2021 Game Eleven: Blue Jays 7, Yankees 3

 

A steady guy.

Resplendent in the powder blue that is his stated preference, Hyun-Jin Ryu gave up an infield single to D. J. LeMahieu to open last night's game against the Yankees, erased that baserunner on Giancarlo Stanton's double-play grounder to Marcus Semien in the next at bat, and then did not allow another baserunner until the fifth, when Aaron Hicks singled, only to be wiped out on another 4-6-3 double play. It ruled. In the end, Ryu allowed a run on four hits and a walk, leaving the game with two outs in the seventh, and made the Yankees hitters look not just bad (they are not bad) but like a bunch of super grumpy complainers (I do not know them well enough to judge this fairly) in that they were all over the umps, as though they (the umps) were the reason they (the Yankees) couldn't get the ball out of the infield all night. Ryu was carving them up! Through craft! And Vladdy is still hitting everything, like turning tough pitches down and away into the alley for doubles, and is becoming, if not yet quite an excellent first baseman, an unusually enthusiastic first baseman; like he is into it. Young Josh Palacios, who will be seeing lots of playing time in the next little while with Téoscar Hernández out with COVID (rest up, big Téo), continues to impress, and Rowdy Tellez, who we all like but who cannot be going one-for-twenty-five, hit his first home run of the season a day after asking Vladito to bless his bats (he did not refuse him). Bo Bichette (two more hits!) made a really lovely play at short to end the game, but I was so thrilled about Vladdy doing the splits at the other end of it that I really didn't attend properly to Bichette's slide and throw until it ended up the top play on Trevor Plouffe's "Sequence" daily best-of, tweeted out here. The night's only true drags were that Julian Merryweather is going to be out for a bit with "left hip irritation," and David Phelps got drilled in the back with a line drive, and has been understandably contused. 

But no time to dwell! The getaway game has already begun! Blue Jays down 1-0 in the first on an Aaron Judge homer, but Bichette has singled and stolen second with Vladdy at the dish! But it has been challenged for video review! The call is upheld and he is safe! But I am nevertheless not enjoying this replay system!

KS