Baidu_MLB/MLB_New York Yankees Tampa Bay Rays 05 09 15.mp4

huge

at-bat,

Logan

Forsythe

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We'll face off against Nathan Eovaldi of the Tampa Bay Rays; last night he was strong for Tampa Bay and tonight he is leading off, with Daniel Nava — a familiar face here in the Bronx after many years with the Red Sox who was DFA'd and picked up by the Rays — Evan Longoria now over 200 career home runs, Grady Sizemore on his path back to the major leagues, and Logan Forsythe, Asdrubal Cabrera and James Loney, who's swinging a hot bat right now especially in this ballpark. It's over 400 in New Yankee Stadium. Kiermaier, who is on every highlight reel defensively. And then he made his first big league start. He has only one at bat in his major league career. He made his debut September 1st in Baltimore. Look at the Tampa Bay Rays' starting lineup for this one today. Nathan Eovaldi, we mentioned the power, but the splitter has been his biggest turnaround, isn't it? Well, Yeah, there's no question about it. He's got the fastball. It's going to average around 96.5 miles per hour, a slider, a curveball that he uses infrequently, a lot of times early in the count, but it has been the splitter. He has worked on that pitch, he worked with Larry Rothschild on it during spring training, and as the season has moved forward, the pitch has gotten better and better. Same with his confidence. And the numbers reflect that. Take a look at the defense behind him. One name you won't see in the outfield, Jacoby Ellsbury, had to exit the game last night because of flu-like symptoms and a very upset stomach. So Brett Gardner will be in center field. And an interesting look up the middle. Of course, you've got Didi Gregorius and Brendan Ryan getting the start today. One of the premier shortstops in the major leagues. And, well, if you ask the people here in New York, he's a pretty good pitcher as well. He spent two scoreless innings out of the bullpen not long ago. So there's a look. And the Yankees' defense. And it's a beautiful day — temperatures right now in the mid 70s here at Yankee Stadium. As we're all set for first pitch. The Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays. Game two of this three-game series. Okay, so to begin things for the Rays, and he starts them off, strike one. Well, there's that curveball. Anytime you can drop that in early in the count, you jump out ahead of the hitter — advantage pitcher, obviously. With the 0-2 count. And I think what you'll see from this Rays lineup is that offensive turnaround. They're averaging over four and a half runs a game since the beginning of August. And it has been a more aggressive lineup, with a guy like Eovaldi trying to establish that fastball. You would expect a lot Early swings. You see, they're 98 miles an hour. He averages just under 97 miles an hour with his fastball. Jaso over the shifts. And with two strikes against him, a leadoff single. He went with that to strike, elevate with the fastball, then tried to come back with the splitter, but that ball did not have good action and stayed up enough that Jaso was able to sweep it out into right field. It's an interesting thing: you'd think that with a pitcher who's consistently throwing 96-97, his fastball would be close to unhittable. Opponents are hitting over .350 against this fastball. Yeah. Opposing hitters get a good look at that fastball. The arm swing of Nathan Eovaldi. You're able to follow it right to the release point. And so it doesn't jump on you like some other fastballs do. First-pitch strike to Nava. Longtime Red Sox, designated for assignment by Boston. Picked up by the Rays. At one point recently he abandoned switch-hitting and was only going to be a left-handed hitter. But he's since returned. He picked things up once again from the right side of the plate. It was interesting to hear Kevin Cash talk about it. How quickly. His hitters were able to really adapt to this. A very new game plan: don't wait pitchers out, especially if you've got a guy with a plus arm, like we see here today with Eovaldi. Get on him and try to get on early. And I think that is a natural transition. I think hitters by nature want to be aggressive. They've got the bat, they're in the batter's box; they want to swing. And so when you turn them loose. You see guys really adapt to that quickly. Just like the Rays lineup has. And I'll tell you what. You look at some of the pitchers out there nowadays. You know, with two strikes the batting average against is so low and the number of strikeouts in the game right now makes it a disadvantage to hit with two strikes. So why even be tempted? Why try to get there? Attack early. Kevin Cash, in his first year, took over for Joe Maddon. He's had fantastic success with the Cubs this year. Nothing in two on Nava. And there's no doubt the story this year for the Tampa Bay Rays has been the injuries. They lead the majors in disabled list stints. Last year you think about the Rangers in the American League, the Rockies in the National League, and this year it has been the Rays that has been hung with that unfortunate stigma that they just cannot stay healthy. Well, And so they've had to ask a lot of guys to step in. you know, to their credit. You're in September. You're just four and a half games out of the second wild card. A lot of guys have stepped up. You think about a guy. We talked about him already. Logan Forsythe, when the season started or going into spring training. The idea was for him to be a platoon player out at second base with Nick Franklin. And Nick Franklin gets hurt late in spring. Logan is now forced into an everyday role. And like you said, maybe the team MVP, John Jaso, who began this ballgame with a single to right field. He was the first casualty for the Rays. And in his first at-bat, on a slide. And they had to miss a lot of time. I mean it began that early for Tampa Bay this year. It really did. And a guy that they brought in — strikeout there by Eovaldi. But a guy they brought in to hit at the top of the order. Good on-base percentage guy. Not your typical leadoff hitter. But you're right. He gets on base in his first at-bat — a ball in the dirt. He heads to second. Boom. Down with the wrist, he missed a ton of time. The splitter gets Nava there. One out, one on. It brings up Longoria. Longoria had a home run last night. A homer in back-to-back games. In fact, Three homers in those last two contests. Longoria now over 200 home runs in his career. He hit that mark on this road trip in Baltimore. And for the Rays, a very young franchise in the scheme of things, especially compared to their opponent today, Longoria has really been the face of Tampa Bay. And if they want to make a move, they're going to need Evan Longoria to play a big part of that. All right, Zobrist. That'll end the top of the first. They take their way to the home half. Nothing-nothing. It's a Yankee starting lineup that leaves off with center fielder Brett Gardner. Chris Young gets a start at left field. Alex Rodriguez Last night, career home run number 681. And you see John Ryan Murphy doing the catching today. Didi Gregorius swinging an awfully hot bat, and Ryan is at second base and rounds out the order today for the Yankees. Gardner in the leadoff spot. Ellsbury, feeling some flu-like symptoms, had to be removed from the game yesterday, and you can see the numbers here on Matt Moore. Well, these are the numbers that warranted the trip back down to Durham, where Matt Moore made the proper adjustments and then found himself back up here in a very meaningful game. Back to the line, then Loney keeps it in front of them. We're out, number one, in tumbling fashion. I'll tell you what, the Rays organization — they pride themselves on pitching and defense, and a heck of a play here by Loney: the backhand, he knocks it down, realizes he's got a little bit of time, then scrambles to the bag with the baseball in hand. Trying to beat Gardner — Gardner can fly. You can see the effort from the Yankees' leadoff man with the headlong slide. A good start for Moore: two pitches, one out. He faces Chris Young. You think back to Matt Moore, an All-Star back in 2013. Took Yu Darvish's spot. On the American League club. And really, his fastball velocity in his early days was higher. He was humming it in the upper 90s. Fastball velocity has come down, but he was still effective after Tommy John. Yeah, I mean, when he came up it was an easy 95-97 mph. Now, you've seen him here this afternoon. Early, going around 92 mph, and he'll stay right around there. Maybe get it up to 93-94. But with Matt Moore, it's the deception. The ball gets on you quick, so he can throw a 93-mph fastball and get swings that tell you it was harder than that because of the deception. Good life on his four-seam heater. Two quick outs, it brings in A-Rod. Now what a difference a productive season can make. Alex Rodriguez. He was all but banished here in the Bronx. You can see his numbers here. A phenomenal season. Last night he hit career home run number 681, and now he is beloved Here in New York, more than, well, anywhere else. But no bigger cheers for any Yankee than for this man when he comes up to the plate. It has been something of a year of redemption for Alex Rodriguez, saying all the right things, doing all the right things, being a good teammate and productive. That always helps. That's a big part of it, isn't it? Moore gets ahead, one and two. Well, that production has started to come down just a little bit, but you mentioned that home run last night. This is a team that, when the Yankees jump out early, they win at a higher clip than any other team in the American League, and that's what he did last night. That's why it's a big home run. Hit the opposite way, high, but near the line — foul ball. Take a look at what he did last night. Well, this is following a walk to Brian McCann. And a breaking ball that just hung out over the plate. And Alex Rodriguez made that kind of loud contact. That typically is the result. And the amazing part is... You mentioned the loud contact; that was about as free and easy a swing. As you'll see from any big leaguer. And he had no problem parking it over the fence. Not exactly what Matt Moore was hoping for. Ninety-four miles an hour that time. And a quick, tidy one-two-three bottom of the first. Through one. Leads things off for the Rays at the top of the second. His pitch. Soft roller to Brendan Ryan. A nice start for Nathan Eovaldi. If you think about Eovaldi and what he has done this year, there's no doubt the wins are the stat that stand out, probably more than anything, Brian. His first. 79th start of his career. He picked up 15 wins this year. He has 14 wins and you mentioned earlier the run support for Eovaldi has been off the charts. The run support has been tremendous but he's been throwing the ball great for the Yankees over his last 13 starts. We talked about that 9-and-0 record, the ERA 3.32. You'll take that all day long especially with this offense behind you. Learning how to win games in the big leagues. Forsythe, a fair ball tied to the line. And Forsythe is in with extra bases. Now the hits just keep on coming for this guy. Well, I'm going to tell you — we highlighted him in the open as the Rays' most consistent hitter and talked about his quick hands, and that's what he's showing here once again. I mean, Logan is just able to let that ball travel into the zone. He has such trust in his hands and in his pitch recognition. He lets it get deep and then, boom — fire. And there's not a lot of wasted movement there and he's able to sneak it down the line past Chase Headley. Rays' first scoring opportunity. Tampa Bay was sat down in order in the top of the first despite a leadoff single by John Jay, so a double play got things going quickly. One out, Forsythe at first, and it brings in the veteran Asdrubal Cabrera. A switch-hitter. How many times have we seen it already? Recognizing that this Rays lineup, especially the left-handed hitters, will adjust against a power righty. He's gone with a number of first-pitch breaking balls already here this afternoon. He had a front-row seat to everything he did in last night's Game One. Luis Severino, the 21-year-old rookie, was fantastic. He won his third straight game and the Rays were after him. It seemed like they attacked him on almost every pitch he threw last night. Eovaldi had an up-close and personal scouting report. Especially early on, Severino came out trying to establish that very good fastball he has. The Rays were able to get him into a little bit of trouble early in the game. They worked some walks. Some base hits. They had some base runners. But Severino was able to pitch out of those innings. And all of a sudden, he made the adjustment. Then he started to see the backdoor slider for strike one. You saw the changeup come into play. And at that point he really took over the game. Ball and two strikes to Cabrera, with Forsythe at second base; he doubled. You can see what the Rays did or did not do last night. And they have not been able to cash in in those situations. On the season that has been the Achilles' heel offensively — they've had opportunities. They're fourteenth out of 15 teams in the American League in RISP batting average, and if you're not hitting there you're not scoring runs. First year for Kevin Cash. He was the bullpen coach for a couple of years in Cleveland and is a former big league catcher. He was a Yankee for a brief period of time. Close pitch, but it's a full count. He's trying to get the chase here. 96, late movement to get Cabrera to go off the plate. He does not, so the double, and now the walk to Cabrera. First walk today for Revaldi. And I'll bring in James Loney. Loney has made a name for himself here in the Bronx at New Yankee Stadium. He's nearly a .410 hitter. He has the highest. Batting average of any visiting player in this ballpark's relatively young history. He hits the ball where it's pitched — up the middle. No shift for Loney as a result. You can see how he has done against the Yankees overall both home and away. Among all active hitters he's at the top. They haven't figured out the formula. Not yet. Every team's got that guy. They do. They really do. And every pitcher has that guy. Fourth, ninth, Second, Cabrera at first. Last night we saw Jake Odorizzi start game one for Tampa Bay, and McCann, the catcher for the Yankees, has just flat-out owned him, and that continued last night. For some reason some guys just see the ball better. You make more mistakes against them. They may. I mean, it was amazing last night because he was the guy that walked before the home run by Alex Rodriguez, and then they pitched to him full count with a fastball. He hit a home run his second time up, walked again his third time up in front of another home run. Here comes the 1-1. Jams him inside. He took that off the foot. Brian, we've talked about the Rays becoming more aggressive offensively. When you think about it. The teams in baseball that are really numbers-driven, really analytics-driven: the Rays, certainly, and Oakland as well. Kevin Cash made a pretty clear point today. Just because you don't swing early doesn't mean you're just up there to take pitches. It's about when you're aggressive and on what pitches you're aggressive. Yeah, I think that's absolutely the case, especially now — the way you see a lot of teams, the Rays being one of them, the way that they use their starting pitchers. The way that now, with maybe two, you get to that third time through the lineup, all of a sudden managers are looking to pull you even though the pitch count may be in order. So what's the point in trying to drive a pitch count up when the guy's not going to be there anyway? Go out there and look for pitches — mistakes out over the plate early — and go right after them. He gets rung up. See, Loney maybe not happy with that call. Second punch-out, 96 miles an hour. It was the late movement, and James Loney, when the ball came out of the hand, said this was off the plate — and look at it come back and catch the inside corner. That's where the beef lies. That's just a good front-door two-seamer. By Nathan Eovaldi. Two outs, two on, that brings in Kevin Kiermaier. And in Kiermaier's career he has gone from someone who first made his big league debut as a defensive replacement. He went from strictly a defensive replacement and part-time player to, now this year, someone you could be looking at as the American League Gold Glove winner in center field. Well, his defense has been otherworldly. Truly, I mean the jumps he gets on balls, the amount of ground he covers, his athleticism. It's a chopper; Brendan Ryan can't get there, it skips into right field, the runner steams into third and comes around to score — Kiermaier, for all the talk about his defense, drives him in. That makes it 1-0 Tampa Bay with two outs here in the second. Nathan Eovaldi is built to get ground balls. And he got one there. But Kevin Kiermaier finds a hole. This ball leaks back to the middle. It's just a chopper, but perfectly placed. See Brendan Ryan going after it as hard as he can, but once that skips into right field — with everyone running with two outs — the Rays would plate their first run. That makes it the Rays' first hit with a runner in scoring position early in this three-game series. He went seven innings last night, as we were talking about earlier. They bring in Maile, the catcher. Maile made his big league debut. Not long ago, at the start of the month in Baltimore. You can see he's from Kentucky; he played his college ball there and had a lot of family in Baltimore. He has some family here today as well. And it cooled off a little bit there; three-quarter swing to it. Let me talk to Kevin Cash about Luke Maile, and he talked about a catcher who is a very good receiver behind the plate, good at working with the pitching staff and calling pitches; offensively... Still, Working on that part of his game. And you can tell that a large part of the motivation to have Maile in the lineup today is because... Of how many times he caught Matt Moore in the minor leagues. During Moore's most recent stint down with Triple-A Durham, four or five times, so that's a big part of it. Yeah, and that is very important. I mean, you want to keep Matt more comfortable throwing to a guy that he's had success with. Off the plate, two and two. Time missing at 98. One thing when you watch Eovaldi and you look at his game-by-game, he is not routinely pitching deep into games to the pitch count. Gets a quick one-two-three top of the first. It's been a little bit more of a labor here in the second. Gives up two hits and a walk. And a strike three call. He gets him, able to work out with Cabrera and Kiermaier left stranded, but a run in as the Rays take an early lead. They put the shift on, and quickly Moore is ahead. And if you're Matt Moore, Brian, You could not have asked for a better first inning than what he spun. Nine pitches, Three outs. No. Very sharp with his stuff early. He gets an early run, An early lead to work with. And the fastball and the curveball. Except for that one, they've been very good. You try to bury a curveball and sometimes you take it a little bit too far. Missed the cutoff man. Spikes it to make it one-and-two. Lonnie is the only man on the right side of the infield, much closer to first base than to second. Beltran is looking to build on what was a fantastic month of August. He had over .350, with some serious pop as well. And he goes away from the shift. Nobody home to get that one, and it's a leadoff single. 36. As we've talked about, he had a lot of problems, no command, and Brian, you can tell—talk about this as a former pitcher: it's just not always easy and it's not always the same. Well, I wouldn't know anything about it because I tried to come back from Tommy John surgery twice and was unsuccessful both times. It's a long process. It is a long process. It's a lot of work behind the scenes to build up the stamina to even get into a game. But the timing for everybody is different. There's no question about that. A flare. Foul ground. Almost finds the seats. Ken brings up a great point, Brian, because when you think about Tommy John, you really only think about the successful cases. Right. Right. And there are There are a lot of guys that either never make it back to the level they pitched at previously or never make it back at all; one ball, one strike to Headley. Beltran aboard at first. Pops him up out of play, one and two. You think about last year, though, in the major leagues, 31 big leaguers had Tommy John surgery. That's more than one entire team. One entire roster. You can talk about Jose Fernandez, Matt Harvey. It's easy to forget about Jarrod Parker of the A's. He had his second. And then had a setback this year. A pretty serious one. Grady Sizemore. He is able to make the running catch, number one. Well, think about this. Just think about it. The velocities. Nowadays guys are throwing harder than ever. And when you think about it, You can build up the muscles around that elbow, but it's held together by a ligament. You can't strengthen a ligament. It is what it is. And if the velocities continue to climb, that's just a problem. That's not going to go away. You can be preventative up to a point. But at some point that ligament takes over and it can be exposed. One out, one on for Greg Bird, Yankees first baseman. And there's no doubt the two main storylines in New York these days. It's when will the Yankees see Mark Teixeira again and when will the Yankees see C.C. Sabathia again. Well, we have gotten the answer to one of those: Sabathia had a simulated game yesterday, and he will, if all goes according to plan, rejoin what will be a six-man rotation for Joe Girardi on Wednesday, coming back from a knee injury. But Teixeira has now officially been put on the disabled list after severely fouling a ball off his shin. That is why we see Greg Bird getting some extended playing time. It's nice to see C.C. Sabathia on the verge of making that return on Wednesday if everything goes according to plan. But this is why you need depth. Mark Teixeira, the severe bone bruise, took a while to figure out exactly what the issue was and just how long he may be out. Kevin Kiermaier gets there easily. Out number two. I'll take you back to August 17th. This is exactly what happened to Teixeira. Brian, it goes to the old adage, you can never wear enough armor because he has the shin guard and the ball finds the space above the shin guard. It did, and I'm going to tell you something. Your shin has no meat. It is skin and it is bone. And you create enough bat speed, and as hard as Mark Teixeira can hit a baseball, if you hit it right off that shin bone, it's no wonder, when watching and hearing that, why that may be a problem. John Ryan Murphy, the catcher. He comes in and gets plunked on the first pitch. Beltran into first, or pardon me, into second base. This is going to be a breaking ball pulled in, foot up, foot down. Right off that toe. Dirt toe. That pushes a runner into scoring position for the Yankees with two outs. And gives them their first shot. And it brings in what has been truly one of the best turnarounds. Stories on the season for the Yankees. Didi Gregorius. Not easy shoes to fill at shortstop. No explanation needed there. And for Gregorius, it was a really tough first half or so of the season. His defense has really picked up, but what's easier to spot is how much his offense has improved. He has been absolutely scorching hot for the Yankees recently and over the long haul. Even in the last couple of months since the All-Star break, his game has really picked up. It's amazing the amount of progress. And the turnaround. You've seen from Didi. Gregorius during the course of the season. Not easy to do. Gregorius falls behind 0-2. He's hitting .345 over his last 40 games and has been a major run producer. He's driven in 25 runs in that span. This Yankees offense is second in the major leagues in runs scored, trailing only the Toronto Blue Jays. And a big reason why is that it's not just a couple of guys in the lineup chipping in; they're getting production one through nine. And when you're able to do that, you're going to put up some big numbers. And that did not take long; more followed. Three pitches gets Gregorius and the Yankees. They stranded two; a base hit from Kiermaier in the second. Here's John Jaso; with the shift on, Brendan Ryan makes the play — out number one. I'll bring in Nava. Now Brian Eovaldi is beginning his second time through the order. What'd you see the first time through? Well, what really stood out was a lot of off-speed pitches for first pitch early in the count. You know, this is a guy with a big fastball. You just saw right there — a first-pitch fastball to John Jaso. In this at-bat he went after it aggressively and grounded out to second base. But it was a lot of first-pitch off-speed pitches by Eovaldi. Trying to keep the Rays' lineup off balance. First-pitch ball to Nava; the first time he's missed. With his first pitches, he was 10-for-10 in first-pitch strikes. That's A stat or a topic of conversation. Brian, That first-pitch strike. You see some guys really get burned by throwing too many first-pitch strikes. And it seems some teams, like Tampa Bay, may be more concerned with what you do in your first three pitches. Can you get ahead as opposed to always being in there with a first-pitch strike? It really depends on what kind of pitcher you are, you know. The guys who have really good command. They can throw a lot of first-pitch strikes by design because they're quality strikes. There's a difference between just a strike and a quality strike that's going to find the edges. Those first-pitch strikes out over the heart of the plate. Those are the ones that guys ambush and jump on. And the Rays, You're right, Their idea is to get to one and two. The one-and-one is the break count. And one and two, The difference between one and two and two and one, When you look at the numbers, is night and day. So that is the big count for the Rays organization. Nava ahead, Three and one. And he draws the walk. Second walk from Vivaldi. He reaches for the first time. A name that really comes to mind is Philip Hughes of the Twins. He is a first-pitch-strike pitcher. Legitimately three-quarters of the time, and even his manager Paul Molitor has said that at times he can be just a little too predictable. Yeah, and there are times that you need to be—well, wild outside, wild by design. You know, like I said, you're trying to hit those corners and get ahead, no doubt, but expanding the zone can be just Just as effective, Especially with a guy who has that built-in reputation. Longoria bounced to an inning-ending double play back in the first. And he comes in, He gets hit. He was hit earlier this year on the wrist, which stunted his production a little bit. You can see Longoria really feeling that one. That ball was tracking in, and it got that right wrist. And you can see the ball, Not a glancing blow. It's going to come straight down. It got that elbow. Right elbow. And with more on Longoria, Check in with Ken. Well, It's interesting. Guys. And, Brian, You can speak to this. Evan Longoria has missed only two games in the last three seasons. But some with the Rays believe that he might actually be too tough at times for his own good. And that risk has been a question since he got hit on June 14th. Now, But his stats don't really reflect that. OPS has gone down every month from April to August. Although in September, so far, much better. Well, And I think that's what, You know, In his last five games, He's hit four home runs. He's looked more demonstrative in his swings, More conviction in his swings. More the Longoria of old. In other words. Well, There were times where, You know, He was getting his pitch out over the plate, A pitch that you normally see him really tee off on, And just not, Just a hair late, Just a little bit of loop in the swing, And instead of driving those pitches, He was fouling those pitches off, and so, you know, you're going to get a mistake. Maybe two in the course of an at-bat. And when he's fouling them off and not putting the ball into play with authority, the numbers will suffer. Two and one on Sizemore as Eovaldi got John Jay to ground out very routinely to Brendan Ryan on the first pitch, but then allowed the walk. Longoria was hit by the pitch. And now Brady Sizemore, making only his second-ever start in the cleanup spot. He comes in here with one out and two on. Once again, his second three-ball count in this inning. You mentioned it earlier. John Jay is hitting leadoff today. Cleanup spot yesterday. Sizemore. Cleanup today. Leadoff in last night's game. And he's ahead in the count here. Three and one. And the bases are loaded. Fastball missing. So, three baserunners without putting the ball in play in this inning. And here comes Larry Rothschild, the pitching coach. Now he's going to come out there and try to get his big right-handed starter back into the zone. Nathan Eovaldi has tremendous stuff. But when guys are pure-stuff pitchers, from time to time they're going to have those ballgames where the command goes awry. And that's what we're seeing here. And where that further hampers you is when you're not commanding your pitches; the borderline pitches you are not going to get, so you really have to pitch out over the plate. Girardi is looking on now in his eighth season at the helm of the Yankees. The Rays got a run in the second with two outs on the chopper into right field by Kevin Kiermaier. And now the hottest hitter for the Rays, Logan Forsythe, steps in — one out, bases packed. Nava reached on ball four. He's made it all the way to third base. Longoria was hit on the back of the elbow. And you just saw ball four to Sizemore. And missing with the first pitch to Forsythe. Now, to tell you how quickly command can vanish. And it happens to every pitcher at some point over the course of the season. Multiple times in fact. 10-for-10 first-pitch strikes for Eovaldi. After the first out of this inning it's been ball one, ball one, and then two more times after that. Four straight he's missed. Not exactly the breakout you'd like to see — hardly more strikes than balls. As it's one and one to Forsythe. Get him swinging. Now that was a split-finger thrown with conviction. You could see a good finish out in front. That's what's been lacking here with Eovaldi early in this ballgame. Had him swinging right over the top. You can see this road trip for Forsythe. Brian, it has been absolutely off the charts. Well the road trip started in Baltimore. Three-game series. He had three hits in each game. A hit last night. A hit already this afternoon. He's just able to stay quiet at the plate for so long and trust the quick hands. He lays off that pitch. Forsythe hardly made an out in Baltimore. Nine out of ten, and a couple of walks on top of it. I mean, this is a guy that. Just seeing the ball so well right there — that fastball, 98 miles an hour, just off the plate; he didn't flinch. Another off-speed, another split, he was not out in front with it, let that ball sail — how that didn't hit Logan Forsythe, not really sure, it almost just curled right around it. Forsythe has reached in 15 of his last 20 plate appearances and almost reached here by getting scraped, no place to put him, and the most timely punchout for Eovaldi so far today as we take a look pitch by pitch of that at-bat: a


You're

going

to

have

to

start

teaching

hitters

at

lower

levels

to

use

the

whole

field.

I'm

telling

you

right

now.

If

I

were

an

entrepreneur,

I'd

open

up

a

hitting

school

where

I

would

teach

kids

how

to

hit

to

all

fields.

That

is

going

to

be

in

high

demand

when

you've

got

a

hitter.

You

think

about

guys

like

Paul

Molitor

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We'll face off against Nathan Eovaldi of the Tampa Bay Rays; last night he was strong for Tampa Bay and tonight he is leading off, with Daniel Nava — a familiar face here in the Bronx after many years with the Red Sox who was DFA'd and picked up by the Rays — Evan Longoria now over 200 career home runs, Grady Sizemore on his path back to the major leagues, and Logan Forsythe, Asdrubal Cabrera and James Loney, who's swinging a hot bat right now especially in this ballpark. It's over 400 in New Yankee Stadium. Kiermaier, who is on every highlight reel defensively. And then he made his first big league start. He has only one at bat in his major league career. He made his debut September 1st in Baltimore. Look at the Tampa Bay Rays' starting lineup for this one today. Nathan Eovaldi, we mentioned the power, but the splitter has been his biggest turnaround, isn't it? Well, Yeah, there's no question about it. He's got the fastball. It's going to average around 96.5 miles per hour, a slider, a curveball that he uses infrequently, a lot of times early in the count, but it has been the splitter. He has worked on that pitch, he worked with Larry Rothschild on it during spring training, and as the season has moved forward, the pitch has gotten better and better. Same with his confidence. And the numbers reflect that. Take a look at the defense behind him. One name you won't see in the outfield, Jacoby Ellsbury, had to exit the game last night because of flu-like symptoms and a very upset stomach. So Brett Gardner will be in center field. And an interesting look up the middle. Of course, you've got Didi Gregorius and Brendan Ryan getting the start today. One of the premier shortstops in the major leagues. And, well, if you ask the people here in New York, he's a pretty good pitcher as well. He spent two scoreless innings out of the bullpen not long ago. So there's a look. And the Yankees' defense. And it's a beautiful day — temperatures right now in the mid 70s here at Yankee Stadium. As we're all set for first pitch. The Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays. Game two of this three-game series. Okay, so to begin things for the Rays, and he starts them off, strike one. Well, there's that curveball. Anytime you can drop that in early in the count, you jump out ahead of the hitter — advantage pitcher, obviously. With the 0-2 count. And I think what you'll see from this Rays lineup is that offensive turnaround. They're averaging over four and a half runs a game since the beginning of August. And it has been a more aggressive lineup, with a guy like Eovaldi trying to establish that fastball. You would expect a lot Early swings. You see, they're 98 miles an hour. He averages just under 97 miles an hour with his fastball. Jaso over the shifts. And with two strikes against him, a leadoff single. He went with that to strike, elevate with the fastball, then tried to come back with the splitter, but that ball did not have good action and stayed up enough that Jaso was able to sweep it out into right field. It's an interesting thing: you'd think that with a pitcher who's consistently throwing 96-97, his fastball would be close to unhittable. Opponents are hitting over .350 against this fastball. Yeah. Opposing hitters get a good look at that fastball. The arm swing of Nathan Eovaldi. You're able to follow it right to the release point. And so it doesn't jump on you like some other fastballs do. First-pitch strike to Nava. Longtime Red Sox, designated for assignment by Boston. Picked up by the Rays. At one point recently he abandoned switch-hitting and was only going to be a left-handed hitter. But he's since returned. He picked things up once again from the right side of the plate. It was interesting to hear Kevin Cash talk about it. How quickly. His hitters were able to really adapt to this. A very new game plan: don't wait pitchers out, especially if you've got a guy with a plus arm, like we see here today with Eovaldi. Get on him and try to get on early. And I think that is a natural transition. I think hitters by nature want to be aggressive. They've got the bat, they're in the batter's box; they want to swing. And so when you turn them loose. You see guys really adapt to that quickly. Just like the Rays lineup has. And I'll tell you what. You look at some of the pitchers out there nowadays. You know, with two strikes the batting average against is so low and the number of strikeouts in the game right now makes it a disadvantage to hit with two strikes. So why even be tempted? Why try to get there? Attack early. Kevin Cash, in his first year, took over for Joe Maddon. He's had fantastic success with the Cubs this year. Nothing in two on Nava. And there's no doubt the story this year for the Tampa Bay Rays has been the injuries. They lead the majors in disabled list stints. Last year you think about the Rangers in the American League, the Rockies in the National League, and this year it has been the Rays that has been hung with that unfortunate stigma that they just cannot stay healthy. Well, And so they've had to ask a lot of guys to step in. you know, to their credit. You're in September. You're just four and a half games out of the second wild card. A lot of guys have stepped up. You think about a guy. We talked about him already. Logan Forsythe, when the season started or going into spring training. The idea was for him to be a platoon player out at second base with Nick Franklin. And Nick Franklin gets hurt late in spring. Logan is now forced into an everyday role. And like you said, maybe the team MVP, John Jaso, who began this ballgame with a single to right field. He was the first casualty for the Rays. And in his first at-bat, on a slide. And they had to miss a lot of time. I mean it began that early for Tampa Bay this year. It really did. And a guy that they brought in — strikeout there by Eovaldi. But a guy they brought in to hit at the top of the order. Good on-base percentage guy. Not your typical leadoff hitter. But you're right. He gets on base in his first at-bat — a ball in the dirt. He heads to second. Boom. Down with the wrist, he missed a ton of time. The splitter gets Nava there. One out, one on. It brings up Longoria. Longoria had a home run last night. A homer in back-to-back games. In fact, Three homers in those last two contests. Longoria now over 200 home runs in his career. He hit that mark on this road trip in Baltimore. And for the Rays, a very young franchise in the scheme of things, especially compared to their opponent today, Longoria has really been the face of Tampa Bay. And if they want to make a move, they're going to need Evan Longoria to play a big part of that. All right, Zobrist. That'll end the top of the first. They take their way to the home half. Nothing-nothing. It's a Yankee starting lineup that leaves off with center fielder Brett Gardner. Chris Young gets a start at left field. Alex Rodriguez Last night, career home run number 681. And you see John Ryan Murphy doing the catching today. Didi Gregorius swinging an awfully hot bat, and Ryan is at second base and rounds out the order today for the Yankees. Gardner in the leadoff spot. Ellsbury, feeling some flu-like symptoms, had to be removed from the game yesterday, and you can see the numbers here on Matt Moore. Well, these are the numbers that warranted the trip back down to Durham, where Matt Moore made the proper adjustments and then found himself back up here in a very meaningful game. Back to the line, then Loney keeps it in front of them. We're out, number one, in tumbling fashion. I'll tell you what, the Rays organization — they pride themselves on pitching and defense, and a heck of a play here by Loney: the backhand, he knocks it down, realizes he's got a little bit of time, then scrambles to the bag with the baseball in hand. Trying to beat Gardner — Gardner can fly. You can see the effort from the Yankees' leadoff man with the headlong slide. A good start for Moore: two pitches, one out. He faces Chris Young. You think back to Matt Moore, an All-Star back in 2013. Took Yu Darvish's spot. On the American League club. And really, his fastball velocity in his early days was higher. He was humming it in the upper 90s. Fastball velocity has come down, but he was still effective after Tommy John. Yeah, I mean, when he came up it was an easy 95-97 mph. Now, you've seen him here this afternoon. Early, going around 92 mph, and he'll stay right around there. Maybe get it up to 93-94. But with Matt Moore, it's the deception. The ball gets on you quick, so he can throw a 93-mph fastball and get swings that tell you it was harder than that because of the deception. Good life on his four-seam heater. Two quick outs, it brings in A-Rod. Now what a difference a productive season can make. Alex Rodriguez. He was all but banished here in the Bronx. You can see his numbers here. A phenomenal season. Last night he hit career home run number 681, and now he is beloved Here in New York, more than, well, anywhere else. But no bigger cheers for any Yankee than for this man when he comes up to the plate. It has been something of a year of redemption for Alex Rodriguez, saying all the right things, doing all the right things, being a good teammate and productive. That always helps. That's a big part of it, isn't it? Moore gets ahead, one and two. Well, that production has started to come down just a little bit, but you mentioned that home run last night. This is a team that, when the Yankees jump out early, they win at a higher clip than any other team in the American League, and that's what he did last night. That's why it's a big home run. Hit the opposite way, high, but near the line — foul ball. Take a look at what he did last night. Well, this is following a walk to Brian McCann. And a breaking ball that just hung out over the plate. And Alex Rodriguez made that kind of loud contact. That typically is the result. And the amazing part is... You mentioned the loud contact; that was about as free and easy a swing. As you'll see from any big leaguer. And he had no problem parking it over the fence. Not exactly what Matt Moore was hoping for. Ninety-four miles an hour that time. And a quick, tidy one-two-three bottom of the first. Through one. Leads things off for the Rays at the top of the second. His pitch. Soft roller to Brendan Ryan. A nice start for Nathan Eovaldi. If you think about Eovaldi and what he has done this year, there's no doubt the wins are the stat that stand out, probably more than anything, Brian. His first. 79th start of his career. He picked up 15 wins this year. He has 14 wins and you mentioned earlier the run support for Eovaldi has been off the charts. The run support has been tremendous but he's been throwing the ball great for the Yankees over his last 13 starts. We talked about that 9-and-0 record, the ERA 3.32. You'll take that all day long especially with this offense behind you. Learning how to win games in the big leagues. Forsythe, a fair ball tied to the line. And Forsythe is in with extra bases. Now the hits just keep on coming for this guy. Well, I'm going to tell you — we highlighted him in the open as the Rays' most consistent hitter and talked about his quick hands, and that's what he's showing here once again. I mean, Logan is just able to let that ball travel into the zone. He has such trust in his hands and in his pitch recognition. He lets it get deep and then, boom — fire. And there's not a lot of wasted movement there and he's able to sneak it down the line past Chase Headley. Rays' first scoring opportunity. Tampa Bay was sat down in order in the top of the first despite a leadoff single by John Jay, so a double play got things going quickly. One out, Forsythe at first, and it brings in the veteran Asdrubal Cabrera. A switch-hitter. How many times have we seen it already? Recognizing that this Rays lineup, especially the left-handed hitters, will adjust against a power righty. He's gone with a number of first-pitch breaking balls already here this afternoon. He had a front-row seat to everything he did in last night's Game One. Luis Severino, the 21-year-old rookie, was fantastic. He won his third straight game and the Rays were after him. It seemed like they attacked him on almost every pitch he threw last night. Eovaldi had an up-close and personal scouting report. Especially early on, Severino came out trying to establish that very good fastball he has. The Rays were able to get him into a little bit of trouble early in the game. They worked some walks. Some base hits. They had some base runners. But Severino was able to pitch out of those innings. And all of a sudden, he made the adjustment. Then he started to see the backdoor slider for strike one. You saw the changeup come into play. And at that point he really took over the game. Ball and two strikes to Cabrera, with Forsythe at second base; he doubled. You can see what the Rays did or did not do last night. And they have not been able to cash in in those situations. On the season that has been the Achilles' heel offensively — they've had opportunities. They're fourteenth out of 15 teams in the American League in RISP batting average, and if you're not hitting there you're not scoring runs. First year for Kevin Cash. He was the bullpen coach for a couple of years in Cleveland and is a former big league catcher. He was a Yankee for a brief period of time. Close pitch, but it's a full count. He's trying to get the chase here. 96, late movement to get Cabrera to go off the plate. He does not, so the double, and now the walk to Cabrera. First walk today for Revaldi. And I'll bring in James Loney. Loney has made a name for himself here in the Bronx at New Yankee Stadium. He's nearly a .410 hitter. He has the highest. Batting average of any visiting player in this ballpark's relatively young history. He hits the ball where it's pitched — up the middle. No shift for Loney as a result. You can see how he has done against the Yankees overall both home and away. Among all active hitters he's at the top. They haven't figured out the formula. Not yet. Every team's got that guy. They do. They really do. And every pitcher has that guy. Fourth, ninth, Second, Cabrera at first. Last night we saw Jake Odorizzi start game one for Tampa Bay, and McCann, the catcher for the Yankees, has just flat-out owned him, and that continued last night. For some reason some guys just see the ball better. You make more mistakes against them. They may. I mean, it was amazing last night because he was the guy that walked before the home run by Alex Rodriguez, and then they pitched to him full count with a fastball. He hit a home run his second time up, walked again his third time up in front of another home run. Here comes the 1-1. Jams him inside. He took that off the foot. Brian, we've talked about the Rays becoming more aggressive offensively. When you think about it. The teams in baseball that are really numbers-driven, really analytics-driven: the Rays, certainly, and Oakland as well. Kevin Cash made a pretty clear point today. Just because you don't swing early doesn't mean you're just up there to take pitches. It's about when you're aggressive and on what pitches you're aggressive. Yeah, I think that's absolutely the case, especially now — the way you see a lot of teams, the Rays being one of them, the way that they use their starting pitchers. The way that now, with maybe two, you get to that third time through the lineup, all of a sudden managers are looking to pull you even though the pitch count may be in order. So what's the point in trying to drive a pitch count up when the guy's not going to be there anyway? Go out there and look for pitches — mistakes out over the plate early — and go right after them. He gets rung up. See, Loney maybe not happy with that call. Second punch-out, 96 miles an hour. It was the late movement, and James Loney, when the ball came out of the hand, said this was off the plate — and look at it come back and catch the inside corner. That's where the beef lies. That's just a good front-door two-seamer. By Nathan Eovaldi. Two outs, two on, that brings in Kevin Kiermaier. And in Kiermaier's career he has gone from someone who first made his big league debut as a defensive replacement. He went from strictly a defensive replacement and part-time player to, now this year, someone you could be looking at as the American League Gold Glove winner in center field. Well, his defense has been otherworldly. Truly, I mean the jumps he gets on balls, the amount of ground he covers, his athleticism. It's a chopper; Brendan Ryan can't get there, it skips into right field, the runner steams into third and comes around to score — Kiermaier, for all the talk about his defense, drives him in. That makes it 1-0 Tampa Bay with two outs here in the second. Nathan Eovaldi is built to get ground balls. And he got one there. But Kevin Kiermaier finds a hole. This ball leaks back to the middle. It's just a chopper, but perfectly placed. See Brendan Ryan going after it as hard as he can, but once that skips into right field — with everyone running with two outs — the Rays would plate their first run. That makes it the Rays' first hit with a runner in scoring position early in this three-game series. He went seven innings last night, as we were talking about earlier. They bring in Maile, the catcher. Maile made his big league debut. Not long ago, at the start of the month in Baltimore. You can see he's from Kentucky; he played his college ball there and had a lot of family in Baltimore. He has some family here today as well. And it cooled off a little bit there; three-quarter swing to it. Let me talk to Kevin Cash about Luke Maile, and he talked about a catcher who is a very good receiver behind the plate, good at working with the pitching staff and calling pitches; offensively... Still, Working on that part of his game. And you can tell that a large part of the motivation to have Maile in the lineup today is because... Of how many times he caught Matt Moore in the minor leagues. During Moore's most recent stint down with Triple-A Durham, four or five times, so that's a big part of it. Yeah, and that is very important. I mean, you want to keep Matt more comfortable throwing to a guy that he's had success with. Off the plate, two and two. Time missing at 98. One thing when you watch Eovaldi and you look at his game-by-game, he is not routinely pitching deep into games to the pitch count. Gets a quick one-two-three top of the first. It's been a little bit more of a labor here in the second. Gives up two hits and a walk. And a strike three call. He gets him, able to work out with Cabrera and Kiermaier left stranded, but a run in as the Rays take an early lead. They put the shift on, and quickly Moore is ahead. And if you're Matt Moore, Brian, You could not have asked for a better first inning than what he spun. Nine pitches, Three outs. No. Very sharp with his stuff early. He gets an early run, An early lead to work with. And the fastball and the curveball. Except for that one, they've been very good. You try to bury a curveball and sometimes you take it a little bit too far. Missed the cutoff man. Spikes it to make it one-and-two. Lonnie is the only man on the right side of the infield, much closer to first base than to second. Beltran is looking to build on what was a fantastic month of August. He had over .350, with some serious pop as well. And he goes away from the shift. Nobody home to get that one, and it's a leadoff single. 36. As we've talked about, he had a lot of problems, no command, and Brian, you can tell—talk about this as a former pitcher: it's just not always easy and it's not always the same. Well, I wouldn't know anything about it because I tried to come back from Tommy John surgery twice and was unsuccessful both times. It's a long process. It is a long process. It's a lot of work behind the scenes to build up the stamina to even get into a game. But the timing for everybody is different. There's no question about that. A flare. Foul ground. Almost finds the seats. Ken brings up a great point, Brian, because when you think about Tommy John, you really only think about the successful cases. Right. Right. And there are There are a lot of guys that either never make it back to the level they pitched at previously or never make it back at all; one ball, one strike to Headley. Beltran aboard at first. Pops him up out of play, one and two. You think about last year, though, in the major leagues, 31 big leaguers had Tommy John surgery. That's more than one entire team. One entire roster. You can talk about Jose Fernandez, Matt Harvey. It's easy to forget about Jarrod Parker of the A's. He had his second. And then had a setback this year. A pretty serious one. Grady Sizemore. He is able to make the running catch, number one. Well, think about this. Just think about it. The velocities. Nowadays guys are throwing harder than ever. And when you think about it, You can build up the muscles around that elbow, but it's held together by a ligament. You can't strengthen a ligament. It is what it is. And if the velocities continue to climb, that's just a problem. That's not going to go away. You can be preventative up to a point. But at some point that ligament takes over and it can be exposed. One out, one on for Greg Bird, Yankees first baseman. And there's no doubt the two main storylines in New York these days. It's when will the Yankees see Mark Teixeira again and when will the Yankees see C.C. Sabathia again. Well, we have gotten the answer to one of those: Sabathia had a simulated game yesterday, and he will, if all goes according to plan, rejoin what will be a six-man rotation for Joe Girardi on Wednesday, coming back from a knee injury. But Teixeira has now officially been put on the disabled list after severely fouling a ball off his shin. That is why we see Greg Bird getting some extended playing time. It's nice to see C.C. Sabathia on the verge of making that return on Wednesday if everything goes according to plan. But this is why you need depth. Mark Teixeira, the severe bone bruise, took a while to figure out exactly what the issue was and just how long he may be out. Kevin Kiermaier gets there easily. Out number two. I'll take you back to August 17th. This is exactly what happened to Teixeira. Brian, it goes to the old adage, you can never wear enough armor because he has the shin guard and the ball finds the space above the shin guard. It did, and I'm going to tell you something. Your shin has no meat. It is skin and it is bone. And you create enough bat speed, and as hard as Mark Teixeira can hit a baseball, if you hit it right off that shin bone, it's no wonder, when watching and hearing that, why that may be a problem. John Ryan Murphy, the catcher. He comes in and gets plunked on the first pitch. Beltran into first, or pardon me, into second base. This is going to be a breaking ball pulled in, foot up, foot down. Right off that toe. Dirt toe. That pushes a runner into scoring position for the Yankees with two outs. And gives them their first shot. And it brings in what has been truly one of the best turnarounds. Stories on the season for the Yankees. Didi Gregorius. Not easy shoes to fill at shortstop. No explanation needed there. And for Gregorius, it was a really tough first half or so of the season. His defense has really picked up, but what's easier to spot is how much his offense has improved. He has been absolutely scorching hot for the Yankees recently and over the long haul. Even in the last couple of months since the All-Star break, his game has really picked up. It's amazing the amount of progress. And the turnaround. You've seen from Didi. Gregorius during the course of the season. Not easy to do. Gregorius falls behind 0-2. He's hitting .345 over his last 40 games and has been a major run producer. He's driven in 25 runs in that span. This Yankees offense is second in the major leagues in runs scored, trailing only the Toronto Blue Jays. And a big reason why is that it's not just a couple of guys in the lineup chipping in; they're getting production one through nine. And when you're able to do that, you're going to put up some big numbers. And that did not take long; more followed. Three pitches gets Gregorius and the Yankees. They stranded two; a base hit from Kiermaier in the second. Here's John Jaso; with the shift on, Brendan Ryan makes the play — out number one. I'll bring in Nava. Now Brian Eovaldi is beginning his second time through the order. What'd you see the first time through? Well, what really stood out was a lot of off-speed pitches for first pitch early in the count. You know, this is a guy with a big fastball. You just saw right there — a first-pitch fastball to John Jaso. In this at-bat he went after it aggressively and grounded out to second base. But it was a lot of first-pitch off-speed pitches by Eovaldi. Trying to keep the Rays' lineup off balance. First-pitch ball to Nava; the first time he's missed. With his first pitches, he was 10-for-10 in first-pitch strikes. That's A stat or a topic of conversation. Brian, That first-pitch strike. You see some guys really get burned by throwing too many first-pitch strikes. And it seems some teams, like Tampa Bay, may be more concerned with what you do in your first three pitches. Can you get ahead as opposed to always being in there with a first-pitch strike? It really depends on what kind of pitcher you are, you know. The guys who have really good command. They can throw a lot of first-pitch strikes by design because they're quality strikes. There's a difference between just a strike and a quality strike that's going to find the edges. Those first-pitch strikes out over the heart of the plate. Those are the ones that guys ambush and jump on. And the Rays, You're right, Their idea is to get to one and two. The one-and-one is the break count. And one and two, The difference between one and two and two and one, When you look at the numbers, is night and day. So that is the big count for the Rays organization. Nava ahead, Three and one. And he draws the walk. Second walk from Vivaldi. He reaches for the first time. A name that really comes to mind is Philip Hughes of the Twins. He is a first-pitch-strike pitcher. Legitimately three-quarters of the time, and even his manager Paul Molitor has said that at times he can be just a little too predictable. Yeah, and there are times that you need to be—well, wild outside, wild by design. You know, like I said, you're trying to hit those corners and get ahead, no doubt, but expanding the zone can be just Just as effective, Especially with a guy who has that built-in reputation. Longoria bounced to an inning-ending double play back in the first. And he comes in, He gets hit. He was hit earlier this year on the wrist, which stunted his production a little bit. You can see Longoria really feeling that one. That ball was tracking in, and it got that right wrist. And you can see the ball, Not a glancing blow. It's going to come straight down. It got that elbow. Right elbow. And with more on Longoria, Check in with Ken. Well, It's interesting. Guys. And, Brian, You can speak to this. Evan Longoria has missed only two games in the last three seasons. But some with the Rays believe that he might actually be too tough at times for his own good. And that risk has been a question since he got hit on June 14th. Now, But his stats don't really reflect that. OPS has gone down every month from April to August. Although in September, so far, much better. Well, And I think that's what, You know, In his last five games, He's hit four home runs. He's looked more demonstrative in his swings, More conviction in his swings. More the Longoria of old. In other words. Well, There were times where, You know, He was getting his pitch out over the plate, A pitch that you normally see him really tee off on, And just not, Just a hair late, Just a little bit of loop in the swing, And instead of driving those pitches, He was fouling those pitches off, and so, you know, you're going to get a mistake. Maybe two in the course of an at-bat. And when he's fouling them off and not putting the ball into play with authority, the numbers will suffer. Two and one on Sizemore as Eovaldi got John Jay to ground out very routinely to Brendan Ryan on the first pitch, but then allowed the walk. Longoria was hit by the pitch. And now Brady Sizemore, making only his second-ever start in the cleanup spot. He comes in here with one out and two on. Once again, his second three-ball count in this inning. You mentioned it earlier. John Jay is hitting leadoff today. Cleanup spot yesterday. Sizemore. Cleanup today. Leadoff in last night's game. And he's ahead in the count here. Three and one. And the bases are loaded. Fastball missing. So, three baserunners without putting the ball in play in this inning. And here comes Larry Rothschild, the pitching coach. Now he's going to come out there and try to get his big right-handed starter back into the zone. Nathan Eovaldi has tremendous stuff. But when guys are pure-stuff pitchers, from time to time they're going to have those ballgames where the command goes awry. And that's what we're seeing here. And where that further hampers you is when you're not commanding your pitches; the borderline pitches you are not going to get, so you really have to pitch out over the plate. Girardi is looking on now in his eighth season at the helm of the Yankees. The Rays got a run in the second with two outs on the chopper into right field by Kevin Kiermaier. And now the hottest hitter for the Rays, Logan Forsythe, steps in — one out, bases packed. Nava reached on ball four. He's made it all the way to third base. Longoria was hit on the back of the elbow. And you just saw ball four to Sizemore. And missing with the first pitch to Forsythe. Now, to tell you how quickly command can vanish. And it happens to every pitcher at some point over the course of the season. Multiple times in fact. 10-for-10 first-pitch strikes for Eovaldi. After the first out of this inning it's been ball one, ball one, and then two more times after that. Four straight he's missed. Not exactly the breakout you'd like to see — hardly more strikes than balls. As it's one and one to Forsythe. Get him swinging. Now that was a split-finger thrown with conviction. You could see a good finish out in front. That's what's been lacking here with Eovaldi early in this ballgame. Had him swinging right over the top. You can see this road trip for Forsythe. Brian, it has been absolutely off the charts. Well the road trip started in Baltimore. Three-game series. He had three hits in each game. A hit last night. A hit already this afternoon. He's just able to stay quiet at the plate for so long and trust the quick hands. He lays off that pitch. Forsythe hardly made an out in Baltimore. Nine out of ten, and a couple of walks on top of it. I mean, this is a guy that. Just seeing the ball so well right there — that fastball, 98 miles an hour, just off the plate; he didn't flinch. Another off-speed, another split, he was not out in front with it, let that ball sail — how that didn't hit Logan Forsythe, not really sure, it almost just curled right around it. Forsythe has reached in 15 of his last 20 plate appearances and almost reached here by getting scraped, no place to put him, and the most timely punchout for Eovaldi so far today as we take a look pitch by pitch of that at-bat: a huge at-bat, Logan Forsythe red hot, bases loaded, just one out here in the inning — you miss away, ball one, all of a sudden a breaking ball into the zone you get even, you jump out ahead, foul ball, still wanted to, just off, two and two; how do you not hit him full count and then want to go away and the fastball ends up on the inside corner to pick up the strikeout looking. They're not quite out of the woods yet, though. He's got the bases full, still two outs for Cabrera. On the first pitch into right field. Nava comes in to score. Longoria, as it's bobbled in right, two runs come home. We talked about the aggressive hitting for the Rays since the start of August. Cabrera follows suit. It's three-nothing Tampa Bay. Cabrera is not one of those guys who needs to be talked into swinging early; he got a breaking ball that was a mistake — a pitch that stayed out over the plate into right field, and Carlos Beltran, looking to make a throw, bobbles it. The Rays have extended that lead now to three, and the pitch count is approaching 64 for Eovaldi. Chopper and an easy play Bird Levaldi needed to get out of the third. Unfortunately for his sake it was a pitch too late. It's now three nothing Tampa Bay. First pitch track to Ryan. Something that you're going to see all afternoon long. The Rays are aggressive with the shift. They've got the picket fence on the left side of the infield for Brendan Ryan. We've seen the Yankees beat it once already. Right there to the shift, and what a stab by Longoria. Long throw, and it is in time. Soft pop-up, Forsythe. 35. You bring up Marcus Stroman. This is a young man who we saw last year at the end of the season. And you talk to anybody with the Blue Jays, They'll tell you that he has an infectious personality that does even more than what he can do up on the mound. What is his timetable? We know that his rehab has begun. They're wondering if he's going to be ready after his next rehab start. And it's a question. He's coming back from this knee injury a lot faster than anyone anticipated. It's the kind of thing, Guys, You can't count on it. But, Man, If he comes back, It's an entirely different equation. There's absolutely no doubt if they get a healthy Marcus Stroman back with his kind of stuff and the way that he can command the ball around the zone and be a stuffed guy because you think of everybody else, R.A. Dickey, the knuckleballer, Mark Buehrle. You talk about getting by on guts and guile. A little flare right there to Forsythe for the shift. It's worked out pretty well so far early on defensively for the Rays. The Rays have an early three-nothing lead. Boy, just talking about that game coming up in the second part of this doubleheader. Brian, this is not the year, as you can say for the last couple of years, to be almost any other team in the Central other than St. Louis. That division — you want to be someplace else, don't you? Oh, I mean St. Louis, they just run away from you. They run away from you. You think about some of the other teams, The Pittsburgh Pirates, The Chicago Cubs are emerging as a real threat in that division. But absolutely, The St. Louis Cardinals are the benchmark. We talked so much about the injuries this year for the Rays, And they've had more than anybody. The injury bug has not gone easy on the Cardinals. They have somehow kept on going. As Kiermaier tries to climb the ladder, He comes up empty. And Eovaldi picks up his fifth punch out. The St. Louis Cardinals are One of those true baseball organizations. And there's that elevated fastball. That's what you can do when you're pitching ahead. Expand the zone. And get Kiermaier to chase. Quick out number one. It brings in Mailey. Good news for Yankees fans. That man CC Sabathia is scheduled to pitch on Wednesday. Interesting hearing Joe Girardi say what many thought he might say and that is that the Yankees will be moving to a six-man rotation. For how long, we'll find out, but it will freshen everybody up for the time being. Sabathia will be pitching with a pretty hefty knee brace, it sounds like. It's a chase there for Jaso. A couple of punch outs to begin the top of the fourth. And that'll be something to really keep an eye on. I mean, you go out there to pitch and you're used to feeling a certain way and all of a sudden you go with a bulky knee brace. It can be a completely different feel going out there and trying to compete at this level. You just wonder how that's going to go. Is that something you can put out of your mind? Does it feel free and easy? He will be the only left-handed starter for the Yankees. Right now they're running out five right-handed starters, which actually works out pretty well for an upcoming series against Toronto. A very right-handed-heavy lineup for the Blue Jays. 0-2 on Jaso. The shift on for Jaso. That series coming up for the Yankees against the Blue Jays will essentially be their version of the World Series early on. It will feel that big. But in the meantime you had better focus day to day, on the game that day, and not look down the road. They'll be here soon enough. The key for the Yankees is to keep their focus on the task at hand. You talked about how frustrating it was over the last couple of weeks to just not be able to gain ground on the Toronto Blue Jays. You'll realize that you've got seven games against them. You'll have enough to say about where you are in the standings. But you've got to take care of business today. Jaso the opposite way avoids the shift. And after a couple of strikeouts, Jaso was aboard. With the two-out single. He reaches for the second time. The split-finger for Nathan Eovaldi has been so inconsistent this afternoon. He comes with another one here. But that ball stays up and it allows John Jaso to just soft-serve it out into left field. He's got plenty of room to work with. There's the grip. Look at where it ends up. Easily recognizable By John Jaso, And he could just flip it the other way and take his two-out single. Well, Eovaldi had a chance for his first one, two, three innings since the first, but I'll have to wait till later. Here is Nava. Two outs, one man aboard. And off Murphy's glove. And Jaso can easily waltz to second. Command issues. That's what has plagued Eovaldi. Whether it's the off-speed or the fastball. A lot of life on that pitch. Supposed to be away, up and in, and right off the thumb of John Ryan Murphy's glove. Passed ball there. And a free base for Jaso. Nava walked and scored in the third. And he'll look back to that third inning. And they'll probably be saying there were plenty of self-inflicted wounds in that frame. You know it's tough when you go out there — you give up one single and end up giving up two runs and leaving two on. I mean, you've got a couple of walks and a hit batter. And then Cabrera with the two-run base hit to right. Coming after the full-count strikeout of Logan Forsythe, you make that strikeout and think, "We're going to get out of this." He's the hottest hitter right now for the Rays as the count goes to two and one on Nava. And if you're Tampa Bay in this ballpark against the second-highest scoring team, you have to pile on, as the Rays have Jaso in scoring position. The Rays, as a team, will get more aggressive with the lead. Once you get the right guys on base, you start to put them in motion, but you're never content with the lead in this building. A lot of power in that Yankee lineup. Nava. Deep. Brendan Ryan. Covered some nice ground there. Jaso left stranded. Go to the bottom of the fourth. Nothing. A-Rod, a strikeout victim. That was more fastball in the first inning. As they shift for A-Rod. Now there's no doubt that the biggest question around the Yankees entering this year is what would be the production level of Alex Rodriguez. And it finally started to taper in what was a rough month of August. Now behind one and two, but a home run last night makes for 27 on the season for Aaron. Two balls and two strikes. And then you can see since August 1st he's been well beneath .200. But through July he was .282 with almost 25 homers. You saw that coming. Right out of the gate too after having a season off; I don't think anybody saw that coming. But adjustments have been made, as you can see by the numbers. A lot of it is the off-speed stuff; you try to go short with Alex Rodriguez and get him reaching and out in front. You've seen a lot of fastballs trying to tie him up. Up and in. Get it over the swing. That's the pitch that he has a chance on — the pitch that's down, 94; he can get down to it. That same pitch. Bring that up about a foot. It'll be real tough for him to catch up. Meanwhile, this is the first full count for Matt Moore as he works with May Lee, the rookie catcher he worked with a number of times in his most recent stint in the minors. This is his first start back. Brian, based on Moore's six starts after he came back up to the big leagues following Tommy John, his ERA was pushing nine. Kevin Cash has to be thrilled with what he's seen from Matt Moore over the first three frames. The first three frames. There is no doubt about it. This is a completely different pitcher. Before, with Matt Moore, you could set up fastball away. You don't know where it would end up. His command was off. He worked on that. He tightened up his delivery. He pared down his arsenal. He's been very good this afternoon. Pitch number eight. And he ties up A-Rod. He gets him. Carlos Beltran coming up then with more on Beltran. Myers full speed ahead. He covers into the gap and makes the catch. Two outs. Now, the point that Ken brings up about the Hall of Fame is a very valid conversation. What if he continues to be as productive as he's been since the first of May for a few more years? I think that becomes an easier and easier call on Carlos Beltran. But I agree with Chili Davis. I mean, you play this game as long as you can. There's a lot of time you'll be retired. There's a very short window for most guys and even 20 years in the grand scheme of things. In baseball years, that's forever. But 20 years is not that long of a time frame overall. So forget pride. If they're paying you to do this. Well, yeah, but I mean, you got to believe that they're going to be paying you to do this because you're still productive. Sure. Headley dumps it into center field with two outs. Carlos Beltran, you know, is a smart player. He knows how to make adjustments. We've seen him do that this season. But yeah, I say play as long as you can. Beltran had a little bit of time this year on the disabled list, but Brian's point is a good one. Over .300 with some good pop, too. Two outs, Headley at first for Bird. Joe Girardi has been very pleased with how Greg Bird has filled in. In for Teixeira, since Teixeira has been banged up and is finally going on the disabled list. Really, you think about Greg Bird, you think about Luis Severino showing maturity beyond their years, not only in Major League Baseball but in this market. I mean, playing in New York is not the easiest place. Sometimes it's tough to break in, but these guys just go out and play ball. They've been productive. He's unflappable so far. Two balls and a strike. To Shira was putting it together. Well, it was an All-Star year. His first was 2009. Last year, he was slowed so much by the wrist injury. In fact, a couple of seasons in a row were affected by injury. He finally got things going, and then... Fouling the pitch off the shin. About the middle of August. And we heard from Girardi. He says, with complete conviction, he believes that Deshera will be back again this year, even though he says that he doesn't necessarily have anything concrete to back that up. It's just his managerial feeling. He's very adamant about that. He pops it up, fighting the sunshine. Here's Cabrera. Putting Longoria in the shift. And it will be Longoria to lead things off when we go to the top of the fifth inning. Stadium. Game two of this three-game weekend series. The Rays. They lost last night, But Tampa Bay has a 3-0 lead as we start the top of the fifth. Longoria begins things. And as for his pitch count, Now just over 75. A long fourth in some respects, Too—really more the second and third, Though. He was able to work around a one-out single by Jaso. A two-out single by Jaso in the fourth. And Longoria has seen the Yankees plenty over the course of his career, All with Tampa Bay, you can see, since 2008. Tied for the most home runs against the Yankees. The most RBIs. Not a huge surprise. Jose Bautista, the man that he's tied with in terms of the home runs. Longoria has always had that ability to step up in the moment. So often when you're playing the New York Yankees the blood gets pumping. You're playing here at Yankee Stadium or elsewhere, it's always a big series, and he certainly has performed. Longoria drew a leadoff walk to start the top of the fifth. So Eovaldi now has four walks; he's also hit a batter. A leadoff man reaches; Sizemore. Well, these are the types of games which really limit Eovaldi's ability to get deep. You know, a lot of deep counts, the walks, base runners — he's been pitching out of the stretch all afternoon. A lot of traffic on the base paths. And this leads to a greater point for Joe Girardi, and that is the Yankees' bullpen. And what it looks like right now is how much he's had to use one of the most feared duos out of any bullpen. And that is Betances and Miller. Miller — he saved it last night. Betances had the night off, and what those two allow you to do is shorten the game. And shorten it significantly. You know, you can count on those guys for shutdown eighth and ninth innings. And so all of a sudden now with a couple other guys. Sprinkled in out there is Andrew Miller; he came in to pick up that save and got two outs last night. Quickly — just a few pitches. LaGuardia at first base. Yeah, the count goes to one and one. Well, Sizemore began the year with the Phillies, now a member of the Rays, and this was a player back then in the early days of his career. Early 2000s. Three-time All-Star with the Indians. Gold Glove winner, Silver Slugger. And then was riddled by injuries. And there was a day, though, where he was truly one of the game's elites. 32. Well-rounded player. Plus-plus defender, good speed. Talk about Kiermaier's jumps and the ground he can cover. Grady's size — more of the same; he can still swing the stick. But you're right. Injuries have robbed him of time and production, but he's been pretty good since coming back with the Rays. Looks at a strike to make it two and two. Last year spent some time with the Red Sox and the Phillies. Another example of a guy that still feels like there's something left to give. Yeah, he can still be productive. He's worked his way right into the cleanup spot here this afternoon. Sizemore lifts one to right field. Beltran is there for the catch, out number one, and brings in Logan Forsythe. It goes back to the message to Carlos Beltran. Play as long as you can. I feel like you're going to be talking with Carlos tomorrow about this. May do that. That is the first fly ball out today for the Rays. Six on the ground. Six punch outs. There's been strength from Forsythe. I've already tried to work around a leadoff walk to Longoria. That's our number two. That's the type of pitch we've seen from Eovaldi. We've seen some plus-plus off-speed pitches, but inconsistent overall on the day. And here is Cabrera. Cabrera has reached base twice — a two-run single to right field his last time up. This has been a rare start for Eovaldi so far where the run support has not been there. A strike to make it two-and-one. Drew Hutchison and Mark Buehrle. The only two pitchers in the game with greater run support than Eovaldi. No surprise. They both play for the Blue Jays. The team leading baseball in runs. All right. The talk about Matt Moore and Tommy John surgery. Ovalde had Tommy John surgery after his junior year in high school. Ovalde is now 25 years old, from Houston. He still lives in Houston during the offseason. And even at 96 pitches, he's still blowing gas — that 97 hasn't lost a thing. Impressive. You know, you think of a high school pitcher, especially in his junior year, coming down with that surgery. How much longer could you possibly last? Well, in his mid-20s, he's got the best fastball among starting pitchers in the game. John Ryan Murphy, off with the mask. Out number three. Longoria stranded at first base. That takes us to the bottom of the fifth. Rays have the lead. With the mustache, though. He needs the mustache. There's no doubt. It's a disappointment that it's gone. There is John Ryan Murphy, the catcher, leading things off. So far the Yankees have not been able to get much going against Moore — only two hits. And they've had a runner in scoring position only once. That was Beltran. And in the second. Well, the one thing Matt Moore has done very well this afternoon is establish command of his fastball. That is what plagued him in his first start with the Rays this year. But he's been moving the fastball around the zone. The curveball's been on point. Mainly it's been those two pitches leading the way. And a rare three-ball count here. Three and one to Murphy. And a full count. Gregorius on deck, swinging a hot bat today with a strikeout. Here comes Morris, 3-2 — and he walks him, a leadoff walk. First walk today issued by the lefty. All right. Now we'll check in with KB back inside our Los Angeles studio. All right. Kevin, Thank you. Brian, You mentioned his name. A few minutes ago, when we were talking about the Blue Jays, that's one guy who kind of gets lost in the trade shuffle — and he really shouldn't; he's not a big power guy. You know, He led the National League in hits last year and has had a ton this year; Gregorius goes the opposite way into the gap — Sizemore off the wall and to third, Murphy fields and throws for Gregorius; his hot hitting continues, how about the shot Gregorius shows going the other way with authority to left-center field here at Yankee Stadium, out to 399 and one-hopping the wall. And then here comes the relay trying to cut down the run, and that ball hits right off the helmet. On the dome. Of Murphy. It was on target. Can you call that an accurate throw? Very. Not sure that's the result that you want. If you're a quarterback, better if you're the relay guy. Backup catcher showing some speed here. Absolutely. Cutting the bases very well and then taking one right off the helmet. And suddenly the Yankees bring the tying run to the plate. That's Brendan Ryan. Didi Gregorius right now is about as hot as they come. You can see his last nine games. He's been a run-producing machine. And with more on Didi Gregorius. Ken, what do you got? Well, Yankees bench coach Rob Thompson told me yesterday that he has never seen a young guy improve this much in all phases in such a short period of time. That's a lot of words. But what we've seen from him... Didi is exactly that. He's a better baserunner than he was earlier. a better defender, and a better hitter. The Yankees always felt he could hit. The reason they felt that was because he hit in the minor leagues. a .277 batting average, a .721 OPS, covering about 2,200 minor league plate appearances. Over the last three months, He's been even better than that. He's been fantastic, and he really made a name for himself in the minor leagues coming up in the Reds organization. And then you talk about being put into one of the most difficult positions for any young player. Because as Joe Girardi said, he really kind of sees this as Didi's rookie season, even though on paper it isn't. There's that understanding now that you're the everyday shortstop for the New York Yankees. You don't have to look over your shoulder, wonder if you're going to play that day. You know you're going to be in the lineup. April and May, What he's done since then in all facets of the game has been remarkable to watch. Meanwhile, two-and-two on Ryan. Chopper back a couple of steps. Now, number one, he moves Gregorius to third. Yeah, productive out there by Brendan Ryan, looking to go the other way, pick up a base hit and drive the run in. Even so, you get the runner to third with less than two outs. Brandon Jones is getting ready in a hurry. Just what Kevin Cash said. This is the first sign of trouble here for Matt Moore. He's going to be managing these games a little differently. It's going to have more of a playoff-type feel because for the Rays that's really what they are. Tampa Bay is right now four and a half games outside of that second wild card held by the Rangers. First pitch to Gardner. Tough month of August for Gardner; he hit just above .200 and led the Yankees in strikeouts that month. 37. Overall this year, good numbers offensively — an All-Star this season for the first time. Drafted and developed by the Yankees. For Gardner, he does not need a hit here to bring in a run with Gregorius on third and one out; given the way the Rays are defending him — Logan Forsythe over, playing traditional second base and deeper — they're conceding this run, and Brett Gardner is a guy that puts the ball in play. He's got a short, quick stroke — good idea to put the ball in play. He can get an RBI if he wants it. Well outside, two and one. You mentioned managing these games as if they're must-wins, and really for the Rays. They have to leapfrog the Angels, the Twins, and then get past the Rangers as well. Ground ball — Cabrera, nifty snag for out number two — but Gregorius, who doubled a run home, scores; now the Yankees are within a run. Now Brett Gardner is using the middle of the field. That's going to guarantee the run. But how about the play by third baseman Cabrera, fielding that ball behind his body. The slide, the pop-up, and how about the throw — right on the money to get the speedy Gardner? Boy, Heck of a play. Two outs. Gregorius in from third. There was Chris Young. Now twice Young has been eaten up by the shift. Both times he's put a ball in play to Logan Forsythe. The second baseman who swings over. On the third-base side of second. As he gets tied up here by Matt Moore. It's not broken. He's hit it that way twice. 21. It's really becoming almost more newsworthy when defenses play a guy straight up than when they actually shift or shape. You say the comment, They don't shift for this guy. He must use the whole field. He must be well-rounded. Is that a new concept? Using the whole field? I think that is going to be the new thing.