#YankeesAreStillFrauds
Plus- Series Preview: Toronto Blue Jays (6-6) vs. Kansas City Royals (5-5)
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GAME 1
Robbie Ray made his first start of the season in front of a TD Ballpark crowd of 1576, about 1200 of which were almost certainly North Floridian Yankees fans if my eyes and ears serve me right. His counterpart was Gerrit Cole, a top three pitcher in baseball who the Jays offence, facing him for the second time this season, would have to find a way to beat.
In the first inning, it looked like they may just find a way to do that. With one out, Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit back to back singles to put runners on first and second. Randal Grichuk would ground out to short, but that would be enough to score Bichette, giving the Jays a 1-0 lead. If the Jays could build on that early momentum, they could’ve snuck a win away from the Cole-fronted Yankees.
This would not come to pass. Beyond the first inning, Cole looked absolutely dominant. When all was said and done, Cole went six innings of one-run ball, striking out eight and walking one while only giving up three hits (though notably, one of those hits was Rowdy Tellez’s first of the season, a hard ground ball single up the middle).
For his part, Robbie Ray gave about as solid a Robbie Ray start as could be expected. He walked more people than his spring training results foretold (three of the 19 batters he faced were walked), and he didn’t strike out a ton of Yankees, but he worked around some hard contact to come out of his five innings with his only earned runs coming on a two-run homer off the bat of Kyle Fucking Higashioka, Cole’s Jay-killing personal catcher.
Ray would turn things over to Rafael Dolis, who pitched a solid inning and two thirds and may be putting his shaky start to the season behind him. He turned things over to Ryan Borucki, who got out of the seventh, but would give up a leadoff home run to who fucking else but Kyle Goddamn Higashioka to start the eighth to give the Yankees a 3-1 lead.
I just want the bad man to leave the Jays alone.
Justin Wilson would shut the Jays down in the seventh, and while Marcus Semien would hit a two-out single off of Darren O’Day in the eighth followed by a Bo Bichette walk, O’Day would strike out Vladdy to leave the tying run stranded on first. Aroldis Chapman would come into the ninth inning and promptly give up a double to Randal Grichuk but would proceed to retire Cavan Biggio, strike out Lourdes Gurriel Jr., and get Rowdy Tellez looking on a truly heinous called third strike.
Hunter Wendelstedt retire bitch
Toronto Blue Jays 1, Kyle Higashioka 3.
GAME 2
Coming off of getting carved up by Gerrit Cole, the Jays would proceed to take out their offensive frustrations on Jameson Taillon, who lost the strike zone in the second inning. After a leadoff Randal Grichuk single to start the bottom half of that inning, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. would be grazed by a pitch and Danny Jansen would walk to load the bases for Josh Palacios with two outs. Palacios would take a 2-2 breaking ball just off the outside of the plate and hit a ground ball single up the middle to drive in two, giving the Jays the first lead of the evening.
In the bottom of the third, back-to-back Bichette/Guerrero singles set the table for a Randal Grichuk sacrifice fly. In the next inning, Marcus Semien hit a ball that looked destined to become an inning-ending flyout that carried juuuuuust enough to clear the left field fence for Semien’s team-leading fourth home run of the season.
That is a .090 Expected Batting Average on that pitch. It was just seven degrees of Launch Angle away from being a harmless pop fly. I’m going to assume this is karmic payback against the Yankees for all those bullshit Yankee Stadium right field home runs.
Bichette and Guerrero would contribute back-to-back doubles to give the Jays a 5-0 lead and knock Jameson Taillon out of the game, replacing him with Lucas Luetge, who would get out of the inning and strike out the side in the bottom of the fifth, but would not get out unscathed, giving up a slump-busting solo bomb to Rowdy Tellez, proving conclusively that Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is a miracle worker.
On the other side of things, Hyun-jin Ryu was once again dominant for the Blue Jays, striking out seven Yankees while only walking one, and conceding four hits and one unearned run over 6 ⅔ innings, which occurred after Gary Sánchez reached on a Cavan Biggio error and proceeded to score on a Rougned Odor groundout.
David Phelps would finish up the seventh inning for Ryu but got hit square in the back by a 106.9 mph hit off the bat of Clint Frazier to begin the eighth. He’d be removed from the game and replaced by Jordan Romano, who wasn’t as sharp as usual, striking out Jay Bruce, but giving up back-to-back hits to D.J. LeMahieu and Giancarlo Stanton to cut the Jays’ lead to 6-3. After giving up a two-out walk to Sánchez to put runners on first and second, he was replaced by Julian Merryweather, who had cut down Yankee offences twice before in the season.
On his second pitch, Merryweather spiked a changeup in the dirt, which tempted Sánchez to get a little too aggressive. Danny Jansen noticed this, chucking the ball to Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who gave a perfect relay to Bo Bichette, who would tag Sánchez for the third out.
Yankee reliever Luis Cessa would get through the sixth and second innings without serious incident before turning the ball over to rookie Albert Abreu, ranked 33rd on Fangraphs’ Yankees prospect list. Abreu’s weakest attribute as a prospect is his command, and it sure fucking showed, as he issued one-out walks to Josh Palacios and Marcus Semien, subsequently allowing the both of them into scoring position with a wild pitch, letting Bo Bichette drive in a run with a sac fly to make it 7-3 Blue Jays.
Tim Mayza replaced Julian Merryweather in the top of the ninth, which I’m sure was due to the lower leverage situation and not at all because of anything potentially concerni- oh, fuck off.
After a leadoff single to Aaron Hicks, Mayza got Rougned Odor to ground out into a double play. Gio Urshela then hit a soft ground ball up the middle that Bichette ranged over to, slid, caught, and fired at Guerrero at first, who made a beautiful catch that both ended the game and solidified Vladdy’s eventual Gold Glove award.
Amazing that this is the same guy we saw at first base last year. If the intricate math used in fielding metrics do not reflect my newfound belief that Vladdy is the greatest defensive first baseman of all time, then I’m going to set something on fire.
GAME 3
The same deity or deities who blessed the Blue Jays with the rainout on Sunday truly giveth and taketh away, as today’s scheduled Ross Stripling went down with right forearm tightness. T.J. Zeuch was given the start instead on the typical four-day rest that Robbie Ray returning to the rotation has afforded him.
The Yankees struck first today, as Aaron Judge saw a high, hanging breaking ball from Zeuch and promptly drove it just over the left field wall to give the Jays a 1-0 lead. This wouldn’t last though, as Zeuch would hold the Yankees scoreless through the top of the second. In the bottom half of the inning, Rowdy would stay hot with a base hit, setting the table for 0-for-13 Alejandro Kirk, who decided not to be 0-for-13 anymore. “El Receptor de Tijuana” lofted a Corey Kluber curveball to left field for a home run to give the Jays a 2-1 lead, giving me my first excuse of the year to blast “Alejandro” by Lady Gaga, and further convincing my family to never, ever watch a baseball game with me again.
In the bottom of the third, Bichette, who had previously gotten a base hit and a stolen base before being stranded in scoring position in the first, decided to cut out the middleman by slicing an opposite-field line drive that looked like it should’ve landed for a single or double, but instead carried over the right field wall for a solo home run.
The Yankees would respond in the top of the fourth, when Aaron Judge took advantage of a Zeuch fastball left right down the middle, driving his second solo home run today over the center field wall. Zeuch would walk Brett Gardner, and Josh Palacios would misjudge a Gleyber Torres fly ball to five the Yankee shortstop a double, putting runners on second and third with one out. After Jay Bruce struck out, Gio Urshela would knock a base hit to left field, re-taking the lead for the Yankees.
Zeuch would get Rougned Odor to fly out to end the inning, but that would be his last hitter. Not an especially good day for the tall righty, as he went four innings while getting hit pretty hard for four runs, with two strikeouts and two walks. He would be replaced by Trent Thornton, who would pitch two clean innings for the Jays.
Corey Kluber, who continues to not look great this season, would also only go four innings, striking out four while walking two and conceding three runs on six hits. Jonathan Loaisiga would take over afterwards, getting fly outs from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Randal Grichuk, Cavan Biggio hit a sinking line drive to right field that went under Judge’s glove, rolling to the right field wall. What should’ve been an easy triple ended in utter frustration as Biggio rounded third as the ball flew to third baseman Urshela. Biggio, who apparently didn’t see a late stop sign from third base coach Luis Rivera, was caught in a rundown to end the inning.
In the top of the fifth, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Rowdy Tellez would lead off the inning with back to back singles off Loaisiga. Alejandro Kirk would get hit by a pitch to load the bases with no outs. After Josh Palacios grounded into a forceout, a wild pitch to Semien brought Rowdy in to score. Marcus Semien would pop out and Bo Bichette would ground out to end the inning with the score tied at 4.
Anthony Castro, who was just added to the active roster, made his Blue Jays debut in the top of the second. It was a solid debut at that, as he got Urshela to ground out, Rougned Odor to ground out, and finally struck out bird-abusing Kyle Fucking Higashioka with a sweeping slider. Castro would also pitch a scoreless eighth inning, thanks in no small part to some nice defence from Bichette, leaving the game with his only base runner allowed being Aaron Judge, who reached on an error but did not go further than first base.
Darren O’Day would work around a 116 MPH leadoff single to Vladdy to pitch a clean bottom of the seventh. Justin Wilson would do the same in the bottom of the eighth to preserve the tie game going into the ninth inning. Continuing the trend of solid bullpens following up on bad starting pitching, Rafael Dolis pitched a strong top of the ninth to send the game into the bottom of the ninth. With the winning run at the plate in the form of Bo Bichette, Chad Green missed with a curveball right down the middle, but Bichette didn’t make the best contact, getting under an opposite-field fly ball that carried over the right field wall for a solo home ru- oh my god fuck yes, it happened again.
I am further convinced that the Yankees are facing karmic retribution for their short right field fence. Serves ‘em right. Jays win 5-4. Jays take two from three in the series. Jays are up 4-2 on the Yankees in the season series. And as always, the Yankees Are Frauds.
BEST BIRDS
Hitter: Bo Bichette (1) (14 plate appearances, .462/.500/1.083, 2 home runs, 9 RBI, 0.331 WPA)
Pitcher: Hyun Jin Ryu (1) (6 ⅔ 24 batters faced, 4 hits, 7 strikeouts, 1 walk, 1.49 FIP, 0.24 WPA)
POINTS OF INTEREST
Yankees are Frauds
Yankees are Frauds.
ROSTER/INJURY UPDATES
The Jays continue to be ravaged by injuries, prompting me to even more seriously consider the extremely plausible theory that Florida is cursed soil that we were fools to ever try to tame for our own purposes. The second they get on that plane to Missouri, the boys are gonna feel their bones and muscle ligaments knit back together, Wolverine-style.
After throwing two pitches in Tuesday’s game, enough to get out of the top of the eighth, Julian Merryweather was pulled for Tim Mayza. It was originally hoped that this was just because it wasn’t a save situation, but unfortunately, it wasn't a questionable strategy, but an actual injury. Merryweather was placed on the 10-day IL with a left oblique strain, yet another injury to throw on the heaping pile that is the hard-throwing right-hander’s injury history.
Oblique strains are no joke, and it would behove the Jays to take their time easing Merryweather back. It does suck that he’s going through this not even two weeks into a season where it looked like he had carved out a niche on the big league team after so many years of both injuries and mainly being known for “that guy we got in the Josh Donaldson trade”. Hopefully, he bucks the trend and comes back healthier than ever, because strong as the bullpen has looked this year, it’s looked a lot better with him in the back end of it.
Taking Merryweather’s spot on the active roster is 26-year-old rookie right-hander Anthony Castro, who made his Blue Jays debut on Wednesday, pitching two scoreless innings of solid relief against the Yankees. An added wrinkle is that Castro would technically be the 41st player on the 40-man roster. How does that work? Players on the COVID IL don’t count against the 40-man roster. Since Teoscar Hernández is on the COVID IL (oh yeah, Teo tested positive for COVID, so he’s out for at least another ten days. On the plus side, that doesn’t appear to have led to an outbreak among the team as a whole), Castro was able to have his contract purchased and be added to the team without a peripheral move being necessary. So that’s neat!
Less neat is the fact that starting pitcher Ross Stripling had to be scratched from his start on Wednesday with “right forearm tightness”. Not optimal! Especially for a team whose rotation depth has already been stretched to its limit. Speaking of which, as of the time of writing, we still don’t have a clear idea as to who’s going to be starting tonight’s game against the Royals.
Steven Matz would technically be able to step in on full rest, but that’s been ruled out by Charlie Montoyo. So does that mean a bullpen game is on the horizon? Maybe? I mean, I hope not, because blowing through a not-exactly completely healthy bullpen (between Merryweather and Tyler Chatwood being on the IL and David Phelps being day-to-day after being nailed in the back by a Clint Frazier line drive) in the first game of a four-game series doesn’t necessarily seem optimal. Anthony Kay? It would be a little unorthodox to start four lefty starters in one series, but it’s not impossible, so maybe! Tanner Roark? Boy, I sure fucking hope not!
Thankfully, the Jays won’t actually need a fifth starter after tonight for a while, as they have four off-days in the next two weeks. So this won’t necessarily become a pressing issue for a bit.
Update:
Could just be that he’s on the taxi squad, but still.
Further update:
lmao fuck
SCHEDULE/PROBABLE PITCHERS
Thursday, April 15 (8 p.m./6 p.m.): TBA vs. Jakob Junis
TBA: ?????????????????????
Junis: Three games (one start), 7 innings, 0.00 ERA/1.91 xERA/2.66 xFIP/2.59 SIERA, 36 K%, 8 BB%, 50 HardHit%
Friday, April 16 (8 p.m./6 p.m.): Steven Matz vs. Mike Minor
Matz: Two starts, 12 ⅓ innings, 1.46 ERA/2.84 xERA/3.23 xFIP/3.39 SIERA, 27.7 K%, 8.5 BB%, 37.9 HardHit%
Minor: Two starts, 10 innings, 4.50 ERA/4.13 xERA/5.73 xFIP/5.10 SIERA, 20.5 K%, 11.4 BB%, 41.4 HardHit%
Saturday, April 17 (2 p.m./12 p.m.): Robbie Ray vs. Brady Singer
Ray: One start, 5 innings, 3.60 ERA/5.77 xERA/5.12 xFIP/5.87 SIERA, 15.8 K%, 15.8 BB%, 46.2 HardHit%
Singer: Two starts, 8 ⅓ innings, 6.48 ERA/5.41 xERA/2.98 xFIP/3.26 SIERA, 27.5 K%, 7.5 BB%, 44 HardHit%
Sunday, April 18 (2 p.m./12 p.m.): Hyun Jin Ryu vs. Danny Duffy
Ryu: Three starts, 19 innings, 1.89 ERA/2.99 xERA/2.64 xFIP/2.83 SIERA, 26 K%, 2.7 BB%, 32.7 HardHit%
Duffy: Two starts, 12 innings, 0.75 ERA/4.75/xERA/4.32 xFIP/4.31 SIERA, 22.4 K%, 8.2 BB%, 38.2 HardHit%
THE OPPOSITION
Pythagorean Record: 5-5
Run differential: +2 (49 runs scored, 47 runs allowed)
The Kansas City Royals went into this season coming out of a five or so years-long post-World Series rebuilding process. With the acquisitions of Andrew Benintendi, Carlos Santana and Mike Minor on top of a core of Whit Merrifield, Salvador Pérez, Jorge Soler, Hunter Dozier, Adalberto Mondesí, Brad Keller, Danny Duffy, and Brady Singer. This certainly isn’t a team that’s going to make a playoff run, but it’s a team that was at least looking to be competitive. And so far, that’s certainly been the case! They’ve beat up on the Texas Rangers, split series against Cleveland and the Chicago White Sox, and squeaked out a series win against an injury-ravaged Angels team.
Benintendi, Soler, Dozier, Singer, Santana, and surprise rookie call-up Kyle Isbel (who hadn’t played above high-Class A) haven’t panned out as of yet to various extents, at least in terms of their offensive contributions, and Mondesí is out with a strained oblique (a lot of those going around). The rotation has been solid though, with Keller and Duffy being standouts, and the bullpen, especially Kyle Zimmer, has been mostly good.
Very early into the season, the Royals are at exactly .500, and, barring some underperformance and some small-sample size inflated overperformances (MICHAEL A. TAYLOR HAS A 142 wRC+???), have more or less performed exactly as expected. On the other hand, the Toronto Blue Jays have rapidly oscillated between performing as expected (which is to say, “flawed but good”) and wildly underperforming (see: The last two games of the Rangers series and first two games of the Angels series). The Jays will look to ride the wave of positive momentum coming off of another series win against the Yankees, and with their three best starters playing against KC, they’ll be in a good position to do just that. Their starting rotation has arguably overperformed, with Steven Matz looking like a great pickup thus far, Robbie Ray looking like, well, Robbie Ray, Tanner Roark being removed from the starting rotation, and Hyun Jin Ryu looking excellent. Bo Bichette’s bat has woken up, becoming a truly scary one-two punch with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. while all the other position players figure their shit out (Again, it’s April. They’re good too) and while George Springer and Teoscar Hernández make their way back from the IL.
Yankees are indeed still frauds. Great post!