I think I am going to drop the "Quick Thoughts" article series, as it turns out my thoughts are no longer "quick". Please let me know what you think.
The Yankees faced off with their top rival over the weekend - the Boston Red Sox. This was as series that had me pretty concerned, as the Red Sox continue to play well this season - the Yankees have seemed to struggle here and there of late, and a series against one of the top teams in baseball would surely expose their weaknesses, right? I at least figured this series to be a tight, close scoring match-up filled with pitcher's duels, comebacks and clutch home runs. It was anything but close...
Friday, the Yankees sent out veteran CC Sabathia and he was dealing. Sabathia has been pretty great this year, hasn't he? A few weeks ago, CC indicated that this could very well be his final big league season and with the way he has been pitching, he may have a very tough decision to make come the off-season. In the month of June (Friday night included) Sabathia has pitched to a tune of 3-2 with a 1.93 ERA and 1.19 WHIP, lowering his ERA for the season down to a fantastic 3.02. Sabathia pitched 7.0 great innings against Boston, giving up one run on 6 hits and only walking ONE batter. CC has become a complete pitcher now that he cannot rely on overpowering hitters like he did when he was young. It took him a few seasons to learn that, but combine this season and last season, he has been fantastic. More than just a leader in the clubhouse, he is able to mix his pitches and keep hitters off-balance - limiting solid contact. I really hope he is able to carry this through the rest of the season, as the Yankees will need him down the stretch.
As if a dominating start from CC wasn't enough, the offense made its mark on this game as well. The Yanks would score EIGHT runs and smack FOUR home runs. The offense has been hitting home runs at a historic pace - I will get into that more shortly. Miguel Andujar (12) and Greg Bird (4) would go back-to-back in the 4th inning, Aaron Judge (21) would add one in the 7th inning and Greg Bird (5) would hit his second of the game in the 8th inning. The Yankees would win Game One of this series by a final score of 8-1. Nice.
Before this game, Cashman would call-up Brandon Drury from AAA (Luis Cessa was sent down after his start on Wednesday). It is believed that Drury was called up to split time at First Base with the struggling Greg Bird. They were originally going to call-up Tyler Austin, but he actually was experiencing some inflammation in his back and would be placed on the AAA Disabled List. This is actually a little unfortunate for the Yankees, if they could have kept Drury in AAA until today (July 2nd), they would have actually gained an extra year of team control, which would have really increased his trade value prior to this year's trade deadline. But, that didn't quite work out as planned - oh well, Drury needs to perform when called upon to play to either be an adequate platoon player with Bird, or to up his trade value.
Speaking of Bird, it was great to see him hit two homers on Friday. One was actually an opposite field homer. Seriously, if he could get hot it would be great for not only him, but eliminate the hole the Yankees have had at first base since Teixeira. Since coming off the disabled list Bird has struggled mightily. I was hoping Friday's multi-homer game was enough to spark a nice hot streak, but Bird sat in game two, and then was the only Yankee not to get on base during Sunday's onslaught (there's always one guy...)
In all the ways that the first game against Boston was a success... game two was not. The Yankees had Sonny Gray starting against Chris Sale for Boston. One pitcher was on top of their game, the other was not... care to guess which describes Sonny Gray's performance on Saturday night?
Sonny Gray has had flashes of brilliance since being traded here, but for the most part he has disappointed. I am not sure if it's because of his stuff or pitching for New York. I think his mechanics are off, I think he is definitely a rhythm pitcher. He NEEDS to establish a good rhythm/tempo when he pitches and not waste time or take his time between pitches. If he cannot establish a consistent tempo because he cannot locate his pitches, then your result is what happened Saturday. Gray threw 68 pitches, 46 of which were strikes, that's almost a 2:1 ratio of strikes:balls. The problem was that he could not make it through the third inning before giving up 6 runs on 7 hits (2 walks) and a Grand Slam to Rafael Devers in the first inning. Facing Chris Sale is already a challenge, putting the offense in a 4-0 hole to start the game? Well, that's just not fair. Gray has continued to own up to his poor performance this year saying "I haven't beat a lot of teams since I've been here, I've been bad against the Red Sox, I've been bad against a lot of teams. I don't think one particular team you can say has my number. I've been bad against multiple teams." Yikes. I have a lot of respect of Sonny Gray or anyone that can be so critical about themselves. He continued by saying "I feel like we're the best team in baseball four out of five days, to come out and do that... it just sucks." Sonny, I am rooting for you... the Yankees gave up a lot to get him - I would love to see him turn his season around and not become Carl Pavano 2.0.
Chris Sale was dominant, it was almost as if the Yankee hitters weren't even bringing a bat up to hit with them... Sale tossed 7.0 innings and struck out 11 Yankees. He only gave up ONE hit (Stanton) and ONE walk (Romine). I wasn't even close, as the Yankees lost 11-0.
Game three, the stage was set for a very good pitching match-up: Luis Severino vs. David Price. Severino has been lights out all season and is definitely a Cy Young Award candidate - Price has been up and down all season - but had been pitching much better of late. The problem for Price is (for a while now) the Yankees have had his number. Earlier this season on April 11th, Price only threw one inning against the Yanks giving up 4 runs on 3 hits. The Yankees were locked in on him right from the start. Aaron Judge crushed his 22nd home run of the season to set the tone. The Yankees would ultimately hit SIX home runs in this game - FIVE of which were off of David Price. Price would throw 3.1 innings and give up EIGHT RUNS to the Yankees. Price was so dominant against the Yankees when he was in Tampa - its amazing to see how well they have handled him since he has left. This season against New York, David Price has started two games, thrown 4.1 innings - giving up 12 earned runs and if my calculations are correct, he owns a 24.92 ERA. Big difference between him and Sale.
In this game, the Yankees rattled off 16 hits. Four players had multi-hit games (Hicks, Judge, Stanton, and Andujar) and as mentioned earlier the team clubbed SIX home runs (Judge, Torres, Higashioka and THREE from Aaron Hicks). You read that correctly, Aaron Hicks hit his 12th, 13th, and 14th home runs in this game. And he has been RED-HOT of late - in his last 15 games he is hitting .305 AVG with 8 HR and 12 RBI. Yes, I know I haven't had much of a soft spot for Aaron Hicks this season, but I do love to be proved wrong. There clearly was a reason why this team was so high on him, and it looks like their patience with him is starting to pay off. I just hope he can maintain some level of this the rest of the season. Unfortunately, he may be playing Brett Gardner off the team.
Severino continued his brilliance, silencing this tough Red Sox lineup. Severino threw 6.2 innings only giving up 2 hits and striking out 6. He gave an ACE performance in a game where his team need him to do so. He is exciting to watch.
One last note from this series, Austin Romine is day to day after being taken out of the game on Saturday for his hamstring but should be okay to play in this series against the Atlanta Braves. Kyle Higashioka got the start behind the plate and finally recorded his first MLB hit (hitless in his first 22 AB), stroking a long fly ball into the second deck in Left Field off David Price. Congratulations Kyle, you were due and you earned it!
As I had mentioned, the Yankees host the Atlanta Braves for three games starting today. The Braves are in first place in the NL East (48-34) with a 3.0 game lead over the Phillies. This will be an exciting series, as the Braves this season are basically the Yankees last season. Many of their top prospects have surfaced in the MLB this year, most notably second-baseman Ozzie Albies and outfielder Ronald Acuna. This should be a good series.
The probable starters are as follows:
Monday, July 2: ATL (Anibal Sanchez, 3-2, 2.68 ERA) @ NYY (Jonathan Loaisiga, 2-0, 1-93 ERA)
Tuesday, July 3: ATL (Sean Newcomb, 8-2, 2.71 ERA) @ NYY (Domingo German, 2-4, 5.32 ERA)
Wednesday, July 4: ATL (Julio Teheran, 6-5, 4.21 ERA) @ NYY (CC Sabathia, 5-3, 3.02 ERA)
Should be a good, fun matchup this week.
Anyways, today is International Signing Day - I don't know much about this process, but I know the Yankees are looking to add many top International Prospects (including Luis Severino's younger brother Rafael). I will look into this and add more on this in the future.
Also, today Miguel Andujar was named the AL Rookie of the Month. Deservedly so.
What are your thoughts on the series with the Red Sox? What is your confidence level?
What do you think about Aaron Hick's recent surge?
Do you think the Yankees are too reliant on the Home Run? I do...
Please share your thoughts! I'd love to see what you have to say!