On Easter, Yankees Go Out of Baltimore Like a Lamb

The Yankees concluded a weekend series against the Baltimore Orioles by proving just how big a difference the Orioles moving the fences out has made.

Since Oriole Park at Camden Yards opened in 1992, and especially in the Joe Torre Era from 1996 to 2007 and since the Baby Bombers Era began in 2017, the Yankees have used the place as their personal shooting gallery. But in this series, the team as a whole batted 22-for-102, for a .216 batting average.

Giancarlo Stanton and Josh Donaldson each had 2 RBIs in the series. Anthony Rizzo, 1. The rest of the team, none. (One run scored on an error, so no RBI was awarded.)

Stanton had 4 hits in the 3 games; Donaldson, DJ LeMahieu and Aaron Hicks, 3 each; Jose Trevino (who only batted in 1 of the games), Kyle Higashioka and Isiah Kiner-Falefa, 2 each; Aaron Judge went 1-for-7 (albeit with 2 walks), Rizzo 1-for-9, Joey Gallo 1-for-10 (with the RBI).

Most glaring of all: Gleyber Torres, who previously torched the Inner Harbor, famously breaking a slump there, went 0-for-11 in the series, reaching base only on 1 walk. Maybe the additional outfield space should be renamed "Gleyber's Gardens."

Nestor Cortes started the Easter Sunday finale, and went 5 innings, allowing no runs on 3 hits and 1 walk, striking out 12. But Aaron Boone (or is it Brian Cashman?) wouldn't allow him to pitch the 6th (he had thrown 88 pitches).

At first, that didn't matter: Chad Green pitched a scoreless 6th and got the 1st 2 outs in the 7th, before Jonathan Loáisiga was brought in. He finished the 7th, but imploded in the 8th allowing 4 runs before being removed for Lucas Luetge, who allowed the last. No errors, either: 3 singles, a double, and 2 walks.

To put it another way: The Yankee pitchers struck out 16 batters, and had 8 scoreless innings out of 9, and the final score was Orioles 5, Yankees 0. WP: Jorge Lopez (1-1). No save. LP: Loáisiga (0-1).

It was Easter, and while the Yankees might have come into Baltimore like a lion, they went out like a lamb.

The Yankees have today off. Then they start a series away to the Tigers. I'm reminded of a Reebok commercial in which a man who looks like a genie is instructing basketball players on how to embrace the shoes to become better players.

One of the players looks up at him, and asks, "But, master, what if we behave badly?" And the genie lowers his sunglasses, and says, "You go to Detroit." (In context, this wasn't that bad of a threat: While the city of Detroit was, and remains, a hole, the Pistons were still pretty good, only a few years removed from their "Bad Boys" titles.)

But the Yankees are 5-5. They do not look like they will become better than a .500 team anytime soon.