Collapse of Cole Leads to No Merry Old Souls

Three games, away to the league leaders. All decided by one run. Won only one of them. Not good enough.

Yesterday, in the series finale away to the Tampa Bay Rays, the Yankees couldn't even trust their alleged ace, Gerrit Cole. He authored a collapse that left no Yankee Fan feeling like a merry old soul.

The Yankees got home runs from Anthony Rizzo and Harrison Bader in the top of the 3rd inning. They got RBI doubles from Aaron Hicks (believe it) and Gleyber Torres in the 4th. They got a sacrifice fly from Oswaldo Cabrera in the 5th. And, to that point, Cole had allowed just 2 hits and a walk. It was 6-0 Yankees, and things were looking up.

But, as they would say in English soccer, "Six-nil, and you fucked it up!" The main problem with Cole is that he gives up home runs. He gave one up in the bottom of the 5th, and an error by Torres led to another Rays run, making it 6-2.

Then came the bottom of the 6th. Here's how it began for Cole: Double, double, walk, home run. Tie ballgame. Jimmy Cordero, the losing pitcher in Friday night's game, was brought in: Walk, wild pitch, and then a grounder to 1st on which Jose Siri, the player who had walked (and previously homered) never stopped running, until he bowled over the home-plate umpire. Which was ruled accidental, and the go-ahead run allowed to stand. It was 7-6 Rays.

I will not be asking this Siri what's wrong with the Yankees.

A Bader single, a ground-rule double by Cabrera, and a groundout by Jose Trevino tied the game in the 7th. But despite Cabrera getting to 2nd with 1 out in the 9th, the game went to extra innings. Hicks got caught in a rundown in the top of the 10th, and that was that. Albert Abreu allowed a single in the bottom of the 10th that allowed the winning run to score.

Rays 8, Yankees 7. WP: Jalen Beeks (1-2). No save. LP: Abreu (1-1), although the loss really should be charged to Cole. To his credit, he took responsibility, telling the media, "That's awful. I've got to find a way to do a better job to get us out of there and get us a little bit deeper and prevent the runs. The lack of command really burned us, and balls over the plate were touched."

The Rays are now 28-7, with easily the best record in Major League Baseball. The Yankees are 18-17, 10 games behind -- with a winning record, but still in last place in the American League Eastern Division. And, with their injuries, they don't look like they'll be getting going soon. Taking 2 out of 3 in Tropicana Field would have sent a message. Instead, the Rays sent the message: We're great, you stink.

This is the team that Brian Cashman has built. The Rays are the team that Cashman should have built.

The Yankees return home tonight, to face the woeful Oakland, possibly-moving-to-Las Vegas, Athletics. Let's see if they can mess this series up. Nestor Cortés starts tonight's opener, against JP Sears.