Today will be a huge day for both the New York Yankees and the New York Mets. Yesterday the Yankees lost game one against their cross-town rivals 8-3. The Yankees were almost embarrassed by the Mets, as they couldn’t get a single hit off Taijuan Walker until the sixth inning. In the end, they could only muster up three hits, all in that sixth inning.
Today they will play a dual day-night doubleheader starting at 2:05 pm; the two games will be seven-inning contests. The day game will be started by Yankee ace Gerrit Cole that has struggled recently. The night game will be started by Nestor Cortes Jr., who has been lights out for the Yankees in relief; his ERA is 1.02. For Cortes, it will be his first nationally televised game in the Major Leagues. The 7:05 pm game will be televised on ESPN. To save face, the Yankees will need to win both of these games and take the series from the Mets.
New York Yankees couldn’t perform in game
The New York Yankees struggled mightily in game one yesterday. The pitching wasn’t there, and the hitting was almost absent. Jordan Montgomery only lasted 4.1 innings giving up three earned runs. Montgomery, although the Yankee’s second-best pitcher, couldn’t find control over his secondary pitches. Taijuan Walker mowed down every Yankee hitter he saw through five innings as the Yankees couldn’t garner up a hit against him to add insult to injury.
Montgomery was bailed out in the fifth as Lucas Luetge replaced him and stopped the bleeding. Then bad turned worse when Justin Wilson came in sixth, not recording an out and giving up five more runs. The only bright spot in the game was when Michael King replaced him and pitched four scoreless innings shutting down the Mets rest of the way.
Also, Aaron Judge hit his 19th home run of the season on the plus side as he continues his hot streak. The Yankees only left one man on base, but there is not much to be said about that; if you don’t get hits, you can’t leave men on base.
Torres/Frazier continue to disappoint
After an abysmal season last year for Gleyber Torres, he started this season out pretty good, showing up in better shape and with improved defense. But near the end of April, he crashed and was hitting just .186. By the end of May, he had improved, hitting his second home run of the season and batting .274. However, during the whole month of June, it has been all downhill for the young shortstop. He has only hit one more home run, and his batting average has dropped to .240. Yesterday he went hitless in the Mets game and earned his 12th error of the season. His signature has become airmailing throws to first base.
What makes this so disappointing is that the Yankees still have faith in Torres. He had a stellar season in 2019 when he led the team in home runs with 38 and batted .278. So far this season, he is on track to hit 6 or 7 long balls.
Possibly the biggest disappointment hitting-wise is that halfway through the season, Clint Frazier has still not found his stroke, hitting just .186. In the last month, he hasn’t hit a home run, and for the month of June, he has only ten hits. The is the longest slide of his up and down career.
Now he is on the IL with vertigo. He has gone under several tests, but no cause has been revealed. It could result from his 2018 head-first smash into the wall that caused him to have a concussion and miss some of 2018 and 19. The only talk about Frazier is that he may end up on the trading block.
Gerrit Cole will start today. Hal has faith in him
Gerrit Cole will start game one today of a day-night doubleheader. Cole’s performance has fallen off dramatically since Josh Donaldson of the Indians named him in a conversation on using illegal substances to improve grip. Once MLB announced that they would be regularly checking and suspending for the use of any kind of sticky stuff, Cole’s spin rate affecting ball movement has been off. In June, the New York Yankees have lost three of his five starts. During April, his ERA was 1.43 near the top for pitchers. Now at the end of June, it’s 2.66.
Cole’s last start against the Boston Red Sox was one of the worst of his career. He gave up five runs in five innings, three of them home runs. The Yankees have now lost eight of his sixteen starts, making many wonder if Hal Steinbrenner spent $324 million on an average pitcher that can’t be good unless using illegal substances. However, this week when addressing the team’s woes, managing partner Hal Steinbrenner has reaffirmed his faith in Cole, saying that he is not worried about Cole in a post sticky baseball world.
Cole has a game score of 33. However, 50 is average in the metrics system created by Bill James to measure the pitcher’s effectiveness in a single game.