Let's not get carried away because he had a good week, but I root for the guy.

I root for him specifically because he was unfairly lumped in with Hicks and Gallo in 2022. In 2022, IKF was better than Hicks and Gallo combined ... for a fraction of the cost.

I've been meaning to talk about DJ.

An OPS of .737 is bad. It's the third year in a row he hasn't been too great offensively, but last year was dismissed due to presumed injuries.

But I really wanted to mention the strikeouts.

What's up with all the strikeouts?

He is striking out about 1/3rd of the time, which is about twice his career average.

Every WFAN caller for the past thirty years finally got the bunt they've been asking for.

 It didn't work.

The Pulse of New York Sports

No one cares about the home run race between Judge and Alonso. If they stay healthy, they'll hit a lot of them in the regular season.

Also, no one is worried about Volpe's batting average:

"For anyone worried about Anthony Volpe’s batting average right now:

When Capt. Jeter was a rookie, he took a .261 average into June, on his way to finishing at .314.

He ended up hitting 10 home runs that year.

Volpe already has seven."

For anyone worried about Volpe's batting average right now:

When never-Capt. Andre Robertson was a rookie, he took a .214 batting average into June, on his way to finishing at .220.

He ended up hitting two home runs that year.

Volpe already has seven.

Jordan Montgomery isn't any better with the Cardinals.

He is a .500 pitcher (at best) who manages about 4 2/3 innings per start.

The reason you heard stories about how great he is since joining the Cardinals is because lots of people want to whine about Brian Cashman.

I don't think Aaron Judge was accused of cheating.

In fact, MLB reviewed the matter and quickly concluded Judge didn't cheat.

Also, stealing signs isn't cheating.

So even if Judge was accused by ... the Toronto broadcasters, I guess? ... of looking into the Yankees dugout for help ... the thing they're accusing him of isn't cheating.

 

German is another matter.

That's two times in a month his use of sticky stuff has been questioned ... and it's quite possible his effectiveness will plummet once he returns from his suspension.

A warning track fly ball that would have tied the game if it had been a home run. Which it wasn't.

The Rays still could have won the game, by the way.

Abreu seemed like a very bad choice with the bases loaded:

"... Albert Abreu -- who had entered the game in relief of starter Clarke Schmidt -- yielded a grand slam to the first batter he faced on the fourth straight changeup he threw, allowing Taylor Walls to cap the Rays’ five-run fifth and give them their decisive advantage.

 'It was a big situation in the game, and my job is to go in there and minimize damage,' Abreu said through the club’s interpreter. 'Unfortunately, we missed location. … We execute that pitch, I think we get the result we want. But unfortunately, it ended up in his power zone, and we paid a high price today because of that.' "

"We."

This play didn't dissuade the Mets.

Move over, Joey Gallo. We have a new Champion.

Aaron Hicks has one RBI in 89 at-bats, an OPS of .357, and an OPS+ of 3.

OPS+ is a scaled metric, where an OPS of 100 indicates a league average OPS.

Also, he's a bad outfielder.

Be Nice

It actually is amazing how many fans think they can do better than the professional GMs, coaches, players, and announcers.

I'm not particularly a fan of Kay, and I certainly habitually criticize all of the above compared to their peers and also compared to expectations. That's what fans do.

But think about Kay's job.

How is he going to become a play by play announcer for the Yankees if he isn't polite to the Yankee players and personnel?

If you work for the YES Network, you work for the Yankees. Cashman is a GM and SVP of Yankees, Inc. Cashman is one of the senior executives of a corporation whose net worth is over $7 billion.

He is going to expect a certain level of deference and decorum from his own employees.

Go ahead and publicly criticize your boss, Twitter Hero.

I'm quite sure Cashman's skin is thick enough to endure a lot of criticism. On occasion, Kay will mention a trade that "didn't work out." 

But do these lunatic fans really expect professional announcers to behave like Vic Dibitetto?

Bader off IL, Cordero optioned ... Hicks starting in LF?

Bad managerial decision for sure.

Just let German finish the game. The Yankees probably would have won.

Also:

• Boone jumped the gun with his defensive replacement. (Hicks as a defensive replacement?) Which put Hicks up at bat with two outs in the ninth.
• The pitcharound walk by Peralta to load the bases. Don't you know the possibility of a HBP or walk with the bases loaded? Have we learned nothing from the lessons of Dellin Betances and Aroldis Chapman?
• Rizzo with his zero RBIs since Judge went on the IL. Way to step up, superstar.
   

Enough already.

Aaron Hicks has one RBI in 46 at-bats, a .380 OPS, and 15 Ks.

OK, but did Chandler Redmond pull his hamstring while jogging around the bases?

Hitting a baseball isn't easy.

This didn't age well.

Everyone has a bad day once in a while.