NFT: Aaron Judge in the hunt for triple crown.

and I was a little skeptical at the time....but I remember.

Never talks about HR record but has said many times he wants to hit .300 . That number matters to him. In the last few weeks his focus has gotten even sharper. It is hard to believe and awesome to watch . Triple Crown here he comes .

Blah blah blah. Rarely has any of us seen such a clear cut dominant MVP season in our lives

In comment 15822768 averagejoe said:

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Never talks about HR record but has said many times he wants to hit .300 . That number matters to him. In the last few weeks his focus has gotten even sharper. It is hard to believe and awesome to watch . Triple Crown here he comes .

He went 4-5 yesterday and looks possessed. I haven't seen a look on a hitter so locked in since Mattingly won the batting title.

In comment 15822771 MartyNJ1969 said:

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In comment 15822768 averagejoe said: Quote: Never talks about HR record but has said many times he wants to hit .300 . That number matters to him. In the last few weeks his focus has gotten even sharper. It is hard to believe and awesome to watch . Triple Crown here he comes . He went 4-5 yesterday and looks possessed. I haven't seen a look on a hitter so locked in since Mattingly won the batting title.

Exactly. His only out was a 400 foot laser beam that almost took CF glove off....lol..it's just astonishing .

Mickey Mantle 1956
52 HR 130 RBI .353 AVG

is the right word. If he takes the batting title he leads in the triple crown categories plus leads in On Base, slugging, OPS, Runs, Total Bases, extra base hits yadda yadda yadda.

And He leads MLB, not the AL in all those stats besides BA.

I always figured Judge to be a .280 to .300 hitter. And he got cold for a while, to dropping into the .270s. But this is unreal. He is locked in. Swing is so smooth.

Hard to believe he is raising his BA this much with this many ABs already - the avg goes up so slowly this time of the year.

Also glad that Boone is keeping him in the lineup. Rizzo coming back and Torres getting a bit hot behind him is big.

well you and Aaron Judge.

I hope he does it, such an amazing feat especially in this era where a power hitter hitting for average is not that common.

Arraez seems to be fading while Judge is surging. Should be a great final couple weeks for MLB with the playoff races and some individual milestones (Judge, Pujols, and maybe more)

Your post about the triple crown seemed like wishful thinking at the time. Judge was far behind the batting leaders. But now, it’s not far fetched at all. Quite the prediction. Not in my wildest dreams did I think Judge would be the batting leader. Leader in Homers and RBIs, sure, but not batting average. I’m very happy it is turning out I was underestimating him.

This is a lot of fun to witness. I really hope he does it.

In comment 15822788 TJ said:

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Mickey Mantle 1956 52 HR 130 RBI .353 AVG

holy smokes .353 for a slugger

It is now so much more efficient, not to mention deadly.

No wasted motion. Just solid contact.

In comment 15822817 M.S. said:

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It is now so much more efficient, not to mention deadly. No wasted motion. Just solid contact.

And he is leaving that slider low and away alone. That was his kryptonite. More often than not it is a ball, so no sense in swinging at a pitch you cannot hit anyway when chances are it is a ball.

To an absolute season for the ages. As I've been saying, his HR performance this year is something we just haven't seen since the days of Ruth. If you look at '98 5 guys hit 49 or more, and 4 hit 50 or more. In 2001 when Bonds hit 73, 7 guys hit 49 or more and 5 hit 50 or more. Even in 61, Maris had Mantle hitting 54 an 4 other guys hitting 45 or more. Judge has no HR hitting peer this season Alvarez or Schwarber may scrape 45 if they get real hot over the next few weeks. Most big HR years have been expansion years. What Judge is doing right now is Ruthian.

In comment 15822891 Stu11 said:

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To an absolute season for the ages. As I've been saying, his HR performance this year is something we just haven't seen since the days of Ruth. If you look at '98 5 guys hit 49 or more, and 4 hit 50 or more. In 2001 when Bonds hit 73, 7 guys hit 49 or more and 5 hit 50 or more. Even in 61, Maris had Mantle hitting 54 an 4 other guys hitting 45 or more. Judge has no HR hitting peer this season Alvarez or Schwarber may scrape 45 if they get real hot over the next few weeks. Most big HR years have been expansion years. What Judge is doing right now is Ruthian.

It's Ruthian and Mantle all in one!!

In comment 15822771 MartyNJ1969 said:

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In comment 15822768 averagejoe said: Quote: Never talks about HR record but has said many times he wants to hit .300 . That number matters to him. In the last few weeks his focus has gotten even sharper. It is hard to believe and awesome to watch . Triple Crown here he comes . He went 4-5 yesterday and looks possessed. I haven't seen a look on a hitter so locked in since Mattingly won the batting title.

Even his out was drilled to CF

In comment 15822826 section125 said:

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In comment 15822817 M.S. said: Quote: It is now so much more efficient, not to mention deadly. No wasted motion. Just solid contact. And he is leaving that slider low and away alone. That was his kryptonite. More often than not it is a ball, so no sense in swinging at a pitch you cannot hit anyway when chances are it is a ball.

you guys hit the 2 keys. not over swinging (he has no need to) and laying off the garbage

In comment 15822770 Dave in PA said:

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Blah blah blah. Rarely has any of us seen such a clear cut dominant MVP season in our lives

I agree, this is an open and shut vote this year. But I'm not sure why so many Yankee/Judge fans need to cut down Ohtani in the meantime. Judge's season has been historic, there's no doubt he is the MVP, but are we really that quick to discount what Ohtani has done? He's one of the top 5 pitchers in the American League, and he is also one of the prime power hitters in the game. I see no reason why Ohtani's accomplishments should be dismissed just because Judge is having a season for the ages. Ohtani deserves every bit of praise he gets, it's a shame we don't get to see him in the postseason because he plays for a garbage team.

and won me the league yesterday.

What he's doing is absolutely remarkable. It's also got to be great for the sport. My wife, who has spent the entirety of our marriage smiling and nodding while I carry on about the Yankees, appears to be genuinely interested this time and following this chase. I caught a game with my five-year-old in Baltimore earlier this year when Judge hit 2 HRs, and now he's taken an interest in baseball and can tell you how many homers Judge has.

I hope he smashes the record and takes Hal to the cleaners. And Hal better open up that wallet with a smile on his face. I look forward to the press conference this winter where the Yankees announce his extension and name him captain. Anything less will be a disaster.

this weekend (wasn't sure who the OP was though).

I thought you deserved to be called out at the time (sorry lol), I thought you were being wayyy too optimistic and unrealistic.

But here we are and it's definitely in play for Judge. Unreal how hot he's been. Good call dude.

In the last month, Arraez has struggled, opening the door, but Bogaerts has .407, which should have made things tough. But Judge has hit .435 to basically tie him for 2nd place (still trails him by a fraction of a point). There definitely isn't much margin for error, but he's very much alive.

this time of year. But, that's what he's done. It made the triple crown go from close , but no cigar to a real shot in just a few games. If both he and Goldschmidt pull it off, would that be a first?

to pull up the original thread but weren't you given grief not for a "prediction" which is now more plausible but rather for the way you were defining the term "Triple Crown" to include base hits instead of average.

and all 5 were over 110 mph off the bat.

Off topic does anyone have any theories on why Cole gives up so many HRs?

If you look at all his other numbers - leads MLB in K's, WHIP 1.03, BA against .208, RIGHT/LEFT splits both good, better numbers at home than away but not wildly out of whack. But 29 HRs against in 182 IP. That's about 1.5 HRs per 9 innings. That's pretty awful. Taillon has given up 24 HRs in 158 innings. That's a little more than 1.3 HRs per 9 innings. The rest of the staff has given up .9 HRs per 9 innings. Even with Cole 2nd in MLB in HRs given up and Taillon tied for 11th most as a team the Yankees are 24th in HRs allowed. Only 6 teams have given up less.

So why does Cole give up so many HRs?

but the thing that I enjoy best is the way he is handling it. Incredible focus on his performance but also the team's success, with humility. Hard to find in an athlete having this kind of year. I hope he re-signs.

In comment 15823709 Matt M. said:

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this time of year. But, that's what he's done. It made the triple crown go from close , but no cigar to a real shot in just a few games. If both he and Goldschmidt pull it off, would that be a first?

1933 had triple crowns in both leagues - Jimmie Foxx and Chuck Klein.

the triple crown I found this article about the Angels being for sale to be an interesting read. I'm not sure if it's behind a paywall or not.

You can almost extrapolate that an extra 50 million no matter how bad a teams decision makers are can buy any MLB team a playoff spot. Since 2010 (not counting the 60 game covid season) the Angels have averaged 174M a year in payroll, inside the top 10. The Yankees have averaged 228M #1. The Angels haven't made the playoffs in 8 years including this one. The Yankees have won 4 ALDS playoff series total since 2009.

Only two teams have less WAR to show from all of their draft picks since 2010 than the Angels. The Tigers and the Yankees.

The Angels owner has given up and is going to sell the team. The Yankees owner? He's going to re-up the GM who has been in at least the top 5 $ spent per win for over a decade with 0 WS appearances. The only GM ever to spend over 200M in salary in season and miss the playoffs twice. 2014 & 2016.

The apparent GM for Life tried to publicly shame Judge for turning down their "last" offer before the season started possibly changing everything Yankees for the foreseeable future. Now the NYY can only wait to see if Judge even gives them a chance to bid to sign him to a new contract. If Aaron Judge leaves the NYY it will cripple them on & off the field for years to come. But Hal seems fine with the status quo. He should sign Cashman for another 20 years and make his job for life official.

Link
Inside the Angels’ lost years: Poor decisions, Arte Moreno’s influence have club near bottom - ( New Window )