Yankees Continue Their Mastery Over the Shockingly Inept Astros

The Yankees continued to beat up on the Astros, riding an offense that has suddenly found its way. For the first time this year, Juan Soto, Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton all homered in the same game as they produced 1,291 feet worth of long balls off poor Houston starter Spencer Arrighetti. Down in Box Score Briefs, some thoughts on Dylan Cease, Chris Sale, the Guardians, the Rays and the Orioles. Lets get to it.

May 8: Yankees 9, Astros 4

Wednesday night was exactly the kind of game we all envisioned throughout the offseason after they made the trade for Juan Soto.

Thinking about Soto and Aaron Judge back-to-back in the lineup and what carnage that might entail for opposing pitchers certainly warmed some of those long winter days waiting for the start of spring training.

However, thanks to Judge’s awful start to the season, that dynamic 1-2 combination had rarely landed on the opposition’s chin. But in this game, it was wam-bam as those two literally knocked the Astros out.

Soto and Judge each went 3-for-5 with a homer, Soto drove in five runs and Judge three, and Giancarlo Stanton hit a scary 119.9 mph missile to left for a homer as the Yankees beat up on the shockingly inept Astros for the second night in a row. That’s six straight wins this year over their perennial nemesis and ninth straight dating back to last season. Fun times indeed.

“I know it’s not gonna be easy to do that every night, but we’re really capable of doing that and more,” Soto said. “Judge has been locked in the last couple of days. Im really excited for that. I can’t wait to see him going crazy. It’s gonna be great. And G, how hard he hits the ball, its just amazing. You don't see guys hitting balls 120 (mph) every day.”

The Yankees offense has been frustrating at times this season, but there are definite signs that things are starting to come together and as great as Soto has been, Judge’s recent resurgence is what is fueling the turnaround.

I just wrote last week that we should all be worried about Judge because he was so lost at the plate and having just turned 32, it sure looked like he was already in decline. But in his last 15 games he’s hitting .333/.455/.704 with five homers, 13 RBI and a 1.158 OPS. That’s more like Judge, not the slop he was putting out there the first 23 games when his slash line was a pathetic .174/.308/.337.

Here are my observations:

➤ Carlos Rodon had a very nice bounce back after his lousy start in Baltimore last week. He was dealing against the Astros as he went 6.1 innings allowing seven hits with no walks and seven strikeouts. He gave up a solo homer to Kyle Tucker in the first, then pitched five straight scoreless before tiring in the seventh and giving up a run when Mauricio Dubon doubled and scored on a triple by Jake Meyers.

➤ Rodon’s key inning was the fifth. The Yankees were up 5-1 but he started off by hitting Yanier Diaz with a pitch and giving up a single to Dubon. Thereafter he got a fielders’ choice grounder that left men on first and third and he wiggled out of the jam when Jose Altuve flied out the Tucker struck out on a nasty slider which was his most reliable pitch all night. “I had an idea that I wanted to be up in the zone more than the last time,’’ said Rodon. “I was able to get ahead and get to the slider.”

➤Go figure this: Altuve, Yordan Alvarez and Alex Bregman - three players who have inflicted so much damage and pain to the Yankees through the years - are a combined 1-for-22 in the first two games. In this game, it was the bottom of the Houston order that gave the Yankees fits as Diaz, Dubon and Myers combined for six hits while cleanup hitter Jeremy Pena also had three hits including a home run.

➤ Pena’s homer off Victor Gonzalez in the eighth snapped the Yankee bullpen’s scoreless streak at 27 innings. Ian Hamilton finished off the eighth, then gave up a run on three hits in the ninth before retiring Tucker and Alvarez to end the game. Hamilton’s ERA is 2.89, but more telling is his poor WHIP of 1.340. If he’s going to continue to be a high leverage option for Aaron Boone, he needs to stop creating traffic on the bases.

➤ It was a nice night for Anthony Volpe as he led off the game with a single and scored on Soto’s home run. He also walked twice, scored a second run, and made a dazzling diving play to rob Alvarez of a hit.

➤ I’m close to my breaking point with Gleyber Torres who might be the dumbest player in MLB. It’s stupefying how many brain farts this guy has. The latest came in the second inning. There were two outs and the bases were loaded with Torres at second. Soto hit an infield dribbler and beat it out for a single as Anthony Rizzo scored. Had Torres been hustling, he would have scored, too. But he was jogging, and after rounding third, he tried to return to the base. That became a problem because Volpe was hustling and he was speeding to third, only to find Torres there. Torres was eventually tagged out in a rundown to kill the inning. Now yes, Volpe could have been blamed for this because he has Torres in front of him, but I say no to that. He made the right read and knew Torres should have been running home. Torres made the wrong read when he didn’t try to score.

⚾ When Gerrit Cole suffered his arm injury midway through March, the Yankees knew they were staring at a gaping hole in their already shaky rotation and GM Brian Cashman made inquiries to the White Sox regarding righty Dylan Cease. There was no doubt Chicago was looking to move Cease, and with two years of control, the offers were sure to be good, so that gave the leverage to Chicago.

When Cashman called, the Sox told him that whatever package the Yankees were offering, Spencer Jones had to be a part of it, and Cashman would not agree to that. Ultimately, Cease wound up with the Padres, and it was probably wise that Cashman held on to Jones because the kid is killing it at Double-A Somerset and has a real chance to be a star when he reaches the Bronx. But for now, man, Cease would look awfully good in the rotation.

Wednesday he went seven shutout innings against the Cubs and gave up just one hit and two walks while striking out 12 as the Padres won at Wrigley 3-0. He’s now 5-2 with a 2.19 ERA and the batting average against him is .128, the lowest in MLB. By the way, guess who’s second? None other than Luis Gil as the league is hitting just .143 against him.

Gil is essentially in the slot Cease would have taken in the rotation had he come to New York and Cole hadn’t gotten hurt. They have an identical 10.95 strikeout per nine innings average which is ninth-best in MLB.

⚾ The Guardians continue to surprise as they remained on top in the AL Central after a comeback 5-4 victory over the equally surprising Royals. Cleveland scored once in the eighth to get within 4-3 and then David Fry homered in the ninth to force extra innings. Once there, star closer Emmanuel Clase caught a break when Javier Baez - starting at second base as the automatic runner - got thrown out trying to get to third on a ground ball to shortstop, such a stupid play which the Yankees have fallen victim to a few times. The Tigers ended up not scoring, and in the bottom of the 10th, Bryan Rocchio singled home the winning run for the Guardians.

⚾ Chris Sale put on quite a performance for the Braves against his former team, the Red Sox. Traded by Boston in the offseason, Sale - who is finally healthy after several years of injured list stints - threw six shutout innings allowing six hits and one walk with 10 strikeouts and the Braves went on to a 5-0 victory. It’s been a rough go for Sale but I for one was glad the Red Sox traded him because when he’s right, he’s still perfectly capable of dominating a lineup. He’s now 5-1 with a 2.95 ERA, so it’s nice that he’s doing that in the NL East and not the AL East.

⚾ The Rays are like that cockroach that you just can’t kill. Going into Wednesday they had won five in a row to climb over .500 and with a few of their injured studs getting close to returning including pitchers Taj Bradley, Pete Fairbanks and Shane Baz, they were starting to open a few eyes. However, their struggling offense reared its ugly head in a 4-1 loss to the awful White Sox at the Trop as they managed only four hits. Few things please me more than Tampa Bay losses. Well, I guess Red Sox, Orioles and Blue Jays losses have the same effect on me.

⚾ The A’s are officially pesky. They lost three of four to the Rangers, but nothing came easy for the defending world champions. Texas had to rally for four runs in the final two innings to win 4-2 on Monday. On Tuesday they scored 10 runs in the second inning and were up 15-2 after four, but the A’s didn’t quit as they scored the final six runs and made the Rangers use three relievers. And then Wednesday, the A’s won the first game of a doubleheader 9-4, and in the nightcap they lost a wild 12-11 shootout in which they scored four runs in the ninth and had men on first and second before Tyler Nevin flied out to end it. Nobody cares about the A’s, including their own fans, but they’ve got some young, up-and-coming players on that team.

⚾ The Yankees would have jumped back into first place alone, but the Orioles would not let them. They blew a 3-1 lead and allowed the Nationals to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth. After neither team scored in the 10th, Baltimore went ahead on Ryan Mountcastle’s two-run homer in the 11th only to allow Washington to tie it again. In the 12th, the Orioles scored two more, and this time the Nationals countered with only one and Baltimore escaped with a 7-6 victory. Damnit.