It's not like anyone other than my friend group has been reading these blogs, however, I have been inspired to write a shorty this week. Unfortunately, the inspiration to write is coming from one of the most hated teams in baseball. Yes, you guessed it right, The New York Baseball Yankees.
The Yanks are towering over the MLB right now with an absurd record of 45-16, winning nine out of their last ten games. Their only loss being to the Twins with Nasty Nestor Cortes on the bump. Cortes finally looked human in his last outing, going only 4.1 IP, allowing four runs on seven hits with two of those hits being homers. Nestor still holds a sub two ERA and is looking to bounce back against the Rays tonight. If I were a Yankee fan, I'd be tuning in to this game heavily.
Moving on to the 324 million dollar man, Gerrit Cole. Cole looked solid in his start last night against the Tampa Bay Rays. He threw six scoreless innings with seven strikeouts, however, what I would like to highlight was his ability to miss barrels in this start. In the MLB, a “hard hit ball” is considered 95+ MPH. In his appearance against the Rays, there was only one ball put in play with an exit velocity of greater than 95 MPH and it accounted for an out. In Cole's previous appearance, where he got shelled against the Twins on June 9th, he allowed six hits with exit velo’s greater than 100 MPH. In this outing, Cole allowed seven runs on five homers through 2.1 innings (yikes). I bet Yankee fans were relieved to see Cole bounce back after that one.
After this series against the Rays, the Yankees go on to face Toronto, the Rays again, Houston, and end the month with a struggling Oakland Athletics ballclub. The Yankees are in a good spot to separate themselves even further in the AL East. Hopefully the Rays and Blue Jays can slow this powerhouse down.
Highlights around the league:
- One of the best gloves in baseball, Harrison Bader, cannot haul in a line drive to deep center to save Miles Mikolas’ no hitter with two outs in the ninth
- Sox place Eovaldi and Whitlock on 15-day IL (BYEEEEE Sox)
- Braves are kicking it into gear with a 13-game win streak
- If you need a good laugh go google Robinson Cano in a SpongeBob jersey
- This is your reminder to go buy some Kickback merch and hack it around on the course