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.

Yankees are seven games back in April.

 I can't say I saw that coming.

Rizzo is a better player, but I always liked Voit.

 The Star-Ledger tracking an ex-Yankee who isn't Joey Gallo.

Next lesson for Brito: Compile a comprehensive list of IHOPs and Denny's in the Scranton Wilkes-Barre area.

My problem with Gleyber remains the same.

Sure, he's off to a good start and he might have turned it around permanently.

What bothers me is the strong implication that, at the age of 26 years old, he finally decided to take his trade seriously. 

I understand the 2019 season may have distorted the young man's opinion of himself. Also, everyone else's opinion of him. I thought he was on his way to being an MVP candidate instead of a Joe Charbonneau flame out.

My observations are that he got "fat and happy," entered the 2020 COVID season out of shape, didn't work on his defense, then spent two years swinging for the fences.

Now he seems to acknowledge all of this.

So what were you doing the past two seasons?

Why do the fans know what you're doing wrong the whole time?

Potential!

It's not even that I disagree. It's just that I've heard it before.

 

Clint Frazier had legendary bat speed and was compared to Mike Trout.

Greg Bird was going to win a batting title.

Kevin Maas just needed to fix that one hole in his swing.

Josh Satin batted .400 for the Mets for about three weeks in 2013. I only remember because Lupica proclaimed it wasn't a fluke.

Heck, even quickly-forgotten Gary Sanchez was on the fast track to Cooperstown after about 100 at-bats in the big leagues.

 

So, yeah. Volpe seems to be the real deal with poise, smarts, power, speed, and good fielding.

But potential is just that ... and, in the history of baseball, most of it goes unrealized.

If you're betting, you're not thinking.

We've had this discussion before ...

... as Japan wins its third WBC title (out of four ... I looked it up).

It would appear that Japan takes it more seriously than the US (no excuses; it's the point of the article) and, while it's fun to celebrate the immense baseball talent throughout the world, no one can seriously conclude that the best pro baseball is being played on a daily basis in Japan.

It isn't the point of the WBC and it shouldn't be the conclusion.

The WBC exceeded all expectations in terms of fan interest and player commitment.

But as for the style of play?

The final game had four solo home runs and 13 pitchers.

Let's face it: Tampa Ball has taken over the world.

Players and fans seem to enjoy the WBC very much.

I'm not sure how a beatdown of Team Canada enhances Trout's legacy, but the whole thing seems to be beneficial for the sport in general.

Last year, Trout his 40 home runs in 438 at-bats. An OPS of .999. Yawn.

I have trouble believing that MLB players were unaware of Trout's greatness. Like most observers, they may have become used to it.

Damn, Cap'n.

Aaron Judge thinks he's the GM.

While some may see this as noteworthy praise for a young player, one can also see it as an insult to Kiner-Falefa, your teammate and starting shortstop.

I'm over here now.

I'm a professional:

"Lindor has not found the restrictions difficult to adjust to, and even said they’ve even been enjoyable to work with.

'It’s fun,' he said. 'I know I can’t go past second base. I don’t have to look at the card. Before I was looking at the card, like, "Am I gonna be on the other side? Am I staying on this side?" So now it’s like, I got my limits that I can’t go to. So I know lefty and I know he’s gonna pull the ball, I play behind second base a little bit more to the right.'”

Seriously, people. These changes aren't difficult.