I’m back and so was Judge yesterday!
I turned on the TV (we get ESPN here in FL but no YES, except on MLB.TV) and watched the pre-game ceremonies, and my heart skipped as if there was a big present under my tree at Christmas. There’s nothing better than Yankee Stadium on a sunny Opening Day — especially when they win in decisive fashion.
The Orioles aren’t the O’s of old — I didn’t recognize a single player except Chris Davis — but I focused on our guys. It was fun to see Mo throwing a cutter for the first pitch, making it look as effortless as ever. And when Tanaka took the mound I was full of confidence. He may not be our official ace, but he sure looks like it at times. And then came the Judge-Stanton-Voit combo and BOOM. I was glad Bird homered later in the game, and I think having both Voit and Bird in the lineup is brilliant. But one of these days, Boone will have to choose between them for first base — like when he wants to DH other players — and it’ll be a sad day.
Meanwhile, the only negative for me is using Gardner to lead off. I know Hicks will probably lead off when he’s back, but Gardner isn’t high-percentage enough in terms of getting on base. I’d almost rather see Gleybar kick things off.
But mostly I wanted to get back on this blog, greet anyone who’s reading and cheer the Yankees on. The blog at this point in its long life doesn’t have enough readers to keep it going, so I doubt it’ll go back to being a regular diary of Yankee doings. Let’s see how it goes.
Good morning Jane! How are you I hope you and Michael are doing well. I’m glad to see you are back with this blog. Let me tell you that I went nuts checking in on your blog every day in the offseason! I’m a maniac lol. I wanted to see your thoughts on all of the Yankee offseason moves or lack of certain ones ie: no Harper or Machado *cries*. But anyway, once Opening Day began, the excitement of baseball being back made me forget all about that. We have a great team and did what we were supposed to do and beat a weaker team with the unrecognizable O’s. Let’s make it a habit and beat them up this season. Not beating the weak teams enough last season killed our chances at the division. Our offense will be a force. Imagine if Voit doesn’t turn out to be a fluke and Bird finally returns to form by staying healthy? That would be a great problem to have. And let’s not forget our bullpen which is always a force. It’s so delightful that even with Betances’ injury, we still have relievers to cover for him. Ottavino had a great debut with the strikeouts and Britton and Chapman went scoreless in their innings. I love it and our bullpen will surely help our starting pitching depth when we get to German and Loaisiga’s turns. Wishing for a speedy recovery for Severino, Hicks, Betances, and Didi to get our team to full strength.
Hi, Leo. All fine here, thanks. Hope you had a good winter. I didn’t post in the off-season as I wasn’t interested in signing either Machado or Harper. It remains to be seen whether the new pitchers will fare well in NY. You summed up yesterday’s game very well. The O’s weren’t the same as the O’s from back in the day, but a win is a win. And the Yankees have often had trouble beating lesser teams and pitchers they haven’t faced much, so I’m encouraged.
Hey Jane. Well the start of the day became annoying rather quickly with the news of yet another injury. Now Stanton is on the IL and here I was wishing it was just an April’s Fools joke but so many industry people are reporting on it. It’s bad enough that we lost the series to what will likely be a bad O’s team this year. I wouldn’t be that upset this early in the year but each loss counts just the same. Judge said it best the other night about having urgency to beat the teams you are supposed to beat. The inability to beat bad teams on a consistent basis last season was what cost us the division. Let’s hope this isn’t an omen of the same to come this year. Most importantly though, everyone please get healthy!
Hi Leo. The Stanton injury (Left bicep? Didn’t he work out all winter?) is maddening, but even more maddening was the series against the O’s. The Yankees still have a problem with runners in scoring position. How many times did we see bases loaded without much/anything to show for it? I do know they always get off to a slow start — even after a good spring training. It seems to be a pattern. The problem there is losing ground early. I have no doubt they’ll win series as the season gets going and players are healthy. But very frustrating in the meantime. Sanchez drives me crazy with his errors.
Hey Jane. It just continues to get worse. Now Andujar is hurt with a torn labrum on his shoulder. Ahhh that Sunday game against the O’s really should’ve been postponed in hindsight. He got hurt diving to third and Stanton got hurt during that same game swinging. While we won yesterday, I just can’t be that happy about it while knowing we have 6 regulars on the IL (Hicks, Gregorius, Severino, Betances, and now Stanton and Andujar)! Will Frazier and Wade seize this opportunity and produce? Will LeMahieu’s bat get anywhere close to Andujar’s production now that he’s the full time third baseman? How about the rest of the team? Will they step up? Let’s wait and see but this has not been the ideal start to the season.
Yeah, the Andujar news was tough, Leo. He could be out for the season unless PT works. Very discouraging. I’m glad we have a deep farm system now, but we may need reinforcements at some point.
Hey good morning Jane. What a roller coaster of games with a roller coaster of emotions coming from me. That final Detroit game with the team looking lifeless and striking out 18 times was maddening. Thankfully, we took the next two games to get our first series win of the season. Gleyber was incredible in the first O’s game going 4-4 with the homers to help us win. Having him step up along with Judge, Sanchez, Voit to carry the offense while waiting for help to arrive will be huge. I think Gleyber deserves to move up the lineup to get more ABs. Then the following game (after a random Friday off day why?), Frazier and Judge led the way for the offense. For Judge to get his power stroke going with his two homers and Frazier to give us the lead with his homer. If Fraizer continues to produce, I want him to take over LF full time to reduce Gardner’s role to a fourth outfielder when Hicks and Stanton return. Our pitching really hasn’t been that noteworthy yet. Happ in particular seems to be a bit too homer prone in the early going. So it’s always good to see our offense do what it needs to do. Win today for the sweep and we will be above .500 which isn’t that terrible if you consider all of the injuries which can decimate any team.
You’re right, Leo – quite a roller coaster. I have to admit I haven’t watched many games (no YES here in FL so mostly I follow on MLB.TV or the app). I think it’s early and hard to assess the team, given all the injuries. And the Yankees are usually slow starters no matter what the circumstances. I have no doubt that adjustments will be made as needed. And yes, a win today would be lovely!
Jane –
Glad to see you’re back. I checked in often during the off season as well. Glad you agree with the no Harper/Machado decision. Didn’t think either of them were a fit for the team or the clubhouse. Also, if management kept talking about building from within and getting below the cap, why would you give away a fortune to get something you didn’t even need? Our outfield prospects in the minors are great. (Don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone run as fast as Florial.) And you’re going to dump Andujar, who should have been the Rookie of the Year for someone who doesn’t even hustle in the World Series? No thanks. As for the new season, wasn’t too happy the first week, not only because of the losses but because of the injuries too. But baseball is a marathon, not a sprint, and that’s why there are 162 games in the schedule. Looking forward to your take on the team as the season goes forward.
Hi Corinne, thanks for checking in. Today, the offense was on a tear so I was thrilled. This is a team that, injuries or not, needs to hit homers and they did – in spades. I can almost forgive Gary Sanchez’s errors when he hits them out the way he did today!