By Mike Whiteman May 20, 2024 Happy Birthday to David Wells! "Boomer" had a short but memorable (68-28, 3.90) tenure in Pinstripes, including his 1998 perfect game. https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYA/NYA199805170.shtml Born on this day in 1946 was Bobby Murcer. One of the true good guys of baseball. If he wasn't "the next Mickey Mantle" he still had an excellent playing career (.277/.357/.445, 124 OPS+) and was a fine broadcaster. A great Yankee.
https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/Bobby-Murcer/ Born on this day in 1921 was Hal Newhouser. What does Hal Newhouser have to do with the Yankees? Well the Hall of Fame pitcher and later scout for the Houston Astros lobbied hard for his team to use the first pick in the 1992 draft on a high school shortstop - Derek Jeter. Thankfully for the Yankees, Newhouser's employer rejected his recommendation, Jeter was selected sixth overall by the Yankees, and the journey to captain and franchise icon started. Quick Stats: The Yankees are 33-15 on the season. They have won seven games in row and are in first place in the American League East. In way too early odds, baseball-reference calculated that going into play yesterday the Yanks had a 92.4% chance of making he playoffs, and a 6.4% of winning it all. The Yankees' team ERA of 2.81 is the best in all of baseball In a show of offensive balance, the Yanks have seven players with 20 or more RBI, the most in all of baseball. They have three players with with 10+ home runs, also leading MLB. Big Story: Carlos Rodon has had a feel like AJ Burnett in his short Yankee tenure. Great stuff, intense competitor, but not totally sure what you'll get day to day. The lefty struggled in the early going, but righted the ship to log another quality start for the rotation, running his record to a solid 5-2, 3.27. After falling behind 2-0 early, the Yankee offensive machine revved up and put seven runs on the board, the big blows being home runs by Jon Berti (his first in New York) and Aaron Judge (his 13thof the season, third in MLB).
When a very good team plays a very bad team, the very good team should win most of the time. That's exactly what happened this weekend. The very good Yanks completed the sweep of the very bad White Sox. Yankees 7, White Sox 2. Player of the Game: Berti had two hits on the day, including the three-run homer in the fourth that broke a 2-2 tie and put the Yanks in the lead for good. Notable Performances: Jose Trevino had a two-run single and is batting .284 to compliment his usual excellent defense, displayed again yesterday when he alertly picked off Chisox second baseman Zach Remillard at third base to end the second inning...The 7-8-9 part of the lineup (Gleyber Torres, Trevino, Berti) had five hits, three runs scored and five RBI...Michael Tonklin hurled two and a third innings of scoreless relief, tired a bit at the end, but has a 0.00 ERA as the thirteenth guy on the pitching staff...Judge's home run was his seventh of May, and he's batting .386 for the month. Better to Forget: Alex Verdugo had a single in four at bats. He's hitting .238 with two home runs while batting in the fourth spot of the batting order. Doesn't look like he's long for that critical spot in the order - except that the Yankees are 12-2 with Verdugo batting cleanup. Don't expect things to be change anytime soon! They Said It: "I love their focus and purpose for playing right now" - Aaron Boone on his team's play of late. My Take: It really struck me recently how baseball is a funny game. Just look at the Yankee season thus far: Part I: The Yankees roar off to a 5-0 and 10-2 start. We see what a revelation Juan Soto is. Aaron Judge isn't playing great, but we're not too worried. Part II: The team struggles through a 10-11 stretch. Concern has bubbled into full panic about Aaron Judge. The phrase "welcome back to 2023" is frequently heard. Part III: The team steamrolls everyone in their path - they are on a 13-2 run. Aaron Judge is Aaron Judge again. He combines with Soto and Giancarlo Stanton to make up one of the most powerful trios in the sport. The starting pitching is dominant. Part IV? We all of course hope the team stays in Part III for a long while, but they won't for the full season. Remember, baseball is a funny game. The Rockies recently swept the defending World Champion Texas Rangers. If the Yankees would run off a successful 100-win season, they will still lose 47 more times this year. Players can and do get hurt. Players can and do gain and lose effectiveness through the season. Baseball just toys with our emotions the whole season, and we fans can't get enough! The trauma of 2022 still lingers over the team and fans, reasonably so. I'm cautiously optimistic that this season won't be a repeat performance, primarily due to the depth that the team looks to have at this point in the season. Rehab assignments have started for DJ LeMahieu, Jasson Dominguez, Oswald Peraza and Tommy Kahnle. Gerrit Cole seems to be progressing well in his recovery. The team seems to have minor league pieces to either promote or deal as needed as the season progresses. Late season injury and ineffectiveness was the Achilles heel of the 2022 team, this team is hopefully built to last. There are no guarantees on how the season will go, but it has been a compelling one almost a third of a way through! Next Up: The Yankees host the Seattle Mariners for four-game set starting tonight. Marcus Stroman (3-2, 3.33) toes the rubber against Logan Gilbert (3-2, 3.07).
