MIKE BURKE
Allegany Communications Sports
These New York Yankees – and the these is important to note as to not indict the New York Yankees before these Yankees became the Yankees – remind me of a certain presidential candidate in that most things they complain about and most of the things they accuse other teams of doing are the things they are actually doing themselves and make no bones about doing.
For the first two games, the just-completed three-game series between the Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles was a hotly-contested one with a pennant-race atmosphere in the current Mini-Me version of Yankee Stadium, with the Orioles winning two out of three.
The tension between the two teams began on Tuesday almost as soon as the series began when the precious Aaron Judge was hit on the hand by Orioles starter Albert Suarez in the third inning of a game the Yankees were winning 1-0 and would go on to win, 4-2.
Now I say precious not because Judge was unhappy about being hit in the hand by a pitch. I don’t blame him for that. I’m unhappy every time I close a door on my hand, so I get it; the precious comes later.
Then in the bottom of the fifth inning, Yankees second baseman Gleyber Torres was also hit in the hand by Orioles reliever Keegan Akin, which further heightened tensions for the following two days, and in the sixth inning, Yankees starter Nestor Cortes brushed back the Orioles’ Gunnar Henderson, which came as a surprise to nobody.
After the game, Judge, who left the game in the fourth, said X-rays and a CT scan both came back negative, which is good. Then he said he was “definitely pissed” about being hit by the pitch, which, again, is understandable, though you didn’t hear Henderson or Colton Cowser whining on Wednesday night after they were drilled by Yankee pitchers to the delight of the cheering partisan Yankees crowd.
Nor did you hear an Orioles complaint on Thursday after two more of their players had been hit by pitches by Yankees pitchers, again, to the delight of Yankees fans.
Judge, though, who came back on Thursday to hit a home run, said something on Tuesday that was both stupid and unfounded when he said, “They,” meaning Orioles pitchers, “like to throw in.”
Naturally the obedient little Yankees followed their captain’s lead and continued to complain about the Orioles pitchers being headhunters, saying the Orioles throw inside more than most teams.
But, in the words of the great Warner Wolf, “Let’s go to the fact checker.”
According to SavantTips, prior to Tuesday’s game, only 17.9% of Orioles pitches were inside and off the plate, which ranks 28th of 30, with the MLB median being 19.5%.
During the previous series between the teams in Baltimore, the Orioles were hit five times by Yankee pitchers, and Thursday they were hit two more times, meaning four in three games.
Thus, Yankees pitching has now hit 44 batters this year, the most in the American League. Meanwhile, their batters have been hit 25 times, tied for ninth in the AL.
O’s pitching, on the other hand, has hit 24 batters, tied for second-fewest in the AL, while O’s batters have been hit 36 times, which is sixth in the AL.
My question when Judge was hit was, is a pitcher struggling with his command, as Suarez was, when he’s trailing in a 1-0 game, going to intentionally plunk a guy on 1-2 count? I don’t think so.
But then, these Yankees complain about everything, beginning with the left-field wall in Baltimore. They accuse other teams of doing what they themselves do as much, and in some cases more, than any team in the league.
If anyone had a right to complain on Tuesday it was Orioles third baseman Jordan Westburg who was taken out in the first inning on a cheap baserunning shot by Juan Soto, who ran directly into Westburg going from second to third, while Westburg was fielding a ground ball, leading to Soto being immediately called out for runner’s interference. That didn’t prevent Soto from promptly pouting about it, though, even though the play was directly in front of him.
Still, when it should have been avoided, Soto collided on a direct line with Westburg, who was then removed from the game and missed Wednesday’s game with a hip injury; but the Yankees won the Tuesday game before losing the following two, including by 17-5 on Thursday.
Thing is, on Wednesday, the Yankees hit Henderson and Cowser to pander to the so-called captain (Thurman Munson he ain’t) and Henderson went on to score a run in an eventual one-run loss for the Yanks. Then they hit two more on Thursday and both of them scored. Then again, everybody in orange and black scored other than the 14 runners left on base, seven of whom were in scoring position (think about that).
The Orioles, though, did not say a word. They did not even look at the mound. They merely won another series against the Yankees and against the American League East, their MLB-record 22nd in a row.
In retrospect, that shouldn’t have been a surprise at all.
Mike Burke writes about sports and other stuff for Allegany Communications. He began covering sports for the Prince George’s Sentinel in 1981 and joined the Cumberland Times-News sports staff in 1984, serving as sports editor for over 30 years. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on X at @MikeBurkeMDT