Instant Reaction: This is getting really really aggravating
Gut Reaction
Pineda and Betances are going to kill me. https://twitter.com/Jomboy_/status/882703751340900352
Pineda Has Zero Grind in Him
We've seen CC start a game with bad stuff, we've seen Sevy go out there without great command, we've seen Gumby put men on base every single inning. We've also seen all those guys gut it out, make the corrections and grind it out enough to keep the Yankees in the game. Pineda has never done this. Either he's on or he's not. If he's not, you can't expect much out him besides slouched shoulders, a mopey face, and a lot of home runs. After nine straight dominating games in the beginning of the season, he had our hopes up that maybe, somehow, he figured it out. Most of us were waiting for the other shoe to drop and now, it has dropped hard.
Betances was Brutal
The Jays got four baserunners and one run without having to swing the bat. If the ump didn't get bored and generous they could have had another. We need Betances to be good if we want to compete down the stretch. He's a big part of our design. Watching performances like today are infuriating though. He's had four terrible outings now. Three of them coming in the last week. Prior to these, he had made 27 appearances and only allowed 1 earned run. That guy is somewhere in him. I'm not sure what the strategy is to get him back to us. Maybe we give him a rest through the All-Star break to regroup? Who knows. All I know is the next time he comes out, Joe better have a much shorter leash. If he walks the first two batters yank him the hell off the mound.
Make Them Pitch to Judge
This is so easy to say now since Gary and Didi didn't come through for us, but you have to force them to pitch to Judge. Using a speed guy to bunt over another speed guy doesn't make much sense. Let Wade try to steal the base or put a hit and run on. Bunting Wade over and allowing them to walk Judge was not a great strategy... as we saw.
Choi Time
Choi caught every ball thrown his way and in his first at bat he saw a 3-1 count. Right then and there he had given us more than Carter had over the past week. THEN he goes out and hits a 450 shot into the right field seats. Talk about going above and beyond. https://twitter.com/Jomboy_/status/882673695415717888 Follow me on Twitter to chat during the game tomorrow @Jomboy_