Gearing up for a pennant race at the Daily News.

Kyle Higashioka has a home run every 16.9 at-bats.

Gary Sanchez has a home run every 17.6 at-bats.

 

Sanchez is better overall, but not by much.

While Sanchez has lost considerable shine over the past couple of seasons, he is still one of the Baby Bombers.

Higashioka is an afterthought for most fans and observers.

If Higashioka can play better defense? In the playoffs? He might be preferable over Sanchez.

Tedious take.

"The comeback, this winning streak, the rise from the dead -- it's all been a pleasure to watch. Even those nail-biting ninth innings have been kind of cool, sometimes. If you told me the Yankees would win 34 of their next 45 games after that Mets loss, let alone still be in the Wild Card hunt, I would have laughed at you.

But now that they are almost a lock to make the postseason (like we expected months ago) here is a reminder that anything less than an American League pennant is unacceptable.

...

As things stood on Opening Day, you could not name one Yankee fan who would have been happy with anything short of a World Series appearance. You're not allowed to go from Opening Day American League favorite to 'it would be nice to make a run' just because you made a comeback from what once looked to be a lost season."

You're not allowed to enjoy simply enjoy the ride and enjoy being a fan of a baseball team.

If the Yankee don't make the World Series in 2021, it would be unacceptable. Which is a filler adjective devoid of meaning. I don't accept that an event happened. An undesirable event. The consequences will be ... ummm ... I'm not sure. I will blog derisively.

 

 

I mean, OK: The Yankees have to make the World Series in 2021.

If they don't make the World Series, the season will be a failure.

Which means the season will probably be a failure. 

I could have told you that one month ago or three months ago or nine months ago or ten years ago. No team ever started a season with a 51% chance of making the World Series and the rest is just boring PR.

We already know the rest of the story, anyway.

If the Yankees win the World Series in 2021, it's only one. 

It's still not as good as the Torre Yankees or the Stengel Yankees or the McCarthy Yankees and Taillon can't hold a candle to Real Champs like Pettitte and Arroyo and Herb Pennock.

I've been a Yankee fans since 1875 and, let me tell you, in the clutch, you need a guy like Herb Pennock who one time threw back-to-back-to-back no-hitters in the playoffs and never threw one ball out of the strike zone the whole time. Two-hundred innings in one weekend and he didn't complain once. Now I see Cole come out of a game after 7 2/3 innings while Lefty Gomez spins in his grave.

If the Yankees win the World Series in 2021 and it starts a streak of four Championships in a row, it's still not as impressive as what Epstein did with the Red Sox or what Tampa did with a smaller payroll. Sure, I'm happy that LeMahieu hit .350 in the playoffs, but it's not not as impressive as Tom Brady's seven Super Bowl rings.

 

I'll design a credo that make easier on fans and analysts:

• Winning is good.
• Winning is fun.
• Winning is always better than losing.
  

Rojas made a bad managerial move for sure.

 Having said that:

1. The relief pitcher can get a batter out.
2. The team can score more than two runs.
   

Is it a major league statistic if the opponent is the Orioles?

"A Maddux describes a start in which a pitcher tosses a shutout on fewer than 100 pitches. It's named after Hall of Fame pitcher -- and former Brave -- Greg Maddux. Fried joined the ranks of two other Braves pitchers who tossed shutouts on 90 or fewer pitches (since pitch counts began being tracked in 1988): Tom Glavine and Maddux himself, who did it five times and was the last Braves pitcher to do it in 90 pitchers or fewer."

It's named after career 39-game winner Mike Maddux, who once threw 100 pitches in one inning, in a childhood backyard wiffle ball game.

I think I first blogged about this in 1996.

No, wait.

I didn't have a blog in 1996.

I probably didn't have a home computer in 1996.

Spider Tack back in the headlines all of a sudden.

Voit is good.

Everything he is saying is true.

I am not sure why so many Yankee fans want to the guy to be traded.

More importantly, it's nice to be proven wrong once again:

"The Yankees have won five straight and 12 of 15 to narrowly overtake Boston for second in the AL East. New York enters Wednesday with a 68-52 record, and Boston is 69-53 -- a difference of .001 percentage points. The Yankees were 10 1/2 games behind the first-place Red Sox on July 5 but have gone 26-11 since."

 

What is happening with Clint Frazier?

60-day DL?

It almost seems as if his career is over.

Lucas Luetge is now a True Yankee.

With a four-run lead in the bottom of the ninth, Luetge walks the leadoff hitter.

It's a rule with Yankees closers.

I truly don't understand the lack of professionalism/coaching. Throw a batting practice fastball if you must. If the batter hits it 600 feet, you have a three-run lead in the bottom of the ninth.

A few batters later, and the game-winning run is at the plate.

Make them earn it, at the very least.

Not impressive.

It doesn't work this way, but perhaps Britton thinks this is an refreshing display of self-awareness and humility?:

"Britton spoke to Boone in the wake of giving up a walk-off, two-run shot by White Sox All-Star shortstop Tim Anderson in Chicago's 9-8 win over the Yankees in Thursday's "Field of Dreams" game in Iowa.

'I told him I don't deserve to be out there in the ninth inning; other guys deserve it,' Britton said Saturday before Game 2 of the Yankees-White Sox series at Guaranteed Rate Field. 'I haven't been pitching the way I should be to be out there when the team needs wins. I told [Boone] I want to pitch, whenever you need me I'll be ready, but I don't deserve to be out there in those situations.'

Subbing in as the team's closer, and put in charge of the ninth inning with Aroldis Chapman on the injured list due to left elbow inflammation, Britton has had four save opportunities and converted only one. Britton has an 8.10 ERA in those four appearances, giving up three earned runs over 3⅓ innings pitched."

...

"Britton has been dealing with command issues, which he has attached to his routine being disrupted by missing spring training to undergo left elbow surgery. The 33-year-old also hasn't completely recuperated from suffering major weight loss after contracting COVID-19 in the offseason."

"Command issues" is an understatement. Fourteen walks in sixteen innings. 

I don't think it's just his "routine being disrupted," or a physical glitch. 

He has always bean a crafty lefty working the corners and unwilling to throw a pitch down the middle of the plate. But there are times when you have to throw a strike. Like when it's the bottom of the ninth and you're up 0-2 on a #9 hitter and the next batter is Tim Anderson. I think it's a strategic and mental problem as well as a physical problem.

Then when you beg out of closing, I think it's very fair to question your nerve.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, I suppose ...

 ... but Noah Syndergaard is complaining about the travel schedule while he's on the IL ... and Albert Belle, of all people, questioned the toughness of star players who are not playing due to questionable injuries.

Ex-ballplayer plays the chalk.