By Ethan Semendinger
July 26th, 2023
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They say to meet the Mets. They don't say to get beat by the Mets. The Yankees did both last night.
Quick Stats -
Winning Pitcher: Justin Verlander (5-5, 3.24 ERA)
Losing Pitcher: Domingo German (5-7, 4.77 ERA)
Save: N/A
Home Runs (New York): Pete Alonso (27 & 28), Daniel Vogelbach (7)
Home Runs (New York): None
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Big Story - This past weekend the Yankees after a losing road trip, returned home with a sweep of the Kansas City Royals. In an article published in the New York Post yesterday afternoon, John Heyman wrote that Hal Steinbrenner was in attendance and he was, "said to be heartened enough by what he saw in the sweep to believe they are unlikely to engineer a selloff even if things worsen and they go 1-4 or 0-5 this week".
That's not hyperbole. I'm not taking the quote out of context. I'm not paraphrasing. You can read that quote in the 2nd to last paragraph in the article listed here.
The Yankees owner- and through him the entire organization- are in hopeful moods because they swept a team that had a .286 winning percentage going into last weekend.
On one hand, it's comforting knowing that the Yankees owner is interested in keeping the team competitive. Hal is obviously looking past the (many) poor performances, looking at the standings, and hoping for the best. Understandably, this is also his livelihood and his business and it makes the most sense to stay publicly optimistic, but it's nice.
On the other hand, it's time for Hal Steinbrenner to learn that beating a team that's been out of the playoff race since Opening Day is not impressive. It's time for him to recognize that the Yankees have many glaring holes that can't be addressed to fit his desires in one trade deadline.
A little while back it was stated that Hal Steinbrenner wants to get the Yankees payroll under the $273 Million threshold. That would mean clearing out a few salaries. That would seem to signal a motion to sell as the Yankees current payroll is above that threshold.
But now he wants to buy...
With what "available" financial space does he have to bring in contracts? (Note: He has more than enough too buy, but he's convinced Yankees fans to care more about the almighty dollar than the team. So let's hold him to the same standard.)
How is he going to address the lack of a left fielder?
How about third base?
Catcher?
The Mets are in a terrible spot this season. Their owner, Steve Cohen, has noticed this and could be interested in trading away players on expiring deals. He understands the sport, the position the Mets are in, and the way in which a smart team operates.
Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, David Robertson, Tommy Pham, and Omar Narvaez have all been rumored and speculated about in trade talk to help get ready for the 2024 season. (Even players like Jeff McNeil have drawn some interest online too.)
But the Yankees won't acknowledge what we can all see in front of us: this team is heavily flawed and at the very least they should be trading away expiring contracts.
To highlight this further, this is the Yankees line-up they put out to face off in an ever-important Subway Series:
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Player(s) of the Game - Not tonight. No pitcher looked good. No hitter had more than 1 hit.
Justin Verlander: 6.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 4 BB's, 6 K's
Pete Alonso: 3-4, 2 Home Runs, 2 Runs, 5 RBI's, BB
Notable Performances - Notable should not mean 1 hit or a walk...
DJ LeMahieu: 0-2, 3 BB's
Gleyber Torres: 1-4, BB
Anthony Volpe: 1-3, Double, Run, RBI, BB
Better to Forget - Domingo is a No-Go.
Domingo German: 6.0 IP, 7 H, 6 R (6 ER), 1 BB, 9 K's, 3 HR's
Ron Marinaccio: 0.1 IP, 2 H, 2 R (2 ER), 1 BB, 1 K
Anthony Rizzo: 0-5, 2 K's
Jake Bauers: 0-5, 2 K's
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My Take - The Yankees are actively trying to rush Aaron Judge back to be with the team. To come back to this. Two different players tonight for the Yankees went 0-5 at the plate! Just one everyday player in the line-up tonight is hitting over .250 after the game. That one player is Gleyber Torres with a whopping .264 AVG. (I'm not counting IKF or McKinney who are hitting .254 and .253 respectively.)
In the game last night the Yankees quickly fell behind 1-0 in the first inning after a trio of Volpe, McKinney, and Bader allowed a ball to drop in between all three of them on a Pete Alonso blooper. Harrison Bader was out of position and didn't get to the ball in time.
Two innings later, Pete Alonso hit a 3-run home run to move the score to 4-0 and by that point I knew the game was over. In the top of the 3rd inning I knew the Yankees were going to lose.
They then left Domingo German out there to allow another home run to Pete Alonso in 6th, and then a back-to-back blast to Daniel Vogelbach. Remember before the All-Star break when they pulled German after 74 pitches and 6 innings of work in a 3-1 game? This is what happens when you mess with routine. (They lost that game against the Cubs 7-4 after the Cubs scored 3 in the 7th, 2 in the 8th, and 1 in the 9th after German was pulled, by the way.)
Justin Verlander was great- as always- against the Yankees. They didn't stand a chance and didn't get their first run until after he was out of the game, thanks to a Mets bullpen that couldn't locate the plate to save their lives.
All this and I didn't even get to the many defensive miscues from last night either! I mentioned the bloop in the first, but Harrison Bader and Jake Bauer's weren't in communication and ran into each other on a fly ball in the 3rd inning. Anthony Volpe threw a ball away on a Francisco Lindor single in the 7th. Harrison Bader misplayed a different Francisco Lindor single to the outfield in the 9th, allowing Brandon Nimmo to advance to 3rd.
What did we get last night?
Poor pitching,
Practically no hitting,
Sloppy defense,
and a loss.
And remember, this is the team that has Hal Steinbrenner, "heartened" by their performance.
What a joke.
(Oh, the Angels won yesterday. They're now 1 game back of the Yankees and the consensus is that they are going to sell the single greatest player in the MLB right now. Their GM isn't touting the return of Mike Trout from the IL as a sign of "good things to come".)
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Next Up - The Yankees and Mets will play another tonight in the Bronx at 7:05 PM. Amazingly- and I don't mean Amazonly- the game is going to be on both SNY and the YES Network. A subway series game at the end of July is going to be watchable and not on a streaming service! That's something to celebrate! In other news, it is going to be a battle of two injured starting pitchers between Jose Quintana (0-1, 3.60 ERA, 3 K's) and Carlos Rodon (0-3, 7.36 ERA, 11 K's).
