Because of his ability to hit with RISP, I wanted LeMahieu to bat fifth. I think I was wrong about this.
LeMahieu's slugging percentage is very low (.398), but his on-base percentage is high (.355).
He has 34 walks and 35 strikeouts.
I still definitely trust him with RISP, but it was the right decision have him bat leadoff.
I was thinking of all the players who would be better than Gallo.
In fact, I'm willing to bet Ryan McBroom would be better than Gallo.
Such a typical con game by Lupica.
Pretending the Yankees as so invincible that only six teams could possibly beat them in the playoffs.
Twelve teams make the playoffs. Eleven of these teams can beat the Yankees. We don't yet know who these teams will be (though I'm quite confident at this point that the Yankees will make the playoffs).
Now fast forward to October and consider the various scenarios:
"There is always the same, mythical, two-team division in baseball. Call it the 'New York Division,' one that only includes the Yankees and the Mets. It means, especially in a year like this one when the two teams have the two best records in baseball, that they are always fighting for the mythical city championship."
It's a weary, mythical two-team division of my own creation. I'm so tired of talking about it for the past forty years, that I'm going to have to talk about it again.
"For now, the Yankees look to be running away with it. But it is fair to wonder, even at this point in the season, what the respective records of the two teams would be if, say, Gerrit Cole and Nestor Cortes, the Yankees’ two best starters, had combined for just eight starts the way Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer have. And how things might look between the two teams, and not just when they get around to playing each other, when deGrom and Scherzer are back at the top of Buck Showalter’s rotation."
Yeah. It's a fair point. The Mets might be better than the Yankees if deGrom and Scherzer return to form.
But it's fair to wonder, even at this point in the season, if the Yankees had kept Dellin Betances and he had regained his dominance; and if Clint Frazier was their everyday left fielder and hitting 45 home runs per year; and if Greg Bird had stayed healthy and won a couple of batting titles; and if Rob Refsnyder had a slash line of .300/.400/.500 and was their everyday second baseman. That team would be even better than the current team.
"Which New York slugger is going to end up being the MVP of New York this season, Aaron Judge or Pete Alonso?
And, by the way, I ask the question knowing that come September, as we’re coming down the stretch, Francisco Lindor (who came out of the weekend with more RBIs than Judge) might want a word.
All Rise or the Polar Bear?"
I don't know what the future will bring, either.
Right now, Judge is by far the most valuable of these three.
The Yankees could win 162 games and Mike Lupica wouldn't find anything good to say:
"Everybody realizes it wasn’t some kind of insult to suggest a few weeks ago that we needed to see what the Yankees were going to do once they moved out of the JV part of their schedule, right?
Somehow, though, that notion seemed to offend people in Yankee Universe."
Just admit you were wrong. It will be a relief.
I don't even understand how he spends his time.
Does he write a column and then scour Twitter for responses? How is "people in Yankee Universe" even a thing?
"So now we see how they’ve come out gangbusters against the Rays and Jays.
It is the real beginning of the 100-game season between now and the finish, and the Yankees have started it in high style, as they continue one of the remarkable first three months in their history."
They're playing .750 ball.
There is no need for an inevitable "but."
Just enjoy watching baseball and enjoy writing about baseball.
"But it’s always interesting the way the Yankees are still covered like the company in a company town, and when they look great again, as they sure do this season, it’s as if order has been restored to the baseball universe.
But what kind of order are we talking about with a franchise that has played in one World Series in the past 20 years, and hasn’t won once since 2009?"
Lupica really believes his role is to play cynic to all the "fanboy" reporters in "Yankee Universe."
The Yankees are playing .750 ball this year.
When you search for holes in the dyke, you don't reveal flaws in the Coverage in a Company Town. You reveal your own hackneyed flaws.
"And here’s one more interesting question about the records of our two big-city baseball teams:
What would the Yankees’ record be if they’d gotten a total of eight starts from Gerrit Cole and Nestor Cortes the way the Mets have gotten just eight starts, total, from Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer?"
This is a very odd appraisal. Embarrassing, actually. Also, quite uninteresting, despite his insistence that his own question is interesting.
Cole is the Yankees' worst starting pitcher. They'd probably be fine if they plugged in an uninjured Green or an uninjured German, since we're playing 2022 MLB in an imaginary place where injuries don't exist.
Cortes makes league minimum, more or less, and you have the gall to compare him to deGrom and Scherzer simply because he has outperformed all expectations? Weak.
A more interesting question: Why are the Mets risking free agent money on elderly pitchers in the first place?
Lupica is neurotic.
Lupica is not happy that that Mets are 20 games over .500 and cruising to the playoffs.
He just needs the Mets to be better than the Yankees in the "company town," in the pretend Battle for New York, which is largely his own creation.
Next up is a column about Mike Baxter from Archbiship Molloy and how he would have been better than Aaron Judge.
The underlying Forever problem with Lupica goes something like this: If you're seriously this slanted against one of the teams you supposedly cover ... seething anger; endless insistence that they're overrated or ruinous to MLB's competitive balance; animated solely by the idea that the Mets are going to TAKE OVER THIS TOWN ... if you spend a decade+ relentlessly crushing ARod for steroid use and shrug off Cano's steroid use ... you're simply not a reliable source of baseball information. Which would be fine if you were a tire salesman in Duluth, Minnesota, but you're a baseball columnist for the New York Daily News.
A guy with one RBI is talking trash.
Really, though, congratulations on the nose ring. It must be very liberating.
He never even met Jesus Christ, but he speaks for Jesus Christ:
" 'So it's a hard decision,' Adam told the Tampa Bay Times. 'Because ultimately we all said what we want is them to know that all are welcome and loved here. But when we put it on our bodies, I think a lot of guys decided that it's just a lifestyle that maybe -- not that they look down on anybody or think differently -- it's just that maybe we don't want to encourage it if we believe in Jesus, who's encouraged us to live a lifestyle that would abstain from that behavior."
What behavior?
What lifestyle?
What about gay people who abstain from sex? Who go to Church every Sunday? Or who have intimate relations only with their spouse?
Just like you're a full human being who is multi-faceted and engages in multiple activities ... maybe even attending public professional sporting events! ... it's childish to reduce people to their decisions about what they do with their genitals, and how often, and with whom.
'... It's not judgmental. It's not looking down. It's just what we believe the lifestyle he's encouraged us to live, for our good, not to withhold. But again, we love these men and women, we care about them, and we want them to feel safe and welcome here.' "
It's very noble indeed to want homosexuals to feel safe and welcome at Tropicana Field.
Gallo's batting average is .173.
He has struck out 59 times in 133 at-bats.
.100 BA with RISP.
.000 BA with RISP and two outs (14 at-bats).
A smattering of home runs. Five home runs which account for six runs batted in.
That means ... are you ready for this one? ... one total RBI in his other 133 at-bats.
You could send a player up there blindfolded and he could probably drive in more runs than that.
First step is learning when to shut up. Take your mere one-game suspension and move on.
Between Cole and Donaldson, it seems like the Yankee so-called leaders are crybabies.