Start Me Up! Yankees' Rotation is Rolling

Despite scoring just seven runs in the series, the Yankees took two of three against the pesky Guardians, a team that always seems to give them tough games, and the key was their pitching, especially the starts by Carlos Rodon and Max Fried but also some big moments from the bullpen. Lets get to it. 

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Good riddance to the Cleveland Guardians. Man, that team is a pain in the ass to play.

The Guardians won two of three in Cleveland back in April, and the Yankees turned the tables in the Bronx to even the season series at three games apiece. Hey, I know the Yankees beat them in five games last year in the ALCS, but do you remember how tight all of those games were? Yeah, I’d like to be done playing these guys for the season.

New York won this series because it continues to get great starting pitching, something none of us expected when they lost Gerrit Cole and Luis Gil in spring training.

In the two games they won, Carlos Rodon on Tuesday and Max Fried on Thursday were absolutely dominant as they combined to throw 13 innings and allowed just one run on six hits while striking out 15. And in the game they lost Wednesday, Clarke Schmidt had a terrible first inning when he gave up three well-deserved runs, but then he put up 4.2 scoreless innings and unfortunately the offense - which has scuffled a bit lately - could not pick him up.

The Yankees’ rotation now has a 3.44 cumulative ERA which is fifth-best in MLB, their 345 strikeouts are third-most, their 1.130 WHIP ranks second, and their .212 batting average against is No. 1.

It’s crazy, and it also makes you sick to think what this staff would have looked like if Cole and Gil were in it, and guys like Marcus Stroman (11.57 ERA), Will Warren (5.19) and Carlos Carrasco (5.91) hadn’t made a combined 21 starts. I’d venture a guess that they’d be leading the suddenly scalding hot Rays and Blue Jays by more than 5.5 games.

Fried wasn’t even at his best because the Guardians made him work so hard with all their foul balls and deep counts, and yet he did not allow a run and gave up just one hit. What a free agent signing that has been.

And I don’t know what more I can say about Rodon. What a revelation he’s been after his mostly shitty first two years here. He now has a 1.27 ERA in his last nine starts with 70 strikeouts and 15 walks. For the season, his .167 batting average against is No. 1 among all MLB starters, his 98 strikeouts are fourth, and his 0.930 WHIP ranks eighth.

Fried’s 1.78 ERA ranks third, his eight wins are tied for first, his 0.940 WHIP is ninth, and his .196 average against is 10th.

Mix in the shocking effectiveness of Ryan Yarbrough in his five starts - a 2.08 ERA with 24 strikeouts against five walks - and some decent starts from Schmidt who has a 4.04 ERA and the Yankees can shut down just about any lineup in the sport.

Also, for as much as we scream about the bullpen - mostly because Devin Williams has been such a wild rollercoaster ride - it actually ranks sixth in ERA at 3.64 and sixth in batting average against at .221.

The offense has been fine most of the season, though it has slowed down in the last two weeks with nine of 13 games scoring four runs or less, but they went 6-3 in those nine games because their pitching has been so good.

As we all know, that’s the recipe for success in the postseason. Obviously, October is a long way away and so much can happen between now and then, primarily due to injuries, but this is the kind of pitching the Yankees will need if they hope to end their championship drought because the offense is almost always going to be muted in the playoffs.

June 3: Yankees 3, Guardians 2

➤ As I said above, Rodon was great. He got into an early jam when Angel Martinez and Jose Ramirez singled in the first, but then he struck out David Fry and Carlos Santana to escape. That began a streak of 17 consecutive batters retired which ended in the seventh. That’s when Ramirez singled, stole second and scored when Fry’s playable grounder got past DJ LeMahieu, a play that was scored a hit but it should have been an error. Rodon then gave up another single and a walk, but Boone stayed with him and he fanned Bo Naylor to complete his seven one-run innings.

➤ Rodon then was presented the victory because in the bottom of the seventh, Jazz Chisholm and Anthony Volpe hit back-to-back homers off Tanner Bibee who had been every bit as good as Rodon in his first six innings. The only other run came in the fifth when Chisholm, making a very nice return from the injured list, singled to break up Bibee’s no-hitter, then took second on a walk to JC Escarra and scored on LeMahieu’s single. Trent Grisham followed with a hard grounder to second that got past Will Wilson and caromed into short right field and third base coach Luis Rojas made a brutal mistake and held Escarra who would have scored easily. That lost run almost came back to haunt the Yankees.

➤ And why was that? Because after Mark Leiter worked the eighth, Williams came on to close because Luke Weaver is out. Who wasn’t surprised when Williams gave us an ulcer-inducing 15 minutes? He gave up a run on two hits before he finally retired Naylor to end it after 30 pitches. Hey folks, this is our life now until Weaver can get back, sweating out the ninth inning more than we ever did with Clay Holmes.

What they said in Tuesday’s clubhouse

• Rodon on overcoming his bad beginning with the Yankees: “It was rough. Long drives home, a lot of time in my head, thinking about what’s wrong, why can’t I make this better. I wish I was better at the time. But I wasn’t. I don’t give up. I never really have; it’s just not in my nature.”

• Aaron Boone on Rodon: “It was seven pretty dominant seven innings I thought.”

• Williams: “I feel really good. I feel confident. I felt really good tonight. Santana put up a really good at-bat there, (they) found some holes. But I felt good overall.”

• Chisholm on moving back to third base: “I really thought I was done at third base. I’m not going to lie to you. I didn’t think I was going to see it. I thought I left my career over there with a good stamp, you know? But I guess we’re back again. We got to shine again. We can’t let that reputation go down at third base.”

June 4: Guardians 4, Yankees 0

➤ Blah. What a waste of nearly three hours this was. The Yankees were completely flummoxed by Luis Ortiz who threw 5.2 scoreless innings, and three relievers finished off the five-hit shutout. Just a fruitless night at the plate as Aaron Judge and Ben Rice had two singles each, Cody Bellinger had a double in the ninth when the issue was basically decided, and the rest of the team went 0-for-18 including Volpe hitting into two double plays.

➤ What sucked about this just as much as the lack of offense is Schmidt was an absolute turd in the first inning giving up three runs, and that pretty much decided the game. But then he was fantastic in pitching into the sixth inning. Steven Kwan led off with a walk and Martinez cranked a two-run homer so seven pitches into the game it was 2-0. Then Ramirez doubled and he scored on a two-out double by Manzardo. We didn’t know it at the time, but ballgame over.

➤The only innings where the Yankees had two men on base were in the third when Judge struck out, and then in the ninth against closer Emmanuel Clase. Rice singled and Bellinger doubled, but then Clase blew away Paul Goldschmidt and Chisholm on eight pitches.

➤ The timing was good for Fernando Cruz’s return from a short stint on the IL with Weaver going down, but he served up a solo homer in the eighth to Manzardo.

What they said in Wednesday’s clubhouse

• Boone: “I thought we got pitched pretty tough. We just didn’t have a great night. It happens.”

• Rice on Ortiz: “He’s throwing that slider a lot to both righties and lefties. It seemed like he was able to kind of manipulate the way it was moving a little bit on guys, and was changing speeds pretty well. I think that made his fastball even more effective.”

• Schmidt: “I think the key to the outing was the first AB walking Kwan and then got ambushed trying to throw a strike. (Martinez) put a good swing on it and hit a homer and the rest was history. It was pretty obvious in the first they were trying to hunt the cutters in, the sweepers in, the curveballs in and they were putting really good swings on them, so credit to them. Really good approach from those guys, especially at the top of the order. After that, it was like, ‘All right, how can we get the ball away from them, throw a few more fastballs away?’ I felt like we were getting to good areas after that.”

June 5: Yankees 4, Guardians 0

➤ This was like a photo negative of the night before, right? Same score, and the Guardians couldn’t do a thing on offense with the exception of the scary seventh inning when they loaded the bases with one out but failed to score.

➤ Fried bounced back from his first poor start as a Yankee last weekend in Los Angeles and was brilliant during six shutout, one-hit, two-walk innings. He was shaky in the first as he needed 28 pitches. Ramirez singled, took second when Rice misplayed Fried’s pickoff throw to first, and stole third, and Fry walked and stole second. But Fried battled Santana for eight pitches before getting him to pop out to kill the threat. After that he was lights out. He went 1-2-3 in the second, third and fourth, he wiped out a walk in the fifth with a double play, then went 1-2-3 in the sixth.

➤ By then, Judge’s one-out bloop double in the fourth, the Yankees first hit off Slade Cecconi, was followed by a huge two-run homer by Bellinger so that put Fried in position for his eighth win. He could have had a bigger cushion, but the Yankees loaded the bases with no outs in the fifth and managed to not score thanks to a Rice double play.

➤ That lost opportunity was looking ominous in the seventh. Leiter took over for Fried who threw 103 pitches, and he gave up a single to Ramirez who absolutely tormented the Yankees in this series with five hits. After Fry whiffed, Santana singled, and then Gabriel Arias hit a grounder between third and short. Volpe fielded it and tried to nail Ramirez at third but he threw wide, and Chisholm couldn’t handle it so the bases were loaded. Here, Tim Hill came in and struck out Naylor and got dangerous Jhonkensy Noel to fly out to escape big trouble. What a job that was by Hill who has been a little inconsistent this season.

➤ Fired up by that, the Yankees tacked on two key runs in the bottom half as Guardians manager Stephen Vogt made an interesting move. With a man on first, he still intentionally walked Judge to put runners on first and second and Bellinger and Chisholm made him pay with back-to-back RBI singles. Volpe then singled to load the bases, but Jasson Dominguez - playing for the first time since injuring his thumb in Los Angeles - flied out.

➤ Hill then pitched an easy eighth and Jonathan Loaisiga worked an easy ninth to close it, so we were spared any Williams drama.

➤ Fried, who spent his first eight seasons in the NL with the Braves, must love being in the AL. He now has a 21-3 record with a 1.67 ERA in 30 career starts against AL teams. This year he’s 6-0 with a 0.60 ERA in seven starts against AL teams.

➤ Even with a little bit of struggling lately, Bellinger has really come on. On May 2 he was hitting .196, but since then he’s slashing .317/.390/.567 with six homers, six doubles, 19 RBIs and 17 runs.

What they said in Thursday’s clubhouse

• Fried: “Last time out I let the lead go, so I just wanted to make it a point to keep them in it and hold the lead as long as I could. For me, it was just important getting back to doing what I do really well. I’m not trying to do too much as far as putting extra pressure, but you just want to win every game that you can when you go out there. Getting back home after a long road trip, just starting a new month off right.”

• Hill: “You’ve just got to trust yourself. In past situations, I’ve walked a guy with the bases loaded, and I was pretty disappointed in myself. So it’s like, make them beat you, you know?”

• Bellinger on his turnaround: “First, trying to do too much. I had so much excitement. I made the adjustments and had good conversations with the hitting coaches. I’ve got to stay within myself and swing my swing. Hopefully, good things will happen.”

The Yankees welcome the Red Sox to the Bronx for the first time this season for three games this weekend, so we get to rev up our hatred of New York’s forever rival. I don’t care whether the Red Sox or good or bad, I hate them just the same and I’ll admit, these games usually drive me insane. I know I’m a little crazy, but it’s hard to enjoy Yankees-Red Sox games because losing to any Boston team just burns my ass to no end. Bills vs. Patriots, or Sabres vs. Bruins, or hell, the old NBA Braves vs. Celtics. Yeah, I have an irrational hatred of all things Boston.

The Red Sox come in after a day off Thursday on the heels of salvaging the finale of a series against the Angels. The team that I thought would be the greatest threat to the Yankees is 30-34 and sitting in fourth place, 9.5 games out, but that doesn’t mean this will be an easy series. Quite the opposite probably. Once again, three games, three different networks.

Here are some of the Red Sox top players to watch:

➤ DH Rafael Devers: His early-season struggles are long gone and he’s been one of the best hitters in MLB as he ranks No. 1 with 54 RBI and now has an OPS of .914. At least he won’t get to torment Gerrit Cole in this series, but for his career he has 28 homers against the Yankees, his most against any team, naturally.

➤ SS Trevor Story: After three injury-plagued seasons with Boston, he’s finally healthy, but he’s also been a disappointment with a .217 average and .591 OPS.

➤ LF Jarren Duran: He’s a really fast and he leads MLB with six triple and has 13 stolen bases, 35 RBI and a .323 on-base.

➤ RF Wilyer Abreu: Devers has 12 homers and it’s Abreu who leads the team with 13. He also has 31 RBI and an .812 OPS.

➤ RP Aroldis Chapman: Yep, he’s still around, and he’s been pretty damn good with nine saves, a 1.80 ERA and a 3.87 strikeout-to-walk ratio which would be his best since 2020 with the Yankees if it continues.

The pitching matchups are scheduled to be:

• Friday, 7:05, YES: Will Warren (5.19 ERA) vs. Walker Buehler (4.44) who signed as a free agent after closing out the 2024 World Series against the Yankees.

• Saturday, 7:35, FOX: Ryan Yarbrough (2.83) vs. Garrett Crochet (1.98) who was the Red Sox big acquisition in the offseason who they then signed to a big-money extension, so he’ll be doing damage for many years to come in the division.

• Sunday, 7:10, ESPN: Carlos Rodon (2.49) vs. Hunter Dobbins (4.06) who has been picking up starts because Kutter Crawford has missed the entire year and Tanner Houck has been on the IL since mid-May.