Wed AM BRB (5-5-21): Sanitation Work
This Day in Music (5-5-1969)
Creedence Clearwater Revival release the lead single of their upcoming album Green River, “Bad Moon Rising.”
Photo Credit: Frank Franklin II / Associated Press
For this first time since October of 2019, the Bronx felt truly alive with Yankees fans as a small, but rowdy crowd gathered to publicly shame the skid mark on the underpants of MLB, the Houston Astros. The rabid crowd quickly became the main character of the evening, creating what Yankees broadcaster David Cone remarked as a WWE-type atmosphere, showering the Astros with jeers throughout the Yankees 7-3 win. The chants, repeated only for the sake of journalism, ranged from hilarious (“We don’t know you,” directed at Kyle Tucker), PG-13 (a very long, surround-sound “Asshole,” for Alex Bregman) and quite a lot of “Fuck Altuve.” Though Bregman did punch back early with a solo shot to momentarily quell the hysteria, Yankees fans were not going quietly into the night on Tuesday. With DJ LeMahieu on base in the bottom half of the frame, Giancarlo Stanton stepped into the box against Zack Greinke and quickly stepped out, launching a two-run bomb into the left field seats to put the Yankees on top. Stanton has been utterly unconscious at the plate, going on one of those runs where you just send him to the plate and get the hell out of the man’s way. It’s often overlooked just how good Stanton can be when he’s hitting at this kind of pace, going 4-5 on Tuesday with three RBI and the aforementioned dinger, which was no doubt an early turning point of the game and one of the slugger’s most impactful hits with the team. The Astros were able to claw their way back against a solid Domingo German, but as they had not done at all to start the year, the Yankees put the bat on the ball at the right time and let chaos handle the rest. The Yanks took advantage of a throwing error by Bregman in the bottom of the sixth plating three runs, including Rougned Odor who was involved in a horrifying collision with Astros catcher Martin Maldonado which caused both players to leave the game. In what was in no way a dirty play, Odor and Maldo simply collided wrong, with Odor’s knee appearing to hyper-extend against Maldonado’s shoulder causing the runner’s cleat to kick the now unmasked catcher in the face. Odor was miraculously able to score on the play, but concerns for the team turned to his health as he was carried off the field by Yankees trainers. While it was positive to see him walking around the dugout under his own power, further tests will be needed today to diagnose the full extent of his injuries.
Yesterday was a strange and vaguely frightening day for the New York Mets. Starting with the strange, it was announced early yesterday that the team had decided to fire hitting coaches Chili Davis and Tom Slater with the team currently sitting at the bottom of the MLB in runs scored, home runs and stolen bases. The team has excelled at getting on base to start the year, but it simply hasn’t materialized into pushing runs across when it counts. The collective results combined with the startlingly poor start of Francisco Lindor likely resulted in a change of direction, with Hugh Quattlebaum and Kevin Howard coming in to replace the departing Davis and Slater. It should be noted that Mets players, including prominent slugger Pete Alonso, voiced some confusion/disappointment over the move. Despite spending the better part of the weekend talking about some phantom hitting coach meme “Diesel Donnie,” it seems as if the team liked the hitting coaches they had. Baseball is a results-based business, though, and Steve Cohen had yet to truly put his stamp on this coaching staff in any way. For better or worse, he made his first move in that direction yesterday…The vaguely frightening aspect of yesterday’s news for the Mets came late in the afternoon when it was announced that Jacob deGrom would be scratched from his scheduled start due to side tightness. Though the game ended up being washed out in St. Louis, concerns lie with the best pitcher in baseball, who demonstrated inflammation in his right lat during an MRI. Thankfully, the problem was not deemed serious enough at the present time to warrant a stint on the injured list, but Mets fans, and frankly all baseball fans, have to be keeping their fingers crossed that this is just a small blip on the radar.