People who know him say that New York Yankees‘ ace Gerrit Cole is a very competitive pitcher.
When he is in the zone, there are very few pitchers like him.
Competitors like to play, and Cole seemed a bit anxious to start his 2022 season against the Boston Red Sox on Friday.
“Just before Billy Crystal threw out the first pitch, Cole seemed PISSED about the start time getting slightly delayed,” Cespedes Family BBQ tweeted, with a video of the pitcher ranting in his dugout, seemingly hurrying the pre-game ceremonies including Crystal.
Just before Billy Crystal threw out the first pitch, Cole seemed PISSED about the start time getting slightly delayed pic.twitter.com/rDuvkVmWl4
— Céspedes Family BBQ (@CespedesBBQ) April 8, 2022
Perhaps Cole wasn’t mad at Crystal himself: he just wanted to pitch.
Cole’s 2021 season ended on a sour note, against his Opening Day foe: the Boston Red Sox.
They knocked the Yankees out of last year’s postseason in the Wild Card Game, in which Cole couldn’t get out of the third inning, failing to give his team a quality start.
An Uneven Start
The game, therefore, may be personal for Cole.
At the time of writing this article, the Yankees and Red Sox were still going at it in a really tight ballgame.
Cole had an uneven start: it wasn’t a disaster by any means, but it also wasn’t as good as he probably would have wanted.
He was on the mound for four frames, in which he allowed three earned runs, four hits, and a walk.
He struck out three Red Sox hitters.
Much of the Yankees’ chances of making a deep postseason run will rest on Cole’s right arm.
As long as he is healthy, they will have a shot, even though their roster is not as impressive as the Toronto Blue Jays’, for example.
But if Cole isn’t healthy or sharp, they will have a hard time in 2022.
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