J.A. Happ started for the Yankees yesterday, and allowed 4 runs on 5 hits and a walk in 4 innings against the Baltimore Orioles. I don't care who the opponent is (and the Orioles were horrible last season), that isn't going to get the job done.
Manager Aaron Boone relieved him with Luis Cessa, one of the guys that the acolytes of general manager Brian Cashman are saying will be just fine filling one of the holes in the rotation. He certainly didn't fill the hole that Happ left, allowing 2 runs (1 earned) on 2 hits and 2 walks in 3 1/3rd innings. In the 8th, Boone went with Stephen Tarpley, who is clearly not ready for the major leagues, and he allowed yet another run, before letting Tommy Kahnle pitch the 9th, and he turned out to be the only Yankee pitcher to get into the game and not allow a run.
Ah, but these are the 2019 Yankees, Cashman's porn team, which has the hitting to outscore any opposing team, in any game. The Yankees did that, right?
You're joking. They left 2 runners on base in the 3rd inning. They loaded the bases in the 4th, and got an RBI single from Brett Gardner, and a 2-RBI single from Aaron Judge. That made it 4-3 to the Birds. But it was 5-3 before they came up again in the 5th, in which they wasted a leadoff single by Luke Voit. They had 2 men on with 1 out in the 6th, and blew that. Gary Sanchez hit a home run in the 7th, to make it 5-4.
But in the top of the 8th, Cessa got the 1st out, and then walked Renato Nunez. Cliche alert: Walks can kill you. That's when Boone brought Tarpley in, and he got an out, then allowed a home run to Joey Rickard, and that iced the game. The Yankees stranded 2 runners in the 8th, and 2 more in the 9th.
Orioles 7, Yankees 5. WP: John Means (1-0). SV: Paul Fry (1). LP: Happ (0-1).
So the Yankees were 1-2 before it was even April.
"The Yankees are the best team in baseball."
"Who needs starting pitching? They've got the best bullpen in baseball, and will homer teams into submission."
"Cashman is a genius."
"April Fool."
*
On Twitter, I saw Steve Czerniawski @_SteveCz say:
7 out of 9 hitters in the lineup are trying to smash the ball 600 feet when a base hit would do. There lies your problem. Here's a thought: when's the last time you remember the Yankees rallying for 4 runs with just base hits and no home runs?
Probably in 2009. When it was still George Steinbrenner's and Gene Michael's team.
Seven of Nine. Our resistance is futile.
After the game, Boone was asked why he went with Tarpley. Here's his response:
Early in the season, we’ve got to be able to lean on some other guys in certain situations. When you start bringing in guys late, early and you’re chasing, you start putting yourself in a bind tomorrow and the next day.
Bottom line is, we have a lot of confidence in a lot of layers in our bullpen, and those guys have to be able to get outs. Tonight, we got hurt by the long ball with Tarp, but those guys need to be able to get big outs in the medium and lower leverage spots — especially early.
At this point, I think Boone is just making responses up as he goes along. He's sort of like Casey Stengel, except when Casey did it, it was to cover up for players who made mistakes. When Boone does it, it's to cover up for Cashman and his stupid transactions.
In other words, Boone knows that a big part of his job is to take the bullet for Cashman, so that people don't ask Cashman why such players, who do not belong in the major leagues at all, because they're simply not good enough, are playing for the New York Yankees.
Some Cashman fanboys are on Twitter saying it's early. Well, as a far better man, Yogi Berra, would say, It gets late early out there.
Yogi wants an explanation for this bullshit.
The Yankees haven't won the World Series, or even a Pennant, in 10 years. They haven't won the Division in 7 years. As we have seen, it's a lot easier to win the Pennant when you have a good seed in the Playoffs. And when you don't win the Division, you have to play the win-or-go-home Wild Card Game. The Yankees are 2-1 in said game since its institution, but even with the 2 wins, they are only 1-1 in American League Division Series, and 0-1 in AL Championship Series.
Since the AL WCG was instituted for the 2012 season, the winners have been just 3-4 in the ALDS. And only in 2014, with the Kansas City Royals, has the AL WCG winner won the Pennant.
Brian Cashman does not seem to understand this. Is his goal to make money? Does he think the best way to do this is to stay under the luxury tax threshold? Does he not get that postseason revenue can make the luxury tax back?
*
At any rate, tonight, the Yankees start a 3-game home series with the Detroit Tigers, a team which, to put it politely, is in transition. Here are the projected pitching matchups:
* Tonight, 6:35 PM: Domingo German (God help us) vs. Tyson Ross.
* Tomorrow night, 6:35: Masahiro Tanaka vs. Jordan Zimmerman.
* Wednesday afternoon, 4:05: "Undecided" (Oy vey) vs. Matthew Boyd.
"Undecided," because that's the 2nd spot in the rotation, after Tanaka. But because of the day off after Opening Day, that's James Paxton's place in the rotation, and he'd only be pitching on 3 days' rest. Since Cashman won't let a manager let a starter throw more than Cashman believes is permissible, it's unlikely Paxton would go on short rest. At the moment, Paxton is penciled in as the starter on Thursday afternoon in Baltimore, the Orioles' home opener.
Unless, of course, Cashman is willing to let Paxton go 3 innings on Wednesday, and then do Kitchen Sink Bullpen the rest of the way.
The Yankees are in deep trouble. As Yogi would say, They're making too many wrong mistakes. It's deja vu all over again.
No comments:
Post a Comment