The Blue Jays wrapped up the AL East with their win Wednesday, so the only option for New York is the wild card. It would have been too late for him to get a full start, and his final regular season appearance would have likely been a one-inning cameo to make sure he was feeling good physically and throwing well. Tuesday night they want to give the ball to Masahiro Tanaka, but he was pathetic after nursing a minor hamstring pull and not seeing mound action for 11 days.
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It’s a bit odd to see such a move with only a few days remaining in the season, but the Angels could use some depth with the uncertainty surrounding Jered Weaver and Matt Shoemaker.
He can be very good. If you pace that out over 162 games, he’d end up with 25 home runs and 76 RBI.
One scout Wednesday described Tanaka as “vanilla”, which no one would say about Jake Arrieta.
“Not a disaster, certainly adequate”, the scout said.
But where else would Girardi and the Yankees hierarchy go if Tanaka is not ready?
When Red Sox catcher Blake Swihart had leftover pizza, he gave it away to a homeless man.
“I think we all wanted to get to this day”, Yankees manager Joe Girardi said after announcing Tanaka’s return. “[The problems with the split] may have had something to do with the layoff”.
A-Rod was one of the team heroes in the first half, but he’s played more this season than he has in years, and it’s catching up to him. So they’ll need an outfielder or two. “That tells me there’s a peace inside and he understands what he is supposed to do”. “Absolutely, it’ll be a big game”. Porcello kept the Yankees off balance all night, mixing his solid four-seam with a baffling 12-6 curveball that dips to 72 miles per hour. Xander Bogaerts ripped his league-leading 194th hit to center field, reaching with two outs to start the Sox rally.
Tanaka’s fastball averaged 92.1 miles per hour Wednesday, according to BrooksBaseball.net.
Hill now faces his former team for the first time since being designated for assignment in August 2014.
Since then, of course, Tanaka has had to deal with a partially torn ligament in his right elbow. Winning two would mean hosting Tuesday’s wild-card game. “I don’t think that’s our first thought, but I think we’re playing well and continue what we’ve been doing”. But you never can underestimate the effects of having a leader on the staff. Lester has a 3.48 ERA with 198 strikeouts in 197 innings in Chicago. It’s going to be a significant loss for New York if he’s unable to start in the postseason (assuming they make it to the ALDS) because the rest of the rotation isn’t making a case to be a force in a five-game playoff series. Next week, they’ll have little choice. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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