Bird crusher Judge sticks to X’s and O’s
BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — Tim Tebow sure knows how to make an entrance.
Playing his first game in Double-A ball, Tebow hit a three-run homer on the first pitch he saw. The New York Mets minor leaguer connected on a frigid Thursday night at home for the Binghamton Rumble Ponies in the Eastern League, facing Portland.
Last April, Tebow homered in his first at-bat with the Class A Columbia Fireflies of the South Atlantic League.
This time, the former Heisman Trophy winner and NFL quarterback sent a liner far over the fence down the right-field line as the crowd at NYSEG Stadium stood and cheered the 30-year-old outfielder.
The lefty-swinging Tebow capped a five-run first inning against righty Teddy Stankiewicz, a second-round draft pick by Boston in 2013. The Sea Dogs are a Red Sox affiliate.
All of the field-level box seats at NYSEG Stadium were sold on the blustery night, and although plenty of seats were empty, Tebow’s appearance lured Mets chief operating officer Jeff Wilpon north from New York City to take a closer look at the organization’s most
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Jacob deGrom had to figure it out. The Mets’ right hander had a two-run lead, the bases loaded and no outs in the sixth inning Thursday when pitching coach Dave Eiland trotted out to the mound to state the obvious.
“I didn’t make good pitches to start the sixth. With it cold like that, I was having a hard time gripping the baseball, it was slipping out of my hand,” deGrom said. “Then Dave came out and bases were loaded and I just had to find a way to get out of it.”
DeGrom coaxed a fly ball out of Ryan Zimmerman. He got a quick glove grab of Howie Kendrick’s line drive from veteran Jose Reyes, who was playing short for Amed Rosario. Then he got what was probably a generous call on a third strike to Trea Turner to get through the jam unscathed. Turner was ejected arguing the call. unusual prospect.
“He’s another ballplayer. I understand all the excitement because it’s Tim Tebow,” Wilpon said before the game. “We look forward to having him perform and move up the system, which he’s doing. That’s why he’s here — moving up the chain.
“He did well last year in A ball. Now, he’s got to prove himself here and probably have to go to Triple-A at some point. He’s a hard worker. He’ll do whatever he has to do to succeed,” Wilpon said.
Tebow, who was not on the Mets’ 40-man major league roster, was re-assigned to the Rumble Ponies after going 1 for 18 (.056) with 11 strikeouts in seven big league exhibition games. He was hampered by a left ankle sprain and had been used solely as a designated hitter or pinch hitter because of the injury.
Tebow, who arrived in town on Monday, started in left field against Portland and batted seventh.
Binghamton hitting coach Val Pascucci, Tebow’s manager last year in the Instructional League, said he’s seen steady improvement. “He comes in, gets his swings in early. He’s been consistent with it,” Pascucci said. “That’s kind of the name of the game.” —AP
“He really didn’t like the call,” deGrom said with a smile, “but the umpire said it was a strike.”
Kevin Plawecki really liked what he saw from deGrom in that inning. “He was struggling, having a hard time getting a grip on the ball, but he just found a way,” Plawecki said. “He grinds it out when you need him to.”
DeGrom allowed two runs, one earned, on four hits. He struck out five and walked three for his second win of the season.
Mets manager Mickey Callaway liked the gutsy finish to deGrom’s day too.
“His competitiveness and his stuff is really good to bail him out when times are tough,” Callaway said. “He never backs down.”
BULLISH ON THE BULLPEN
A day after he threw two scoreless innings, Robert Gsellman was back on the mound Thursday to face Michael Taylor. Seth Lugo, who had his spot start scratched because of weather issues, closed the game with a scoreless ninth. The Mets are getting both pitchers used to working as relievers.
“With both Lugo and Gsellman the day off tomorrow really helped,” Callaway said of the Mets scheduled day off on Friday. “We’ve been wanting at some point to get some of them back-to-back and day off and pitch, start to get used to that reliever role and the opportunity presented itself where (Gsellman) really only had to come in and get one out and we thought it was a good time to start getting him used to doing that.”
Having Gsellman and Lugo in the bullpen has a trickle down effect.
“They add a whole other layer to component to our bullpen like (Michael) Conforto adds a component to our lineup,” Callaway said. “It’s a good two weapons to have.”
VARGAS HEADING SOUTH
Jason Vargas is heading to Florida to throw on Saturday and is likely to miss at least one more turn through the rotation. The left hander had the stitches removed from his right hand Monday, but is still not ready to use a glove.
Here comes the Judge. Aaron Judge slugged his second home run in as many games on Thursday, this time a solo shot in the sixth inning, which broke a scoreless tie in the Yankees’ eventual 5-2 loss to the Orioles.
There’s just something about that Baltimore pitching that Judge seems to like.
The Yankees slugger had a slashline of .426/.588/1.049 with 11 home runs and 24 RBI against the Orioles last season — by far the best numbers he had against any team during his Rookie of the Year campaign.
But Judge realizes it is a new season and downplayed any success he had.
“Every year is different,” he told the News. “They’ll pitch you different and do different things and make adjustments and changes, so for me I’ll just stick to my plan and see how that works.”
Judge went 1-for-4 in the loss but has a track record of success against the rest of the rotation scheduled to face the Yankees this week.
He has three home runs and is 6-for-12 against Friday’s starter, Kevin Gausman, and has homered off Saturday’s starter, Chris Tillman, and Sunday’s starter, Mike Wright.
“I try not to think about (home runs),” Judge said. “It comes when it comes. For me it’ just about sticking to my routine and the home runs will come.”
HOT CORNER
Miguel Andujar received his first start at third base on Thursday night in an effort to give Brandon Drury the day off.
The 23-year-old rookie displayed his power this spring, but he went 0-for-3 with a strikeout against the Orioles.
“I think he played so well in the spring on both sides of the ball,” said Aaron Boone. “We’re very comfortable putting him out there and getting his first start under his belt.”
FRAZIER UPDATE
Clint Frazier, who missed nearly all of spring training with a concussion sustained on Feb. 26, played in a simulated game on Thursday and Boone expects the outfielder to get into game action soon.
“He can kind of start spring training gamewise and hopefully continue to progress,” he said. “But things can start to ramp up for him which is really good news.”
WITHOUT A TRAYCE
The Oakland A’s claimed outfielder Trayce Thompson off waivers on Thursday, just two days after the Yankees claimed him off waivers. Thompson was assigned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre but had to first clear waivers again before he could begin playing.
Thompson, the brother of Golden State’s Klay Thompson, now gets the chance to play in the same city as his brother.