The Yankees Actually Scored A Lot of Runs Today While Severino Looked Like a Real Pitcher Out There
There were actually a lot of positives to take from today’s beat down in The Bronx.
Miguel Andujar, for starters, has quickly become of the scariest/hottest hitters in the American League. He may not know how to field the baseball whatsoever, but he was put on this Earth to hit the baseball. Andujar collected three hits today and fell a triple shy of the cycle. He blasted his AL rookie-leading 20th homer of the year and boosted his overall rookie-leading RBI total to 63. He’s raised his batting average to .300, giving the Yankees a 300 hitter finally at this point in the season (yikes). Miggy has been a fucking machine lately, hitting everything in sight. Even when he gets out it’s likely a sharp line out to an outfielder. Fielding will continue to be an issue we have to live with, but the offense makes up for it and more. Right now, there’s only one man on Earth out-hitting him. That would be Giancarlo Stanton.
How’s seven homers in 12 games? Giancarlo’s August nuclear power surge continues to move along nice and smoothly. He’s destroying baseballs and it’s so much fun to watch. He’s up to 32 bombs on the year and is quietly closing in on JD Martinez at 37. Could he end up with 45 easily? I think he can. Stanton was plunked by Luis Santos in the 8th and gave a stare back to him as he debated his fate. Accidental or not, there cannot be a worse feeling as a pitcher when you get this look.
The guy we all needed to see return today was Luis Severino. Sevy has gone through pretty much the worst stretch of his career since his six inning shutout against the Red Sox on July 1st. Today he was much better than his previous start against the Mets when he gave up four runs, on two bombs against the Mets in four innings. The stat line today will not do Severino justice because he gave up two runs in just five innings, but he looked a lot better from the eye ball test, at least.
Severino’s velocity was sky high from start to finish. He was pumping out 100 miles an hour constantly and his slider was disgusting. That combination led to eight strikeouts which is always a good sign from him. Pitching Ninja’s overlays of his pitches when they are on are a joke. His fastball looks identical to the slider and changeup until it isn’t. It wasn’t the best start in the world because his pitch count got up there, but it was a step in the right direction for sure. He came out for the sixth with his pitch count approaching 100 pitches and allowed back to back hits to knock him out. The Yankees were up 8-0 at the time so he was just trying to throw strikes at that point and get outs. I like what I saw today and hopefully he can build on it as we near September.
Greg Bird hit a nice tack on solo home run in the 8th so the Greg Bird apologists out there will tell you he’s back. They’ll also ignore the fact that he dropped a ball at first after Didi made a Jeter-esque play in the hole to try and get the runner. He’s just here to participate though, remember?
Austin Romine took a nasty foul ball directly off his catcher’s mask and had to come out of the game soon after. Romine likely has a concussion since he looked about as woozy as a wide receiver does when he gets drilled over the middle in the NFL. The Yankees catcher situation could get dicey if he has to miss time.
This win puts the team 31 games over .500 which is exceptional. 11 runs is an arbitrary number, but today was the most runs the Yankees have scored since July 1st. At this point you just have to keep winning and separating yourself from the Astros, A’s, and Mariners to secure that first wild card spot. It’s a sucky position to be in with a month and a half to go, but that’s what it is.