gerrit cole

New York Yankees: Yanks/Sox renew rivalry tonight, series preview

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New York Yankees, Domingo German

One of the oldest baseball rivalries is between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. The two teams have never liked each other since Red Sox owner Harry Frazee sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees for $125k to finance a Broadway production he was involved with. As history has shown, Ruth became one of the best baseball players in the game. He hit many home runs off his old team and set the fire for the rivalry.

Before the “Babe,” the Yankees had not won a World Series, but they won four Championships after acquiring him. Ruth was so popular with the Yankees that the increased fans allow the Yankees to build their first new stadium. It was called “the house that Ruth built.” More recently, the Yankees have won a total of 27 World Championships to the Red Sox 9. The most recent win for the Yankees was in 2009 and 2018 for the Sox.

The rivalry causes heated conversations between fans of both teams due to the closeness of Yankees Stadium and Fenway Park that often leads to a beer being poured over a head. It seldom gets gruesome, but the opposing fans don’t like each other as one so frequently caused the other to lose a game, series, or postseason.

The teams faced each other in the AL Championship three times. The New York Yankees won twice, in 1999 and 2003. The Red Sox won in 2014. The two teams have also met once in the Division Series (ALDS), in 2018, with Boston winning 3-1, a series which included a 16-1 Red Sox win in Game 3 at Yankee Stadium, the most lopsided postseason loss for the Yankees in their history.

Whether the two teams are playing at Yankee Stadium or Fenway Park in Boston, the games are exciting and take on an intensity seldom seen between teams. Tonight they renew that rivalry at Fenway Park.

Tonight, June 25th, 7:10 pm: 

In Boston, the Yankees will send out starter Domingo German to face the Red Sox Martin Perez tonight at Fenway Park. German other than two games, has been one of the Yankee’s most dependable pitchers. However, he is coming off two of his worst starts of the year, giving up more runs in the two games than he has since April. But he can be lights out at his best, which the Yankees hope is the case tonight. He is 4-4 with an ERA of 4.17 with 63 strikeouts. Tonight will be his thirteenth start of the season, with the Yankees winning eight of his starts.

German will face Martin Perez, who is 5-4 with an ERA of 4.32; the two pitchers stat-wise are pretty evenly paired. Perez is coming off a 7-1 win over the Kansas City Royals when he gave up just one run over five innings, striking out 3 Royals. Giancarlo Stanton, of all Yankees, has hit the best off of Perez. Stanton has a .429 batting average off him with 2 home runs in 7 plate appearances. Tonight’s game will be on the YES Network, NESN, and MLBN out of market.

Saturday, June 26th, 7:15 pm: 

The Saturday evening game will feature Jordan Montgomery for the Yankees and Nathan Eovaldi for the Red Sox. Montgomery is coming off one of his best games of the season. Against the Oakland Athletics, he allowed just a solo home run in the Yankees 2-1 win. The New York Yankees have won his last six starts in a row. He is 3-1 with a 4.03 ERA.

Eovaldi is an ex-Yankee pitcher that has done very well with the Red Sox. He is 7-4 with an ERA of 3.90 in 15 starts. He is coming off a loss to the Kansas City Royals when he gave up 3 runs in only four innings of work. The Red Sox has won nine of his fifteen starts on the season. Saturday’s game is a nationally televised game on the FOX Network.

Sunday, June 27th, 1:10 pm:

Sunday’s matinee will be ace against ace. The Yankees will have Gerrit Cole on the mound, and the Red Sox will send Eduardo Rodriguez to face Cole. Gerrit Cole is 8-3 with a 2.33 ERA. Cole has been solid for the Yankees despite getting little run support in his games. He is coming off a June 22nd loss when he went seven innings, giving up just two runs, but the Yankee bullpen failed him.  Cole has an unbelievable 123 strikeouts on the season.

After sitting out last season due to heart problems caused by the coronavirus, Eduardo Rodriguez has pitched well for the Red Sox this season, going 5-4 but with an elevated ERA of 6.07. The Red Sox lineup has given E-Rod a lot of run support. He is coming off an eleventh inning win over the Tampa Bay Rays. However, he gave up all five runs that the Rays scored. Sunday’s matinee will be broadcast on YES, NESN, and nationally on TBS.

 

 

New York Yankees: 3 Major takeaways from Yankees loss to the Royals (video)

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yankees, gerrit cole

After an improbable series win over the Oakland Athletics, the New York Yankees entertained the Kansas City Royals at Yankees Stadium last night. With the Yankees ace Gerrit Cole on the mound at home, the Royals beat the Yankees 6-5.

Ace Gerrit Cole solid

Although he has been silent on the matter, Gerrit Cole, the New York Yankee ace, must be feeling frustrated that the lack of Yankee hitting is holding down his record. Cole is 8-3 in fifteen games with four no-decisions. Last night was another one of those no decisions. Cole went seven complete innings giving up just two earned runs while striking out six. In the four middle innings of the game, the Yankee lineup missed multiple opportunities to score but didn’t while letting the Royals take away the Yankee lead.

Unfortunately for the Yankees and Cole, the normally solid Yankee bullpen collapsed in the eighth inning, allowing four Royals runs that the Yankees would not recover from. The Yankees’ best middle reliever Jonathan Loaisiga imploded. In two-thirds on an inning, he struck out two batters but also gave up 5 hits resulting in four earned runs and the loss for the Yankees.

Yankees fail to bring runners home

I have been writing about this all season long; the Yankees don’t seem to be able to bring runners home when they do hit. Last night the Yankees had loads of Yankees on base; they got 9 hits and walked 8 times for a total of 17 base runners. Of those baserunners, they could only bring five of those runners across home plate, three of them by the home run. On the night, they were 0 for ten, with runners in scoring position. With multiple chances, the Yankees again couldn’t get it done.

Along with leaving men on base, inconsistent play has been a problem that has dogged the Yankees all season long; they don’t win over the teams they should beat. With the New York Yankees inability to dominate the Tampa Bay Rays and the
Boston Red Sox must win every game against teams they should beat. Last night they slipped another game behind the East-leading Red Sox. Last night after the game, the YES Network’s Michael Kay detailed the problem of leaving men on base.

“Now one problem for the Yankees and this has been a problem all year is getting big hits with runners in scoring position. The Yankees had several chances (Tuesday) to break the game open, and just to take a look at one small snapshot, when they had the runner at third with fewer than two outs, they didn’t get a hit. They scored on a wild pitch. That’s been a problem all year. So they were 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position (Tuesday), including in the ninth inning, and then they left 13 runners on base.”

One very bright spot in last night’s game was the return of Luke Voit to the lineup. Voit has been out a month recovering from a right oblique strain. Before that, a meniscus tear in his knee. The two injuries have allowed him to play in only 13 games this season. The loss of Voit has meant no production from first base. Last season he was the home run leader (22), and his return to the team is most welcome. Last night he showed what he means to the team. He hit the first ball he saw 423′ into the left-field stands. He also had a triple and walked once, going 2 for 3 on the night.

Umpires are not fooling around

MLB started cracking down on the use of sticky stuff by pitchers to increase their grip on the baseball on Monday. It was a day off for the New York Yankees. Last night the poster boy for substance use Gerrit Cole was checked three times by umpires as he left the mound during the game. Kansas City Royals pitcher Brady Singer was also checked, as were the catchers.

The Yankee pitcher and Royals pitcher did not seem to mind the checking, at least visibly. But that is not the case across baseball. When the National’s Max Scherzer was checked the third time, he lost it, threw his cap and belt on the ground. But he was outdone by Sergio Romo, Oakland’s veteran pitcher sarcastically undid his belt and lowered his pants just below his buttock. Romo has been a respected pitcher for fourteen years. This is only day two of the umpire checks for “sticky stuff,” more to come.

EmpireSportMedia.com’s Columnist William Parlee is a member of the Society for American Baseball Research. Follow him on Twitter @parleewilliam.

 

 

New York Yankees Recap: Runners in scoring position lose game one to the Royals

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Gerrit Cole, New York Yankees

Tonight at the Stadium in the Bronx, the New York Yankees met up with the Kansas City Royals for game one of a three-game set at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees’ ace Gerrit Cole led off against the Kansas City Royals’ Brady Singer. Showers near the game had passed, and the game started on time but with a slightly wet outfield. The Yankees lost the game in the eighth inning 6-5.

Whit Merrifield led off against Cole in the first and ground out to third base. Carlos Santana walked. Salvatore Perez singled, getting Santana at second. Ryan O’hearn lined out to left field to end the half. At the bottom, DJ LeMahieu grounded out to second. Judge lined to second. On his first at-bat returning from the IL, Luke Voit hit the first pitch he saw for a solo homer (423′) to left field. Stanton walked. Gio Urshela slow singled to short. A passed ball lets the runners advance. Gleyber Torres walked the bases full. Clint Frazier ground out to strand 3 Yankees. No score. Singer was checked for ‘sticky’ stuff when he left the mound.

At the top of the second inning, Jorge Soler led off against Cole and grounded to third for the first out. Kevin Gutierrez ground out to second. Hunter Dozier struck out on a 97 mph fastball to end the half. Kyle Higashioka led off the bottom by homering to left field for the two-run lead for the Yankees. Brett Gardner lined out to left. LeMahieu singled to center. Aaron Judge singled with LeMahieu stopping at second base. Luke Voit, who hit a homer in the first, flew out to right. Stanton, with two on and two outs, struck out, leaving another two men on base. New York Yankees 2 Kansas City Royals 0.

Michael Taylor led off the third inning by singling to short center. Nicky Lopez singled, moving Taylor to third base. Merrifield hitting in his 378th straight game, with men on the corners and no outs, ground out, but Taylor scored on the play. Santana struck out. Perez, with a man still on second and two outs, popped out to Gardner in second. Gerrit Cole was checked for substances as he left the mound. At the bottom Urshela ground out to short. Torres went down swinging. Frazier struck out for a fast inning for Singer. Yankees 2 Royals 1.

The top of the fourth was led off by O’Hearn, who tied up the game with a homer to centerfield. Soler ground out to LeMahieu. Gutierrez struck out. Dozier flew out to Garnder. The bottom was led off by Higashioka, who homered in the second; he struck out looking for Singers’ third strikeout in a row. Gardner struck out for Singers’ fourth in a row. LeMahieu walked. Aaron Judge walked, bringing up Luke Voit walked and that was the end of the night for Singer. Stanton faced the new pitcher Kris Bubic with the bases loaded and two outs; he ground out to strand three Yankees on base. Yankees 2 Royals 2.

Taylor started the fifth by lining out to LeMahieu. Lopez flew out to Frazier in left. Merrifield hit directly back to Cole for the final out. Urshela led off the bottom by flying out to Soler in right. Torres swung and missed for a strikeout. Frazier also struck out for a 1-2-3 inning for Bubic. Yankees 2 Royals 2.

The top of the sixth was led off by Stanton, who ground out to Torres. Perez struck out swinging. O’Hearn flew out to Frazier in left. Cole was checked by umpires for the second time, leaving the mound. The bottom was led off by Higashioka, who flew out to left. Gardner, who is in a big-time slump, ground out to first. LeMahieu rolled out to second to end the scoreless inning. The game tied at 2.

Soler led off the seventh inning and walked. Jerrod Dyson pinch-running. Gutierrez went down looking. Dozier ground out to Voit, Dyson went to second. Taylor reached on a bad call. Lopez struck out on a 100 mph fastball. In the bottom, Judge flew out. Luke Voit appeared to hit a home run to left, and upon a review, it was called a triple due to fan interference. Wade pinch ran for Voit. Stanton at the plate, the ball gets away from the catcher on a wild pitch, and Wade scored for the Yankees lead. Stanton walked. Urshela walked on a hit by a pitch to his shin. Torres, in a slump of late, continued the slump with a strikeout. Frazier, also in a big-time slump, chopped out to short. New York Yankees 3 Royals 2.

On to the eighth Merrifield against the new Yankee pitcher, Jonathan Loaisiga singled. Santana doubled, moving Merrifield to third. Perez struck out. O’Hearn singled on a mishandled ball by Lemahie, and Merrifield scored to tie up the game. Dyson singled as Santana came home for the Royals lead. Gutierrez struck out. Dozier singled in front of Garnder, and O’Hearn scored. Taylor singled up the center as Dyson scored. Lopez, against the new pitcher Lucas Luetge, ground out to second. Kansas City Royals 6 New York Yankees 3.

Gary Sanchez led off pinch-hitting for Higashioka the bottom of the eighth by grounding out. Gardner walked. LeMahieu homered driving in Gardner for the one-run game. Scott Barlow faced Aaron Judge, who doubled off the left-field wall. Odor pinch-hitting for Wade popped out to Santana for the second out. Stanton ground out to third, but the Yankees made it a one-run game. Royals 6 Yankees 5.

At the top of the ninth Luetge, still on the mound, Merrifield lined to Urshela for out number one. Santana struck out for out number two. Perez popped out to Luetge for the final out. With last licks for the New York Yankees, Gio Urshela led off the bottom of the ninth against Greg Holland and chopped out to center for a single. Miguel Andujar pinch ran for Urshela. Gleyber Torres struck out for the fourth time on the night, but Andujar moved to score position. Frazier struck out. Gary Sanchez was intentionally walked. Brett Gardner popped out to lose the game.

The final score was the Kansas City Royals 6 and the New York Yankees 5. The winning pitcher was Jake Brentz, and the loser was Jonathan Loaisiga; Greg Holland got the save.

New York Yankees: Today Gerrit Cole takes the mound, it could get “sticky” (video)

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Today the New York Yankees will open a 3 game series with the Kansas City Royals at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. On the mound for the Yankees will be Gerrit Cole, the to-date poster boy for the use of sticky substances while the pitcher gets a better grip on the ball. Yesterday MLB started checking pitchers for such substances in earnest. Pitchers around the league were randomly checked. The video below shows the New York Mets ace Jacob deGrom being checked between innings. The checks apparently will not interrupt the game or delay the game as they will be done between innings or as the pitcher leaves the mound.

Just like in the steroid era, this new situation is being called the “sticky” era, and New York Yankee pitcher Gerrit Cole is in the middle of it after being named in a lawsuit for using substances and be called out by Josh Donaldson of the Minnesota Twins. Today at the Stadium, Cole will face the Royal’s Brady Singer, a right-hander 3-5 with an ERA of 4.76. You can be sure both pitchers will be checked at some point during the game. Below is more detail on the push to get foreign substances out of the game and Cole’s involvement.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports, “Major League Baseball is expected to announce today (June 14th) that it will suspend players caught with any foreign substance for 10 days with pay to help curtail the widespread use of grip enhancers by pitchers around the league.”

“The league is expected to distribute a memo to teams … that outlines its plans to penalize all players caught by umpires with any foreign substance on their person, from the widely used sunscreen-and-rosin combination to Spider Tack, an industrial glue that has become a favorite among pitchers who want to generate more spin on the ball.”

 

According to Passan, the ban “will begin in earnest June 21.” There is a reason that Cole could become a poster boy for the crackdown as he has been named yet again regarding using sticky substances to improve his pitching. This time by Minnesota Twins third baseman Josh Donaldson.

New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole is one of several star pitchers named in a lawsuit for using illegal ball-doctoring substances provided by a former visiting Angels clubhouse manager, per an article in Sports Illustrated.

Brain “Bubba” Harkins was fired in March of 2020 by the Los Angeles Angels after an investigation stated that he had been helping pitchers with the use of illegal ball-gripping substances. In January of this year, he filed a lawsuit against MLB and the Angels. The filing follows an attempt by the Angels and MLB to dismiss Harkins’ previous motion claiming defamation.

Harkins named multiple pitchers in his lawsuit that apparently used his “concoctions” to increase the ability to improve grip on the baseball when pitching. Among those mentioned were Justin Verlander, Felix Hernandez, Max Scherzer, and the Yankee’s Corey Kluber and Gerrit Cole. In addition, several Angels pitchers were also named.

Before the first game of the (June 8) Minnesota series at Target Field, the normally outspoken Josh Donaldson was having a public conversation on the use of illegal substances and went out of his way to single out Gerrit Cole. When the New York Yankees arrived at Target Field, there was a video conference about the 3 game set with the Yankees. Gerrit Cole responding to reporter questions as to if he ever used Spider Tack (a particularly sticky paste to improve grip), Cole stumbled in answering. This is how he responded:

“I don’t know….. I don’t know….. I don’t quite know how to answer that, to be honest.” That was followed by a long pause and he continued: “There are customs and practices that have been passed down from older players to younger players, from the last generation of players to this generation of players, and I think there are some things that are certainly out of bounds in that regard.

“This is important to a lot of people who love the game, including the players in this room, including fans, including teams, so if MLB wants to legislate some more stuff, that’s a conversation that we can have. Because ultimately we should all be pulling in the same direction on this.”

After those comments, New York Yankees fans don’t know any more than they did before the comments. It is reasonable to assume that Cole, like many other pitchers, uses some substances at times to improve their pitching. Whether those substances are legal or not is a discussion to have with MLB.

Last weekend, Buster Olney of ESPN reported that pitchers would be checked repeatedly and randomly by umpires for illegal substances under a new program being advanced by MLB.

In third baseman Donaldson’s wandering comments in which he mentioned Cole, he stated that Cole’s spin rate reduced dramatically after four minor league pitchers were suspended for using foreign substances. Donaldson suggested that Cole’s pitches weren’t rotating as much and that Cole was suddenly trying to hide his use of sticky substances to avoid being caught in the crackdown.

Sidestepping the accusation on Tuesday, and said: “My spin rate dropoff was due to mechanical flaws. I attribute it to just not being as good or as sharp as I wanted to be. It’s as simple as that,” Cole said. The Baseball Savant website stated the MLB Statcast data showed that Cole had a 125 rotations per minute decrease last week when he allowed five runs to the Tampa Bay Rays.

“I’m just not quite bringing out my best delivery. Of course it’s something that we monitor. Of course there are other variables that we monitor as well when we’re evaluating our performance from every game. You try to take as much information as you can as a player, and certainly that’s one of them,” Cole said. “We’re trying to get better this week and put in the work, and I’ll be as prepared as I possibly can for my next start.”

Cole had nothing to say about Donaldson, but he let his pitching speak for itself. One would have to believe Cole, with the accusations, certainly would not have been using anything illegal. In three plate appearances against Cole, Donaldson flew out and struck out twice, with Cole glaring in at him with each strikeout.

In a recent Sports Illustrated article, they explained over the past two or three years, pitchers’ illegal application to the ball of what they call “sticky stuff”—at first a mixture of sunscreen and rosin, now various forms of glue—has become so pervasive that one recently retired hurler estimates “80 to 90%” of pitchers are using it in some capacity. The sticky stuff helps increase spin on pitches, which increases their movement, making them more difficult to hit. That’s contributed to an offensive crisis that has seen the league-wide batting average plummet to a historically inept .236. (Sports Illustrated spoke with more than two dozen people; most of them requested anonymity to discuss cheating within their own organizations.)

New York Yankees: Kansas City Royals vs. New York Yankees series preview

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yankees, gerrit cole

The New York Yankees are coming off a series win against the second-best team in baseball, the Oakland Athletics. They now have a day off to evaluate their play and prepare for a three-game series at Yankee Stadium against the Kansas City Royals. Starting on Tuesday evening, the Royals will face the Yankee’s ace, Gerrit Cole. The Yankees, with the series win against the A’s, are now just 4.5 games behind the East-leading Boston Red Sox and winning six games of their last ten. The Royals trail the Central-leading White Sox by ten games and have lost 7 of their last 10.

Yesterday the Royals went behind 2-0 in the top of the first inning with both the Royals and the Red Sox playing some pretty sloppy baseball. But the Royals came convincingly back to win the game 7-3. The Yankees had a squeaker yesterday when Gary Sanchez hit the winning hit, and the Yankees had a triple play in the ninth inning.

Tuesday, June 22nd, 7:05 pm:

Gerrit Cole will start the first game of the Kansas City Royals series at the Stadium in the Bronx on Tuesday night. The right-hander is 8-3 with an ERA of 2.31 and with 117 strikeouts on the season. Cole tossed a season-high-tying eight innings Wednesday against the Blue Jays, allowing only two runs on four hits. His 117 strikeouts through his first 14 starts are the most by any Yankees pitcher in his first 14 starts of a season. The only Royals player who has been successful off of Cole is Whit Merryfield; in seven at-bats, he has a .286 record.
As of this writing, the Royals have not released the names of the starters for any of the three games at the Stadium. The Royals would have liked Danny Duffy to start against Cole, but he is on the IL.  Looking at the Royals’ starts, it’s hard to predict who will start against Cole. In the three-game series, the Yankees likely will see Brady Singer, Brad Keller, and Kris Bubic. During the series, the Royals may have to put together a bullpen start due to the missing Danny Duffy.
Wednesday, June 23rd, 7:05 pm:
Wednesday night’s starter for the New York Yankees will be Michael King, who was bought up as a replacement for Corey Kluber, who is nursing a bad shoulder. King, since being brought up, is 0-3 with an ERA of 4.08. He has pitched better than the stats would indicate. King scattered five hits and two walks across 4 1/3 innings last time out, aided by the Yankees’ second triple play of the season in the first inning. He has allowed three earned runs or fewer in three of his past four starts. None of the Royal batters have seen King, except for Alberto Hanser, who had one hit in two plate appearances.
Thursday, June 24th, 1:05 pm:
Jameson Taillon will start Thursday’s matinee. Of late, when Taillon is on the mound for the Yankees, it’s almost an automatic loss. Taillon has not found his form yet and has been the Yankees’ most undependable pitcher.  In his next to the last start, he only lasted 1/3 of an inning, giving up four earned runs. The last start he went
4 2/3 innings of two-run ball. The Yankees have lost his last four starts. This will make his second career start vs. the Royals, having tossed seven scoreless innings with 11 strikeouts in a 2018 no-decision. Jared Dyson has had good luck off of Taillon hitting .333.
All of the games will be televised on Bally Sports Kansas City and the YES Network. Thursday’s matinee will also be on MLBN out of market.

Yankees News, 6/17: Gerrit Cole erupts over substance change, Gary Sanchez is back?

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yankees, gerrit cole

The MLB is heading down a bumpy road with pitchers, and New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole seems to be flabbergasted at the change in substance usage. In the Yankees’ 3-2 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday, Cole had trouble gripping the baseball, despite lasting 8.0 innings, allowing just four hits and two earned runs, striking out just four batters in the process. While his strikeout rate was down significantly, he still had a stellar outing, currently hosting a 2.31 ERA.

After the victory, Cole spoke to the media, indicating his frustration over the MLB’s stance and even sent out a minor threat that a lack of control could end up in injuries.

“It’s so hard to grip the ball,” Cole said after the Yankees’ 3-2 win. “For Pete’s sake, it’s part of the reason why almost every player on the field has had something, regardless if they’re a pitcher or not, to help them control the ball.”

I would hate to see balls start flying at people’s head. I had a really tough time gripping the baseball tonight, especially early when it was windy. I don’t really care to be inflammatory here, so I am just going to leave it at that.”

The question is, does Cole have a point in this scenario? Will the change in substance availability have an impact on the location and injured batters? There is a justification behind it, but baseball has been dealing with a problem the past few years, as pitching has simply overtaken hitting, taking some of the excitement away from the game, which has unfortunately impacted their viewership.

Would you consider the use of sticky stuff cheating? Comment below! 

Gary Sanchez is back?

One exciting factor for the Yankees is the return of Gary Sanchez, who launched a home run in the seventh inning, driving in Miguel Andujar and giving the Yankees a one-run lead. Sanchez is hitting .228 this season, with a .457 slugging percentage, the 3rd best on the team behind Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge.

In fact, Sanchez has also improved on defense, throwing out a runner at third base to keep the game tied in the ninth-inning as Aroldis Chapman nearly blew another save. Over the last seven games, Sanchez has enjoyed six hits, three homers, and five RBIs over 19 at-bats. The month of June for Gary has been phenomenal so far compared to his recent past.

Hopefully, the Yankees’ slugger can continue raking and hitting dingers, as the team desperately needs him to step up as the offense drags itself along after a tough start to the 2021 season.

New York Yankees: 3 Major takeaways from Yankees second win over the Jays

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yankees, gary sanchez

Last night the New York Yankees accomplished two goals. First, they beat the Toronto Blue Jays, and they beat them for the second night in a row. It’s no secret that the Yankees have not dominated their main rivals in the AL East. However, taking this series from the Blue Jays could signify that the Yankees are finally righting the ship.

Cole only strikes out 4 but gets 8th win

New York Yankee’s ace Gerrit Cole saved the Yankee bullpen last night by pitching a full eight innings in the 3-2 win over the Blue Jays. He did so, striking out only 4 Jays but got loads of ground-outs. Cole did it with command and executing the right pitches at the right time. Cole may not have had his normal spin rate, but it didn’t affect his power. Cole reached 100 mph on his fastball several times during the game, but he didn’t tired even though he pitched eight innings. One pitcher in the eighth inning reached 101.5 mph, the fastest fastball Cole has thrown since he was with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2017. Cole threw 104 pitches in the game and only allowed one walk.

It would be remiss of me if I didn’t mention the performance of Jay’s starting pitcher Ross Stripling. Stripling, a mediocre pitcher, held his own with Cole into the seventh inning. He pretty much matched him up, pitch for pitch. At one point, he put down 14 Yankees in a row. Threw 6.2 innings, he struck out 9 Yankees until one bad pitch ended his night and gave him the loss in the game.

Two MVP’s in the game

There is no question that the MVP of the game last night was Gerrit Cole. But, if there could be two, Gary Sanchez would be the second. When the Yankees loaded the bases in the first inning with no outs, they could only bring one run home. Then for the next five innings, the Yankees struggled to do anything against Stripling. Then in the seventh, Gary Sanchez hit a pinch-hit two-run monster 446′ homer over the left-field fence. Sanchez also sparkled behind the plate, including a flash throw to third preventing the Jays from scoring.

Manager Aaron Boone seldom gets praise for anything, but his decision last night in the seventh won the game for the Yankees. Kyle Higashioka Cole’s personal catcher caught Cole through the seventh inning, but when he came up to hit in the bottom, Boone pinch-hit him with Gary Sanchez, who provided the winning hit.

Aroldis Chapman cleans up a big mess

Last night Aroldis Chapman got his 14th save of the season, but it wasn’t pretty. The nail-biting ninth lasted 27 minutes. New York Yankee closer Aroldis Chapman was on the mound for the bottom of the ninth. Guerrero Jr. singled to right. Hernandez doubled, moving Guerrero to third base. Grichuk, with two on and no outs, struck out on a 101 mph fastball. Espinal pinch-hitting hit back to Chapman, and he threw to Sanchez, who made a good throw to third, catching Guerrero off the base for the second out. Gurriel, with two on and two outs, flew out to Gardner in center to end the game with the Yankees taking the series.

New York Yankees Recap: Gary Sanchez powers Yankees to second win over the Blue Jays

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Tonight the New York Yankees faced the Toronto Blue Jays in Buffalo for game two of a three-game set after clawing their way to a win last night 6-5. Tonight the Yankees were hoping to take the series from the Jays after being swept by the Philadelphia Phillies. Entering the game, the Yankees were 34-32, and the Blue Jays were 33-32. It was a cool night in Buffalo, 68, but it felt much colder with the breeze. The Yankees won the game 3-2 Gary Sanchez’s pitch hit two run homer and a nail-biting ninth inning.

In the first inning against Ross Stripling, DJ LeMahieu reached first base on a mishandled ball. Aaron Judge singled for two on and no outs. Gleyber Torres walked for the bases loaded in the first inning with no outs. Giancarlo Stanton got a sac fly to right, scoring LeMahieu. Gio Urshela flew out to right moving Judge to third base. Miguel Andujar flew out to right, and Stripling got out of the inning, giving up just one run when the bases were loaded with just one out. At the bottom, Marcus Semien hit the second pitch from Gerrit Cole for a homer to left to tie the game. Bo Bichette singled off Cole. Vlad Guerrero Jr. hit into a double play for two outs in the first. Teoscar Hernandez ground up the middle for a single as Cole struggles to put away the Jays hitters. Randal Grichuk struck out to end the inning. New York Yankees 1 Toronto Blue Jays 1.

Rougie Odor led off the second inning and struck out swinging. Kyle Higashioka struck out. Brett Gardner struck out for the strike of the side for Stripling. At the bottom, Joe Panik ground out to third. Lourdes Gurriel ground out to first. Cavan Biggio worked a walk on a questionable call. Reese McGuire hit to shallow center caught by Gardner. Game tied at 1.

To start the third inning, DJ LeMahieu popped back to the catcher for the first out. Judge ground out to short. Torres grounded out to second for nine in a row for Stripling. Marcus Semien led off the bottom of the inning by flying out to Judge in right. Bichette flew out. Guerrero ground out for a 1-2-3 inning for Gerrit Cole. Game tied at 1.

Giancarlo Stanton led off the fourth inning by striking out for 10 in a row for Stripling. Urshela made it 11 in a row for Stripling. Andujar lined out to first for the final out of the half. Hernandez led off the bottom, and he ground out to Torres. Crichuk flew ut to Gardner at center. During the inning, David Cone mentioned that Coles’s spin rate was down 200 revolutions from his average. Panik flew out to end the inning. Game tied at 1.

Odor ground out to the right side to start the fifth inning. Higashioka flew out to center. Gardner walked after being put down 14 straight times by Stripling. LeMahieu lined out on a diving catch to center. At the bottom of the inning. Gurriel hit sharply to Odor. Biggio hit a home run off Cole to left field. McGuire flew one out to Gardner. Semien ground out. Blue Jays 2 Yankees 1.

Aaron Judge led off the sixth inning, and he struck out. Torres popped out. Stanton reached on an errant throw. Urshela struck out to end the half. Bichette ground out. Guerrero struck out for Cole’s second strikeout of the game. Hernandez reached on a bobbled ball by Torres. Crichuk went down on strikes. Another short inning for both pitchers. Jays 2 Yankees 1.

Miguel Andujar led off the seventh inning by singling down the right-field line. Odor went down looking on a high fastball. Higashioka was pinch-hit by Gary Sanchez. Sanchez hit a pinch-hit two-run 446′ homer off of Stripling. Gardner went down on strikes. LeMahieu faced the new pitcher Rafael Dolis, and he walked on four pitches. Dolis was supposedly injured and replaced by Trent Thorton. The rule is that when a new pitcher comes in, he must face three hitters unless he is injured. Dolis did not appear to be injured. Aaron Judge went down swinging, but the Yankees went ahead in the game. The bottom was led off by Panik ground out to Odor. Gurriel flew out to Andujar. Biggio stuck out looking for a quick inning for Cole. New York Yankees 3 Blue Jays 2.

Gleyber Torres led off the top of the eighth inning; he struck out. Stanton singled to center field. Urshela flew out to right field. Andujar ground out to first. At the bottom of the eighth, McGuire, with Cole still on the mound, grounded out. Semien ground out to LeMahieu, Bichette ground out to Urshela to end the eighth. Yankees 3 Jays 2.

Rougie Odor led off the ninth against Patrick Murphy. Odor struck out for the third time on the night. Sanchez ground out. Gardner flew out to far left to end the Yankees scoring. New York Yankee closer Aroldis Chapman was on the mound for the bottom of the ninth. Guerrero Jr. singled to right. Hernandez doubled, moving Guerrero to third base. Grichuk, with two on and no outs, struck out on a 101 mph fastball. Espinal pinch-hitting hit back to Chapman, and he threw to Sanchez, who made a good throw to third, catching Guerrero off the base for the second out. Gurriel, with two on and two outs, flew out to Gardner in center to end the game with the Yankees taking the series.

The final score was the New York Yankees 3 and the Blue Jays 2. The winning pitcher was Gerrit Cole; the loser was Ross Stripling with the 15th save for Aroldis Chapman and an exciting, nail-biting ninth inning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

New York Yankees Analysis: What happened to the April 1st Yankees?

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New York Yankees, Aaron Judge, Gleyber Torres, Giancarlo Stanton

It’s April 1st, the first day of the New York Yankees‘ 162 game 2021 baseball season. The headlines that day pushed forward the suggestion that the Yankees were the team to beat this season. They also touted that the Yankees were destined to win the East, going on to the postseason, and had the best chance of winning the World Series. Today, you would look long and hard to find anyone who didn’t think that was a pipe dream and far from the team fans see playing in most games this season. Many think the Yankees will be lucky not to land next to the Baltimore Orioles at the bottom of the LA East.  What the hell happened?

Much of it is a mystery to fans, players, coaches, and management alike. How could a lineup projected to be one of the most powerful in baseball completely flop and be near the bottom in run production? The answer is simple; they aren’t hitting—the reason why is far more complex. To a degree, Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton are the only hitters on the team that is performing as they are supposed to. The rest of the lineup dead or near dead. Even last year’s batting champion DJ LeMahieu is hitting more than a hundred points less in batting average than the 2020 season. His underperformance at the top of the order is crippling the Yankees’ offense more than anyone else’s struggles relative to expectations.

As frustration builds among fans, the finger-pointing has started. Even some predominant sportswriters are starting to say trade this player, fire this coach, and even replace manager Aaron Boone, and while they are doing that, get rid of general manager Brian Cashman. Still, some are saying Hal Steinbrenner should sell the team. Those comments, for the most part, are irresponsible. The New York Yankees are the most winning team in sports and will continue to make no mistake. There have been many bad years before, and there will be others; maybe this is one of them. But the Yankees had seen bad starts before and went on to a World Series win.

On the pitching side of the situation, management took some big risks with possible high rewards. At the end of the season, they let Masahiro Tanaka, James Paxton, and J.A. Happ walk. They brought in two-time Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber, and they traded for Jameson Taillon, both pitchers that hadn’t pitched in almost two years. Those additions added to a rotation led by ace Gerrit Cole, Jordan Montgomery, and a returning Domingo German produced a highly respectable rotation, if not stellar. The question remaining was could the staff return to the form they once had. As it turned out, Taillon, for the most part, is a dud. On the other hand, Kluber had started to get better with each outing, even a no-hitter to his name. But as we sit today, Kluber will be out for as much as two months, and the returning Luis Severino was injured in rehab and now won’t be back with the team until around September 1st.

The big problem to be solved is that if they continue to play as they have, they will not be able to test their skills against the rest of baseball because they won’t emerge from the AL East. The New York Yankees can’t constantly win over their major rivals, the Tampa Bay Rays, the Boston Red Sox, and the Toronto Blue Jays. They are 0-3 against the Sox, 4-6 against the Blue Jays, and are 5-8 against the Tampa Bay Rays. If they can’t win against these teams, they have no way of winning or even getting a Wild Card berth in the AL East.

With the undying support and praise from management, this team has to generate the energy and inspiration to win more consistently. Before tonight the Yankees have lost 13 of their last 18 games. With the team failing so badly, both Aaron Boone and Brian Cashman are speaking up.

“We’ve got to find a way to get better,’’ manager Aaron Boone said. “We’re gonna find out what kind of character we’re made of. We’re clearly in the midst of incredibly tough times. We’ve faced it this season and we’re gonna find out if we’re the team we think we are.”

“Losing invites the scrutiny on us all,” Brian Cashman said. “I’d best answer that as we’re in this together. We made this bed, and we’re going to sleep in it, and we’re going to make sure that we find a way to fix this together.”

“It is frustrating to watch. I get it,” Cashman said. “And it’s frustrating to watch because we’re better than this. It’s not because Aaron Boone doesn’t know what he’s doing. It’s not because any of the coaching staff aren’t doing the job to the best of their abilities. We are dealing with it; I promise you that.”

GM Cashman has said that he intends to bolster the roster before the July 30 trade deadline, saying that he has been “knocking on the doors” of the other 29 clubs to find trade matches.  The areas he will look to improve include center field that is now being filled in by bench pieces, Brett Gardner, a fine defenseman but lacks at the plate, and Tyler Wade, an infielder by trade. The other area he will look to augment is the starting pitching with Kubler gone for two months and Severino, who won’t return until September at best.

This team has got to put their heads together and develop a group plan to improve hitting and baserunning. They also have to find a way, with the help of hitting coach Thames to lift the ball and stop hitting into so many double plays. It’s going to be up to the players and management alike to turn this team around. With 65 games already played, they need to get after it; time is of the essence. The New York Yankees have the ability and have the talent to get this done. The race is not lost but soon will be if they can’t improve.

 

New York Yankees: Could Gerrit Cole become the poster boy for MLB crackdown?

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The next week ahead will be telling for New York Yankees pitchers and pitchers across all of baseball as MLB umpires start checking and suspending pitchers that use any sticky substance to improve spin rate. You can be sure that Yankee ace Gerrit Cole will be in the crosshairs of those umpire checks.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports, “Major League Baseball is expected to announce today that it will suspend players caught with any foreign substance for 10 days with pay to help curtail the widespread use of grip enhancers by pitchers around the league.”

“The league is expected to distribute a memo to teams … that outlines its plans to penalize all players caught by umpires with any foreign substance on their person, from the widely used sunscreen-and-rosin combination to Spider Tack, an industrial glue that has become a favorite among pitchers who want to generate more spin on the ball.”

According to Passan, the ban “will begin in earnest June 21.” Cole returns to the mound tomorrow for the second game of a three-game series against the third-place Toronto Blue Jays at Sahlen Field in Buffalo, N.Y. Previous to June 1st, they played their home games in Dunedin, Florida. The Jays are still not allowed to play at their normal home at Rogers Center in Toronto. Tomorrow Cole will face Ross Stripling.

There is a reason that Cole could become a poster boy for the crackdown as he has been named yet again regarding using sticky substances to improve his pitching. This time by Minnesota Twins third baseman Josh Donaldson.

New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole is one of several star pitchers named in a lawsuit for using illegal ball-doctoring substances provided by a former visiting Angels clubhouse manager, per an article in Sports Illustrated.

Brain “Bubba” Harkins was fired in March of 2020 by the Los Angeles Angels after an investigation stated that he had been helping pitchers with the use of illegal ball-gripping substances. In January of this year, he filed a lawsuit against MLB and the Angels. The filing follows an attempt by the Angels and MLB to dismiss Harkins’ previous motion claiming defamation.

Harkins named multiple pitchers in his lawsuit that apparently used his “concoctions” to increase the ability to improve grip on the baseball when pitching. Among those mentioned were Justin Verlander, Felix Hernandez, Max Scherzer, and the Yankee’s Corey Kluber and Gerrit Cole. In addition, several Angels pitchers were also named.

Before the first game of the present Minnesota series at Target Field, the normally outspoken Josh Donaldson was having a public conversation on the use of illegal substances and went out of his way to single out Gerrit Cole. When the New York Yankees arrived at Target Field, there was a video conference about the 3 game set with the Yankees. Gerrit Cole responding to reporter questions as to if he ever used Spider Tack (a particularly sticky paste to improve grip), Cole stumbled in answering. This is how he responded:

“I don’t know….. I don’t know….. I don’t quite know how to answer that, to be honest.” That was followed by a long pause and he continued: “There are customs and practices that have been passed down from older players to younger players, from the last generation of players to this generation of players, and I think there are some things that are certainly out of bounds in that regard.

“This is important to a lot of people who love the game, including the players in this room, including fans, including teams, so if MLB wants to legislate some more stuff, that’s a conversation that we can have. Because ultimately we should all be pulling in the same direction on this.”

After those comments, New York Yankees fans don’t know any more than they did before the comments. It is reasonable to assume that Cole, like many other pitchers, uses some substances at times to improve their pitching. Whether those substances are legal or not is a discussion to have with MLB.

Last weekend, Buster Olney of ESPN reported that pitchers would be checked repeatedly and randomly by umpires for illegal substances under a new program being advanced by MLB.

In third baseman Donaldson’s wandering comments in which he mentioned Cole, he stated that Cole’s spin rate reduced dramatically after four minor league pitchers were suspended for using foreign substances. Donaldson suggested that Cole’s pitches weren’t rotating as much and that Cole was suddenly trying to hide his use of sticky substances to avoid being caught in the crackdown.

Sidestepping the accusation on Tuesday, and said: “My spin rate dropoff was due to mechanical flaws. I attribute it to just not being as good or as sharp as I wanted to be. It’s as simple as that,” Cole said. The Baseball Savant website stated the MLB Statcast data showed that Cole had a 125 rotations per minute decrease last week when he allowed five runs to the Tampa Bay Rays.

“I’m just not quite bringing out my best delivery. Of course it’s something that we monitor. Of course there are other variables that we monitor as well when we’re evaluating our performance from every game. You try to take as much information as you can as a player, and certainly that’s one of them,” Cole said. “We’re trying to get better this week and put in the work, and I’ll be as prepared as I possibly can for my next start.”

Cole had nothing to say about Donaldson, but he let his pitching speak for itself. One would have to believe Cole, with the accusations, certainly would not have been using anything illegal. In three plate appearances against Cole, Donaldson flew out and struck out twice, with Cole glaring in at him with each strikeout.

In a recent Sports Illustrated article, they explained over the past two or three years, pitchers’ illegal application to the ball of what they call “sticky stuff”—at first a mixture of sunscreen and rosin, now various forms of glue—has become so pervasive that one recently retired hurler estimates “80 to 90%” of pitchers are using it in some capacity. The sticky stuff helps increase spin on pitches, which increases their movement, making them more difficult to hit. That’s contributed to an offensive crisis that has seen the league-wide batting average plummet to a historically inept .236. (Sports Illustrated spoke with more than two dozen people; most of them requested anonymity to discuss cheating within their own organizations.)

As this story develops further, you will read about it on EmpireSportsMedia.com. Their Columnist William Parlee is a member of the Society for American Baseball Research. He can be followed on Twitter @parleewilliam.