Taillon's Return Was an Omen

Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, a Brooklyn Dodger fan as a kid on Long Island, and a Boston Red Sox fans since her time at Harvard University, likes to say, "There's always these omens in baseball."

She's right. When I knew that the starting pitcher for the Chicago Cubs against the Yankees, in last night's opener of a 3-game Interleague series, was going to be former Yankee Jameson Taillon, I thought, "Uh-oh, that's an omen. An omen of an ill wind that blows no good."

If that mixed metaphor makes me sound like Yogi Berra, well, as the man himself said of a game he played in, last night, once again, the Yankees made too many wrong mistakes.

Let's get this out of the way first: The pitching was not the problem. Carlos Rodón returned from injury to finally make his much-hyped Yankee debut. Wearing the Number 55 that Domingo Germán had before giving it up and switching to Number 0 (Zero), he pitched 5 1/3rd innings, allowing 2 runs on 4 hits and 2 walks, striking out 2.

He threw 69 pitches, 45 for strikes, so his control was good. The last batter he faced was an out, so, clearly, he was on a strict pitch count, probably 70. But he pitched well enough to win.

Ian Hamilton finished the 6th inning, and didn't allow a run. Ron Marinaccio allowed a run in the 7th, Tommy Kahnle pitched a scoreless 8th, and Clay Holmes pitched a scoreless 9th. So, overall, the pitching was good last night. They gave the hitters a chance to win the ballgame.

Who's kidding who? Right now, the Yankees couldn't hit sand if they fell off a fucking boardwalk. Gleyber Torres singled with 1 out in the 1st inning. The next Yankee baserunner didn't come until the 5th, a 2-out walk by Billy McKinney. Giancarlo Stanton walked with 1 out in the 7th. And Franchy Cordero walked to lead off the bottom of the 9th. But there would be no confirmation of the cliché about how walks, especially the leadoff variety, can kill a baseball team: Anthony Volpe grounded into a double play, and Torres, having missed an opposite-field home run by just a few feet foul, struck out to end it.

Cubs 3, Yankees 0. WP: Taillon (3-6). SV: Adbert Alzolay (6). LP: Rodón (0-1). Just 2 singles and 2 walks, and not 1 baserunner got to 2nd base. It was like me in high school: Every time I got to 1st base, I got slapped.

This was the 13th time the Yankees and the Cubs had played each other in New York, including 2 games each in the 1932 and the 1938 World Series. It was the Cubs' 1st win.

Here's the on-base percentages -- not the batting averages, but the on-base percentages -- of the 9 Yankees in the starting lineup last night, each of whom pitched the entire game, in descending order (not in batting order): Anthony Rizzo, .352; Gleyber Torres, .320; Harrison Bader, .289; Anthony Volpe, .288; Billy McKinney, .270; Giancarlo Stanton, .266; Kyle Higashioka, .266; Josh Donaldson, .212 (at least he has a 0.00 ERA); and Franchy Cordero, .186.

Without a healthy Aaron Judge and a productive DJ LeMahieu, the Yankee offense, designed by Brian Cashman to bomb the opposition into submission, is completely submissive.

The series continues tomorrow afternoon. Gerrit Cole starts against Drew Smyly. At this rate, Cole could pitch a no-hitter, and lose 1-0 on walks and errors. At least this game will be on Apple+, so most Yankee Fans won't have to see it: We won't be able to.