This Day in New York Yankees History 6/23: Cleveland ROCKED!

On this day in 1996 the Yankees showed how much of a "never count us out" team they really were when they behind early only to come back with nine runs in the sixth inning. The Yankees would win the game 11-9 at Jacobs Field over the Cleveland Indians and it would complete the first time the Yankees would sweep the Indians in Cleveland in a four game series since 1964.


Also on this day in 1950 the Detroit Tigers and the New York Yankees combined for 11 home runs in a nine inning game, a major league record for the most in a single game. Hoot Evers hit the historic home run as a walk off home to give the Tigers a very dramatic 10-9 victory over New York.



Finally on this day in 1915 the Philadelphia Athletics pitcher Bruno Hass made his major league debut against the New York Yankees at the very historic Shibe Park. The good news was the 24 year old southpaw, known as Boon, tossed a complete game in the contest and in the start established a post-1900 major league record. The bad news was the record was for issuing 16 walks during the nine inning game in a 15-7 loss to the Yankees.

Too Many Damn Strikeouts… And Who Cares?

Remember when the New York Yankees were the team that hit “too many damn home runs?” Everyone was up in arms, fans and writers alike, because the team was too reliant on the home run ball and that philosophy simply did not translate well into the postseason. Now the general gripe amongst the fans seems to be that the 2018 version of the Bronx Bombers are the team that has “too many damn strikeouts.” The team is striking out at an alarming rate, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it is a bad thing. Let me explain.  

First of all, we have to preface by reminding many of these fans that Major League Baseball is a game where you can fail seven times out of every ten at-bats and be considered GREAT. Striking out 2.5 times every ten at-bats makes you average, and most people fall somewhere in between the two. Failure is a thing in Major League Baseball that is just going to happen, period. Many would argue though that it is how a team makes an out that is important, and I agree. Productive outs are the best outs. The outs that move a runner over, the outs that bring in a run on a sacrifice, giving yourself up for the team with a bunt, etc. are all great outs, but believe it or not strikeouts can be good outs too. 

Baseball Prospectus did a 10-year study on strikeouts and how they affect a pitcher’s total number of pitches thrown spanning the 2005-2015 seasons and the findings are alarming. Gone are the days of Kerry Wood striking out 20 batters in a single game while throwing just 122 pitches, bullpens are specialized, pitchers are babied more, and it simply taxes a pitcher more in today’s game to strikeout a batter than it used to. The studies and the research show it. 

The study showed that on average it took a pitcher 4.5 pitches to strikeout a batter during this span while it took on average just three pitches to retire a batter without a strikeout. With pitch limits being lowered, bullpen usage at an all-time high and it is taking more and more pitches to strike out a batter the team is tiring pitchers out sooner and getting into opposing team’s bullpens earlier and earlier. FYI, this study was done before Aaron Judge seemingly worked a full count every single at-bat as well, so I am curious to see the studies and numbers from beyond the 2015 season as they continue to climb every single season. 

The Yankees are going to make at least 27 outs every single night, unless they are winning at home where the out total drops to 24 outs, so it is imperative for the Yankees to make the most of those outs. This is a team that is built on power and the ability to strike at any time in any situation offensively, wouldn’t that chance likely increase if the opposing pitcher was laboring or tiring on the mound? I would think so, so maybe the fact that the New York Yankees have “too many damn strikeouts” could be a good thing in the grand scheme of things. Ideal? No. Damming and telling of the team though? Absolutely not!

RANT: Hey NESN … So What if Aaron Judge Strikes Out A Lot?

So the New York Yankees and New York Mets executives and front office personnel keep firing pot shots back and forth at each other which reminds me of the good ole days of the Yankees and Red Sox rivalry. With the Yankees making the trip to Boston this weekend for their second consecutive weekend series head-to-head I wanted to take this opportunity on this beautiful Friday morning to take a cheap shot of my own, not at the Boston Red Sox themselves but at NESN.com. NESN released an article, and if you don’t know who NESN is they are basically the Red Sox equivalent of the YES Network here in the Bronx, stating that Aaron Judge set an “embarrassing” Major League record on Wednesday night against the New York Mets when he struck out in a 33^rd straight game. My question is, so what? And while we are on the subject, don’t worry I have plenty of embarrassments to talk about this morning.

First of all it seems like the crew over at NESN never watched or paid much attention to the whole sabermetrics and Moneyball craze. Does NESN and their writer Joshua Schrock not understand that striking out counts just the same in the sabermetrics world as a 400 foot fly out or a ball hit on the screws right at a positional player? Sure, if you want to get more in-depth with it you can bring up sacrifice flies, moving runners over etc.  but in the grand scheme of things one thing is certain in Major League Baseball… A great player is going to make an out seven times out of ten and even the best player will make an out six times out of every ten at-bats. Baseball is failure. What in the hell does it matter if he’s striking out, grounding out, flying out, popping out or whatever? The team is going to make 27 outs on any given night regardless.

Those of us who pay attention to baseball and specifically to Yankees prospects know that Aaron Judge always battled the strikeout and always will. Some reporters, who needs views and clicks I’d assume, are talking about Judge’s strikeout problems like this is new news, or news at all. Judge was never the .300 - .400 hitter he portrayed himself to be in a small sample size in the first half and he never will be. That’s not his game. His game is giving it all in the field and hitting mammoth home runs. Judge can’t and won’t be something that he’s not and he shouldn’t be embarrassed for being the player that the Yankees drafted, developed and called up to lead the youth movement and the potential charge into the 2017 postseason.

Does NESN want to know what is embarrassing though? What is embarrassing is having Jerry Remy rip a Japanese-born player, Masahiro Tanaka, for needing a translator. What is embarrassing is having a blatant racist on your payroll that will be celebrated in a pregame ceremony this season if he hasn’t been already. I don’t know because (insert four letter word) the Red Sox. Especially when it was okay, or nothing was said by Remy anyway, when Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideki Okajima (to name a few) had translators of their own. Be consistent or stfu. 

This Day in New York Yankees History 6/23: Cleveland ROCKED!

On this day in 1996 the Yankees showed how much of a "never count us out" team they really were when they behind early only to come back with nine runs in the sixth inning. The Yankees would win the game 11-9 at Jacobs Field over the Cleveland Indians and it would complete the first time the Yankees would sweep the Indians in Cleveland in a four game series since 1964.


Also on this day in 1950 the Detroit Tigers and the New York Yankees combined for 11 home runs in a nine inning game, a major league record for the most in a single game. Hoot Evers hit the historic home run as a walk off home to give the Tigers a very dramatic 10-9 victory over New York.



Finally on this day in 1915 the Philadelphia Athletics pitcher Bruno Hass made his major league debut against the New York Yankees at the very historic Shibe Park. The good news was the 24 year old southpaw, known as Boon, tossed a complete game in the contest and in the start established a post-1900 major league record. The bad news was the record was for issuing 16 walks during the nine inning game in a 15-7 loss to the Yankees.

This Day in New York Yankees History 6/23: Cleveland ROCKED!

On this day in 1996 the Yankees showed how much of a "never count us out" team they really were when they behind early only to come back with nine runs in the sixth inning. The Yankees would win the game 11-9 at Jacobs Field over the Cleveland Indians and it would complete the first time the Yankees would sweep the Indians in Cleveland in a four game series since 1964.


Also on this day in 1950 the Detroit Tigers and the New York Yankees combined for 11 home runs in a nine inning game, a major league record for the most in a single game. Hoot Evers hit the historic home run as a walk off home to give the Tigers a very dramatic 10-9 victory over New York.



Finally on this day in 1915 the Philadelphia Athletics pitcher Bruno Hass made his major league debut against the New York Yankees at the very historic Shibe Park. The good news was the 24 year old southpaw, known as Boon, tossed a complete game in the contest and in the start established a post-1900 major league record. The bad news was the record was for issuing 16 walks during the nine inning game in a 15-7 loss to the Yankees.

This Day in New York Yankees History 6/23: Cleveland ROCKED!

On this day in 1996 the Yankees showed how much of a "never count us out" team they really were when they behind early only to come back with nine runs in the sixth inning. The Yankees would win the game 11-9 at Jacobs Field over the Cleveland Indians and it would complete the first time the Yankees would sweep the Indians in Cleveland in a four game series since 1964.

Also on this day in 1950 the Detroit Tigers and the New York Yankees combined for 11 home runs in a nine inning game, a major league record for the most in a single game. Hoot Evers hit the historic home run as a walk off home to give the Tigers a very dramatic 10-9 victory over New York.

Finally on this day in 1915 the Philadelphia Athletics pitcher Bruno Hass made his major league debut against the New York Yankees at the very historic Shibe Park. The good news was the 24 year old southpaw, known as Boon, tossed a complete game in the contest and in the start established a post-1900 major league record. The bad news was the record was for issuing 16 walks during the nine inning game in a 15-7 loss to the Yankees.

TGP Daily Poll: Chris Davis Strikes Out 13 Times

Chris Davis has been a strikeout machine for the Baltimore Orioles this season and has already received a Golden Sombrero against New York on Thursday night. In the four game series Yankees pitchers will strike out Davis at least 13 times combined.

Vote in our prediction poll on Knoda.com

TGP Daily Poll: Nathan Eovaldi Gets Four More K's

Nathan Eovaldi's biggest issue he faced coming over to the New York Yankees was his lack of strikeouts for such a high velocity. Eovaldi has either changed something this spring or has gotten lucky but either way that trend continues with four more strikeouts against the Philadelphia Phillies.

Vote in our prediction poll on knoda.com

Can't Predict Baseball: 16 Innings, 0 Strike Outs

On this day in 1936 the New York Yankees and the Indians had a pretty uncommon anomaly happen in their 16 inning game. The Yankees would beat the Indians on this day 5-4 in extra innings at Yankee Stadium. What made this game special was that no pitcher in the game recorded a single strikeout in the game.

You can't predict baseball...