By Mike Whiteman 7/2/2023 *** On this day in 1941, Joe DiMaggio ripped a three-run home run in the Yankees’ 8-4 win over the Boston Red Sox. The round-tripper extended his hitting streak to 45 games, breaking the record set by Willie “Hit em where they ain’t” Keeler of the 1897 Baltimore Orioles.
Here is the box score:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYA/NYA194107020.shtml
As we know, The Yankee Clipper went on to have hits in each of the next eleven games, ending with a 56-game hitting streak. This standard is considered by some to be one of the “unbreakable” baseball records
Quick Stats: The Yankees are 46-37 on the season, 9.5 games behind Tampa Bay in the American League East. They are hanging onto the second AL Wild Card spot. Their .554 winning percentage projects to 90 wins for season. The Yankees’ drubbing in the first game ended the streak of nine straight wins in games I blogged. I’m still a solid 10-1 on the year. Big Story: The first half of the doubleheader was just dreadful. The Cardinals jumped on Luis Severino in the third inning, putting a five spot on the scoreboard, with Paul Goldschmidt’s three-run home run drawing the first blood. They added a couple more in the fourth when Nolan Gorman smacked another home run. They wheels totally fell off when they added four more in the fifth off of Severino and reliever Matt Krook. The Yankee offensive prowess in Oakland seemed a long time ago, as they could only scratch out four singles against St. Louis starter Jack Flaherty. They finally got on the scoreboard in the seventh when Oswaldo Cabrera singled in Isiah Kiner-Falefa. After an eighth inning rain delay, we got to see the spectacle of Josh Donaldson pitching, and he hurled a 1-2-3 frame. The Yanks added three more garbage time runs in the ninth but the Cards cruised to an easy 11-4 win. In the second contest, The Yankees got on the scoreboard right away via a Harrison Bader sacrifice fly in the first, and after the Cardinals tied it in the bottom of the frame, Anthony Volpe tripled in IKF the next inning, and DJ LeMahieu added a sacrifice fly of his own. The Yanks had a 3-1 lead after two innings, and in this game that was deemed a “bullpen game”, the league’s best pen came through again. Mike King did the heavy lifting eating up 3.1 innings, and he did it with an efficient 36 pitches. After King, Wandy Peralta, Tommy Kahnle and Clay Holmes threw three hitless innings to lock down the win.
Holmes had some breathing room, as the Yanks added three runs in the ninth on a pretty safety squeeze bunt by Jose Trevino which scored IKF and a two-run single from Gleyber Torres.
Yankees gainde the split with a 6-2 victory.
Player of the Game: The bullpen was the star in the nightcap win, and King really came up big.
Notable Performances: Anthony Volpe continues to play well – he had two hits each game. He has added over thirty points to his batting average over the past two weeks. Per baseball-reference.com, he is on pace for a WAR of almost four for the season. The last Yankee shortstop to reach that level was Didi Gregorius in 2018…IKF, playing right field, also had four hits on the day, three in the second contest. He is hitting .455 in his last eight games, and is now batting .260 for the year…Tommy Kahnle has yet to allow a run over twelve outings this season.
Carlos Rodon threw 3.2 scoreless innings for High-A Hudson Valley, tossing 58 pitches. It is likely his next start will be Friday in the Bronx against the Cubs.
Better to Forget: Severino looked bad in the first game, and has thrown mostly clunkers over the past month. They Said It: “This whole year has been concerning for me. I want to be able to go out there and help my team. It’s frustrating that I can’t do that.” – Luis Severino on his struggles. “I enjoy moving around, I feel more valuable. Frees me up a lot and I have a lot of fun doing it” – Isiah Kiner Falefa on his utility role after the second game. My take: Give credit to the team for coming back with a strong effort after the first game mess, that puts them in the position to take the series with a win today. As any Yankee fan knows, the season has not gone as scripted. The team pushed its chips in the middle on a lockdown pitching staff in the offseason, banking on four ace-quality starters. Of course, only Gerrit Cole has lived up to expectations. Health issues have plagued Carlos Rodon, Nestor Cortes, and Severino. We’ve recently received good news on the injury front on Rodon and Cortes. Severino is already recovered from is injury, but he has been dreadful, sporting a 6.30 ERA in eight starts. One of the main hopes of those of us who haven’t thrown in the towel on the team is the planned stingy rotation comes together in the second half and takes pressure off of the struggling offense, and also keeps the bullpen from burning out. The Yankees really don’t have the trade resources to upgrade the hitting and pitching in season, so I don’t think the team will add to the mound corps at the trade deadline. So, we need Sevvy to get right.
Next Up: Today the Yanks go for another series win. Gerrit Cole (8-1, 2.78) toes the rubber against old friend Jordan Montgomery (5-7, 3.52). With the bullpen a bit worn, they can use some distance from their ace.
