, a game-tying two-out, two-run shot by Jose Abreu (who enjoyed rounding the bases after his first career extra-inning blast).

Britton’s meltdown earns him our Obscure Yankeemetric of the Series: he is the first Yankee to cough up a game-tying home run in extra innings since Bud Daley on June 10, 1964 against the Red Sox.

(AP)

Andujar rescued Britton from being the goat with his go-ahead RBI single in the top of the 13th, his first career RBI and fourth hit in extra innings. His four extra-inning hits are the most in a season by a Yankee age 23 or younger since Derek Jeter (5) in 1997. Following Tuesday’s game, Andujar was hitting .406/.429/.563 in high-leverage plate appearances per Fangraphs, compared to the league-average line of .242/.323/.385.

Finally, the unlikely pitching savior was Gray, who took over in the 11th and threw three scoreless innings with one walk and one hit for the win. And one more #FunFact to praise Mr. Gray: the last Yankee pitcher to earn a win on the road by getting at least nine outs in extras while allowing no more than two baserunners was Mariano Rivera on May 20, 2006 in Detroit.

Return of Sevy Strong
Thanks to a solid, bounceback effort from Luis Severino and a game-changing bases-loaded bomb from Giancarlo Stanton, the Yankees finished off the three-game sweep with an easy 7-3 victory. They are now 19-5 (.792) vs the AL Central this season, the best record by any AL team against an AL division and any NL team against an NL division.

Severino — who entered with the worst ERA in the majors over the last 30 days (9.00) among players with at least 20 innings pitched — had a rocky first inning, allowing two runs on three hits. That followed a concerning trend for Sevy over the past month:

But he locked in and flipped the script after the rough opening frame, retiring 11 in a row at one point. He finished with three runs allowed, eight strikeouts and no walks in seven innings, his his best outing since July 1. Severino’s slider was filthy, falling off the table and out of the zone, generating a bunch of silly swings:

He threw 45 sliders and matched a season-best with 11 whiffs via the pitch, one more than he had in his previous two starts combined.

Giancarlo delivered the big blow in the second inning, snapping a 2-2 tie with his first grand slam as a Yankee. Before Wednesday, his last homer with bases loaded was April 18, 2014, a walk-off slam against the Mariners. He’s the first Yankee with a tie-breaking grand slam against the White Sox since Tino Martinez on July 16, 1997. Hooray.

Game 111: The Other Sox

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The White Sox have a weird mascot. (Jonathan Daniel/Getty)

The nightmare four-game series in Boston is over — so is the AL East race, effectively — and now the Yankees are in Chicago to take on another Sox team, the White Sox. Based on the current standings, the Yankees will play their next 27 games against teams without a winning record. The ChiSox are 41-70. Slightly better than the Royals and Orioles.

The series against the Red Sox is over. Nothing the Yankees can do about that now. The only thing they can do now is pound the crap out of some bad teams these next four weeks, and snap out of his .500 ball funk they’ve been in the last six weeks. The White Sox are very bad and on pace for 102 losses. Please treat them accordingly. Here are tonight’s lineups:

New York Yankees
1. LF Brett Gardner
2. RF Giancarlo Stanton
3. SS Didi Gregorius
4. CF Aaron Hicks
5. 2B Gleyber Torres
6. 1B Greg Bird
7. DH Miguel Andujar
8. 3B Neil Walker
9. C Kyle Higashioka

RHP Lance Lynn

Chicago White Sox
1. 2B Yoan Moncada
2. 3B Yolmer Sanchez
3. 1B Jose Abreu
4. DH Daniel Palka
5. RF Avisail Garcia
6. LF Nicky Delmonico
7. SS Tim Anderson
8. C Kevan Smith
9. CF Adam Engel

RHP Dylan Covey

There were scattered showers in the forecast earlier today, though those have cleared out, and there’s shouldn’t be much trouble getting this game in. First pitch is scheduled for 8:10pm ET and you can watch on YES locally and ESPN nationally. Enjoy the ballgame.

Injury Updates: Stanton is nursing a tight hamstring. That explains why he’s been the DH so much recently … Gary Sanchez (groin) has resumed light baseball activities down in Tampa. He’s hitting and doing some very light running. He hasn’t been cleared to run the bases or anything like that. The hope is Sanchez will be able to ramp up his workouts and take full-fledged batting practice later this week … J.A. Happ (hand, foot, and mouth disease) is “out of the woods” and will start Thursday, the first day he is eligible to come off the disabled list.

2018 Midseason Review: The Outfielders

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(Jim McIsaac/Getty)

On the position player side of things, the outfield has been the biggest strength for the 2018 Yankees so far this season. The team’s outfielders have combined for a .261/.353/.480 (123 OPS+) batting line and they rank fourth in baseball in OBP, second in SLG, and second in OPS+. They’re also third with +26 DRS and second with a +15.1 UZR. The outfield ranks near the top of the league in offense and defense. Pretty great. Let’s review the outfield’s first half.

Brett Gardner

Midseason Grade: B+

Gardner deserves a “meets expectations” note more than an actual letter grade. He is, once again, putting up numbers right in line with his career norms. Yes, Gardner has his ups and downs like every player, but it is uncanny how consistent he is on a year-to-year basis. Look at this:

AVG/OBP/SLG wRC+ K% BB% WAR
2018 .254/.345/.403 107 14.9% 11.7% +4.1 (pace)
2015-17 .262/.348/.397 104 18.4% 10.6% +3.2 (per 162 games)
Career .263/.347/.394 104 18.3% 10.4% +4.1 (per 162 games)

Consistency is boring. Consistency is Brett Gardner. Year in, year out Gardner provides the same level of on-base ability and defense, and that has been true again thus far in 2018. He’s also provided several big hits this season, most notably his go-ahead triple against the Red Sox, game-tying homer against the Astros, and go-ahead homer against the Mets. By WPA, three of the team’s six biggest hits of the first half came off Gardner’s bat.

As indicated back in Spring Training, Aaron Boone has cut back on Gardner’s workload this season. Gardner, despite being the regular leadoff hitter, has only the fourth most plate appearances on the team, and he’s on pace for 628 plate appearances on the season. That’s after averaging 706.5 plate appearances per 162 games from 2014-17. Gardner is seeing less time against lefties and less time overall. Boone said he’d try to get Gardner more rest and he has.

And, with Gardner set to turn 35 in August, I am totally on board with this plan. The Yankees have four viable everyday outfielders, which makes rotating them a breeze. Gardner is not the Yankees best player, though he is a heart and soul player who really sets the tone from the leadoff spot. Keeping him fresh and productive should be a priority and it has been to date. Gardner’s been great. Same guy he’s always been, and that is a-okay with me.

Aaron Hicks

(Hunter Martin/Getty)

Midseason Grade: A-

Hicks is a tough one to grade because what were the expectations coming into the season? There were reasons to be skeptical about his 2017 performance given his career to date, though the high-end tools are fairly obvious. Hicks is a great athlete, he’s a switch-hitter with tremendous plate discipline, and he’s a very strong defensive center fielder. But he never did anything like what he did last year. How many people expected him to do it again?

I’m all in on Hicks and I expected him to carry his 2017 performance into 2018 — I even boldly predicted he’d lead the 2018 Yankees in WAR — and you know what? He’s done pretty much exactly that. He’s traded some batting average for power, but the overall numbers are very close:

PA AVG/OBP/SLG wRC+ HR SB-CS K% BB% WAR
2017 361 .266/.372/.475 127 15 10-5 18.6% 14.1% +3.3
2018 318 .249/.348/.491 128 16 8-1 19.5% 12.9% +2.6

Last season Hicks started hot and finished slow and hurt. This year he started slow and hurt before getting hot. Hicks strained his intercostal on Opening Day, the very first game of the season, and he missed about two weeks. Then, once he returned, it took some time to get going. Hicks did hit .273/.367/.564 (152 wRC+) with 13 homers in his final 200 plate appearances of the first half. That, my friends, is star level production.

Among full-time center fielders only the great Mike Trout and slightly less great Lorenzo Cain have Hicks beat in WAR this season. WAR of course is not the be all, end all stat, but it shouldn’t be discarded either. Point is, Hicks is a comfortably above-average player on both sides of the ball. Very good offense and very good defense. He’s a former first round pick and highly regarded prospect — Baseball America ranked him 19th on their 2010 top 100 list — who’s put it all together. Hicks is not starting to put it together. He’s put it together. It’s happened.

Aaron Judge

(Ronald Martinez/Getty)

Midseason Grade: B+

I feel like a B+ is a tough grade but I’m going to stick with it. Judge has been objectively awesome this season. He just hasn’t been as awesome as last season, which was truly one of the greatest rookie seasons in baseball history. It was the greatest power hitting season by a rookie in baseball history. Judge set the bar awfully high last year and he hasn’t quite returned to that level this year.

That said, Judge has been great this year. He went into the All-Star break with a .276/.392/.544 (155 wRC+) batting line with 25 home runs. Judge is third in baseball in home runs and, among the 164 hitters with enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting title, he is 13th in OBP, 12th in SLG, and ninth in wRC+. Add in above-average right field defense and both the FanGraphs (+4.5) and Baseball Reference (+5.0) versions of WAR rank him as a top five position player in 2018. Pretty great.

And yet, despite that all around greatness, it does still feel like something is holding Judge back this season, and that something is his sudden inability to hit away from Yankee Stadium. You’d expect any player to hit better at Yankee Stadium than on the road, though Judge has taken it to the extreme this year. The home/road splits are stark:

PA AVG/OBP/SLG wRC+ K% BB% Hard% xwOBA BABIP
Home 166 .355/.478/.735 223 27.8% 19.1% 54.6% .459 .452
Road 185 .205/.308/.373 89 34.6% 12.1% 42.0% .358 .288

Hmmm. Judge was better at home (199 wRC+) than on the road (147 wRC+) last season, though the split wasn’t nearly this drastic. Also, Judge wasn’t a below-average offensive producer on the road last year — he was a much better than average offensive producer on the road last year, in fact — as he’s been this year. There are 136 players with at least 150 plate appearances at home and on the road this season. Judge’s wRC+ split is by far the largest:

  1. Aaron Judge: +134 (home wRC+ minus road wRC+)
  2. Yasmani Grandal: +104
  3. Manny Machado: +95
  4. Trevor Story: +80
  5. Jason Kipnis: +79

For whatever reason — and I have no idea what the reason(s) is — Judge has significantly higher ground ball (47.3% vs. 36.4%) and pull (48.2% vs. 35.5%) rates on the road than at home, which certainly helps explain the difference in production. He’s hitting the ball in the air and to all fields at home. On the road, he’s been a left field hitter who hits a lot of balls on the ground. A few weeks ago I noticed teams were pounding Judge inside with fastballs, leading to more pulled grounders, but why would that be limited to the road?

Maybe the Yankees have an elaborate sign-stealing system at home that explains Judge’s production. That’d be quite the story. Then again, if that is the case, why don’t other Yankees have huge home/road splits? The team’s next largest home/road split is Didi Gregorius at +45 wRC+. No one else is above +10. Part of me wonders whether Judge has duped himself into thinking the short porch is the only way he can hit opposite field dingers, so he’s trying to compensate by pulling everything on the road. That sounds kinda silly. He can hit the ball out in any direction in any park.

It is also possible Judge’s home/road woes are sample size noise. And hey, that might apply to last year. Maybe this is the real Aaron Judge away from Yankee Stadium and last year was the anomaly. I’d bet against it, but you never know. Whatever it is, it sure would be rad if Judge figured it out in the second half. For now, he was great in the first half. Not as great as last year, but still great. It still feels like Judge has more to give because of his road woes, though maybe that’s an unfair expectation on my part.

Giancarlo Stanton

(Scott Taetsch/Getty)

Midseason Grade: B

I can already tell a small army of Yankees fans are upset I had the audacity to give Stanton that grade for his first half. He had a rough start to the season, especially at Yankee Stadium, and first impressions matter. They can stick with folks a looong time. That slow start is a thing of the past though. Stanton has been getting better and better as the season has progressed:

Stanton is sitting on a .278/.346/.518 (133 wRC+) batting line with 23 home runs overall — he’s on pace for 40 home runs and +5 WAR — and, since May 1st, he’s hitting .298/.361/.558 (147 wRC+). Giancarlo career: .269/.359/.551 (143 wRC+). Giancarlo since May 1st: .298/.361/.558 (147 wRC+). Aside from a little more batting average these last few weeks, Stanton has been hitting like he has his entire career to date, which is borderline MVP caliber.

There are two lingering offensive concerns with Stanton. He didn’t hit righties and he didn’t hit in Yankee Stadium earlier this season. Remember when I said Judge had the largest home/road wRC+ split? Stanton has the third smallest at -67 wRC+ points. His overall numbers at home (97 wRC+) and against righties (105 wRC+) still aren’t great, though things are evening out:

Home vs. RHP
March/April .182/.257/.333 (59 wRC+) .202/.290/.337 (74 wRC+)
May .240/.328/.480 (113 wRC+) .186/.279/.305 (58 wRC+)
June .231/.311/.462 (102 wRC+) .304/.364/.544 (144 wRC+)
July .333/.333/.722 (185 wRC+) .314/.352/.588 (155 wRC+)

Stanton currently leads the Yankees in hits (103) and total bases (192), and is one point behind Miguel Andujar for the team lead in batting average, and he leads baseball in four-hit games, if you can believe that. He has five, Jose Altuve has four, and a bunch of dudes have three. Stanton has five four-hit games and the rest of the Yankees have five (Gardner has two and Andujar, Gregorius, and Gary Sanchez have one each).

Furthermore, Stanton has handled the shift to left field about as well as I would’ve expected a player with zero experience at the position to handle it. He lost two balls in the sun in Spring Training in literally his first left field game and that seems to have led to the perception he is not a good defender, which is a flat out wrong. Is Stanton a Gold Glover in left? No, but he’s done well (+4 DRS if anyone cares) and he remains a strong defender in right.

Based on what I’ve seen on social media and in our comments and in the media, I’ve come to the conclusion Stanton is A-Rod 2.0 in terms of how people feel about him. He is tolerated when he does well and lots of folks are ready to pounce and blame him for everything that goes wrong. Starting pitcher gets bombed? Stanton should’ve hit more homers. I felt it in Spring Training and I’ve seen nothing since then to convince me things will be different. Whatever.

Expecting Stanton to repeat last year’s 59-homer effort was never fair or realistic — that was a top ten home run season all-time — though his slow start to the season was disappointing, especially at home, and fans let him hear it. It was dumb, but whatever. Giancarlo has been the Yankees’ best hitter since May 1st. He’s been hitting for average and power, and playing wherever the team needs. The slow start prevents him from getting an A in the first half. Otherwise Stanton’s been pretty great, and I’m looking forward to seeing what he does in the second half as he grows more comfortable with his new team.

Yankeemetrics: The Camden Yards rollercoaster (July 9-11)

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(AP)

Sabathia’s newest kryptonite
As exciting as this season has been for the Yankees, they hadn’t been able to beat up on the dreadful Orioles. Their frustrations against baseball’s cellar-dweller continued in the opener of Monday’s doubleheader as they blew a three-run lead and lost 5-4.

This was the fourth time this season the Yankees have blown a lead of three-or-more runs and lost against a team that entered the day with a win percentage below .400. That’s the most such losses of any team in the majors this season. And here’s an unfathomable stat to chew on: from 2011-17, they suffered only four such losses in those seven seasons combined.

CC Sabathia cruised through the first three innings, before getting into trouble in the fourth and then imploding in the sixth. This continued a string of awful starts against the Orioles, as he’s now winless with a 5.96 ERA in his last eight starts against them since mid-2016. And it’s somehow been even worse recently:

Should Aaron Boone have sent Sabathia out for the sixth inning, with the heart of the Orioles order coming to bat for the third time? The numbers say he’s really struggled in that situation this year:

CC Sabathia This Season
Batters Faced BA/OBP/SLG
1st PA 153 .213/.275/.305
2nd PA 152 .230/.3016/.393
3rd+ PA 102 .344/.382/.617

So, the third/fourth time through the order, he’s almost turned every batter into J.D. Martinez (.330/.393/.649) this season.

Hail, Gritty Gutty Brett Gardner
The Yankees avoided the ultimate embarrassment — getting swept by the worst team in baseball — and destroyed the Orioles, 10-2, in the nightcap of Monday’s doubleheader.

The bats finally woke up (17 hits) and came through in the clutch (7-for-15 with RISP) as they produced one of their best offensive games in Baltimore in more than a decade. Its the first time since a 10-2 win on September 2, 2009 that they scored double-digit runs and had more than 15 hits at Camden Yards.

And if you want to consider the power display — seven homers and two doubles — this game was nearly unprecedented. The only other time the Yankees scored at least 10 runs and had nine extra-base hits in a game in Baltimore was a 16-0 win over the Orioles on April 30, 1960!

(AP)

Brett Gardner sparked the offense, going 4-for-6 with a homer and three RBI. Dating back to the start of 2017 (and including the postseason), the Yankees are 22-3 when Gardy homers in a game. His awesome effort also earned him our coveted Obscure Yankeemetric of the Series: this is Gardner’s fourth career game with at least four hits and three RBI from the leadoff spot. That’s the most 4-hit, 3-RBI games by any leadoff batter in franchise history.

Luis Cessa delivered one of the best performances of his career, throwing six scoreless innings and getting his first win as a starter since August 26, 2016 against the Orioles. Gio Gallegos pitched the final three frames and converted the rare three-inning save, his first career major-league save. It also produced this cool note: Cessa and Gallegos are the first Mexican-born tandem to earn a win and save in the same game for the Yankees.

(AP)

Deja Vu All Over Again
The Yankees mediocre play against the Orioles reached dire levels on Tuesday night as they blew multiple leads and again snatched defeat from the jaws of victory when the Orioles won it on a game-ending hit in the bottom of the ninth.

The fact that the Yankees have struggled to string together wins here in Baltimore is not surprising. They entered this series with a 13-25 (.342) record at Camden Yards over the last five seasons, easily their worst at any AL ballpark since 2014. In fact, its also by far the worst record at Camden Yards for any of the AL East teams in the span; the Rays, Blue Jays and Red Sox have each won at least 43 percent of their games there since 2014.

Masahiro Tanaka came off the DL to make his first start since June 8, and he was back to being the typical Tanaka, giving up the #Obligatoryhomerun. It was an 89-mph fastball perfectly placed in the meatball zone, ready for Manny Machado to crush 444 feet into the left-centerfield seats.

Tanaka has allowed 52 homers in 44 games (255 1/3 innings) since the start of 2017, tied with Ian Kennedy for the most in the majors over the last two seasons. His home run rate in 2018 is now 2.0 per 9 IP, which is on pace to be the worst ever for any Yankee pitcher with at least 20 starts in a season.

Machado delivered the biggest blows, tying the game twice with a solo homer in the fifth and a two-run shot in seventh. Those were his 19th and 20th homers against the Yankees since 2015, five more than any other player has hit in the last four seasons. It was also his fourth career multi-homer game versus the Yankees, the most of any player against them since his debut in 2012.

(AP)

Deja Vu All Over Again, Part II
Two down, two up for the Yankees as they routed the Orioles, 9-0, to split the four-game series. It was their largest shutout win ever at Camden Yards, and their largest against the Orioles in Baltimore since a 10-0 blanking on June 19, 1985 at Memorial Stadium. This was also the Yankees seventh shutout in 2018, matching their total from all of last year.

Greg Bird broke the game open when he went deep with the bases loaded in the third inning, belting his first career grand slam to give the Yankees a 5-0 lead. Bird was 1-for-14 with seven strikeouts in his career with the bases full before hitting that homer. He joined a sweet group of Yankee first baseman to hit a grand slam in Baltimore:

  • Tino Martinez May 1, 1996
  • Don Mattingly Sept. 25, 1987
  • Bill Skowron April 22, 1961 and April 14, 1959

It was also his second straight game with at least four RBI, the first Yankee to do that since Alfonso Soriano in 2013. And he also earned this #FunFact: Bird is the only player in franchise history to drive in at least four runs in back-to-back games against the Orioles (since the team changed its nickname and moved to Baltimore in 1954).

Giancarlo Stanton quietly had another huge game at the plate, going 4-for-5 with two RBI. His five games with at least four hits are the most in MLB — and the same number that the rest of the Yankees have combined this season.

Sonny Gray bounced back from his two worst starts as a Yankee to throw one of his best starts as a Yankee, holding the Orioles scoreless over six innings while striking out eight. In four starts against the Royals and Orioles this season he is 4-0 with a 1.73 ERA; against all other teams this season he is 2-7 with a 6.96 ERA.

If only he could pitch all his games at Camden Yards against the Orioles …

Game 90: Tanaka Returns

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(Adam Hunger/Getty)

For the first time in a little more than four weeks, Masahiro Tanaka will take the mound in a big league game this evening. Tanaka’s been out since June 8th with mild strains of both hamstrings — he suffered a very Mets injury running the bases at Citi Field — but he’s healthy now and has completed his rehab assignment, and is ready to rejoin a rotation in need of reinforcement. Good Tanaka would be quite a boost.

Anyway, the Yankees have won five of their last seven games but dammit I’m still annoying by the first game of yesterday’s doubleheader. Winnable game right there for the taking. Bah. At least the Yankees blew the Orioles out in the second game of the doubleheader. That was fun. Please treat the 25-66 team like a 25-66 team again today. Here are tonight’s lineups:

New York Yankees
1. LF Brett Gardner
2. RF Aaron Judge
3. CF Aaron Hicks
4. DH Giancarlo Stanton
5. SS Didi Gregorius
6. 3B Miguel Andujar
7. 1B Greg Bird
8. C Austin Romine
9. 2B Neil Walker

RHP Masahiro Tanaka

Baltimore Orioles
1. 3B Tim Beckham
2. CF Adam Jones
3. SS Manny Machado
4. DH Mark Trumbo
5. 2B Jonathan Schoop
6. 1B Chris Davis
7. LF Trey Mancini
8. RF Joey Rickard
9. C Caleb Joseph

RHP Andrew Cashner

Hot and sunny in Baltimore but surprisingly not all that humid. Usually it gets so humid you stick to the seats at Camden Yards. Tonight’s game will begin at 7:05pm ET and you can watch on YES locally and MLB Network out of market. Enjoy the ballgame.

Injury Updates: Gary Sanchez (groin) has started running the bases, so he’s doing everything as he works his way back into game shape. Hitting, catching, throwing, running, the whole nine … Gleyber Torres (hip) played catch today. Pretty sure this is the first time he’s done any baseball activity since landing on the disabled list.

Roster Moves: As expected, Luis Cessa was sent down to Triple-A Scranton following last night’s game to clear a roster spot for Tanaka. Gio Gallegos also went back down since he was the 26th man … So long, David Hale. He cleared waivers and elected free agency. I suspect he will re-sign with the Yankees in short order. It would be the third time this year Hale has elected free agency and re-signed with the Yankees. No idea why he doesn’t just accept the outright assignment.

All-Star Game voting: Giancarlo Stanton is currently third in the Final Vote race behind Jean Segura and Andrew Benintendi. Stanton’s hitting .310/.377/.599 (163 wRC+) with eleven homers since June 1st, you know. Here’s the ballot. Voting ends Thursday.