You know what one of the best things about Major League
Baseball is? You play every day and you only see the same team on average of
three games at a time before seeing another team in another city on another
day. Thank goodness for that after the debacle that was the series with the
Boston Red Sox over the weekend inside Fenway Park. I don’t think as a fan I’ve
ever been happier to see Tropicana Field and those pesky Tampa Bay Rays. The
Rays and the Yankees begin a series tonight in The Trop with Michael Pineda
toeing the rubber for the Yankees and Drew Smyly taking the ball for Tampa Bay.
Should be a good one as long as the Yankees pitchers remember how to throw the
ball to a base and where a fielder can catch it. Just a thought.
Pineda has not won a decision since early August despite
having pitched well enough to win in a few of those starts. His manager Joe
Girardi has not shown confidence in the young right-hander pulling him before
allowing him to finish the fifth inning in each of his last three starts
including in his last start against the Los Angeles Dodgers where Pineda threw
just 82 pitches and was pitching a shutout through four innings allowing just
two hits in the process.
Smyly has become suddenly prone to the home run recently
which could work out in the Yankees favor tonight. Smyly has given up a home
run in six consecutive starts but in five of those starts he has notched the
victory so the home run ball may be a gift and a curse tonight for the Baby
Bombers. One saving grace for New York though is that Smyly has struggled at
home this season posting a 3-6 record and a 4.48 ERA in 13 starts at The Trop
this season.
The game will be played at 7:10 pm ET inside Tropicana Field
and can be seen on the YES Network and MLB TV. The days of needing a win and
getting a win may be over but the days of rooting for the Yankees to crush the
competition and the days of rooting for Gary Sanchez to reach 20 home runs
before the end of the season feel like they just began. Go Yankees!
Hicks, Teix, and Solano in the same lineup. Here's to phoning in the rest of the season guys. It's been fun. At least there were some good debates during the season.
ReplyDeleteYas, there were many fine debates and some not so fun, but that's the baseball world we deal in!
DeleteThanks for the many posts of yours! They were well thought out and to the point most of the time...more times than many of us it seams!
Don't quit on them yet, even though I don't really want them to make the play-offs.