Yankees eke out a win, but team needs a thunderbolt to strike

The Case Before The Judge

Judge, in particular, appears to need a short stint of simply “getting away from it all.”  His meteoric rise to fame in the first half gave the impression that he was handling it pretty well. But maybe, that wasn’t the case, and it’s showing now.

With each at-bat and every puzzled look on his face, as in one case, last night when he took a called third strike on a 96 mph fast ball dead center on the plate, Judge’s confidence level is noticeably dropping. He just needs a “vacation” and maybe a bus ride to settle him down.

To his credit, and the reason to think Judge just needs some time off, his defense in right field has continued to be superb. This was indicated last night when he took a ball careening off the wall, and fired a strike to second base, holding the runner to a harmless single in a tight game.

It was only a matter of time before pitchers caught up with Judge and the All-Star break was the perfect time to do it. Coaches on opposing teams, as well as the thinking man’s pitchers, had four days to view the video to come up with ways to combat the Ruthian Judge of the first half.

Their apparent solution? Don’t throw him a strike. Or, at least, feed him a steady diet of breaking balls off the plate, making him over anxious to the point where he sees a fastball, he freezes as he did last night.

With Judge, it’s only a matter of time before he counter-adjusts, and things get back to some sense of normalcy for him. He’ll be fine; he just needs a few days to clear things out.