On account of he's a three-time MVP.

He's also the current MVP.

I looked it up on baseball-reference.com.

Mike Lupica is always the go-to journalist for breaking baseball news. 

1-7 in extra innings.

"Sanchez told reporters after the game that he wouldn't take back the decision to try and throw Murakami out, even with the third out at the plate, but that he simply needed to make a better throw. Aaron Boone agreed."

This is a stupid thing to say and a misunderstanding of risk vs. reward.

 Also, watch the play again.

A perfect throw and the runners is easily safe. You didn't trick anyone. You say that you thought the runner was slow getting back to third base. You were obviously wrong.

I don't get it.

Dominguez can't track a fly ball, Dominguez can't hit the cutoff man, Volpe doesn't know how to field ground balls or pop ups, Volpe doesn't know how to turn double plays, Volpe can't catch pop ups.

Nobody seems to be able to judge the speed of opposing baserunners.

Do Yankee minor leaguers practice fielding? Do they practice baseball? 

 

Watching the Yankee catchers is like playing a video game with a glitch.

Just catch the ball and throw it back to the pitcher.

The basics.

The 0-for-whatevers and the strikeouts with RISP and the inability to throw runners out? We're used to it.

How about just catch the ball and throw it back to the pitcher?

No catcher's interferences, no passed balls, no giving away ballgames with two outs in the bottom of the 11th.

Then McMahon is like, "I should have blocked it." Yeah. You should have.

Also, when you endlessly sees this self-sabotage, at some point it reflects poorly on the manager, the coaches, and the culture.

 

I remember when Suzyn Waldman would praise Anthony Rizzo for his well-timed visits to the mound to calm down the pitcher.

“I’m sure in a lot of ways, it weighs on you when you’re capable of more offensively,” Boone said. “But especially at that position, you’ve got to be able to separate. And he’s done a good job of that.”

I mean, sure. I hope an opposite field 430-foot home run gets him started. There is nowhere to go but up.

As for his supposed defensive prowess, the dubious stats back it up. The defensive WAR is high.

Is he throwing out runners trying to steal bases? No. May not be his fault.

Is he calling a good game? I don't know. When the Yankees have good pitchers on the mound, he probably calls a good game. When they have Fernando Cruz on the mound, he suddenly instructs the pitcher to walk a lot of batters.

He doesn't seem to be too good at blocking pitches.

In any case, there is no argument that can possibly be made that his defense compensates for his offense.

The Yankee Manager is an encouraging guy who will never bad mouth his players. "At least he's not as bad defensively as he is offensively" is quite an amazing thing to say. 

Bednar has not allowed a run since May 18th.

I think it's 22 2/3 innings in a row without an earned run.

I don't ever see this streak mentioned in the headlines or in the game recaps.

I suppose it isn't going to get much worse than this.

That's one way to look at it.

I also think "isolated nightmare" is bad enough. But that's just me. 

The Yankee offense scored one run in nine innings. That run was an unearned run.

Cole was great. Two earned runs in six innings.

Sure, the two-run home run was the pivotal play. I think Boone will make that decision 100 times out of 100. No offense to Headrick or the Yankee bullpen.

The offense lost the game for the Yankees. Obviously.

Which brings us to the lingering question: Why is Austin Wells still on this team?

His function is to start the game behind the plate, go 0-for-2, and then be replaced by a pinch hitter as soon as possible? 

For all intents and purposes, the Yankees don't even have a starting catcher. 

It's the New York Yankees we're talking about here. They're just going to keep putting this guy out there and hope he doesn't come to bat at an important juncture in the game? A player whose OPS+ is 41?

High praise indeed.

The Dodgers must be thrilled to learn that Cam Schlittler has concluded that they are one of the top three teams in MLB at this time.

 

In Praise of David Bednar

No earned runs in 17 straight appearances. No earned runs in his last 19 IP. No earned runs since May 18th.

In Praise of Anthony Volpe

His strikeout rate is down to 22.2% and his walk rate is way up to 13.1%.

A .246 batting average isn't bad.

A .346 on-base percentage is excellent.

I can envision usefulness in a player like that. Bat ninth, get on base and steal some bases, improve your approach with RISP somehow ...

On the other hand, he's still a lousy fielder.

But I actually can observe and appreciate an improved approach that makes him a more valuable player.