The Jays have an off day today, which I’m ok with. After yesterdays loss, I could go for a week of off days. But then, tomorrow I’ll be sitting in front of the TV, ready to get punched in the gut again.
I often say that no one, including umpires, understand the balk rule. Yesterday was a good example.
So the balk was called because Hoffman did a ‘good inside move’ to make the pick off throw to second. Which he does on occasion. Which isn’t a balk. But, sometimes a good move will surprise an umpire and, occasionally, if something surprises an umpire, he’ll decide it is against the rules.
I’m sure if plate umpire Steven Jaschinski saw it on TV he would have thought nothing of it. But it was in front of him and it surprised him and, if it surprises him, it can’t be legal. Generally, if an umpire calls balk, the other three will also say it, because when a ruling is iffy, it is best you show a united front (and the umpires want to say ‘yeah, I saw it too’ whether they did or not’. Yesterday it was just Jaschinski.
It is the sort of thing, especially with a long argument delaying things further, that can throw a pitcher off. Moving a go ahead runner to third on the whim of an umpire, adds a fair bit of pressure. But Hoffman got a couple of strikeouts and all was good. For a moment.
And then there was this: I rarely buy into the ‘MLB favours the Yankees’ stuff, but the plate umpire let Caballero delay the game for a long time and the plate umpire never seemed to say ‘that’s enough’. Schneider comes out to argue something that was really worth arguing, and he got tossed quick. Of course, he may have said ‘key words’ that get you tossed. But it definitely seemed that Jaschinkis had a lot more patience with Caballero. I shouldn’t have used the word ‘seemed’, he definitely had a lot more patience with Caballero. I do think that umpires have a lot more patience for crap from Yankees’ players or managers.
I rarely buy into the ‘MLB favours the Yankees’ stuff, but the plate umpire let Caballero delay the game for a long time and the plate umpire never seemed to say ‘that’s enough’. Schneider comes out to argue something that was really worth arguing, and he got tossed quick. Of course, he may have said ‘key words’ that get you tossed. But it definitely seemed that Jaschinkis had a lot more patience with Caballero. I shouldn’t have used the word ‘seemed’, he definitely had a lot more patience with Caballero. I do think that umpires have a lot more patience for crap from Yankees’ players or managers.
I keep hoping that, with us not having couple of bullpen days, every time through the rotation, that we could ease the strain on the bullpen, but Corbin only went 3.2 innings and Scherzer went 3.1 last Wednesday, so we really aren’t going all that much better than a bullpen days quite often.
There was a lot to complain about in Yesterday’s game, mostly RISP stuff. But it was nice to see Nathan Lukes get hitting again, after a few lesser games. And George Springer and Kazuma Okamoto seem to have figured out how to make hard contact with the ball again. And Davis Schneider had two hits. After his time in Buffalo, where he seemed to be waiting for pitchers to walk him, I’m happy to see that. One game isn’t a trend, but it doesn’t hurt.
On the flip side, Yohendrick Piñango, Charles McAdoo and Jesús Sánchez all had a rough time with RISP. There are going to be days like that, but they did look like they were over matched.
I’m not really sure that McAdoo is that much of an upgrade on Lenyn Sosa, though it isn’t fair to judge him on 24 PA. I would feel better if he would take the odd walk. I guess he hasn’t shown MLB pitchers that they have to work off the edges yet. Sosa got 87 PA, McAdoo should get a similar number before we write him off.
