Game 108 - New York Yankees at Boston Redsox

May 2 at Fenway Park in Boston, MA
YES Network

Let's just get right to what's important....

Brett Gardner knocked in the first run of the game with a third-inning double, tried to stretch it to a triple and was thrown out at third. YES color commentator Ken Singleton immediately said that it was OK because there was one out.

In baseball, it's not OK if you make the first or the third out on the base paths, but the second out? GOOD GAMBLE/WORTH IT.

Why?

What makes the first and third outs so much more valuable than the second?

And why is it so terrible to make the first and third out at 3B? Tell you what, if I make the first or third out at first base or second base it's just as bad. If there was an 8th out and I made it at 11th base: equally bad.

Here's a handy, six-step guide to outs:

1. Make the first out: that's bad, you made the first out.
2. Make the second out: wish you hadn't done that, now we only have one out left.
3. Make the third out: the inning's over, it would've been better had we not made so many outs.
4. Get back to the base before you make an out!
5. Hurry up and get to the base before you make an out!
6. Don't make any more outs, it's bad

* Nathan Eovaldi has had his best two starts with the Yankees against two really good offenses in Detroit (7 IP, 1 ER) and Saturday against Boston (6 2/3 IP, 2 ER). Despite Chris Martin allowing an inherited runner to score once Eovaldi left in the seventh, the New York bullpen once again shut things down. Martin got out of the seventh by getting little shaver Dusty Pedroia to ground out, Justin Wilson picked up two outs and Dellin Betances was unkind to four hitters (4 K) as the Yankees won 4-2.

* Chris Young has been one of New York's best players so far in 2015 and he added an insurance run in the 9th with his sixth home run. He deserves as much playing time as possible right now (or at least the exact amount of playing time taken away from the archaeologist formerly known as Carlos Beltran), though some think the more time he gets on the field the more exposed he would be. I like to think of it another way: perhaps Young is one of those rare players who hits his prime after he turns 30.

Either way, here's Young's slash line: .317/.386/.698 and here's Beltran's: .181/.231/.292

One player is having a fine season, one is embarrassing himself.


Dear Yankees,

Please continue to play the guy who isn't embarrassing himself.

Sincerely,

Everybody