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Post by scrappyunderdog on Apr 10, 2022 22:10:05 GMT -5
So we go 1-2. I'm okay with that. All three of these games were coinflips. I'm more than a little surprised at how we closed it out. No Barnes and no Whitlock. I'm getting the feeling that Cora doesn't know what exactly he will be doing every night. I'd be real happy taking 2-3 at Detroit. but that is no longer as easy as it once was.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Apr 11, 2022 2:43:25 GMT -5
Red Sox 4, Yankees 3: Walking the tightrope to avoid the sweep
On Sunday, it was the Yankees wasting chances. By Matt_Collins@MattRyCollins Apr 10, 2022, 10:52pm EDT 13 Comments
It’s always nice when you can flip a script. After the Red Sox failed to take advantage of key chances in losses on Friday and Saturday, it was the Yankees who failed to do so on Sunday. Boston’s pitching staff, led in this one by Tanner Houck, felt like it was on the ropes basically all night, but to their credit they did a good job of not breaking. The offense for Boston was, again, a bit less robust than we were hoping for, but the bullpen came through in a big way while a solo shot from Bobby Dalbec in the seventh proved to be the game winner, and the Red Sox have their first win of 2022.
In the first two games of this season-opening series in the Bronx, the Red Sox offense has been notably absent with runners in scoring position. In each of those losses, they took early leads but then failed to add on when given the chance, opening up the opportunity for the Yankees to come back and win, which New York took advantage of both times. Sure enough, Boston was able to get out in front in this game off the bat as well.
It was a little bit fluky with their first two batters reaching on a bloop single and a rocket of a ground ball that smacked off of Yankees starter Jordan Montgomery, who was on the ground for a couple minutes but stayed in the game. But however it happened, Boston had a pair on for J.D. Martinez, and finally they took advantage with runners in scoring position. Martinez dropped a double into the left field corner, and Rafael Devers came around to score and give Boston a 1-0 lead. After Bobby Dalbec was hit by a 1-2 pitch to extend the inning, Christian Arroyo — who made his first career start in the outfield in this game — came through with a sacrifice fly, and Boston had a 2-0 lead after the top half of the first.
That brought Tanner Houck out to the mound for his first start of the season, and the righty never quite looked comfortable with his location. The splitter, which is really the key to his development, was thrown (poorly) once in the first, and never again in the game, while the slider and both of his fastballs seemed to vacillate all evening in terms of command. Still, he was somehow able to navigate two walks and a single in a 31-pitch first inning, getting Gleyber Torres to pop a 3-2, two-out pitch to left field to end the inning.
From there, the Red Sox offense again went quiet, letting Montgomery settle in a bit with just a walk over the next two innings. Houck would manage to escape a little more trouble in the second, this time working around a single and a wild pitch, but in the third his issues caught up to him, although his defense played a hand in that as well. That said, the issues did start with a leadoff, four-pitch walk before Arroyo failed to get to a pop up down the line that fell in for a single. After that, Giancarlo Stanton lined a base hit into left field, and while it looked like Alex Verdugo had Anthony Rizzo dead to rights at the plate he didn’t even attempt a throw. The booth said he had bobbled it, and while I didn’t see that it’s the only reasonable explanation.
That still left a pair on base with one out, and a two-out hit batter loaded the bases, but again Houck walked the tightrope and escaped the inning up 2-1. Boston would quickly get the run back, too, thanks to a leadoff strikeout that still resulted in a runner with the third strike getting to the backstop, a single, and then a weak grounder that served essentially as a sacrifice. Jonathan Araúz, who got the start at second base in this game, came through with the second sacrifice fly of the night for Boston, and they were back up by a pair.
Houck then came back out for the fourth, with Enrique Hernández mic’d up on ESPN (which I didn’t love, but opinions seemed mixed), and the Yankees answered back. The Red Sox starter gave up a leadoff double to Isiah Kiner-Falefa, and then after a single and a strikeout he was taken out for Ryan Brasier. He’d throw a pitch in the dirt to the first batter he saw, and while it looked like Kevin Plawecki should have kept it in front of him, it went as a wild pitch that moved the runners up to scoring position. Josh Donaldson followed that up with a base hit, and the Yankees had the game tied. Fortunately, Brasier was able to induce a double play after that to keep things knotted up.
New York got right back to threatening in the fifth, though, this time with Kutter Crawford on the mound for the Sox. Stanton kicked things off with a rocket of a base hit, which was followed by a one-out double off the wall (played, we’ll call it questionably, by Arroyo) from Gleyber Torres to put a pair in scoring position. Somehow the Red Sox again pulled a Houdini. Aaron Hicks popped one out, and then Kiner-Falefa was called out on a check swing that was probably not a swing to end the inning.
It was a frustrating end to the inning for the Yankees, and the Red Sox added to that pain right away in the sixth. Dalbec led off the inning, and we saw the first Bobby Bomb of 2022. Jumping on a first-pitch sinker that stayed belt-high over the plate, he went the other way and blasted a solo home run to put the Red Sox back out in front 4-3.
That was still the score as we got into the bottom of the seventh, with Crawford still in after a perfect sixth. He’d only face one batter here, giving up another rocket of a single to Stanton before handing the ball off to Matt Strahm. The southpaw did the job, retiring all three batters he faced to finish out the inning, with a bit of help from a nice little sliding grab from none other than Arroyo.
After another scoreless inning from Boston in the eighth, with an assist to Alex Cora not challenging a double play from Martinez on which he sure looked safe, Hansel Robles got the ball for the eighth. The righty had some issues with his control right away, walking the first batter he faced. Thankfully, he’d settle in quickly to retire the next three batters, and we headed to the ninth with Boston still up one.
The Red Sox had no insurance to offer in the top half of the inning, leaving it to Jake Diekman to try and convert the save in a one-run game, facing the heart of New York’s lineup to boot. The southpaw was able to get his first save in a Red Sox uniform, striking out the side to give Boston the 4-3 win.
The Red Sox now head out to Detroit for a three-game set against the Tigers to start on Monday. First pitch for the opener is at 5:10 PM ET, with Michael Wacha taking on Matt Manning.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Apr 11, 2022 3:04:08 GMT -5
Red Sox rookie gets redemption, 1st MLB win vs. Yankees 2:14 AM ADT Ian Browne
Ian Browne @ianmbrowne
NEW YORK -- Kutter Crawford, who emerged from the roster bubble of Spring Training, found himself on the big stage of Yankee Stadium on Sunday Night Baseball.
The 26-year-old rookie stood up to the challenge and became the first winning pitcher for the Red Sox this season, notching his first Major League victory in the process.
After two tightly contested losses to their forever rivals, the Sox salvaged the finale with a 4-3 victory in the last contest between the clubs until July 7.
“It was a pretty awesome moment,” said Crawford. “You know, to do it in Yankee Stadium, Red Sox-Yankees rivalry and Sunday Night Baseball is really special.”
It was sweet redemption for Crawford, who made just three pitches on Opening Day -- the third of which Josh Donaldson sent to a patch of grass in the outfield to score the automatic runner and give the Yankees a walk-off win in 11 innings.
“Yeah, it felt really good after [Friday],” said Crawford. “Kind of made a pitch, ground ball, found a hole and they won. So tonight felt good after going two scoreless. That was a good feeling.”
Such a performance was worthy of a souvenir.
“I got the lineup card over there sitting on my chair,” Crawford said. “I’ll hopefully get it framed and put it on the wall.”
Meanwhile, manager Alex Cora’s club successfully avoided starting 0-3 for the second straight season, though they bounced back nicely from that bump in the road last season.
With the game locked in a 3-3 tie entering the bottom of the fifth, Cora turned to Crawford, the team’s No. 25 prospect as ranked by MLB Pipeline.
Immediately, there was some trouble for Crawford. As in runners at second and third and one out. The right-hander wiggled out of that jam.
Even more impressive is what he did in the sixth, striking out Anthony Rizzo, who tormented the Red Sox all weekend, and then the always-dangerous Aaron Judge. Both K’s, fittingly, were on cutters for the man named Kutter.
“It was huge,” Crawford said. “It definitely helped the confidence, knowing how good of hitters they both are. But I try to attack everybody with what I’ve got.”
Given the unsettled state of the Boston bullpen, an abbreviated start by Tanner Houck (3 1/3 innings) and another non-descript game by the offense, the two bridge innings by Crawford were particularly significant.
A starter as he worked his way through the farm system, the Red Sox made the decision to convert Crawford into a reliever this spring.
His velocity ticked up notably in the new role, and Cora and Boston’s other decision-makers gained confidence throughout Spring Training that they found someone who could make an impact.
That confidence was rewarded Sunday night.
“Kutter, we like him,” said Cora. “He has good stuff. He commands the strike zone, he’s really good at it, and he did an amazing job for us tonight.”
There were a couple of other big moments that led to a happy flight to Detroit.
Diekman: ‘Closer for today’
Cora’s bullpen moves paid off throughout the contest, as his relievers got the final 17 outs to hold off the heavy-hitting Yankees.
The biggest and most drama-filled of those outs? The 11-pitch at-bat that Jake Diekman had against Judge to open the ninth, which ended with a punchout on a 94.7 mph heater.
Diekman carved up recent Red Sox nemesis Giancarlo Stanton on a four-pitch K and capped his 15th career save by finishing off Joey Gallo for a swinging strikeout on a slider.
Cora has yet to name a closer and might not for a while. Was Sunday a hint that Diekman could get the nod?
“He was the closer today,” Cora said. “He’s done it before. I remember in 2019 he pitched against us at home and J.D. [Martinez], it was July or around that time, and he was like, ‘We need to get this guy.’ The angle on the fastball and the slider [is tough].”
In the first two games of the series, the Red Sox generated offense early, but hardly anything late. This time, Bobby Dalbec came through with the clutch knock necessary for victory, clubbing an opposite-field homer to right to lead off the sixth that broke the tie. It was the last run for either side.
In his rookie season of ’21, Dalbec started with 58 homerless at-bats before snapping the drought with a big homer at Citi Field that helped support a win over the Mets.
“I remember,” quipped Dalbec, who went on to hit 25 homers for the season.
This time, Dalbec’s first dinger came on his 10th at-bat of the season in another borough in New York.
“It just frees you up a little,” Dalbec said. “I was more pumped up about my [walk in the ninth inning] than the home run, honestly.”
Dalbec walked just 28 times last season, but was known for having a good eye in the Minors.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Apr 11, 2022 3:16:38 GMT -5
Ian Browne @ianmbrowne · 4h Jake Diekman is kind of intense! Do you want to be the closer? “I don’t really give two shits.”
Can I quote you on that? “Yeah, do it, I don’t really care.”
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Apr 11, 2022 3:36:52 GMT -5
Red Sox avert a sweep — thanks to the much-maligned bullpen — and tip Yankees in series finale By Julian McWilliams Globe Staff,Updated April 11, 2022, 12:07 a.m.
NEW YORK — The Red Sox avoided the sweep Sunday night in the Bronx with a 4-3 nail-biting win over the Yankees. Jake Diekman closed it out for the Sox, navigating his way through the meat of the Yankee order, striking out Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, and Joey Gallo to end it.
With the game knotted, 3-3, in the sixth, Bobby Dalbec stung a solo shot to right field off reliever Clarke Schmidt.
“It’s always nice to pull through,” Dalbec said. “The bullpen was awesome. That’s what kind of led us there.”
Some observations:
▪ The Sox’ bullpen — yes, their bullpen — was the difference, covering 5⅔ innings without yielding a run. Manager Alex Cora gambled with Diekman against the heart of the Yankee order.
Hansel Robles completed a scoreless eighth and when the southpaw ran in from the bullpen to start the ninth, it was his show against a lineup that had Judge and Stanton.
Stanton came into that at-bat batting .417 with two homers in the first two games. But when Diekman struck out the side, each swinging, it took the collective air out of Yankee Stadium.
The gamble to summon Diekman instead of, say, sticking with Robles had some calculation to it, according to Cora. Despite some of Diekman’s struggles last year, including an 8.18 ERA in his final 13 appearances with the Athletics, Cora liked the lefthander’s numbers against the Yankees. Diekman pitched 3⅓ innings against the Yankees without allowing a run.
“He was really good [against the Yankees],” Cora said afterward. “And, I mean the stuff is playing a little bit better than earlier in the spring and he’s [closed games before].”
Judge had an 11-pitch at-bat before he struck out. That would be the only time Diekman might have worked up a sweat.
▪ The Yankees had rookie Kutter Crawford on his heels in the fifth inning following a double by Gleyber Torres that put runners on second and third with one out. The next batter, Aaron Hicks, was up in the count, 3 and 1, but popped out in foul territory. Isiah Kiner-Falefa then struck out to end the threat.
Crawford struck out both Anthony Rizzo and Judge in the sixth, mixing in his cutter, fastball, and changeup. Crawford gave the Sox two-plus innings without surrendering a run. Crawford wound up with the win, the first of his career.
“It was a pretty awesome moment,” Crawford said. “To do it in Yankee Stadium. Red Sox-Yankees rivalry, it was really special.”
▪ The Sox haven’t had any issues getting the bats going early. They once again scored two runs in the first inning behind an RBI double by J.D. Martinez off Jordan Montgomery, who also had his share of struggles, and a Christian Arroyo sacrifice fly. The Sox had just five hits through six innings, but they manufactured runs, including Jonathan Araúz’s sacrifice fly in the fourth.
▪ Sunday evening’s series finale moved at a turtle-like pace. Tanner Houck couldn’t find the zone. The righthander tossed 68 high-stress pitches in 3⅓ innings, including 30 in the first. Houck yielded six hits, walked three, and hit a batter.
Houck struggled against lefties throughout his time in the minors and walked Rizzo and Gallo in the first inning. In the second, switch-hitting Hicks singled off Houck from the left side. In the third, Houck issued a four-pitch walk to Rizzo. He retired Gallo, but on a ball hit 112.5 miles per hour.
The erratic command made it easy for the Yankee hitters to lay off his slider. On 32 thrown, he drew just nine swings and three whiffs.
▪ Cora hoped to squeeze four innings out of Houck, who only allowed one run on a walk and back-to-back singles in the third. Even after a double by Kiner-Falefa and single by Jose Trevino, Cora stuck with Houck against leadoff man Josh Donaldson. Houck struck him out for the third time, and Cora then went to the bullpen.
“He was all over the place,” Cora said. “I told him on the mound that he was important to us and we’ll throw this one away and make adjustments.”
In the end, the Red Sox halted the Yankees offense when need be, holding them to 3 for 11 with runners in scoring position.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Apr 11, 2022 3:49:26 GMT -5
Pete Abraham @peteabe · 5h
Sox relievers retire 9 of the last 10 Yankees. Jake Diekman punches out the side in the 9th.
Off to Motown.
Is Jake Diekman your closer?
Alex Cora: "He was tonight."
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Apr 11, 2022 3:52:39 GMT -5
Mastrodonato: Closer of the night Jake Diekman the hero the Red Sox needed in win vs. Yankees
By Jason Mastrodonato | jason.mastrodonato@bostonherald.com | Boston Herald PUBLISHED: April 10, 2022 at 11:16 p.m. | UPDATED: April 10, 2022 at 11:26 p.m.
The Red Sox found a hero on Sunday night, and it made the entire weekend worth it.
Jake Diekman, a 35-year-old lefty who might’ve been an under-the-radar signing during spring training, was the star of the show.
It was like pulling teeth watching the Sox figure out how their roster is going to work this weekend. They have a weird platoon in right field. They’re trying to figure out how many outs they can get from their starting pitchers. And it looks like they have no idea what they’re doing with their bullpen.
But on Sunday, manager Alex Cora found a way to make it all work. And with the heart of the Yankees’ lineup due up in the ninth, he found the hero he needed.
Diekman struck out three of the strongest home run hitters in baseball in Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Joey Gallo to close out the ninth inning of the Sox’ 4-3 win at Yankee Stadium.
Who is the Red Sox closer going to be this year? It’s been a question on everyone’s mind as Matt Barnes’ breakdown in the second half of last season and his concerningly-low velocity in spring training this year. It was then revealed on Friday that Barnes is also dealing with a physical ailment, a tight back, and could need to start the year on the injured list.
His natural backup, Garrett Whitlock, is being used in a new-age relief role. He’ll throw multi-inning outings and need extra rest between them.
Once Cora burned Whitlock in an Opening Day loss, it was anybody’s guess where he went with his bullpen from there.
Believe it or not, he made it work.
After giving up the game-winning hit to Josh Donaldson on Friday, rookie Kutter Crawford bounced back with two scoreless innings, striking out four to get the Red Sox to the seventh inning on Sunday.
Then Cora turned over to three guys who weren’t on the roster a month ago in Matt Strahm, Hansel Robles and Diekman for the seventh, eighth and ninth.
Together, they held the Yankees without a hit to ensure that Bobby Dalbec’s sixth-inning home run would be enough to get the Red Sox’ their first win of the season.
In truth, it was a weird weekend.
How unusual it was to see the Red Sox and Yankees start their seasons against one another, especially after the abbreviated spring training, and especially with very public, very uneasy contract negotiations going with both teams’ best players.
There was a lot of talk about what was going to happen to Xander Bogaerts and Aaron Judge, who will both be eligible for free agency after the season.
And people wondered what the Red Sox’ pitching staff would look like later in the year, when lefties Chris Sale and James Paxton return.
We wondered how Cora would navigate games with a bullpen full of guys who have had various levels of big league success, from none at all, to very little, to full careers spent as good-not-great options out of relief.
The strategy of building depth instead of going after top-end talent in the bullpen seems uncertain over the long haul, but Cora has done more with less and the ‘pen actually did quite well all weekend.
Ideally, we get to watch the Red Sox and Yankees play against each other when they’ve stretched out their pitchers, established some roles in the bullpen and are playing a sharper brand of baseball. They won’t meet again until July, which is probably for the best.
But they’re pretty evenly matched, as it looked this weekend.
Early season tests depth just like late season. Both teams used a full roster of players over the weekend, and all three games went down to the wire.
The Red Sox still have to figure out what they’re doing in right field, where Christian Arroyo made his first big league start on Sunday night but left as a late-game defensive replacement to Jackie Bradley Jr.
At least they can celebrate Cora’s bullpen management in a big win on Sunday.
For one night, they found a closer.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Apr 11, 2022 3:55:39 GMT -5
Lou Merloni @loumerloni · 6h That’s the Diekman they were hoping for when they signed him. But since camp opened he was all over the place. Cora shows confidence in him and is rewarded and has a pitcher that loves him for it.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Apr 11, 2022 3:59:16 GMT -5
Christopher Smith @smittyonmlb 3h Red Sox's Alex Cora said he did research before the game and noticed Jake Diekman pitched well against New York last year. Diekman tossed 3 ⅓ innings against the Yankees in 2021, allowing one unearned run (no earned runs), no hits and one walk while striking out six.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Apr 11, 2022 7:43:31 GMT -5
Red Sox relievers offer a blunt message at Yankee Stadium Current Time 0:26 / Duration 1:38
By Rob Bradford WEEI 93.7 an hour ago
There was Jake Diekman's memorable save, striking out Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Joey Gallo to lock down the Red Sox' first win of the season.
And then there was Diekman's equally as noteworthy quote after the 4-3 win.
"I don't really give two (expletives)."
The lefty's message to reporters was in response to the question regarding if he wanted to continue to live the life as Red Sox closer. It was succinct. It was spicy. It left no room for interpretation. It was a fine way to punctuate what ended up being a pretty powerful overall communiqué from this bullpen.
"He was the closer today," Red Sox manager Alex Cora told reporters. “He’s done it before. I remember in 2019 he pitched against us at home and J.D. [Martinez], it was July or around that time, and he was like, ‘We need to get this guy.’ The angle on the fastball and the slider [is tough].”
The Red Sox found the best version of Diekman just in time. He wasn't alone in surfacing that theme.
In securing the win, the Red Sox relief pitchers got the final 17 outs against a potent Yankees lineup, not giving up a single run. When the three-game series was all said and done, the Sox bullpen faced 52 batters, allowing just nine hits and one earned run.
It was a reminder regarding the dangers that come with using spring training as the basis for your regular season expertise.
Two weeks ago, Ryan Brasier's velocity was simply unacceptable. Kutter Crawford going to be a solid depth option in Worcester. Matt Strahm was a guy who few in Boston had seen pitch thanks to his 6 2/3-season in San Diego in 2021. Hansel Robles was pitching to 16 year olds at the Red Sox' Dominican Academy. And Diekman was a veteran who suddenly couldn't find the MPHs on his slider and was walking the world.
Well, the narratives have officially changed. And that is even without the one guy - Garrett Whitlock - pitching just once (giving up that one earned run) and the potential closer-to-be, Matt Barnes, sidelined for the entire three days with a bad back.
The Red Sox came into the regular season crossing their fingers that some of these relievers would flip the switch. It turns out more than a few walked into the light.
Perhaps the most eye-opening this time around was Crawford, who followed up his three-pitch introduction to the 2022 season during the 11-inning Yankees walk-off with two innings of game-saving relief.
“It was a pretty awesome moment,” Crawford told reporters. “You know, to do it in Yankee Stadium, Red Sox-Yankees rivalry and Sunday Night Baseball is really special.”
There is a ways to go before the Red Sox can stake claim to a no-doubt-about-it collection of game-enders. But when you land after MLB's first wave of series with the best relievers ERA (0.69) in baseball, that's a pretty good start.
It's a development few some coming, particularly those attempting to use the Grapefruit League to define what's what. Lesson learned.
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Post by CP_Jon_GoSox on Apr 11, 2022 9:08:30 GMT -5
Scattered Thoughts after opening weekend
Some quick hitter thoughts about the Red Sox-Yankees weekend series. By Matt_Collins@MattRyCollins Apr 11, 2022, 9:01am EDT 11 Comments
Not that anyone cares, and not that anyone should, but this is sneakily the worst time of year to write about baseball. It is about as excited as anyone gets through the season until the last couple of weeks, and people are dying to read about baseball, but, well, there’s typically nothing too notable you can say after three baseball games. They play 162 for a reason, ya know? So to try and get past that extreme hardship (mentally insert sarcasm font here) I’ll go to the scattered thoughts format for our first series of the year, in which the Red Sox dropped two of three to the Yankees.
Where else could we start but with the bullpen, which kind of felt like the goat for most of the weekend but, by the end of it, had actually turned into the MVP of sorts. There was some bending without breaking and I think being at least apprehensive about some of the arms there is justifiable, but the fact remains they largely did their job this weekend. Boston’s relief corps threw 12 2⁄3 innings across the three games and allowed only three runs, of which just one was earned. Those three runs all came in the opener on Friday, too. Now, just like we don’t overreact negatively to a small sample, we won’t overdo it with the positivity here in terms of looking forward. But they got the job done this weekend, and we saw a lot of the upside that is present there. Having said that, I think the bullpen still had a negative effect in the first two games even if Alex Cora denies it. Especially considering it is the first weekend of the season coming off a shortened season, I have a hard time believing he would have stuck with Garrett Whitlock in game one, or especially Nick Pivetta in game two, so long if he had more faith in his bullpen. The Red Sox always err on the side of caution with pitcher workload, especially to start a season. I’ll emphasize again that this is totally speculation and Cora has denied it, but I’m not buying it. The good news is the results of this weekend should buy him some more trust in the unit leaving New York.
I want to highlight a couple of the relievers here, though more were deserving of some love than I’ll mention. We’ll start with Whitlock, who of course signed an extension prior to Sunday’s series finale. He did give up a home run on Friday, but otherwise he looked nasty in his follow up to that incredible rookie run. I know there’s value in multi-inning middle relievers, but watching him again it feels almost like a waste to not have him either starting or pitching in late, high-leverage spots. Kutter Crawford gave up a walk-off hit to the only batter he faced on Friday, but came back Sunday and was throwing darts. Getting up to 97 in the shorter stint, he’s the guy I’m excited to see in that multi-inning middle relief role. And finally, Jake Diekman did the damn thing on Sunday. I was terrified seeing him go up against Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton, but he got them both on K’s. The strikeout of Judge was particularly impressive after the Yankees star worked a great at bat and fouled off a bunch of hitters, but Diekman never backed off. After Sunday’s game Cora refused to say Diekman was officially his closer, responding to the question by saying he was the closer for that game. I think that’s smart. It certainly wouldn’t be surprising to see him lock down that role at some point, but to me the smartest play is to keep open the possibility of playing matchups as long as possible. Diekman, for what it’s worth, doesn’t much care. Surprisingly, it was the offense that was the biggest concern in this series. They had their chances at times in each of these games to break it open and take real command of the game, but failed. They also had a couple pitchers on the ropes with both Gerrit Cole and Luis Severino, but let them get into a groove after that. I’m not really worried about this lineup at all, but just like with the bullpen we have to acknowledge what did happen, and what happened was the offense was the biggest reason they lost two of three. Enrique Hernández in particular stood out for his lack of offense in this series. He did get on base a couple of times with a pair of four-pitch walks, but otherwise was 0-13. ESPN mics (more on this in a minute) did pick up on Hernández betting his salary that he wouldn’t go hitless on the season, so do with that what you will. More positively, Alex Verdugo and Rafael Devers stood out among position players. Verdugo made a couple of big plays in the field in the two losses (and actually made a couple of bad ones in the win) while also getting going early and often with the bat. He’s got a nice floor built in with his offense thanks to his ability to make contact, but since he’s likely stuck as a left fielder now he’s got to improve upon last season. So far so good. Devers, meanwhile, is already great and continues to look like he’s ready to take the next step. He made a ton of hard contact in this series and hit a homer in the first game, while also making a few impressive plays with the glove as well.
Nathan Eovaldi and Nick Pivetta were kind of just who they were, just an early-season version, but Tanner Houck I do want to talk about. I wrote before Opening Day that I thought he was the biggest X-Factor on the season, and he didn’t get off to a good start. He managed to escape some dangerous situations, but his command was all over the place in this game. Most concerning to me was the continued lack of usage with his splitter. He said before the game he felt good about the pitch, but proceeded to throw just one in the first inning and then we never saw it again. It seemed like he never had a feel for anything in this game for more than a batter or two at a time, so hopefully this isn’t a sign of what’s to come, but I really want to see more confidence in the splitter next time out. In terms of non-game action, I actually really enjoyed the ESPN broadcast for the most part. Some of it is certainly comparing it to the recent booths which have been horrendous, and I’ve come to accept that national broadcasts will never totally cater to hardcore fans, but overall this was an informative group who mostly kept their attention on the field. That’s been rare in ESPN lately. In particular I thought David Cone was a really good listen and I’m actually excited to listen to an ESPN broadcaster every week now. It’s a weird feeling. One thing I did not like was the in-game interview of Enrique Hernández while he was playing center field. They also did this with Joey Votto at first base on Opening Day, which I also didn’t love but it was better with a first baseman. A center fielder is just doing too much on a play-to-play basis for that to be a good idea in a game that counts. I know people did like it, and Hernández is a great personality fit for this kind of thing, but I’d rather see this stuff limited to spring training and the All-Star Game. And finally, why oh why do we need to have the Manfred Man runner on second base again in extra innings? I hate it a lot.
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