By Paul Semendinger
May 26, 2024
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(This will serve as the Quick Hit and the 6:00 a.m. Sunday Game Recap)
The Yankees squared off against the San Diego Padres again last night.
About Last Night - The Yankees started off strong. Anthony Volpe singled. Juan Soto got out. But then, Aaron Judge homered. Judge now is tied for the league lead in homers. Whatever that slow start was all about is not a problem any longer. That is very clear.
Marcus Stroman continued to deal. The Yankees' starting pitching has been out of this world amazing.
Juan Soto was perturbed, very much so, by some poor umpiring. He and the home plate ump had a lot of words, but Soto wasn't animated and wasn't thrown out of the game.
Aaron Judge doubled to start the fourth inning. Alex Verdugo singled. With one out (on ground out from Giancarlo Stanton that went 7 inches), Anthony Rizzo lined a single to score Judge for the Yankees' third run. Gleyber Torres then hit a sac fly to make it 4-0.
I started to wish for a rain shortened game because of the threat of rain somewhere in the world. (I'm not a big fan of staying up late.) I figured 5 1/2 innings would be good enough...
This is the way it's been going for the Yankees. In the bottom of the fourth, the Padres had a leadoff triple. Marcus Stroman then pitched out of the inning without allowing the runner to score.
Soto struck out to end the fifth. The game was half over...
Stroman worked a very quick bottom of the fifth. He became my favorite Yankee of all time.
I dislike the Mayhem commercials for whatever insurance company uses them. But I hate those commercials when I'm over tired.
Quick note - the Mets are 9-22 since late April. My goodness. Yikes. The season looks over for them before Memorial Day. Yikes.
Marcus Stroman left the game after pitching six shutout innings allowing just three hits and striking out five. His ERA for the season is 2.76.
In the top of the seventh, with two outs, Oswaldo Cabrera singled and then Anthony Volpe singled. Juan Soto then walked to load the bases, but, wait, the ump called an obvious ball a strike and Soto then grounded out.
Luke Weaver came in... pitched a scoreless seventh.
He pitched the 8th too... and then with one out, he gave up a homer to Fernando Tatis, Jr.
He then walked Jurickson Profar... but then got two ground outs to end the inning.
Midnight struck... the 9th inning arrived.
The Padres pitcher Enyel De Los Santos worked a slow top of the ninth. He gave up two hits, but the Yankees failed to score.
Clay Holmes then locked down the win in the 9th.
Quick Stats -
WP - Marcus Stroman
LP - Dylan Cease
SV - Clay Holmes
Yankee Homers: Aaron Judge,
Aaron Judge doubled for his 900th career hit
The Big Story - The Yankees continue to win games. They are HOT. The team is now 37-17 a remarkable 20 games over .500.
Player of the Game - Marcus Stroman
Notable Performances - The Yankees keep winning. They've been amazing.
Better to Forget - Nothing to forget. I can be critical, but, come on. The Yankees are 11-2 over their last 13 games. If not for a bad ninth inning earlier in the week, they'd be 12-1 in that period. Just amazing.
My Take - I dislike staying up past midnight. But I always enjoy a nice clean easy Yankees win.
Next Up - The Yankees play at 4:10 p.m. today. Clarke Schmidt gets the call. Then, on Memorial Day, the Yankees... are off? I'll never understand. Memorial Day, July 4, Labor Day - these used to be traditional days for day baseball. Every team played. I'm too young to remember when there were doubleheaders on holidays, but now on many of these holidays there are no games at all.
THE OWNERS: A Short One Scene Play
(A large office building's conference room in New York City. A group of very wealthy men sitting around a large conference table.)
Baseball Owner 1: "We take more and more games away from the fans and yet, attendance is going down and our sport is losing popularity. I can't understand why."
Baseball Owner 2: "Right. It makes no sense."
Baseball Owner 3: "Maybe if we add imaginary runners every inning, people will care more."
Baseball Owner 4: "Let's speed up the pitch clock. Make it 3 seconds between pitches."
Baseball Owner 5: "How about only two outs per inning?"
Baseball Owner 6: "How's this? Let's have no games on any weekends. That'll work!"
The Collection of Owners: "YES!!! That will work!"
(Curtain closes)
