HEADLEY AND CARTER ARE KILLING THE YANKEES
Most really good Major League Baseball teams get lots of firepower from their infield corners.
First baseman Chris Carter and third baseman Chris Headley currently are hurting the New York Yankees.
Carter is batting .183 (22-for-115), with 5 HRs, 15 RBI and 49 strikeouts.
Headley is batting .225 (42-for-187), with 3 HRs, 23 RBI and 52 strikeouts. He was pretty good in April (.301 with 3 HRs and 8 RBI) but was terrible in May (.165 with 0 HR and 13 RBI) and so far in June (.158 with 0 HRs and 2 RBI).
Carter is a classic all-or-nothing slugger. For example: 2013 with Houston, .223, 29 HRs, 212 strikeouts...2014 with Houston, .227, 37 HRs, 88 RBI, 182 strikeouts...2015 with Houston, .199, 24 HRs, 151 strikeouts; 2016 with Milwaukee, .222, 41 HRs, 206 strikeouts.
Carter is playing because spring sensation Greg Bird has been on the disabled list with an ankle injury. He has been on rehab with Tampa (Class A) and is expected to join Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (AAA) on Thursday.
When Bird rejoins the Yankees, the big hope is that he’ll hit like he did in spring training and not like he did in April with New York (.100 batting average with 1 HR and 22 strikeouts in 100 at-bats) before he hurt his ankle.
It might take Bird a week or two to regain his batting eye and stroke. I believe he’ll be a timely productive addition to the Yankees lineup.
But I don’t know about Headley. He’s only 32 but he is playing older. He’s being overpowered at the plate and has become a rally killer. Super prospect Gleyber Torres is waiting in the wings with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Torres isn’t ready yet and the Yankees don’t want to rush him, but if Headley continues to struggle, Torres could begin what figures to be a long major-league career before September.
FROM THE AHL TO HEROES IN THE STANLEY CUP FINALS HEROES
Two rookie centers and recent American Hockey League graduates have scored the game-winning goals in all four games of the NHL Stanley Cup Finals:
Pittsburgh’s Jake Guentzel in Games 1 and 2.
Nashville’s Frederick Gaudreau in Games 3 and 4.
Guentzel, 22, was the 77th overall pick in the 2013 NHL entry draft.
He began his pro career with the AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins late in the 2015-16 season. In the regular season, he had 2 goals and 4 assists in 11 games. In 10 subsequent Calder Cup playoff games, he had 5 goals and 9 assists.
Guentzel began this season with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. In 33 games, he had 21 goals and 21 assists. He was promoted to Pittsburgh, where in 40 games, he had 16 goals and 17 assists. In 23 gamers in these Stanley Cup playoffs games, he has 13 goals and 7 assists.
Gaudreau, 24, was not selected in the NHL entry draft. He spent most of the last three seasons playing for the AHL Milwaukee Admirals. In 184 games, he had 42 goals and 57 assists.
He finally got a call to the Predators late this season and had 0 goals and 1 assist in 9 games. So far in these Stanley Cup playoffs, he has 3 goals in 6 games.
Gaudreau is the second player to score his first three NHL goals in the Stanley Cup Finals. He joined Johnny Harms of the 1944 Chicago Black Hawks.
Who was Johnny Harms? Glad you asked. He began his pro career with the 1943-44 Hershey Bears (AHL). In 43 games, he had 10 goals and 21 assists. He was promoted to Chicago and was scoreless in one regular-season game. But in the playoffs, he had 3 goals (all in the Finals) in 6 games. In 453 games with Chicago in the 1944-45 season, he had 5 goals and 5 assists. He never again played in the NHL.
HOW GOOD ARE THESE HOUSTON ASTROS?
Are the Houston Astros for real?
The Astros entered Tuesday night with a Major League Baseball-best 42-16 record (.724).
Since 1900, only two MLB teams finished a season with a winning percentage above .724: the 1906 Chicago Cubs (.763; 116-23 record) and the 1902 Pittsburgh Pirates (.741; 103-36). The 1909 Pirates finished 110-42 (.724).
Entering Tuesday night, Houston led the American League West by a ridiculous 14 games. The Astros were leading the AL in batting average, runs, home runs, total bases, on-base percentage and slugging percentage. Houston’s pitchers were leading the AL in earned-run average, batting average against and strikeouts.
Houston’s +106 run differential was the best in the majors.
The Astros might prove to be a super team. One for the ages. But I’m far from sold.
The lineup is very good but has two soft spots: first baseman Yuli Gurriel and LF Norichika Aoki.
Dallas Keuchel and Lance McCullers Jr. are two outstanding starting pitchers, but the rest of the rotation is far from imposing (Charlie Morton, Mike Fiers, Joe Musgrove and Brad Peacock. The Astros reportedly are shopping for at least one veteran starting pitcher. I don’t blame them.
The bullpen is another strength. It is loaded.
The Astros have played 36 percent of their regular-season schedule. So far, so good. They might clinch a playoff spot by September 1. They’re obviously a very good team. The middle infield of Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa is particularly impressive and the heart of the team. But I’m not ready to go overboard.
FORMER RED WINGS RELIEF ACE HERM STARRETTE DIES AT 80
Herm Starrette, who had two excellent seasons in the bullpen for the Rochester Red Wings and began a lengthy career as a pitching guru as the pitching coach for the 1967 Red Wings, died Friday at age 80 in his native North Carolina.
Starrette, who was named after Babe Ruth (George Herman Ruth), was arguably the International League’s top relief pitcher for the Red Wings in 1963 (6-2, 1.12 ERA) and 1964 (5-2, 1.96 ERA). He was a hero of Rochester’s victory in the 1964 Governor’s Cup playoff finals. He had a save in Game 2 and iced the decisive Game 6 with 5 2/3 innings of three-hit relief.
In 27 games with the Baltimore Orioles in portions of the 1963, 1964 and 1965 seasons, he was 1-1 with 1 save and as 2.54 ERA.
Starrette spent three decades in pro baseball as a pitchng coach, bullpen coach, roving pitching instructor and farm system director for eight different organizations. He was pitching coach for Philadelphia in 1980, when the Phillies won their first world championship.
OUR PRO TEAMS ARE AVAILABLE FOR YOUR VIEWING PLEASURE
The Rochester Red Wings wrap up their three-game series against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders Wednesday, 12:30 p.m. The Syracuse4 Chiefs will visit Frontier Field for games Thursday, Friday and Saturday (game times 7:p5 p.m.) and Sunday, 1:35 p.m.
The Major League Lacrosse Rochester Rattlers (3-3 record) will host the Chesapeake Bayhawks (3-2 record) Saturday, 7 p.m., at Capelli Sport Stadium. The Rattlers are 0-2. The home teams are a combined 7-19 in the nine-team league this season.
It will be a busy weekend for the Lady Lancers and the Lancers men’s team. The Lady Lancers will host Copa FC Saturday, 1 p.m., and the New England Mutiny Sunday, 1 p.m. The Lancers men’s team will host Syracuse FC Friday, 7:30 p.m., and AFC Cleveland, Sunday, 4 p.m. All games will be played at Wegmans Field at Aquinas Institute.
The USL Rochester Rhinos have two road games this week: Wednesday, 7:30 p.m., at Orlando City B, and at the Tampa Bay Rowdies Saturday, 6:05 p.m
SHORT SHOTS
The New York Jets appear determined to enter this season with the worst roster in the NFL. Are they tanking? The 2018 NFL draft is expected to have at least three future star quarterbacks.
I’m wondering if Masahiro Tanaka would be offended if Aaron Judge asked his New York Yankees teammate to throw to him in the Home Run Derby.
a major league in runs-batted-in? Answer: Chase Headley, 2012 NL, 112 RBI for San Diego.
Cleveland Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue says he’ll keep JR Smith in the starting lineup for Wednesday’s Game 3 of the NBA Finals. One question: Why?
ESPN’s updated Basketball Power Index updated NBA Finals probabilities: Goldejn State 98 percent to win the series (Cleveland 2 percent)...Golden State in 4 games 39 percent...GS in 5 games 40 percent...GS in 6 games 12 percent...GS in 7 games 7 percent.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...
Wednesday, June 7 – Christian McCaffrey (21)...Jordan Clarkson (25)...Milan Lucic (29)...Andrei Sekera (31)...Anna Kournikova (36)...Allen Iverson (42)...Jeff Burris (45)...Terrell Buckley (46)...Mike Modano (47)...Terry O’Reilly (66). Mick Foley (52), Mike Pence (58), Liam Neeson (65) and Tom Jones (77) are invited to the birthday party....Thurman Munson was born on this date 70 years ago (1947) and died in a plane crash in 1979.
Thursday, June 8 – Patrick Kaleta (31)...Kim Clijsters (34)...Mike Cammalleri (35)...Lindsay Davenport (41)...Gabe Northern (43)...Tom Nutten (46)...Troy Vincent (47)...Rob Ray (49)...Herb Adderley (78). Kanye West (40), Nancy Sinatra (77) and Barbara Bush (92) are invited to the birthday party.