The Monday Takeaway
There’s a long, illustrious history to the Yankees kicking the snot out of the Twins. Your explanation for it is as good as mine, but it’s one of those weird phenomenon that just sort of naturally happens. Yankees fans are loath to question it because it can make for some good entertainment.
At its best, it results in a 14-1 drubbing like it did on Monday night.
As Stefon would say, this game had everything. Giancarlo Stanton had been struggling mightily since he became a Yankee. The best cure seemed to be the Twins, of course. He went 4 for 4 with a walk. One of those hits was a moonshot of a homer.
Miguel Andujar continued to rake. Didi Gregorius worked walks and hit grand slams. It got so bad that the Twins put outfielder Ryan LaMarre in to pitch, and of course Tyler Austin promptly took him out of the yard. Gleyber Torres got his first big league hit.
Masahiro Tanaka shoved too. This is what we thought the 2018 Yankees were going to look like. It helped that Jake Odorizzi looked like the living embodiment of the phrase “He didn’t have his good stuff” and that Tyler Kinley could not get outs, but yikes.
The Yankees have suddenly won three in a row.
Quick Hits from Monday
There isn’t much in the career of Kevin Gausman that can be described as immaculate. He contributed a little something for consideration last night.
That’s nine strikes and three strikeouts, otherwise known as an immaculate inning. Gausman was pretty good overall last night too. Eight innings, seven strikeouts, one walk, two runs. He took the loss, because this year’s Orioles exist only to cause pain.
***
Trevor Story hit a big ol’ home run.
Nothing crazy. But take a listen. That’s Jenny Cavnar calling the play. She became the first woman to do play-by-play for a big league game since 1993 last night. That’s 25 years, nearly a quarter of a century.
It’s hard to imagine there hasn’t been a single qualified woman in that time. Hopefully this is the first of many games like this.
The Franchy Cordero Section, Brought to You by Craig Goldstein
🎶 Over the Rockies
And to the woods
Just watch Franchy’s homer go! 🎶 pic.twitter.com/52v7iFKlkf— San Diego Padres (@Padres) April 24, 2018
I too am hoping this will be a regular section of this column. You’re welcome, Craig.
Defensive Play of the Day
Wut.
What to Watch on Tuesday
Watch a good Coen Brothers movie. Barton Fink, perhaps. These things tend to be (NSFW):
In lieu of that, there’s some baseball on.
Start off with Jose Berrios tangling with the Yankees’ deep-as-hell lineup, because it’ll be good viewing one way or another. CC Sabathia is going for New York, and his current age-defying form is fun when he’s on. The Twins will be looking bounce back from Monday night’s drubbing.
It’s Ohtani Day today, and he’ll be tasked with dealing with the reigning champions. Expect the Astros to put up a good fight. Charlie Morton will try to keep Mike Trout off the basepaths.
Then give the Nats-Giants game a gander, because a second viewing of Barton Fink would probably be too draining.
Thank you for reading
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