Stock up, stock down: Angels, Dodgers, Yankees, and more

Two months down, four to go for the 2023 Major League Baseball season. Now that we are in the month of June, the “dog days’’ of summer are here and things are sure to start heating up.

It was another week where there were some good, some bad, and even some strange things that went on. With that said, it’s time to fire up another Stock Up, Stock Down for the last seven days.

Stock Up: Oakland A’s

You might be saying, the Oakland A’s? The same Oakland A’s that are on pace for a possibly historic season in terms of losses? The same Oakland A’s that entered Memorial Day with just 10 wins? Yes, those Oakland A’s.

It has been a disaster of a season for the Bay Area A’s since they threw the first pitch on Opening Day. They have suffered losses in just about every way possible and the season isn’t nearly half over yet. They could very easily have 70-plus losses at the All-Star Break, which is completely insane.

For all the bad that has happened, they had one of their few positive moments of the 2023 season in the last seven days. After being swept by the Houston Astros over the weekend, they hosted the National League East Division-leading Atlanta Braves for a three-game set. They took two out of three games to win the series.

They won the series opener on Monday, 7-2, then they won a pitchers duel, 2-1, Tuesday night. The positives have been very few and far between, despite losing the final game of the series 4-2 Wednesday and they are very unlikely to be a Stock Up again this season, so it’s time to give credit where credit is due.

Stock Down: Noah Syndergaard

It has not been a good season so far for Los Angeles Dodger right-hander Noah Syndergaard and frustration reached its boiling point this week.

In a 9-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on May 26, he gave up eight hits, six earned runs over six innings. He never gave his team a chance as he gave two runs in the first and second innings, then one each in the third and fourth innings. He took the mound in the bottom of the first with a 1-0 lead, but exited after six frames with his team down 6-2.

His second start of the week was at home Wednesday afternoon against the Washington Nationals and once again, he was spotted an early 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first, but allowed two runs in the second, one in the third, and two in the fifth before he was pulled with his team trailing 5-4 in what turned out to be a 10-6 loss. He allowed seven hits, five earned runs, and three home runs in his outing. His frustration came out after the game with the media.

“I would give away my hypothetical first-born to be the old me again,’’ said Syndergaard.

In 11 starts this season, he’s 1-4 with a 6.54 ERA, something that needs to improve. In referring to his “old me’’ must be when he was a younger pitcher with the New York Mets, but he is far from the pitcher he was for six years in New York. The Dodgers need him to turn things around sooner rather than later or some decisions need to be made at the trade deadline.

Stock Up: New York Yankees

Playing some of their best baseball during the season, the New York Yankees began a tough part of their schedule on Memorial Day Weekend with a three-game series at home against the San Diego Padres, before heading West for three against the Seattle Mariners and three against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

After dropping the first game against San Diego last Friday night, they rebounded to win the final two games, both in come-from-behind fashion to win the series. They won a pitcher’s duel 3-2 behind Luis Severino, who worked 6.2 innings giving up two runs and allowing just one hit, a Frenando Tatis, Jr. home run. He struck out five and walked three, looking good in only his second start of the season. The next day, New York won a 10-7 slugfest with a seven-run third inning to take control of the game.

The Yankees ended up winning two out of three games in Seattle on their West Coast trip on the strength of the bat of Aaron Judge. He had home runs in the first two games, scoring five runs, and collecting four hits and four RBI. In their 10-4 win in the first game, they had 18 hits as a team, then followed up with 12 more in a 10-2 win in game two.

Now they get a tested against the Los Angeles Dodgers over the weekend. The good news for Aaron Boone is his team is finding ways to win close games and they are getting much-needed offensive outbursts to win blowouts, something they were not doing early in the season.