Happy Monday.
So there is a little bit of good news, Louis Varland was named AL reliever of the month. He pitched a bunch, 16 innings, 0.56 ERA, 1.0 WAR, 4 saves. Batters hit .200/.277/.254 against him.
We are pretty lucky to have him, I don’t know who would be closing games for us without him. Maybe they continue this way all season, Hoffman in a setup role, which seems to be going fine and Varland in the closer role. Or they could mix and match depending on who they want to have different guys face.
Tyler Rogers, Braydon Fisher, Spencer Miles and Joe Mantiply are all pitching well.
And Hoffman has a 3.38 ERA in his 6 games, giving up a run in each of two games, with 1 walk and 8 strikeouts in in the 5.1 innings. It’s a start.
The stuff between John Schneider and Tyler Heineman, in yesterday’s game, was weird. If John had such a problem with the way Heineman was playing, why didn’t he pinch hit for him in that spot. I get the feeling that John was mad at himself for not pinch hitting. Which is fair, I was kind of mad at him for not pinch hitting.
I don’t like managers being that public with their dislike of what a player is doing. I think things like that should be private. And, beyond that, Schneider knows what Heineman is. I mean, Schneider was the same sort of player, good glove/bad bat. If he doesn’t like Heineman’s play, why put him in the lineup. Why not talk to the front office about finding a better option.
Despite last years play, or at least the play from the first half of last year, Heineman is not a hitter. Expecting him to be one is not going to end well.
And, if John is going to start taking guys out of the lineup for a bad at bat, we are going to be forfeiting a lot of games.
John Sterling passed away at 87.
I’ll admit that I wasn’t a fan. One year, when we were on holiday, I ended up listening to him call some Yankees/Blue Jays games and I hated that he mispronounced some player’s names, Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion others. And, it bothered me. I mean Bautista was one of the top players in the league. You should be able to get that one right, if your job is to be a radio announcer.
But, he had the job a long time. Called 5420 regular season games, 5,060 consecutive games. Yankees’ fans liked him. He was enthusiastic. He was different. Different is a good thing, he wasn’t boring.
Maybe I’d have liked him better if he didn’t work for the godless Yankees.
Addison Barger hit a home run in his first rehab start, and took a walk, with a ground out as well. I think the plan is for him to play three rehab games.
Addison didn’t have a great start to the season, with 1 hit in 23 PA. So, expecting him to be great as soon as he comes back might be a little hopeful, but it will be good to have him back.
Tonight’s game is a 6:30 start. Nick Martinez starts for the Rays. Eric Lauer will…..pitch at some point. He wasn’t happy with the opener thing last time against. But then, you want change, pitch better. Lauer has a 6.00 ERA in 27 innings this year. Pitch well, and he’ll likely get to be the starter next time around. Pitch crappy, and this if the best you can hope for.
