$36 million a year Yankee ace Gerrit Cole in his most recent start allowed six earned runs in the first inning. More about Cole in another post.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Seattle Mariners | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 10 | 0 |
 | New York Yankees | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 0 |
| WP: Luis Castillo (5-4) • LP: Gerrit Cole (9-4) | |||||||||||||
The new Seattle starting pitcher (6.66 innings) was a righty so the Yankees had some lefty bats in their lineup (Hicks is a switch hitter):
| 1 | Anthony Rizzo | 1B |
| 2 | DJ LeMahieu | 3B |
| 3 | Matt Carpenter | RF |
| 4 | Josh Donaldson | DH |
| 5 | Andrew Benintendi | LF |
| 6 | Gleyber Torres | 2B |
| 7 | Aaron Hicks | CF |
| 8 | Isiah Kiner-Falefa | SS |
| 9 | Kyle Higashioka | C |
Complying with the alternating strategy of recent years, as opposed to loading up to knock out the starting pitcher, the Yankee lefty batters were in alternating batting order positions rather consecutive to apply maximum pressure.
Luis Rojas
Position: Manager
6-0, 180lb (183cm, 81kg)
Born: September 1, 1981
Full Name: Luis E. Rojas
View Player Info from the B-R Bullpen
Relatives: Brother of Moises Alou; Cousin of Mel Rojas; Nephew of Jesus Alou, Matty Alou; Son of Felipe Alou
The conventional wisdom aficionados fixated on a Yankee runner being thrown out at home plate. In the bottom of the second inning #8 Isiah Kiner-Falefa singled with two outs to drive in the Yankees first run: 6-1. #9, Kyle Higashioka, doubled to left. Yankee third base coach and former Met manager (2020-2021) Luis Rojas aggressively and demonstratively sent Kiner-Falefa home where he was tagged out at home plate: LF-SS-C. I thought that it was a bang-bang play, which means 50-50. The LF throw bounced and the SS made an off balance throw that was on the money.
I like sending the runner for two basic reasons:
1. The catcher is the worst athlete on the field.
2. The catcher has the worst equipment on the field: a catcher's mitt.
Yankee announcer Michael Kay criticized this repeatedly during the game as did others, including Yankee manager Aaron Boone, after the game.
On deck was Yankee leadoff hitter Anthony Rizzo, a lefty batter, who has 27 home runs. Rizzo might have hit a home run: 348/27=12.8. Rizzo might have gotten some kind of hit: .227 BA.
If my estimate is anywhere close, the runner had much more of a chance to score by running home on the double by Higashioka than by waiting and hoping that Rizzo would not strike out (348/70=5). Rizzo strikes out one out of every five At Bats (AB) in 2022 so far.
But that's not the point of this post. The point is that NOBODY says anything about FOUR lefty batters swinging away and trying against long odds to get a hit against an extreme shift. This while their team trailed 6-0 before any of them had come to bat. The Yankees needed base runners. The closest the Yankees got was 7-3 after 7 innings, still four down. Note: Benintendi flied out to left twice.
Neither Michael Kay nor any of the other boring repeaters of conventional wisdom mentioned it. It's simply accepted.
There was no fielder anywhere near third base. It's as sure a hit as could be imagined. Just bunt. It doesn't need to be a good bunt, just a fair ball. It doesn't even need to be a grounder because
there is no fielder!
I refrained from using any adjectives to modify the word fielder.
Just bunt the damn ball into the ______ ocean!
The Yankees, like all MLB teams, play the shift when they are in the field but when they are at bat they hit into the other team's shift.
Have we all become morons?
