Yankees GBU – Seen the lights go out in Tampa

The New York Yankees were able to take two of three from the Tampa Bay Rays after a weird weekend that included some hits off catwalks and a power outage at Tropicana Field.  The Tampa Bay Rays need to move to either a new stadium or a new city because Tropicana Field just isn’t built for baseball.  In addition to that, it also probably isn’t great that 90% of the fans there are rooting for the Yankees.

The Good

German and Tanaka win pitchers’ duels

Domingo German and Masahiro Tanaka stepped onto the mound on Friday and Sunday with a tall task;  Go toe to toe with two of the best young pitchers in baseball, Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell.  They did so and did it in spectacular fashion, out-dueling the two young stars.

German went five strong of five hit, three run ball.  His stats and Glasnow’s are essentially identical, as Glasnow gave up one more run but it was unearned and he struck out nine to German’s five.  However, Glasnow unfortunately left early with an arm injury and the Yankees got to the Rays’ bullpen.  Regardless, German’s only two mistakes were the two home runs he gave up to Austin Meadows and Ji-Man Choi.  He still looked dominant otherwise and was crusing through the first three or so innings.

Tanaka looked like the ace the Yankees need, going seven strong of five hit, one run ball.  He out-dueled Blake Snell despite Snell striking out five of his first six batters faced.  Snell went 5 2/3 innings but gave up two runs and even though he struck out 12 was beat out by a game Tanaka.  Tanaka still didn’t have his best stuff but he was able to control all his pitches well en route to his third victory of the season.

Gio Urshela is a Godsend

Is Gio Urshela serious?  Urshela came up with a few more big hits again, collecting three hits and four RBIs over the series.  Even though they may not be eye-popping numbers, his hits had some major importance.

With the bases loaded on Friday night, Urshela knocked in two runs with a two run single into left center field.  Those runs wound up being the the winning runs, as the Yankees were down 3-2 at that point and were desperate to take the lead again.

On Sunday his two RBIs weren’t as important but they still gave the Yankees some room to maneuver when he smashed a double and scored Austin Romine and Mike Tauchman.  The score was 6-1 then and the game was completely out of reach, so in essence Urshela’s RBIs put the game to rest.

The Bad

Holder has a slip-up

Jonathan Holder has been surprisingly good for the Yankees so far this season, but he had a major slip-up on Saturday when he let the game get out of hand.  Unfortunately for Holder, he’ll get the loss even though he wasn’t the worst pitcher in the game.  That distinction belongs to Nestor Cortes Jr..

Anyway, Holder gave up three hits and two runs in one inning of effort.  The Rays took over the game from there and left Holder with a blemish on his record.  It isn’t all bad as Holder still has pretty decent stuff, but the negatives have to come from somewhere when you lose a game.

Miguel Andujar still getting into the “swing” of things

Miguel Andujar is one of the most talented hitters on the Yankees but he’s in a real funk right now, going 1-for-12 in the series.  His timing looks off and he doesn’t look right but this could be a side effect of being on the IL for so long.

Andujar looked particularly bad on Sunday, where he went 0-for-5 with three strikeouts.  He’s currently batting .128 and may be sent down this week for Aaron Hicks to get some easier at-bats in AAA.  He just doesn’t look right and looks to be lunging at pitches instead of sitting back.

The Ugly

Tropicana Field needs to be condemned

The only ugly for this week is the monstrosity that is Tropicana Field.  This big stadium is one of the ugliest in sports and has some interesting quirks that make it a wonderful place to play.  The biggest quirk is the catwalk that sits right below the dome ceiling.  The catwalk is considered in play, and Clint Frazier hates it because the catwalk took away a home run from him last season.

This season, Gary Sanchez hit a fly ball so high that it hit off the catwalk and fell for a hit.  Also, the lights completely went out in the Trop and there was a game delay until the lights were fixed.  It’s not that unheard of considering it’s happened in many sports and in much bigger moments, including the Super Bowl just a few years ago.  However, the Trop has showed its age and it’s time for Tampa to move on.

The New York Yankees are now just a half game out of first place behind the Tampa Bay Rays.  This series was important because the Yankees gained ground and kept their streak going, winning seven of their last eight series.  Next up is a date with the Baltimore Orioles at home.  If the Yankees can win this series, they’ll be in great shape heading into the summer.