Stanton Back for Yanks in Game 1, Maybe he Can Stop Swoon
Stanton is back for the Yankees as they prepare to host the Los Angeles Angels at Yankee Stadium tonight in the first game of a three-game series. This series should be a premium matchup of stars, with Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton leading the Yankees and Mike Trout leading the Los Angeles Angels. Stanton’s return is huge for the Yankees. Not only does he add a power right-handed bat to the Yankees’ lineup, but the team was swept by the Red Sox in Boston. They scored only four runs in that three-game series. Do you think Stanton will help power the Yankees?
A Preview of the Pitching Matchup
We could see a lot of runs scored tonight. Going for the Yankees will be the inconsistent Clarke Schmidt. He is 3-3 with a 3.60 earned run average. He pitched well in his last outing. He has a 1.24 walks plus hits per inning pitched and fifty-seven strikeouts. It is a shame Stanton cannot pitch, because, despite Schmidt’s statistics being pretty good, his inconsistency is worrisome to Yankee fans. It is a good thing that the Angels also struggle to score runs, although with Mike Trout in their lineup, they could score a lot of runs.
For the Los Angeles Angels, Jose Soriano is the starting pitcher. His statistics are very similar to those of Clarke Schmidt. Soriano is 4-5 so far this season. He has a decent 3.86 earned run average. His mediocre won-loss record is the result of the Angels not scoring runs for him. He has a 1.24 walk plus hits per inning pitched and fifty-seven strikeouts. He is, essentially, the same pitcher as Clarke Schmidt. They are both mediocre, so there is a high likelihood of many runs being scored tonight.
Stanton Back, Leaders
Giancarlo Stanton is in the lineup for the Yankees tonight as the designated hitter. For the first time this season, slugger Giancarlo Stanton, who was reinstated from the 60-day injured list on Monday, was inserted into the starting lineup as the designated hitter and batting fifth for tonight’s opener against the Angels at Yankee Stadium. This is essential news as the offensively slumping New York Yankees need Stanton’s power bat.
In a corresponding move, Pablo Reyes, versatile but both defensively and offensively challenged, was designated for assignment. Stanton went 3-for-11 with one double, four runs batted in, and one walk in three rehabilitation games for the AA Yankees affiliate Somerset Patriots. He missed all of Spring Training due to a tennis elbow condition in both arms.
Through Friday, Ben Rice had gotten most of the turns at designated hitter. So far this season, he is batting .250, with a .333 slugging average and a .530 on-base plus slugging average. Rice has eight doubles, one triple, twelve home runs, and twenty-three runs batted in as a designated hitter. Rice is expected to see some time at catcher and first base. The Yankees want to keep his bat in the lineup. Aaron Judge has been the designated hitter for seventy plate appearances, and Jasson DomÃnguez has been the designated hitter for thirty-six at-bats.
Conclusion
The Yankees hope to clean up some baserunning gaffes in this first game of the series with the Los Angeles Angels. In all three games in Boston, the Yankees, who cannot score runs, have had baserunners thrown out at third base. Jasson Dominguez, Anthony Volpe, and Ben Rice all got thrown out at third base. In all cases, the baserunners fell asleep on the bases and made the type of mental errors the Yankees were making last season. The Yankees hope that the problem can be cleaned up against the Angels in the first game of the series.
