As we begin another week it’s time to board the Subway again and talk New York baseball. This was an interesting week for both teams to say the least, as there was a number of stories on and off the field. From injury scares to Big Ben, there is a lot to cover, so hop those turnstiles and hope the transit worker didn’t notice, first stop is the Bronx!
Yankees
“Now arriving at 161st/Yankee Stadium,” where the bombers just concluded hosting the star laden Dodgers. The Yanks only managed to win of the three contests against LA, that one win Sunday night felt pretty important. I was lucky enough to be at the finale, and it was exactly the type of game you hope to see at Yankee Stadium. Two of the best teams in the game, in front of a loud and packed house with the game close at the end, it was a real treat!
The Yankees kicked off the home stand with more of the same, beating the Minnesota Twins like they always do. There is dominance and then there is what this franchise has done against the Minnesota Twins since 2002. That may seem like an arbitrary date to you but since that time the squad from the Bronx is 122-44 (including the playoffs) against the team from “The State of Hockey.” There were some good moments in this set, from Aaron Judge continuing his dominance, to Gleyber Torres showing signs of life and good work on the mound. Oh and Giancarlo Stanton put another ball into orbit.
As this latest clash with the Twins came to a close, the vibes in “Yankee Land” took a decidedly dark turn, as Juan Soto left Thursday nights rain delayed game with an injury. That injury was announced to be a “forearm injury” and from there the Yankees did their usual act of poorly discussing an injury. Aaron Boone talked out of both sides of his mouth while PR director Jason Zillo decided to throw in that Soto saw the Yankees team doctor. Soto himself described it in a way that felt reminiscent of Jasson Dominguez injury last season, leading to fans fearing the worst. Fortunately number 22’s MRI came back pretty much clean, with only minor inflammation, sidelining him for a few days.
With Soto assuming a coaching role the Yanks went to work against the Dodgers. The visitors from the west took the opener in extra innings, after an unlikely pitchers duel between Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Cody Poteet. Give Poteet credit, as he continues to fill in well for the injured Clarke Schmidt. The 2-1 loss on Friday gave way to an 11-3 beat down on Saturday night, though it was close in the 8th inning before some poor Yankee defense.
The error above by Torres, is his 10th (amended later) of the season, a flat out unacceptable number for any big leaguer. Number 25 has struggled at the plate all season, which only serves to magnify his issues in the field. This miscue in particular teed up an eventual Teoscar Hernandez grand slam that blew the game wide open. When you combine his struggles with Rizzo, Torres is one half of one of the worst right sides of an infield in the sport.
The Saturday night loss led to the Yankees needing a win Sunday night in the Bronx to avoid the sweep. They’d turn to Luis Gil on the mound and he pitched quite well, before blinking and allowing a game tying double to Mookie Betts and a go ahead homer to Teoscar Hernandez. Trailing 3-2 in the 6th the Yankees were looking for a big hit and would need it from an unlikely source with Verdugo and Judge on base. Cue utility outfielder Trent Grisham.
Grisham took Dodgers righty Tyler Glasnow, who much like Gil was left in a bit too long, deep for the lead and sent the stadium into a frenzy. The roar in the Bronx was a stark contrast to their reaction to Grisham coming to the plate a few minutes earlier. The Yankee faithful broke out into “WE WANT SOTO” chants as the lefty strode to the plate, and continued to chant during his at bat, drawing the ire of captain Aaron Judge. I understand Judge sticking up for his teammate, and it’s made all the better by Grisham coming through, but can ya really blame Yankee fans here? He was hitting .083 coming into the at bat after all. Judge of course added a majestic homer of his own to seal a 6-4 Yankee win.
Having salvaged the finale the Yanks headed for Kansas City to take a Royals team that is somewhat surprisingly in contention in the Central. This figured to be a matchup centered around two faces of the game, Aaron Judge and Bobby Witt Jr. But instead, the crowd at Kauffman Stadium was treated to a fireworks display from the Yankee offense through the first three games. Contributions came from up and down the lineup and the pitching was just as good. Carlos Rodon, Marcus Stroman and Cody Poteet, outshining AL CY Young candidate Seth Lugo along the way. If we’re going to talk about all these positives there of course has to be some negatives along the way.
The Yankees the finish series in KC with frustrating walk off loss, that followed an encouraging rally. While the loss isn’t a back breaker at all, it’s a tough one to take after storming back for an 8th inning lead, following an Anthony Rizzo homer which has been absent for too long. Rizzo and his fellow veteran teammate DJ LeMahieu are really the first of the Yankees “issues.” Both are starting to look like they are over the hill and it’s hard to see them returning to a higher level of play the rest of the season. With both unlikely to be traded and the Yankees in the market for an infield addition, I think their best option is to platoon the two at first base the rest of the way. Acquiring a player that can come into play second or third base, upgrading on the struggling Gleyber Torres or the less production at third base would help to lengthen this already good lineup.
While upgrading the infield feels like a priority for GM Brian Cashman, adding an arm to the bullpen isn’t far behind, especially one with swing and miss kind of stuff. While the Yankee pen has performed well this year, it feels like they lack A+ plus stuff which is needed against quality offenses. Clay Holmes is a talented closer and Luke Weaver does fine work in the eighth inning, it feels like this team needs a guy who will come into games to blow away opposing batters. Maybe that’s A’s closer Mason Miller (who will come at a steep cost) maybe it’s another flame thrower, but the point remains, the bombers need another arm.
The real moral here is that this Yankee team is very good, and built to win a championship, but this feels like their best shot since 2009 to do so, so they should leave nothing up to chance. This is for now the only guaranteed season they have with Juan Soto, do not waste it! The Yankees should be all in the rest of the way. Following their series in KC, they’ll head to Boston for their first meeting of the season with the rival Red Sox before coming back home to battle their competitor for the AL East, the red-hot Orioles, and the sliding “juggernaut” Braves. These should all be fun matchups to keep an eye on, so I look forward to writing about them soon. Now let’s head over to Queens.
Mets
“Welcome to Mets Willets Point,” where the pushback we have been looking for from the Mets is at least making an appearance. Last time we wrote about the orange and blue we had discussed them basically hitting rock bottom after some ugly losses and drama off the field. That awful homestand saw the team head to the place that often cures a lot of issues for a struggling team, the road. The place where a team can bond and work past their trials and tribulations, and that is exactly what the Mets needed.
After hanging on to win the first two out of three games against the Nationals, Luis Severino took the hill and was absolutely brilliant in the finale. Number 40 spun eight terrific innings with four strikeouts as the Mets grabbed a 9-1 win to secure the sweep. Severino really has put it back together this season after struggles across town with the Yankees and he is becoming a valuable trade chip for the Mets to get good return on at the deadline. With the sweep in the books the road trip continued across the pond against the Phillies in London.
The London Stadium, home to the Premier Leagues West Ham United, was the site of this international series and it made for quite the setting. There were plenty of fans and celebrities on hand to take in the two games, both of which were very entertaining. The opener of the pair went to the Phillies, who were led as usual by Bryce Harper, to a 7-2 win which set up a finale where the Mets looked to salvage a win on foreign soil. The Mets would enter the ninth inning of that finale trailing 4-3 against the talented yet wild Phillies closer Jose Alvarado.
They would get three in the ninth off of an infield single, a hit batter and a wild pitch. The unlikely rally set up one of the sequences of the year as solid waiver claim catcher Luis Torrens turned a double play to end the game, helping to highlight the work British play by play man Darren Fletcher.
The uplifting win turned the vibes around for the first time in a while and the Mets feeling good for a long flight back to the big apple. As they arrived back in Queens they welcomed the Marlins to Citi Field, looking to stay hot against a bad ball club. They didn’t get off on the right foot against the fish as they dropped the opener after a rather lifeless effort in front of the home crowd. They bounced back in big way on Wednesday night off the back of big offensive nights from Harrison Bader, Starling Marte and returning catcher Francisco Alvarez. The three combined for six RBI’s in the game and four pitchers combined to put the win away. This set up a series finale Thursday night with the orange and blue looking for a series win. They struggled for much of night and entered the ninth inning trailing 2-1…cue JD Martinez.
JD cranked one to right center, his first career walk off home run, giving the Mets the win by a score of 3-2. The win makes the Mets record in their last eight games 6-2, which is certainly something to build off of as they try to turn this campaign around. They’ll host the Padres this weekend, who hold a playoff spot at ahead of the Mets right now, before they head to Texas and Chicago to play the struggling Rangers and Cubs. There is a chance to continue these winning ways and at least give the fans something to cheer about on a nightly basis again. No one should be under any illusions about playoff races or not selling off pieces, as the product on the field isn’t lying to us. This team isn’t good but at the minimum they should have the decency to show up and play hard. If they happen to find themselves in the hunt that’s just an added bonus right now.
You can find me on Twitter @YNWA9623 and subscribe to the site by hitting the follow button in the bottom right corner and entering your email address. Check out our Instagram feed @thebroadwaybreakdownsports for special gameday and promotional content. We have also launched a podcast which carries the same name as the Instagram account. Check out our mailbag page to join the conversation here on the site and on our partners show, The Rangers Ed Podcast! Myself and the Ed’s will have Ranger’s offseason content coming your way and another special announcement in our collaboration coming soon. We’ll be back with more soon!
The Broadway Breakdown 
Leave a comment