It is simply not possible for it to really make sense when you have interleague play. I don’t mind the interleague part, really. It’s just that you can’t have a good schedule; there’s no way to do it.
It’s not Red Sox related, but… I do not understand for the life of me why MLB doesn’t more aggressively schedule April games in cities where snow and rain aren’t as much of a threat. Of 30 stadiums, There are seven stadia with roofs, and seven more where the climate makes a weather delay vastly less likely. Don’t act surprised when a team like Cleveland or Minnesota kicks it off with a long homestand and two or three games get screwed. I realize no one can kick the season off with three or more series on the road, but always having northern cities with no roof starting on the road for a few series would sure reduce the trouble.
Yanks go from outfield glut to not comfortable in little time. First Clint Frazier gets concussed, out indefinitely. Then Hicks, Ellsbury. and McKinney go on the DL. Looks like Judge and Stanton can swap between LF and RF. If that wasn’t enough, Bird’s foot requires surgery. Jeez, when it rains it pours.
Maybe you are asking rhetorically, but Thursday is the Red Sox home opener. It’s been very common for an off day after the home opener for the last few seasons (the Cards are off Friday for the same reason). It’s so that folks that have “Opening Day” tickets don’t miss the festivities if there is a rain out.
So the Yanks won today despite the bullpen blowing a lead on the strength of Didi Gregorius 2 homer, 8 RBI day. That is apparently the most RBIs by a player in a home opener ever.
Ellsbury was due back Thursday, but now has another injury. He’s the gift that keeps on giving (nothing)
I had to look this up, and the record for hapless whiffery in one game is six, held by eight men; Carl Wellman, Don Hoak, Rick Reichardt, Bill Cowan, Cecil Cooper, Sam Horn, Alex Gonzalez (the one who played for the Blue Jays - oh, wait, they both did) and Geoff Jenkins. Such a feat is apparently now known as a Horn, so coined by Mike Flanagan after Sam Horn pulled off the feat.
Sam Horn was a wonderfully fun player who could do very few things well but he could hit a baseball seven hundred feet. For all his limitations, I am honestly not sure why he didn’t stick around longer; he hit homers and got on base a little and you’d think someone would have a use for that.
Even more delightful, however, is his Wikipedia page. It is REALLY obvious that Horn wrote a lot of it himself (or had his kid write it for him) featuring many of these wonderful passages featuring references to Horn in a weirdly forced, promotionally minded third person:
The open the season in warm weather cities and closed roof stadiums discussion seems to come up every year. And, it is simple, no team wants April home games.
Kids aren’t off from school
NBA/NHL last week or so of the season and playoffs beginning. Also the NCAA tournament.
Good Friday/Easter often interferes causing low gate attendance
Florida/Phoenix have just hosted a month’s worth of spring training games thus there isn’t quite the pent up demand.
The staggered starts and odd days off have been a bit odd and it has made setting fantasy baseball lineups a bit tricky. I assume the clubs taking last Sunday off did with anticipation of Easter interfering with attendance.
So far today, Stanton, Judge and Sanchez have all hit two-run homers, but the same dingbats cheering today will boo when a player has one bad game. I blame the high ticket prices and the casual, over-indulged “fan.”
Yanks get Stanton, Sanchez, and Judge to homer in one game. This team will be unbeatable for stretches when all three are hot at once.
Props to Aaron Boone for calling for a sacrifice bunt a couple days ago. This is getting to be a lost art. Get 'em on, get 'em over, get 'em in is my mantra. Too many teams play for a bloop and a blast, give me 4 one-run innings rather than 1 three-run inning any day.
That sacrifice bunt was followed by a single, strikeout, and a home run, so it wouldn’t have mattered even had the Rays not made an error on the play. It was a bad situation to bunt in.
Bunts look great when they work but it is inescapably, demonstrably true that
There is no connection between bunting and winning. The 2017 World Champions, the Astros, had only 11 sacrifice bunts all year. The 2016 champs, the Cubs, were tied for ninth in the NL. Go on as far as you want; winning teams don’t bunt much, and
The better you are at hitting, the worse a strategy it is. It’s especially terrible for a team like the Yankees when you have guys coming up who are good at hitting home runs but strike out a lot.
Don’t get me wrong, there are situations where bunting makes sense. They come up maybe ten times a year. Boone seems like a nice guy but he seems to be doing things (see the intentional walk to Josh Donaldson) for the sake of showing people he’s willing to do things.
…
Anyway, the Blue Jays lost last night, so I am back to saying they should blow the team up.
There’s some truth to that, Boone may be making moves to prove he knows how to make moves. But after watching Girardi burn the DH a few times last year to prove he’s not afraid to burn the DH, I’ll take bunts. I still say you’re going to score more runs with a guy on second with one out than a guy on first with none out. I think the running game is being largely ignored these days and we’re just waiting for the sluggers to do their thing.
