New York Yankees @ Los Angeles Angels: Domingo Germán vs. Patrick Sandoval

July has been an ugly month for the Bronx Bombers. There’s no sugarcoating it. Most recently, they fell to the Angels last night in the opening game of this tilt at The Big A. That followed a horrendous series in Denver where New York managed to drop two of three to the worst team in the Senior Circuit. It’s time to win some games, fellas. Figure it out.

Domingo Germán is tasked tonight with keeping the Angels off the scoreboard. I’m not quite sure what to say about his 2023. Obviously, he’s part of baseball immortality after hurling a perfect game on June 28th. But even with that sterling outing, he’s pitched to a 4.32 ERA on the season and he has surrendered 16 long balls in 91.2 innings.

Given Germán’s issues with the home run, this may not be the most ideal matchup. The Angels boast MLB’s fifth-best team OPS, and the club has hit the third-most dingers in all of baseball (though they are missing Mike Trout and his 18 bombs). If the Yankees are going to have a chance, Domingo is going to need to keep the Angels in the park. And for the love of God, can we literally just walk Shohei Ohtani every single time he comes up with the slightest chance to beat us?

On the other side of the matchup, Patrick Sandoval gets the ball for the Angels. The 26-year-old righty should offer the Yankees a manageable matchup, given that he’s allowed nearly a baserunner and a half per inning (1.471 WHIP) in 2023. But I watched from the stands this weekend as the Yankees were twice utterly incapable of doing basically anything against some truly putrid Rockies starting pitching, and despite 12 K’s last night, Griffin Canning isn’t supposed to be the second coming of Nolan Ryan.

As for that offense, Oswald Peraza mans third and leads off again after reaching base all five times last night. Giancarlo Stanton patrols right field and hits third while Anthony Rizzo (4 for his last 29) gets the half-day off and cleans up. Anthony Volpe, fresh off a golden sombrero, is all of a sudden 2 for his last 27 and finds himself hitting ninth and in need of more chicken parm. But it was never rational to expect Volpe to be the straw that stirs the drink for the Yankee offense.

On the positive side, albeit with an obligatory small sample size warning, DJ LeMahieu is all of a sudden 10 for his last 26 (.385). If he wants to keep racking up base hits, that would be helpful.

Win the game. These last two losses have been utter torture and I think we could all use a palate cleansing victory.

How to watch

Location: Angel Stadium — Anaheim, CA

First pitch: 9:38 pm ET

TV broadcast: YES – NYY / Bally Sports West – LAA / MLBN (out-of-market only)

Radio broadcast: WFAN 660/101.9, WADO 1280 / KLAA 830, KWKW 1330

Online stream: MLB.tv

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