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New York Yankees: Luke Voit’s foot is well-rested, and the slugger is ready for the Rays

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New York Yankees: Luke Voit’s foot is well-rested, and the slugger is ready for the Rays

New York Yankees, Luke Voit

The New York Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Cleveland Indians and the Toronto Blue Jays, respectively, in the Wild Card round and are now ready to face each other starting today.

For the New York Yankees, it will be the perfect opportunity to seek revenge. The Rays took eight of the ten games they played in the regular season, back when the Bombers were struggling with injuries and dropping game after game.

However, Luke Voit, who led the Yankees and the whole league in home runs this season, those ten games are no indication of how the series that will start tonight will go.

“We’re a lot healthier, and these games are a lot more meaningful,” Voit told MLB.com. “They have good pitching, and they’ve figured ways to score runs against us, so you’ve got to give them credit. But I think we’re a lot different team than when we faced them during the regular season. I feel good about us. We’ve got a really tough lineup, and I think we’re going to do a lot of damage against them.”

The last time the Yankees played against the Rays in the regular season, in a series that started on August 31 and finished on September 2, they were missing Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Gleyber Torres, three of the most decorated hitters on the team.

The Yankees are healthier now

But now, they are all ready to rock, and Voit has enormous confidence in what Gerrit Cole, who will be on the mound tonight for the Yankees, can do.

“We paid him to pitch in October. It’s a lock,” Voit said. “Everyone knows that. We need him to go out there to throw seven or eight strong innings and do what he does best.”

On a personal level, the 2020 season was a great one for Voit, who slashed .277/.338/.610 with the league-leading 22 round-trippers. He has been dealing with foot issues in the last few days but is confident that the four off days that the Yankees got after sweeping the Indians will serve him well.

“It’s nice not having to wear cleats right now,” Voit said. “That’s a big thing. I’ve been able to get a lot of treatment done. I haven’t had any pain, but I’m sure it will find a way to come back in this series. It’s something I can keep grinding through.”

The post New York Yankees: Luke Voit’s foot is well-rested, and the slugger is ready for the Rays appeared first on Empire Sports Media.

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Yankees’ receive amazing Aaron Judge news prior to Wednesday’s game

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Yankees’ receive amazing Aaron Judge news prior to Wednesday’s game

New York Yankees, Aaron Judge

While New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone projected that he would gain his star sluggers back over the weekend, they manage to return a few days early to the active roster. On Tuesday, the Yankees featured both Gio Urshela and Giancarlo Stanton, and on Wednesday, they reinstated Aaron Judge from the injured list.

After a 20-6 whopping of the Toronto Blue Jays in the Bronx, the Yankees felt the need to bring in more offensive firepower. Judge, who has been nursing a calf strain the past few weeks, was dominating the MLB before his injury.

Prior to going down, he was hitting .292 with a 1.081 on-base plus slugging and nine homers. While he has only played 18 games, less than half of the 2020 campaign, he immediately gives the Yankees a higher probability of making a playoff run.

The Yankees are currently on a six-game winning streak, coming off a five-game losing streak earlier last week. The recent spark in productivity came just after hitting .500 in the win-loss column.

An exciting turn of events, fellow slugger Luke Voit stated that the Bronx Bombers are back and teams are fearing them once again. Their intimidation factor is something to be considered, as they simply didn’t have the gusto with their top players out. Now, they are only missing Gleyber Torres at shortstop, who, according to Boone, would be playing if it was a playoff contest.

Giving Torres the extra time off is essential, as the Yankees continue to perform and look solid. Hopefully, they can continue their stretch of victories and climb to the top five seeded teams in the American League. The Yankees will walk out Gerrit Cole on Wednesday evening to extend theIr streak, and he’s currently hosting a 3.20 ERA over 59 innings pitched. In his most recent start against the Orioles, he lasted 7.0 innings and allow just two hits and zero runs, tallying nine strikeouts.

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Yankees: Why Schmidt’s performance last night should NOT concern you

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Yankees: Why Schmidt’s performance last night should NOT concern you

New York Yankees, Clarke Schmidt

The New York Yankees called up RHP Clarke Schmidt before last night’s game in Baltimore. He was ranked as the number two prospect in the Yankees organization. Ever since his intrasquad performance, fans have been hyping up the young right-hander and for good reason.

Clarke Schmidt isn’t usually a relief pitcher, but he was the Yankees’ only option last night. New York had an extremely overworked bullpen, which forced Aaron Boone to pull the trigger. It’s safe to say he didn’t have the debut he wanted. He gave up four runs on four hits in the fifth inning. However, it’s not something we should be worried about.

Three reasons you shouldn’t be concerned about Schmidt after his debut:

3. He’s not a relief pitcher

Clarke Schmidt is a starting pitcher. He’s not used to coming into situations in which there are already runners in scoring position. It’s extremely hard to adjust to a different role in general. But it’s especially hard to do so in your MLB debut. His success with the Yankees in the future is not going to be his ability to pitch out of the bullpen, which is why you shouldn’t be upset with him. I would’ve loved to see him come out and deal right off the bat, too, but it’s not something you should expect from someone like him right now. 

2. No one hit him hard

Most of the hits that Schmidt gave up last night were balls not hit very hard that found holes. There were several times that the Yankees’ defense were beat by balls that went against the shift. That happened a lot against Clarke Schmidt. The very first hit he gave up was a 75 mph blooper that just went over Tyler Wade’s head at shortstop. Then the hit right after that was a slow ground ball that went against the shift. That’s exactly what you want to see when a guy like Schmidt is pitching. Balls that aren’t hit hard.

1. It was his MLB debut!

Not only was it one of the only times he’s come out of the bullpen, but it was also the first time he has pitched in the MLB. One outing doesn’t describe a player. And if it did, Schmidt’s performance would be described as weak hits that found holes against good pitching. That’s what it was. It was an unlucky start for Clarke Schmidt in his debut. He is a very competitive player and knows what he has to do. Trust me, we weren’t the only ones disappointed last night. No one is more disappointed than Schmidt. That’s what you want. 

Clarke Schmidt is going to be a big part of the Yankees’ success very soon. New York took a chance on him in the draft by taking him despite him being due for Tommy John. He has impressed everyone in the organization, and the results of his pitching on Friday night does not tell the story of Clarke Schmidt. You can take that to the bank.

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New York Yankees currently sitting on postseason bubble with four weeks left

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New York Yankees currently sitting on postseason bubble with four weeks left

New York Yankees, Giancarlo Stanton

So far, the 2020 MLB season has not been a memorable one for the New York Yankees. They’ve dealt with an absurd number of injuries, with DJ LeMahieu, Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Gleyber Torres, Tommy Kahnle, and now Gio Urshela spending time on the IL.

When players have gone down in previous years, the team has always had the “next man up” mentality. However, that isn’t working in 2020 as the Yankees have lost 11 of their last 16 games.

Right now, they are tied for second in the AL East with the Toronto Blue Jays and are on the postseason bubble. This season, the top two teams in each division get into the postseason, as well as the top two teams that are in third place or worse in each league.

If the postseason were to begin today, the Yankees would either have the sixth or eighth seed in the AL, dependent on tiebreakers. If they won the tiebreaker, they would be sixth but eighth if they lost it. The team still has 10 games left to play against the Blue Jays.

Right now, it’s the Minnesota Twins that would have the seventh seed in the AL. They are in third place, but just a half a game back of the White Sox along with the Indians in the central division.

Oakland leads the west, with the Astros two games back of them. In third place is the Mariners, seven and a half games back with postseason aspirations running low.

Right now, the Yankees need to turn things around if they want to make a run this year. If any other team passes the Yankees in the American League except for the Blue Jays, the team will fall out of the postseason picture.

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New York Yankees: Good news and bad news following embarrassing loss to Baltimore

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New York Yankees: Good news and bad news following embarrassing loss to Baltimore

Gerrit Cole, New York Yankees

The New York Yankees suffered another embarrassing loss against the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday evening. With the offense putting up a putrid one run, starting pitcher Gerrit Cole was also batted around in the sixth inning to extend the Orioles lead to 6-0. Cole lasted 6.0 innings, tossing 101 pitchers. He allowed four hits and five runs, striking out 10 batters.

Offensively, the Yankees were only able to record four total hits, two of which came from Clint Frazier.

FINAL SCORE: 6-1

Good news and bad news for the New York Yankees:

GOOD NEWS:

The good news, starting shortstop Gleyber Torres returned to the team on Saturday. He posted one hit over three at-bats, and also earned a walk. It was a positive thing for him to get on base and start his return strong, but the remainder of the Yankees’ offense failed to produce. Catcher Gary Sanchez struck out four times over four at-bats, lowering his average to .130. At this point, the Yankees may consider starting Erik Kratz in a regular role, considering Sanchez’s offense is nonexistent.

Despite giving up a home run within his first three pictures, relief arm Miguel Yajure tossed two impressive innings. He recorded two strikeouts and allowed two hits.

In other news, the Bombers kept Deivi Garcia at the alternate site and will utilize him again in the coming days. They also retained Clarke Schmidt as a relief arm in hopes of activating him more frequently with little rest for their more accomplished options.

BAD NEWS:

The bad news remains consistent for the Yankees, as their starting pitching has struggled a bit the past few days and their offense has been quiet. Scoring one run against a young Orioles starter in Keegan Akin was tumultuous at best. While the Yankees started strong in the 2020 season, they are quickly falling behind and could be out of postseason contention if they keep playing like this.

Getting Torres back was a big deal, but they sorely miss their talisman in Aaron Judge. Manager Aaron Boone stated before the game that Giancarlo Stanton was running at about 80% but Judge is behind him in his rehab. He hopes they both will be available for the postseason.

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