Role Players Bring Consistency to Struggling Yankees
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Baseball is a game of streaks, especially in the MLB which runs the course of 162 games over several months in which teams are bound to face extreme highs and lows. The key is consistency over those 162 games and to be able to manage and limit those bad few outings and keep them to a minimum. What the Yankees have shown over the past three series is finally this sense of consistency. After a rocky stretch of games, the Yankees are seeing promise in players who need to step up in the absence of the usual superstars and are playing good baseball as the All-Star break is approaching. The most recent series with the Baltimore Orioles has been huge for the Yankees as after two straight wins they are just two games behind them in the AL East standing, a series sweep will put them just one game behind. Through a combination of a solid bullpen rotation, consistent defense, and clutch and timely hitting, the Yankees are again looking like a team that could compete for the AL East title with the Tampa Bay Rays. One of the key players in this run has been former shortstop and current utility player Isiah Kiner-Falefa who has been on fire as of late at the plate. Over the past 11 games IKF has an average of .406, 8 RBI’s, 9 runs scored, and an OPS of 1.118.
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Along with IKF, rookie shortstop Anthony Volpe has continued to improve as the season progresses after struggling and facing criticism early in the year. In the past 5 games to start July, Volpe is hitting .368 at the plate with a slugging percentage of .632 while having a triple and a homerun. Looking at the pitching you have to acknowledge the perfect game from Domingo German which is quite the bounce-back. After essentially getting booed off the mound in his previous two starts, he followed up those performances with a nine strikeout perfect game showing great resilience on the mound.
The Yankees take on the Orioles Wednesday for the last game of this three game series as they are looking for a pivotal division win. Not only would a series sweep be big for team morale but as previously mentioned will put the Yankees only one game behind the Orioles for second in the division. Looking at the pitching matchup for today’s game we’re likely to see young Randy Vazquez who only has 2 appearances and 10 innings pitched so far through the season. However, in those 10 innings Vaquez does have 9 strikeouts with an ERA of just 1.74. For the Orioles we should expect to see Dean Kremer who is having a solid year thus far for Baltimore. He currently has a record of eight and four with an ERA of 5.04 in 91 innings pitched.