The Pinstriped Baseball Lane

New York Yankees vs. Baltimore Orioles, 7-30-2020 Free MLB Picks And Preview

New York Yankees (3-1)@ Baltimore Orioles (2-1)

MLB Baseball: Thursday, July 30, 2020 @7:05PM (Camden Yards)

J.A Happ (LHP, 0-0, – – – ERA) vs. John Means (LHP, 0-0, – – – ERA)

The Yanks made the most of the schedule change and it worked out in their favor. As the Bronx squad had to adjust on the fly because of a sudden change on baseball’s schedule, they showed up to Camden Yards with a “ready -to-attack” mindset. As always, the New York Yankees leave everything out on field, and that is certainly the case when they face the Baltimore Orioles.

In a scenario like this, there’s no team they’d rather face than the Orioles.

I have been using the term, “unorthodox” to describe this season and baseball reached another level of strange Wednesday night as New York stepped in for the Miami Marlins. The Yanks ruined Baltimore’s home opener by gaining a 9-3 victory behind Gerrit Cole.

Although the circumstances surrounding this Yankees-Orioles matchup was unusual, the result was not. The Yankees beat their AL East rivals for the 17th straight time since March 31st of 2019, and for the 16th successive time at Camden Yards.

The Orioles were originally slated to launch the home portion of the abbreviated 60-game schedule against Miami, but the Marlins were ordered to take a break after several players and coaches contracted COVID-19 over the weekend.

New York was scheduled to play Philadelphia on Wednesday, but the Phillies’ season was put on hold as a precaution because they were Miami’s opponent in the opening series.

Major League Baseball scheduled a series between the Yankees and Orioles while the Marlins and Phillies recover.

“I thought our mindset was really good,” New York manager Aaron Boone said of the team’s need to change direction without much notice. ”I felt like our guys were good to go from the start. Getting here at a decent hour (Tuesday) night was important….”

In the Wednesday evening competition, Cole (2-0) gave up three runs and four hits in 6 2/3 innings to win his 18th straight decision, six short of Carl Hubbell’s record streak in the 1930s. He is unbeaten in his last 24 starts.

In the opener, Cole went five innings in a win over Washington. In this one, against Baltimore, he was in full control until faltering a bit in the seventh. It is important to note that the Yankee ace finished his night after his pitch count eclipsed 100.

Critiquing himself. he said, “I thought it was a big step forward, I liked everything relative to my last start…”

Cole also gave his two cent on what it is like pitching to Gary Sanchez. “We adjusted well. Gary was a huge help in this situation…” Cole said.

After DJ LeMahieu homered off Asher Wojciechowski (0-1) on the game’s second pitch, Aaron Judge and Aaron Hicks both went deep in the third for a 5-1 lead.

”I thought Asher missed location with the pitches,” manager Brandon Hyde said. ”All three were fastballs up or not located down. He got the ball into Judge, but he’s so strong.”

The result was another Yankees blowout win over Baltimore. New York has scored 428 runs against the Orioles over the past three-plus seasons, the highest total in the majors over the span against a single team.

You know, it may or may not matter in terms of the final score, but Baltimore faced a stalked offense while missing one of their hottest bats.

According to David Ginsburg of the Associated Press:

“Baltimore played without first baseman Chris Davis, who was not in the ballpark and ‘unavailable’, according to Hyde. The Orioles do not disclose positive tests for COVID-19, and Hyde would not explain the slugger’s absence…”

As far as I know, Davis won’t be in the Orioles’ lineup for the rest of the series against the Yanks.

Tonight’s ballgame between the two clubs will feature two lefties.

J.A. Happ will make his season debut in the series finale against the Orioles. The 37-year-old is three strikeouts shy of a career high 1,500. The Yankee lefty will do his diligence not to let the ball carry out of the yard, as Baltimore hit him hard in 2019. In five starts against the O’s, Happ pitched to an ERA of 6.85. In those 22 1/3 innings, he permitted seven long balls that happens to be the most he has given up against any opponent.

Happ will be opposed by a 2019 rookie All-Star. John Means was scheduled to pitch in the Opening Day assignment this summer, but he missed the start due to arm fatigue. In 2019, Means was 12-11 on the year and pitched to an ERA of 3.60. Today, he gets a chance to debut in 2020 and build on his 2019 resume.