Hey, guys. I didn’t recap the win from 2 days ago, so I’ve got a nice DOUBLE recap coming at you right now. Tuesday night’s game was a lot of fun! Yesterday? Ehhh, not so much….
But did we really try? It honestly seems like Boone took an L on purpose last night. He’s much more focused on that team from Boston coming into town tomorrow. I honestly don’t disagree with the move.
Boonie, you’ve been making some sharper moves, as of late. Ever since your boneheaded idea to throw Shreve into that tie game in Tampa, you’ve really stepped your game up. Did you order a How to Manage an MLB Superteam for Dummies book on Amazon? Do they make those? Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised.
And I can totally imagine Boone sitting in a chair at home, with a glass of warm milk and a pair of fancy slippers, reading a book on how to be a better manager. Maybe Cashman sent it to him as a wake-up call. Kind of like when a teacher assigns an extra book report to a struggling student. Picture this:
Boone sitting and drinking his warm milk, reading the manager’s book for dummies. His wife walks down the stairs to the living room…“Aaron are you coming to bed yet? It’s 2 in the morning!
Get off my ass, Laura! If I don’t finish reading this book by tomorrow, Brian is gonna kill me! He’s going to quiz me on it!”
Poor, Boonie.
Okay, without further ado (nice little return of a Shakespeare phrase), let’s recap!
HICKSY
"I'M A BOSS" Aaron Hicks (probably)
Just like that, the Yankees take the lead#YANKSonYES
http://yesnet.me/NYYvsPHI
Our polarizing center fielder got the party started with a solo shot, REAL QUICK. Now this didn’t have the same flair as a Gardy Party leadoff homer. Nothing beats a Gardy Party, let’s be real.
But this was still pretty good.
He is also is tied with Giancarlo for the most Yankee homers since June 5th (6 dingers). The haters need to cool off! For now…
We tacked on 3 more runs in the 3rd inning, thanks to a 2 run single by GLEYBER (insert comment about him being unreal) and a 1 run single by Greg “I’m very impressed he hasn’t re-injured himself yet” Bird. 4-0
Hicksy continued his stellar play, as of late, with a nice sac fly in the 4th. 5-0.
We didn’t need any more runs, but Didi wanted to add a little insult to the Phillies’ injury with a solo shot of own. Hey, I’m all for it!
Make that 15 HR & 43 RBI for Sir Didi!
Oh and I haven’t even talked about Sevy yet!
SEVY. CY YOUNG SEVY. This is a baaaaaaaaad man. We also gave him wayyy too many runs. He only would have needed one!
Most Starts 1 R or Fewer Allowed Since 2017:
Luis Severino 24
Max Scherzer 22
Chris Sale 22
Justin Verlander 22
The man is incredible (Note: I called him a man and not a kid because he is, in fact, older than me). And only 24 years old.
He is going to be the best pitcher in Major League Baseball soon enough. The argument could be made that he is already the best – but I won’t get ahead of myself.
But he is hurtling towards that #1 spot at a record speed.
On Tuesday night, he was really bringing his A game (A for Ace. Because he’s an Ace, if you didn’t realize yet):
7 IP, 6 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks, 9 K’s
Oh, and he is now 12-2. TWELVE WINS. We are not even in July yet! Are you kidding me?! This dude is racking up more wins than Charlie Sheen.
Remember when I started pondering the idea of Sevy winning 20 games this season? Yeah, I’m feeling very confident that will happen. I know he still has to win 8 more, but he is so dialed in right now. It is definitely difficult not to anticipate our first 20 game winner since CC in 2010.
What a season so far for Sevy…can’t wait to see the rest of it.
Adam Warren took care of the 8th, but then all of Yankees Nation held their breath, as Boone went with Shreve in the 9th.
Eh, maybe we weren’t that worried, collectively. To be fair, we gave him a 6 run cushion. I still don’t understand how Shreve was not DFA’d after the Rays loss. I really don’t want you on the roster, Chasen – you’re a scrub.
HOWEVER, I will continue to tolerate his presence on the condition that Boone only throws him out there in blowouts. But if he comes into a tied or 1 run game again, I will flip a shit. Honestly, I think the majority of Yankee fans would straight up riot if Shreve gets a relief appearance in another close game.
Thankfully, shitty Shreve spared us from potential heart attacks, allowing only one walk in the 9th. He was able to take care of business besides that and get the job done.
Hey, Didi, did we win again?
Thanks, Didi.
Okay, let’s quickly run through yesterday’s insignificant loss. Because insignificant is the perfect way to describe it.
It is almost if we didn’t fully try…Hmmm
(Spoiler alert: We didn’t fully try)
As I said above, it was pretty apparent that Boone wanted to focus on Boston, so he took his foot off the gas pedal. I support it.
But wow. What a slap in the face to the Phillies! It was a total alpha move on the part of us. We basically said to them
“Hey Philly. We already beat you in this series and we have a much more important match-up coming up on Friday. We don’t really care about you, so we’re gonna rest a bunch of our starters and throw out a scrub pitcher, just to take the day off. Sorry – enjoy the win!”
Damn. Total boss move. If I was a Phillies fan I’d feel humiliated. Embarrassed. And I’d feel like a total loser. Poor guys. Glad I’m not one of them!
There were multiple indications that Boone decided to take things easier last night. First off, he gave Luis “The most below average pitcher ever” Cessa a start…LUIS CESSA?!
I could rest my case of “taking the night off” right there and then. Boone specifically did this in order to push CC’s start to Friday vs Boston.
Side note: Another smart move by Boone! Giving the veteran the nod vs. the Red Sox is easily the right decision.
Okay, back to the signs that we took the night off. In addition to Cessa, Boone gave two of ours starters the night off, in Judge and Bird. Technically, he rested three of them – Romine, who is the starting catcher while Teddy Bear Gar is on the DL, was also given the night off, as Kyle Higashioka got the start.
Sooo, Cessa on the mound. Judge, Bird, and Romine on the bench. Can you tell, by now, that we took the night off? I mean, our bottom 3 hitters were Walker, Higgy, and Cessa for crying out loud!
“Crying out loud” is such a weird phrase. And yes, I am about to rant about a phrase I just typed. That is becoming a staple of mine…when did “crying out loud” become synonymous with being frustrated or pissed off? I think it’s stupid and doesn’t make a lot of sense.
I’m taking a stand! I will no longer write “crying out loud” in any of my future blogs. BOOK IT. Okay, did you enjoy that little sidebar rant? No? Well, I don’t care!
Back to baseball.
Our B-level lineup was dead as hell – they couldn’t mount any sort of offensive production. Cessa gave up a 3-run homer in the 2nd inning and that was the extent of the Philadelphia scoring.
After Cessa was pulled, our B-level relievers did their job. Well, let me rephrase. Our B-level reliever, Giovanny Gallegos, did his job.
Because there is NOTHING B-level about Jonathan Holder. This man has been absolute monster. What a story.
He truly has come out of nowhere and he is now an irreplaceable part of this bullpen. You’ve got to give him credit. A spot opened up for a new contributor after Tommy Kahnle was sent down to Triple A, and saying he has answered the call is a total understatement.
Domingo Germán came in for the last inning, which was a little odd, to say the least. Did Boone just want to keep his arm loose?
Or with Tanaka getting closer to returning, has Domingo lost his spot in the rotation?
Is Boone going to go with a starting 5 of Sevy-Sonny-CC-Tanka-and Lasagna? Maybe. I could definitely see that happening.
Anyways, I’ll wrap things up here! 3-0 loss. Yawn. Not sweating this L at all.
Tonight is an off-day, which is perfect because I have a date tonight…
CLUTCH. Now I don’t have to frantically check my phone for the game’s score, or pretend I’m looking at the girl and not the TV screen behind her. I’ve done that before during Yankees games, and it is a struggle.
But thankfully, I don’t have to worry about that!
Now, tomorrow starts the big one….
A 3-game set, at home, against the goddamn Red Sox. I. AM. PUMPED.
I was lucky enough to go to my first Yanks/Red Sox game back in May and it was fuckin’ amazing. As of right now, I don’t have tickets purchased for this series.
But I wouldn’t count myself out of a potential impulse buy. I’ll let you guys know if I end up going to one of the three games!
I’m so ready for this series though. Let’s beat the shit out this fucking team!
LET’S GO YANKS