Getting interesteing

 With the loss last night the Yankees lead is just 3 1/2 games over the 2nd place Rays, and it's just 2 games on the loss side,,, IF the Yankees lose again today,,, obviously the Lead goes to 2 1/2 games, and 1 on the loss side with 23 games remaining,,, and man the pressure will be on to win Sunday,.,, Fast Forward to a Sweep by the Rays... and come Monday the yankees lead is 1 1/2 - and even on the loss end,, you know thats the important number.... the Losses.... 

I can see them being overtaken for 1st place,,, they have been hit by 2 things - Injuries (hey every team has injuries and no one if sorry for them) and Poor play by a few of the regular players.. 

Injuries :

Anthony Rizzo - 10 Day IL - Back and Headaches

Giancarlo Stanton - 10 Day IL - Foot

DJ Lemahieu - 10 Day IL  - Toe 

Matt Carpenter - 10 Day IL - Broken bone in Foot

Andrew Benintendi - 10 Day IL - Bone in Wrist - 

Harrison Bader - they traded Montgomery for him - he is out with Planar foot issues,  hoping to start rehab soon..... HA ! 

Not Injured

Josh Donaldson - Paternity Leave

Jose Trevino - Paternity Leave

Pitches IL

Luis Severino - 60 day IL - could be activated Sunday

Scott Effross - 15 Day IL - Shoulder

Adrolis Chapman 15 Day IL

Zack Britton - 60 Day IL

Miguel Castro - 60 day IL

Luis Gil - 60 day IL

Albert Abreau - 15 Day IL

Michael King  - 60 day IL 

Couple all that with Aaron Hicks and Gleyber Torres

Torres hitting .230 and the last 7 days it's .130 - and OPS of .703 - Dismal

Hicks - Hitting  .211 - his last 7 days - .095 and an OPS of .622 -  JUST AWFUL...

Donaldson - .220 (he is on Leave ) and an OPS of .684

I have no issue with the AAA Guys - hey they are thrown into a spot that  they know they need to produce something,,,  

this all is not a winning combination....   I will say there that I think they will be  Wild Card team,,, and Tampa will win the East .... I also think that Judge will struggle to get to 60 Home runs,,,  I said before that Teams they are playing that are in the Hunt for Wild Card spot - or BOSTON that would love to kill the yankees hope of the divison win,,, are NOT going to let Judge beat them,, now he may not get the Bonds treatment of Intentional walks every other at bat,,, but look for teams to Walk him more and simply pitch around him - there is no Rizzo , Stanton, Carpenter , behind him to protect him - per say..... and they are playing teams like - the Rays, Orioles, Boston, Toronto who are in that race,, the Pirates, Brewers, and Rangers are pretty much out of it - so they will get a break there,,,,   it will make for great Drama - when they fall from 1st place,,,, and if you do not think it can happen - The Mets just fell behind the Braves for 1st place in the NL East ..... So hang onto your hat !!

Secondly - lets talk about the Rule Changes...

Pitch Clock - 

The new rules include a 30-second timer to speed up time between batters.

 Pitchers will have 15 seconds between pitches when the bases are empty, but, with runners on base, that time will expand to 20 seconds.

If a pitcher violates the timer, he will be charged an automatic ball. If a batter violates the limit, he will be charged an automatic strike.

Will be interesting how this is enforced,,,,  can you see 2 outs, bottom on the  9th inning , Bases loaded ,  tie game,  3 -2 count,  and the ump calls a ball on a Pitch Clock Violation that gives the team a walk off win,,, OR calls a Strike 3 on the batter that ends the inning !!  Ok - those are the Extreme  examples,,, but we will see - as those are Umpire enforced.

Now the SHIFT ! 

The defensive shift rule change is an attempt to increase batting average on balls put in play, particularly from batters who tend to hit mainly to one side of the field. The rule keeps the four infielders within the infield, and prevents them from switching sides. Not counting the pitcher and catcher, four players must have both of their feet on the infield dirt when the pitcher releases the ball, and two infielders must be on each side of second base. The teams must designate before the game which players will stand on each side. Those players will not be allowed to switch sides during the game.

This one is obvious - that really no ump Judgement there ,,, I can see teams pushing the Limit...but many dead pull hitter are gonna love it...

MLB is also increasing the size of bases from 15 inches square to 18 inches square. This gives infielders more distance between themselves and baserunners, in a bid to decrease collisions.

The change also decreases base-to-base distance by 4.5 inches.

Let's see if that increases stolen bases....

A Quick Look at - I'll say recent rule changes. not back to the 1800's !!

The strike zone has been redefined several times - and still Umpires can't seem to be consistent with it...

1965 - regulated the Size of the Catchers glove

1968 - Anti Spitball rule and pitchers mound lowered 5 inches 

1973 - glove sizes for Position players 

1978 - Pitcher not allowed to throw at the Batter

Relief pitcher must face 3 Batters or End of the inning..

Now - across the history of the Game - 

Used to be that Caught foul balls were just strikes - not outs...

There was no min for Relief pitchers - they could warm up and then be taken out - never facing a batter

4 Strikes for outs,  and 7 Balls for base on Balls

Batter could ask for high or low pitches 

The slab was moved from 50 feet to 60 feet 6 inches from rear of home plate.

Regulated Mound height - then moved it several times...

No fielder could take a position in line with a batter's vision with the deliberate intent to in any way distract the batter.

My thought is that these changes are good,,, Speed the pace a bit- but let;s be real - there are games - that are more important than others,, and that pitch clock thing should just be a Guide in those games, and certainlly playoffs..