Wow, what a series against such a dangerous Houston Astros club. The Yankees continue to prove how good a team they actually are, as they finished their season series against the defending World Champs with a 5-2 record. That's pretty impressive. Now if Boston could lose some games here and there, that would be great! But, more on that in a minute.
Let's talk about this series some more... We learned a lot of things from these three games against the Astros:
The Good:
Justin Verlander is good. Since being traded from Detroit to the Astros last season he has been nearly un-hittable. The Yankees found that out in the ALCS and on Monday. Last season, in 5 starts and 34 innings pitched with Houston, Verlander went 5-0 with a 1.06 ERA and a 0.65 WHIP and this season he's 7-2 with a 1.11 ERA and 0.71 WHIP. The guy has only walked 20 batters (not including post season) since becoming an Astro. Coming into the game he had a sparkling 1.08 ERA, so the home run he gave up to Greg Bird actually raised his ERA to 1.11... man something must be in the water in Houston... Hard to believe he isn't a favorite to win the Cy Young Award this season. Verlander is actually one of the few MLB starting pitchers who's velocity increases the deeper he goes into games. Impressive.
With as valuable as Verlander has been for the Astros, Luis Severino has been just as valuable for the Yankees. In the series finale, Severino threw 7.0 innings, and gave up 2 runs on 4 hits. The two runs came off the bat of Max Stassi, who caught up with a high fastball and put it in the seats. Most importantly, Severino struck out 11 Astro hitters. Houston has such a potent offense, for Severino to shut them down and create so much weak contact is impressive. Luis is the Yankees' clear-cut Ace this season - other than being knocked around by Boston earlier this year he has been so dominant. If Verlander has any competition for Cy Young, it will be with Severino.
Brett Gardner is starting to heat up... so naturally Boone gives him the night off (Girardi did this too I never quite understood that, but it's not my decision to make - probably because of the lefty Keuchel). Gardner got off to such a shaky start to the season, his average sat around .200 for a while. But as of late he is starting to make things happen. Actually, in his last 15 games played he is hitting .373 with 3 homers and 8 RBI. Granted, 2 of those homers and 3 of those RBI came in Tuesday's walk-off win, but it's great to see his power numbers start to go up. He is a key to this Yankee offense, he (and CC) is also the veteran presence in the clubhouse. It's very important to have him getting on base consistently, setting the table and forcing pitchers to throw to Judge and Stanton. Make no mistake, without Gardner - Yankees do not win on Tuesday. I will take him in center field over Hicks any day of the week... sorry, not sorry.
Didi Gregorious is creeping out of his slump. He was so good in April (.330/.422/.739) and so bad in May (.151/.186/.215) it's such a relief to see him making progress. In this series alone he was 5 for 13 (.385), sort of a "let's turn the page" series for him - it will be exciting to watch him build on his recent success, and going into a few series against below .500 teams could be the confidence boost he needs.
Gary Sanchez had a 2-run single last night, snapping his big slide. He also threw out a runner on a wild pitch Tuesday - however that's all I have to say about him here.
Gleyber Torres and Miguel Andujar are good. And, since they have been called up they have been VERY consistent. I am going to ignore their shaky defense from Tuesday's game and focus on how they were instrumental in scoring the winning run in that 10th inning. Since being called up Torres is hitting at a .319/.376/.969 slash and Andujar a .301/.323/.831 slash. They continue to impress, and likely will not be going anywhere any time soon, poor Brandon Drury... stuck in AAA hitting .301/.421/.441. With Neil Walker starting to hit a little more, I think both Drury and Torreyes will be stuck in AAA for a while. Bonus for having a surplus of talent, right?
Greg Bird has rejoined the team! Woo hoo! Right? Saturday, the Yankees activated him and optioned utilityman Ronald Torreyes to AAA. I thought they might send Tyler Austin down, because why do you need three first basemen on your roster? But, Torreyes was the more logical move since he has hardly been playing... I will be honest - I forgot he was on the team... oops... but Bird has already made his presence known by taking Verlander deep on Monday for the Yankees lone run. I am telling you all, it will be good to have him in the lineup for everyone...
Aaron Judge has gotten hot again, in his last 7 games he has a .375/.500/.792 slash. He is going to be one of the guys to benefit with Bird being back - my hopes is Stanton will heat up as well.
The Bad:
David Roberston has not been pitching well. He clearly has been struggling to get outs, in 25.2 IP Robertson's ERA is sitting at a not so great 4.21 - he just doesn't seem like himself on the mound. Let's hope Larry Rothschild can figure him out. He started to take a step in the right direction last night in relief of Severino, giving up one hit and striking out two in the 8th inning. Robertson has been around for a while, I would look for him to build off this appearance... he may be down for now, but not for long.
Tyler Austin is still on the MLB roster. I think they're keeping him around to face left handed pitching. The splits favor him vs. lefties as he's hitting .255/.321/.553 against them. That's the only reason I think he's still with the big league team - I mean, it's nothing Neil Walker couldn't do. I like Tyler Austin, I like that he brings some edge to the team - but I don't feel like he's helping the team. In May he's seen his average drop to .222, and maybe his numbers even out if he's only facing lefties, but like I said... Neil Walker. I personally think it's a matter of time before they drop him to AAA and use Walker as the back-up first basemen. Then you might see Drury back up with the big league club.
Giancarlo Stanton has kind of flown under the radar of late. The Reigning NL MVP is in a bit of a slump, he's 4 for his last 27 - all singles. In fact, his last home run came on May 19th against Kansas City. He's actually struck out 12 times since that home run. This is not why Cashman went out and got him. I know when he first came over, he closed his stance to take aim at the short porch in right field - but to me, it doesn't seem like that approach is really working for him. And if he had so much success last season, why ever change it? If it ain't broke, right??
Aaron Hicks... I know I have made it very clear that I am not a big Aaron Hicks fan - but he's 4 for his last 26 with one extra base-hit (last night vs. Houston). I'm sorry, but I still haven't bought into his hype. I know he plays fantastic defense, but he's a career .232 hitter... I think the sample size is large enough. And then you have Clint Frazier in AAA hitting .341/.414/.636 (.317 since he was sent down after the Kansas City series). Ever since they traded for him from Minnesota, the organization has been so high on him... but I just think the Yankees have better options.
The Ugly:
Gary Sanchez. Gary has hardly been scary this season. The 2017 All Star has hit a paltry .211/.313/.485 so far this season. Yes, I think that is paltry. Despite those numbers, he has still hit 12 homers and driven in 35 runs. Last night, he had a two-run single, his first RBI since his multi-homer game in Kansas City on May 19. He is 2 for his last 23... and in that span he has looked so lost at the plate. Tuesday night, he came up with 2 out in the bottom of the 9th, and Judge on third - a chance to win the game, and he swung at three pitches nowhere near the strike zone. I mean, it was pretty evident that he went into the at-bat only looking for a fastball, did not change his approach at all. This is not the same Gary Sanchez. Meanwhile behind the plate - let me just say I can definitely notice when Romine is catching...
Today, the team starts an eleven game road trip that includes a make-up double header in Detroit. Tonight, they start a four game series in Baltimore (17-39) and need to make sure they don't play down to the level of their opponents. They can't afford to lose more ground to Boston in the standings, because they don't seem to ever lose. Baltimore is the second worst team in the American League to the White Sox (16-37) by .002 percentage points. This should be an easy series for the Yankees, but Baltimore took 3 of 4 from the Yankees in early April. This is, however a very different team since then...
Anyways, here are the scheduled starters for the Baltimore series:
Thursday 05/31: NYY (Sonny Gray, 3-4, 5.98 ERA) @ BAL (Andrew Cashner, 2-6, 5.07 ERA)
Friday 06/01: NYY (Masahiro Tanaka, 6-2, 4.62 ERA) @ BAL (Kevin Gausman, 3-4, 4.31 ERA)
Saturday 06/02: NYY (Domingo German, 0-3, 5.45 ERA) @ BAL (Alex Cobb, 1-7, 6.80 ERA)
Sunday 06/03: NYY (CC Sabathia, 2-1, 3.73 ERA) @ BAL (Dylan Bundy, 3-7, 4.46 ERA)
Today I read a very interesting article on a fellow blog site Pinstripe Alley comparing the Yankees strength of schedule to the Red Sox thus far. I dropped the link to the article below if you would like to read. Pinstripe Alley is always a good source of anything Yankees.
To summarize the article briefly, compared to the Yankees thus far, the quality of opponent the Red Sox have faced has been quite a bit less overall. In the 51 games the Yankees have played this season, approximately 47% have been against teams with a winning record. The Red Sox have only faced teams with winning records 33% of the time. Of those games against teams with a winning record, the Yankees are 17-8 and the Red Sox are only 10-8. Even with the small sample size, it seems that the Yankees have fared much better against teams with winning record. With the Red Sox slated to play more games against better teams, it makes you wonder if they will continue to win at the pace they have. It also makes you wonder if the Red Sox are only in first place right now because they have been beating up on weaker teams? Does this trend bode well for the Yankees going forward? What are your thoughts? After tonight, the Yankees will not face the Astros again during the regular season, Angels too. The key in all of this, is winning games against the teams you are supposed to beat. Anyways, give the article a read!
Please, tell me your thoughts! Leave comments below, let's get this discussion started!
Do you think I am being a little hard on Hicks, Sanchez, and Austin?
Should Ronald Torreyes have been the one that was sent down when Bird came back?
Should this be Domingo German's last chance to start vs. Baltimore on Saturday?
Do you think the Yankees strength of schedule vs. Boston's has anything to do with where they currently stand in the AL East? Do you think this works to the Yankees favor?