About Last Night: Yankees Top Guardians 4-0.

Paul Semendinger
12 hours ago
7 min read

by Paul Semendinger

June 6, 2025

***

Last night the Yankees defeated the Guardians 4-0.

Quick Stats:

Max Fried - 6 ip, 1 hit, 2 walks, 7 strikeouts, 0 runs
Cody Bellinger: HR, Single, 3 RBIs
Aaron Judge - On base 4 times (HBP, double, Two intentional walks)
Jazz Chisholm - 3 hits, rbi

The Game:

In the first inning, Max Fried pitched into a little trouble, with two outs, Jose Ramirex had an infield hit, he went to second on a failed pick-off throw, and stole third - then David Fry walked... but Fried pitched out of it.

The Yankees didn't score in the first inning.

The second and third innings then went by quietly, but in the bottom of the fourth, the Yankees finally broke out. Aaron Judge doubled (the first Yankees' hit of the game). Cody Bellinger followed that by hitting a two-run homer. Yankees 2, Guardians 0

The Yankees loaded the bases with no one out in the bottom of the fifth. Ben Rice then hit into a 4-2-3 double play. Aaron Judge was intentionally walked. The Cody Bellinger battled back from an 0-2 count to make it 3-2 before flying out to center.

In the sixth, Jazz Chisholm singled and an out later stole second and went to third when the thow went into centerfield. It mattered little, the Yanks couldn't score him.

Max Fried's night was over after six innings. Mark Leiter, Jr. came in to pitch for the Yanks. A mess followed. The Guardians loaded the bases with only one out. Tim Hill was brought in and he got a strikeout and a popout to get the Yankees out of the mess and the inning.

Then, the Yankees broke it open a bit. It started with an Oswald Peraza single, and then two outs later, an intential walk to Judge, and RBI single by Bellinger, and then an RBI single by Chisholm. Yankees 4, Cleveland 0

Tim Hill then pitched a scoreless eighth.

Jonathan Loaisiga pitched a scoreless ninth.

Yankes win 4-0!

Players of the Game:

Max Fried and Cody Bellinger

My Takes:

Aaron Judge's batting average is .391 and his on-base percentages is .493. Simply amazing.

***

I understand why they do it, but, I greatly dislike all the intentional walks Aaron Judge is getting. It takes so much of the fun out of the game. I get it. I do. But I don't like it.

***

Max Fried was at 91 pitches after five innings. The Yankees sent him back out to pitch the sixth inning. I was glad to see that. He then retired the side in order. (Whew!)

***

In baseball, there are little things that often go unnoticed that can make differences in games. On the play that loaded the bases for the Guardians, Anthony Volpe made a bad throw to try to force the runner at third. Jazz Chisholm, at third, was unable to glove Volpe's throw. The ball just got away from him. Most everyone looked at Volpe's throw - one that was not good. BUT, the way I saw it, Chisholm's right foot was on the wrong side of the bag giving him less coverage toward the outfield which was where the smart throw goes and was where the throw, bad as it was, went.

These are the tiny things, the nuances, that can change games. A veteran third baseman would know where to put his feet. Chisholm is learning the position. The footwork at third is different than other positions (obviously). There is no stat to measure Chisholm's small mistake. No one will remember it. The vast majority didn't even see it. But, to my eye, it was a nuance that he has not yet learned or maybe mastered.

That play cost the Yankees an out and it ended Mark Leiter's night. It forced the Yankees to bring in Tim Hill. Maybe Hill comes in anyway in that situation, but it would have been with two outs rather than one, or maybe Mark Leiter would have gotten another batter. Who knows? None of that is the point. I saw a situation where I could show what I saw as something that is part of Jazz Chisholm's learning curve as he adapts to a new position. Since I saw it, I wrote about it. (What's the alternative - to notice things and not write about them?)

These are the nuances of the game. The tiny things. The Yankees need Chisholm to be Major League excellent where he plays and I simply do not believe players can get to that level without years and years of repetition and in-game action. There is simply no way to make up for years of experience in the short term. It is impossible.

For example, Alex Bregman has played over 9,100 innings as a professional at third. Rafael Devers has played more than 11,000 innings there. Brett Baty, a young player, has played 3,607 innings at third base. Jazz Chisholm has played 438 innings. There is, absolutely, no way to make up for that kind of experience with pure athleticism. Yes, Jazz is very athletic, but the others are also professional athletes. They are also quite athletic. (Obviously.)

I was talking to a former MLB player a few months ago. We were discussing hitting. He held his hands in two positions to show me what a batter was doing incorrectly. ("The batter's hands are there but they should be here.") I have to be honest, I didn't see the difference between the two places where he held his hands. But to a professional, someone who sees the game and knows the game, the difference, a nuance, was vast.

Years ago I mentored a principal. This leader played Division 1 college football for a big time school and later a little professional football. While in my olffice, he noticed a few binders I had on a shelf and said, "We had more binders than that, filled, that I had to memorize." Those binders covered every single play and every situation on the field. He said that every single play had more components involved than anyone not part of the game could ever see or even imagine. Little things matter, like footwork and where a player holds his hands on the snap. On and on. He noted that when he watches football, he sees a completely different game than even the most knowledgeable fan does. Football (like all sports) is built on nuances that make a difference. The same is true with baseball. The game is not as simple as it looks on TV.

One last note, I was watching a game the other night. I don't remember the specifics, but the announcers were noting how a pitcher changed his footwork on the pitching rubber and his entire career changed. A small thing. A nuance. It changed his career. No fan, anywhere, I am sure, ever noticed that change. But that small modification helped his career. In sports, the little things matter. Absolutely.

Last year I noted how Anthony Rizzo didn't back-up a critical play in the World Series. Some people last year pushed back and argued when I noticed this. They blamed Juan Soto (fairly) who made a poor throw. They blamed Gleyber Torres (fairly), for not catching the throw, but most didn't even know that Rizzo failed to back-up the play. They didn't see what I saw there. Earlier this year, I was watching a game with Ethan, and the same exact situatiion took place. We watched the first baseman trail the runner. I said, "That's what Rizzo didn't do last year." Veteran players, of course, also make mistakes.

When I notice things, I am going to point them out. Last night I tried to educate to show a very real example of how playing a position involves a host of small things that only become muscle memory through years of focused work. These things are not learned and internalized in the short term. They can't be. It's impossible for them to be. We accept this as fact for every high level skill in every situation. Excellence takes time. Mastery takes more time. Much more time. It is no different in baseball. And a player playing a position at the Major League level should be at or approaching the mastery level - especially for a team that has designs on a World Championship. (This is all so obvious, I am amazed that some debate this point.)

Overall, by and large Jazz Chisholm has played pretty well at third. But, he still, of course, has a lot to learn. And he will continue to have a lot to learn. Even after this season. The concern is that he's playing there in games the Yankees need to win. Except in rare circumstances, I'm not a big fan of "on the job training" during Major League games.

In a similar light, as I have noted, if the Yankees feel that George Lombard Jr. has a future as a Yankee, and if they are also committed to playing Anthony Volpe at shortstop for the next many years, then the time is now for Lombard to get regular game action at a position other than shortstop. They both can't play there. To date, Lombard has played more than 1,000 innings as a professional at short, but just 215 at second base and only 116 at third base. The only way Lombard will be a MLB quality third baseman or second baseman will to be get game action in those positions. The time to begin that process is now. It's actualy past time for that.

***

Moving on...

Here are the results of the Yankees' last many series dating back to May 5:

Padres - Won 2 of 3

A's - Won 2 of 3

Mariners - Won 2 of 3

Mets - Won 2 of 3

Rangers - Won 3 of 3

Rockies - Won 2 of 3

Angels - Won 3 of 3

Dodgers- Lost 2 of 3

Guardians - Won 2 of 3