by Paul Semendinger
April 9, 2024
***
About Last Night - The Yankees won 7-0 over the Miami Marlins.
Quick Stats:
WP- Nestor Cortes
LP- Jesus Luzardo
HR (Yankees) - Anthony Volpe, Juan Soto
Big Story - As far as I am concerned, the big story last night was Nestor Cortes. In Cortes' first two starts, he struggled early putting himself (and the team) in a deep hole. That certainly wasn't the case last night as he retired the first ten batters he faced before allowing a lone single in the fourth inning. He then retired eight more batters in a row before allowing another single to lead off the seventh inning. He then retired the final six batters he faced. It was a brilliant performance. Brilliant. This was vintage Nestor Cortes. Eight shutout innings from Nestor Cortes. It doesn't get better than that.
Player(s) of the Game - The Player of the Game, without question, was Nestor Cortes.
Notable Performances -
Anthony Volpe - It was his three-run homer, in the bottom of the fourth, that put the Yankees on the board.
Juan Soto - His three-run homer, also in the bottom of the fourth, basically put the game away
Giancarlo Stanton - Who is this guy? In the bottom of the fourth, he singled... and then went first to third when Anthony Rizzo singled. What? I checked the stats. The last time Stanton went first to third on a single was 435 B.C. (I might be off by a year or two.) He had two more hits and scored two runs. Amazing.
Alex Verdugo - Three hits and a walk and flawless defense.
Better to Forget - The Yankees are 9-2. They're on pace to win 132 games in the regular season. There isn't much I need to forget about with the Yankees right now.
My Take (A List of Thoughts) - Spoiler Alert, I have a host of articles in the queue. I had a "Perspectives" article for yesterday that I delayed because of the great articles from Cary Greene and E.J. Fagan that were more timely. I moved my "Perspectives" to today at 10:00 a.m. (pre-empting the Tuesday Discussion). I'll have more thoughts, in general, not game specific, there.
Sometimes when a hot team (the 8-2 Yankees) takes on a cold team (the 1-9 Marlins), the better team comes out flat. An easy win isn't always an easy win. Last night was an easy win.
Anthony Volpe has been amazing. His homer set the tone. It took the pressure off after the Yanks had been unable to score for three innings. After Soto's homer, the rest of the game had a super relaxed feel.
Jon Berti laid down a great bunt. It is good to see a guy on the Yankees who can do the little things.
Anthony Volpe is looking more and more like a big leaguer. He even talked to the home plate ump about the fact that the umpire had missed some calls. Volpe is proving he belongs. I have said this before, but he didn't have that "eye of the tiger" last year.
It was great that the bullpen had the day off, at least in regard to pitching in critical spots and having to get big outs.
Josh Maciejewski made his Major League debut pitching for the Yankees in the ninth inning. He got the three players to ground out to Jon Berti at third.
Next Up - This series continues tonight at 7:05. Carlos Rodon takes the mound for the Yankees against A.J. Puk for the Marlins.
The Yankees then play again on Wednesday before a day off on Thursday.
