Some things I think I know after a weekend series with the New York Yankees — and one I know I don’t:
• If you add a lot of swing and miss to a lineup that already strikes out a lot, the results will be predictable.
Don’t look now but through four games the Toronto Blue Jays have struck out 45 times already – only two less than the major league-leading Chicago Cubs. They hit .219 in the four games, below the major-league average of .236. The Jays were 18th in MLB last season with 1,327 strikeouts.
Here’s hoping it was just some good Yankees pitching but, man, I don’t know.
• They might survive the departure of Dominic Leone after all! Seriously, I couldn’t believe the fuss over Leone, because one thing this organization has been able to do is dig up random middle relief arms.
Everybody says they’re little more than failed starters and can be found anywhere, then, they moan whenever a team catches lightning in a bottle with a guy and ties the can to him. Weird.
The Blue Jays middle relievers will be fine.
• I’m with Blue Jays television analyst Buck Martinez: If I’m the Jays I’m thinking about having a discussion very soon with J.A. Happ about signing a contract extension.
Aaron Sanchez? Marcus Stroman? A lefty like Happ who knows his way around the AL East? I’m all about that.
• Yangervis Solarte is fun. He was a popular guy in San Diego and as a younger player in the Yankees organization, and considering how often Blue Jays manager John Gibbons described his team as kind of being “dead-ass” last season, I’m OK with Solarte pimping doubles like he did Saturday.
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• Luis Severino is really good.
He received little in the way of early-season Cy Young love and everybody keeps worrying about the Yankees starting pitching, but after posting the lowest earned run average by a qualified Yankee since David Cone (2.82) and Andy Pettitte (2.88) in 1997 and allowing one earned run or less in 10 of 14 starts after the all-star game, Severino can give the Boston Red Sox’s Chris Sale a run as the best pitcher in the AL East.
Severino walked back-to-back batters in the first inning of the opener then struck out Curtis Granderson to end the threat and Yankees manager Boone saw in that a product of some of the post-season turmoil he went through last season, when he lasted just one-third of an inning in the AL wild-card game against the Minnesota Twins.
He was booed off the mound after failing to get one swinging strike on 29 pitches and a start like that would have killed the careers of some previous Yankees pitchers.
“It was exciting to see him struggle for a couple of hitters and rein it in,” said Boone. “You talk about all he’s already been through at the big-league level, all the ups and downs. What we saw out there tonight looked like a more experienced pitcher with elite stuff.”
They key is Severino has learned how to take a little off his slider.
• Gary Sanchez, dark horse MVP.
Much was made last season of how the battery of Masahiro Tanaka and Gary Sanchez messed up managing their outings – Tanaka even had difficulty with the way Sanchez flashed signs – to the point where there was debate as to whether Austin Romine should be Tanaka’s everyday catcher. That silliness has been put to bed.
Sanchez, it says here, has a real shot at AL MVP this season and his work with Tanaka in the second game of the Blue Jays series was smooth. They surprised some of the Blue Jays hitters with their pitch patterns and there was very little shaking off.
• Aaron Judge has a copy of Derek Jeter’s ‘Guide to Being A Yankee.’
I loved his non-reaction reaction when asked to compare the mood of a regular-season dugout under Boone to that under his predecessor, Joe Girardi, who was criticized for communication issues after the Yankees let him go following 2017.
Judge said he was pleased to be part of Boone’s first major-league win and added, “that’s about all I have to say about that.”
Make eye contact. Smile. Say something without really saying anything and avoid controversy. Nailed it. Now all he needs to do is start dating movie stars.
• Now, what I don’t know: Josh Donaldson.
No clue what the ‘dead arm’ is all about, especially since he never used the damn thing enough in spring training to develop any fatigue. No clue how something that the Blue Jays say is not structural could prevent him from throwing but allow him to swing the bat.
As for his performance at the plate through four games? Looks to me simply like a guy with too few spring training at-bats.
Not sure it’s a great way to launch a free-agency campaign.
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Now tweet this
Some other observations from the first weekend of the major-league season, plus waiting for the fall-out from Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s MLS debut, a salute to U.S.-born goaltenders and memories of Tim Raines.
• Monday will be the first bullpen day for the Tampa Bay Rays when they face the Yankees in the Bombers’ home opener. The Rays are going with a four-man rotation out of the gate. #GabeKaplerApproves
• Can’t wait for all those MLS snobs telling us we shouldn’t get excited about a washed-up Ibrahimovic doing this or this. #Ageism
• The Vegas Golden Knights have 107 points with three games left. The Toronto Maple Leafs have never had that many points in their 100-year history, while Vegas can still tie the season record of another Original 6 team, the New York Rangers, who had 113 in ‘14-‘15. #Perspective
• Cone wasn’t the only analyst to jump on Yankees Boone for walking Donaldson and pitch to Justin Smoak on Sunday. “The wonks don’t believe in being in the zone or being hot,” ESPN’s Alex Rodriguez said. #PilingOn
• The fourth-quarter turnovers were troublesome, but what really worried me about the Raptors’ loss to the Celtics was the way Toronto had no answer for the Boston’s decision to go big. #Puzzling
• We forget how much difference a healthy Adam Eaton might have made to the 2017 Nationals. He was 5-for-5 leading off Saturday with four runs, just the second lead-off hitter in franchise history to do so, joining Tim Raines (Aug. 16, 1987). #Sparkplug
• The Wnnipeg Jets’ Connor Hellebuyck is two wins away from Tom Barrasso’s record of 43 wins for U.S.-born goaltenders. Two other Americans have at least 41 wins: Mike Richter with the 93-94 Rangers and Ryan Miller with the 2009-2010 Buffalo Sabres. #Impressive
• Tristan Thompson seems to have found a spot in the Cavaliers’ new order, grabbing at least 10 rebounds in four of the team’s last six games, and since March 23 is averaging a shade under 10 boards per game in 17 minutes. #FallingIntoPlace
• It was Miami Marlins hitting coach Frank Menechino who convinced Giancarlo Stanton to close his stance in 2017, allowing him to get to more balls away and make it easier to get out of the way of a pitch by simply turning his protected cheek. #CounterIntuitive
• If The Leafs play the Jets in the Stanley Cup final: Who is Canada’s team? #Obvious
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The Endgame
Russia’s World Cup will be an unmitigated disaster that might end up costing lives.
Bad enough that the country has a well-documented history of institutionalized doping and cheating (which, given it’s a de facto oligarchy suggests sanctioning at the highest levels); bad enough that the reach of its criminality crosses borders; bad enough that it has a history of virulent and violent racism at soccer matches most recently shown by monkey chants directed at black members of the French team in a 3-1 friendly loss.
What’s worse is the fact the Russian national team is a disaster on the pitch, bereft of talent and spirit. They’re a festering pile and are the lowest-ranked team in the tournament – the first such host team to hold that position, although that will be challenged with Qatar hosting the next edition.
This is an imperfect storm for FIFA: Bad host team, bad host government, awful host fans. At this stage, a full-scale boycott might be the best option for all of us.
Jeff Blair hosts The Jeff Blair Show from 9-11 a.m. and Baseball Central from 11 a.m.-Noon ET weekdays on Sportsnet 590 The FAN
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