If you would have told Yankees fans at the time we learned of Gerrit Cole's injury that the starting rotation would have the third-lowest ERA (2.52) through the first 12 games, I'm not sure how many people would have believed you. However, that's exactly where things stand after Carlos Rodón's six strong innings last night, setting New York up for a chance at an 11-2 start and a sweep of the Marlins tonight.
Marcus Stroman is a big reason behind the impressive start of the rotation. He has yet to give up an earned run across his first two starts, each totaling six innings. Should he repeat that feat tonight, he would become just the third pitcher in franchise history to open a season with three consecutive starts of six-plus innings pitched and zero earned runs, and would join Ray Caldwell from 1914 and George Mogridge of 1916.
The Marlins acquired Ryan Weathers from the Padres at last year's trade deadline for Garrett Cooper and Sean Reynolds. His four-seam velocity of 96.3 mph places it in the 89th percentile of big league fastballs and it's no wonder he throws it almost half the time. He backs it up with a changeup and sweeper, the latter pitch a real weapon through the early going with a 69.2-percent whiff rate.
The Yankees made an intriguing adjustment to a lineup that has stayed encouragingly stable through the first few series, moving Anthony Volpe up to leadoff and Gleyber Torres down to sixth. They had a leadoff conundrum when it was revealed DJ LeMahieu had a fracture in his foot, and they were perhaps too hasty in moving Volpe to leadoff last season, when he finished with the se
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