It is tempting to grumble about how this game was such a microcosm of the Yankee season. The starter was phenomenal, truly elite stuff, and the offense had three hitters that looked like they belonged in the majors. I’m gonna choose the optimism; Cam Schlittler is the best pitcher in the American League and he delivered a huge series-opening win tonight, with the Yankees topping the Phillies 1-0.
It’s funny how wrong a first impression can be. Cam’s come back to earth a little in recent weeks, still
the best pitcher in the AL but a little more touchable. Trea Turner ground out a great, six-pitch leadoff AB against the young Yankee ace, and for that first batter I wondered if we’d see another Schlittler start where he was just a little off.
It took Cam 25 pitches to set down the next eight men, perfect through his first three frames. Funny enough it was Turner again who saw seven offerings from Schlittler leading off the fourth, but he was retired for the second time. Kyle Schwarber became the Phillies’ first baserunner a batter later, ending a perhaps-too-early bid for history with a double into the right-center gap. Didn’t seem to bother the ace though, who got Bryce Harper and Brandon Marsh to strand War Bear.
And from there, for another 3.1 innings it was academic. Schlittler got into the eighth inning, sitting down 12. He allowed just two hits, with no walks, through 7.1, bringing his overall season ERA down to 2.07 and his road ERA a comical 1.07. There were a lot of very cool moments tonight but perhaps my favorite from Cam was this front-door sinker that froze a future Hall of Famer:
We also saw something in the development of a still-young pitcher. I think sometimes we forget that Cam has been here a little over a calendar year. His immediate success, his demeanor, the way his starts feel different than everyone else’s, makes him feel like he’s been in the bigs half a decade. He’s still developing, he’s not a finished product yet.
If there’s one thing that has attracted a lot of attention with Cam, is whether he can get by throwing fastballs as frequently as he does. Especially against a team like the Phillies, where your 2-4 hitters are all excellent lefties, there’s been a lot of discussion about whether Schlittler should mix in his curve more often. Maybe this is all talk show fodder since he actually pitches better against lefties, but he threw his curveball twice as frequently as his season average tonight.
He got whiffs on half of them, plus dropping one in for a strike, so while it wasn’t the prime reason he succeeded tonight, I think adding something else in the back of a hitter’s mind means something. When you’re facing sluggers like Schwarber and Harper, anything you can do to make them spend another fraction of a second thinking, rather than reacting, is a plus for you.
But, Schlittler did seem to run out of gas in the eighth as his pitch count crept over 90. J.T. Realmuto, in competition with Paul Goldschmidt for MLB’s most prodigious unc, managed his second hit of the day off the Yankee starter, and then Cam dotted #8 hitter Gabriel Rincones Jr. to put two men on, and end the night. Brent Headrick, perhaps the most reliable man in the bullpen, gave off a leadoff single that Realmuto had to hold at third on, but got a soft flyout from Turner and groundout from Schwarber to end the threat and preserve the shutout.
You’ll notice we haven’t talked much about the offense. Part of this is because Jesús Luzardo is a very good pitcher and mostly held serve with Schlittler tonight, throwing seven innings and striking out nine against a single walk, and only really being touched by MLB’s more prodigious unc, the aforementioned Goldschmidt:
As for the rest of the Yankee offense well…I’d like to say they should think about shaking up the normal lineup facing lefties but there’s nobody really to put in. This is what we’re stuck with until a trade gets made or a slugger heals up, and it’s why we’re further quite lucky to have the talents of someone like Cam Schlittler.
The Yankees must have a bit of a World Cup hangover, because they win one-nil. David Bednar locked down the club’s tenth shutout victory on the season, and Cam gets his tenth win of the year in the same cause.
The Rays look like they’ll win tonight as well, so all the Yankees can do is keep the pace. A series win on the road against a team with their own playoff aspirations is the goal this weekend. Ryan Weathers will be the man tasked with leading the Yankees to that series win tomorrow, possibly against former Yankees draft pick Brian Keller in his MLB debut at age-32 (though Philly has yet to confirm a starter and Keller may be the bulk guy). First pitch will be a little earlier than tonight, at 6:05pm ET.
Postscript: I have a running text chain with a friend where pretty much we only talk about baseball. The one text I sent him today was, of course, about Cam.
