BETANCES HANGS UP HIS CLEATS

All good things must come to an end, eventually. Sooner or later every baseball player will exit the big league stage and move along to something else and that time has come for Dellin Betances.

Yup, yesterday Betances decided to hang up his cleats after he pitched in parts of 10 seasons with the Yankees and the Mets. It feels like just yesterday, I remember when the Yankees picked in him in the eighth round in the 2006 draft and how excited I was. I remember all the hype surrounding him as a promising young starter and watching him eagerly as part of the "Killer B's" trio. Now here we are, coming to the end of the 2022 season and the end of his career.

His hype as a starting pitcher never came to fruition due to his control issue and various injuries but in his best years as a Yankee he was a consistent, reliable closer that I loved to watch. I'm going to remember him as the four-time All-Star who finished third in voting for the American League Rookie of the Year behind Jose Abreu and Matt Shoemaker. He was a favorite of mine to watch in his earlier years, I felt confident when he was on the mound. I definitely miss that feeling right now.

But I am also not going to forget his ugly arbitration case back in 2017 where Betances and the Yankees were $2 million apart and the Yankees won their case, paying him $3 million as opposed to the $5 million Betances wanted. I remember the aftermath and how bad it made the Yankees look when Randy Levine had to go gloat and look like an a-hole. Do you remember this?

"It's like me saying, 'I'm not the president of the Yankees, I'm an astronaut," Levine told reporters, stating that Betances didn't get more money because he was only a set up man. "I'm not an astronaut and Dellin Betances is not a closer." 

Looking back at this it is no wonder why Aaron Judge had preconceived notions heading into his own hearing this season. He got a front row seat to Levine the douchebag back then. Unfortunately, once the 2019 season came Betances made one short appearance for the Yankees before he got injured and then spent the remainder of his big league career with the Mets. He tried to bounce back this season with the Dodgers in the minors but it didn't go his way. He was released by the Dodgers yesterday and then announced his retirement.

Dellin, I wish you luck in the next chapter of your life. As far as Randy Levine goes, I wish we could send him up in outer space as an astronaut and then leave him stranded out there. 

--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa

BYB Senior Managing Editor

Twitter: @nyprincessj

THINGS I LEARNED AT YANKEE STADIUM

Last night I had the pleasure of being at Yankee Stadium for the series opener against the Los Angeles Angels. We expected a pitcher's duel, with Masahiro Tanaka taking the hill against Angels starter Matt Shoemaker. If you believe the box score, it lived up to its billing and both pitchers pitched a great game. I had a different view, but more on that later.

The first thing I learned was that even though life isn't fair, sometimes unfair things get settled for one game. In the bottom of the first, Jacoby Ellsbury was called out trying to steal second. I was sitting in the Mohegan Sun Bar when the replay came up on the display, and he clearly looked safe with his foot on the base and the glove not having reached the back of his leg. When the out call was confirmed, I thought this was a disaster because we lost the replay appeal. Fast forward to the top of the 7th, when Gregorio Petit was called safe at second on what would be a double play. Joe Girardi came out to argue, and the umpire crew decided to grant the request for a replay review, which overturned the safe call. Sometimes life does work out.

Going back to Masahiro Tanaka, I learned that sometimes the box score lies. Pitching seven innings and giving up 2 runs sounds like a great line for a starting pitcher. Except that in this case, the pitcher did not pitch nearly as well as the line would indicate. From the first inning to the seventh, Angels hitters were driving the ball with authority. They had the misfortune of hitting their lasers right at or pretty close to one of the outfielders. By my count, 10 of the 21 outs recorded by Tanaka were either line drives right at outfielders or took the outfielders to the warning track. That doesn't count the ground rule double on one bounce or the hits that were hard enough to short hop the outfielders. Those were kept to singles and easily would have been doubles had they been 10 feet in either direction from where they landed. I was waiting for Tanaka to come undone, but thankfully he dodged a few bullets tonight.

I learned that even struggling teams have good nights. By the time we were in the 7th inning stretch, we were down 2-0 and I was expecting another no-contact night. As I was staring at the huge gap in the left side of the infield and outfield, Brian McCann just missed a home run to right field. The next pitch appeared to be in the same exact spot. As they say in baseball, "he didn't miss that one." Starlin Castro followed with another home run to left field, though he watched it sail off a little too long. I am betting he may get hit tomorrow, but hopefully not. Either way, the next inning Jacoby Ellsbury reached with a 2-out base hit for the second straight at-bat. Only this time, Brett Gardner didn't ground out to first - he moved Ellsbury to third on a bloop single.

When Carlos Beltran, who was called out on strikes in his previous at-bat took the first pitch for a strike, I thought the Yankees were finding another way to lose. Yet when I saw that next pitch come off Beltran's bat, I jumped and screamed that ball through the full arc of its path into the right field seats.

I learned that I miss feeling the excitement of a late-game comeback win in the Bronx. Too often lately this team has coughed up games it should have won and failed to perform when even a little production would have earned them a win. I also learned that I am not alone in that feeling. Tonight's attendance was a sparse 34,648. It reminded me of the old days, before 1996, when fans did not expect big wins from the Yankees.

Finally, I learned that games like these are best enjoyed with friends. I was at the game with my friend Sanjay from work. He's a good guy and we watched the game as we talked about baseball, life, talked about our faith, and a little bit of work too. He participated in a few rounds of the wave going around the Stadium, but this can be forgiven because, like I said, he's a good guy. I'm just glad we weren't sitting in section 203. 

:)

--Ike Dimitriadis, BYB Senior Staff Writer
Twitter: @KingAgamemnon







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ABREU & DEGROM WIN ROOKIE OF THE YEAR AWARDS!

The votes are in... here's how it went down.

In the National League it was Mets stud, Jacob DeGrom.

No big surprise here, the kid was great for the Mets. He may have been the only real bright spot for them this season.

For the American League, it was Jose Abreu of the Chicago White Sox.  According to Hardball Talk, the dude won unanimously...

"Jose Abreu, who finished third in the AL in homers and first in slugging percentage last season, was the unanimous choice for the AL Rookie of the Year award, announced Monday.

Abreu topped Angels starter Matt Shoemaker and Yankees setup man Dellin Betances for the award in a strong class of AL rookies. Any one of those three, Collin McHugh, Masahiro Tanaka and Yordano Ventura probably would have won the award in 2013 over 88 games of Wil Myers... Betances got seven second-place votes and was named on 13 ballots."

Again, no big surprise, although you always root for the hometown guy and Betances earned it this season, there was just someone in his way.  To be honest, if Abreu wasn't on the list, Betances would have had a better shot, plain, simple and obvious, I know.

Congrats to the winners.

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BETANCES, ROOKIE OF THE YEAR & THE BBWAA AWARDS

Quick note.  The awards for all the top honors will be announced soon. 

Monday, Nov. 10: Rookie of the Year
Tuesday, Nov. 11: Manager of the Year
Wednesday, Nov. 12: Cy Young
Thursday, Nov. 13: Most Valuable Player

You know our buddy Dellin Betances? He is one of the finalists in the Rookie of the Year category.  I find this to be a true bright spot in Yankeeland right now!

 According toe Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News:

"Jacob deGrom and Dellin Betances are considered two of the hottest rising stars in baseball. Tuesday, they were stamped as finalists for their respective leagues' Rookie of the Year awards... Betances is up against Chicago's Jose Abreu - the favorite - and Matt Shoemaker of the Angels."

Man, I hope Betances gets it.

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