Last night's game between the Yankees and the Texas Rangers began with bad omens. Two of them: Each team's starting pitcher. The Yankees sent Clarke Schmidt to the mound. Although his most recent start had been a good one, he had been the biggest roadblock to Yankee success this season.
The Rangers sent Jacob deGrom. For 5 seasons -- the last 3 of which, he pitched a grand total of 224 1/3rd innings -- Met fans told us deGrom was what Tom Seaver frequently was, was Dwight Gooden seemed to be, and what they falsely claimed R.A. Dickey and Matt Harvey were: The best pitcher in the world. And who was now pitching for another team, because all of Steve Cohen's money couldn't change the fact that the Mets are a joke.
Neither man lasted longer than 5 innings. In deGrom's case, it was because he got hurt in the 4th, and had to leave the game. In Schmidt's case, it was because he once again stunk up the joint. He gave up 2 runs in the 2nd inning, and 3 runs in the 3rd, the latter including a home run by Robbie Grossman. That batter's name sums Schmidt up: He's gross, man.
Lefthanded batters are now batting .396 against Schmidt. Almost .400. He is turning every lefty hitter into Ted Williams. In contrast, these were the postgame batting averages of the players Aaron Boone sent out last night: DJ LeMahieu .265, Anthony Rizzo .295, Gleyber Torres .253, Willie Calhoun .235, Oswald Peraza .160, Oswaldo Cabrera .213, Franchy Cordero .151 (with a pinch-hitting appearance from Anthony Volpe, .226), Aaron Hicks .135, and Kyle Higashioka .184.
Yes, Hicks is batting .135. And Cordero is not only batting .151, but his mishandling of a ball hit by Jonah Heim became a double, and was immediately followed by the Grossman home run.
I'm not saying these 2 guys are bad guys. But, at the moment, they are bad ballplayers. Cordero gets a bit more leeway, because he's new, as opposed to Hicks, who has been hurting the Yankees for a while.
I'm also not saying these two guys are intentionally sabotaging the Yankees. But I am asking: Would they be doing anything differently if they were?
With no Aaron Judge, and no Giancarlo Stanton, in the lineup, deGrom held the Yankees without a baserunner over the 1st 3 innings. When he allowed a walk to Rizzo and a single to Calhoun in the 4th -- or maybe only when he allowed a single to Calhoun, now batting .235 -- he must have realized something was wrong, and he was taken out of the game.
Higashioka singled home a run in the 5th, and Calhoun brought a run home with a sacrifice fly in the 6th. But that was it for the Yankee scoring: Rangers 5, Yankees 2. WP: Dane Dunning (2-0). SV: Will Smith (3). LP: Schmidt (0-3). The Yankees are now 7 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays, and we're still in April.
The series continues tonight. Jhony Brito starts against former Yankee Nathan Eovaldi. I'm not lookin' forward to this.
No comments:
Post a Comment