When last I wrote to you about the Yankees, I said, "This could be the trouble part of the season. Or the snap-out-of-it part of the season." I also wrote, "It is time to get concerned."
That concern has only grown.
The week couldn't have started much better. There was a showdown at Yankee Stadium II with the Baltimore Orioles, the team that seems to have emerged from the pack as the main challenger in the American League Eastern Division. On Tuesday night, Nestor Cortés pitched 6 innings, allowing no runs, 5 hits, and no walks.
There were no home runs, and no Yankee got more than 1 hit. Juan Soto had an unusual night: 0-for-2, with 3 walks. However, Anthony Volpe singled a run home in the 2nd inning. In the 3rd, Giancarlo Stanton singled a run home, and Gleyber Torres got another home on a sacrifice fly. In the 5th, another RBI sac fly came from DJ LeMahieu.
Clay Holmes got shaky in the 9th, doing his best Aroldis Chapman impression, but finally shut the door, and the Yankees won, 4-2. The Yanks were now 2 1/2 games ahead of the O's.
On Wednesday night, Gerrit Cole came off the Injured List, and made his 1st start of the season. He could have used one more rehab start in the minor leagues: He went 4 innings, threw 62 pitches, 41 for strikes, allowing 2 runs on 3 hits and 1 walk. He struck out 5, but that's essentially meaningless.
The bullpen couldn't hold it: Ron Marinaccio allowed 2 runs in the 5th, and Victor González allowed 1 in the 5th and 1 in the 7th. The Yankees grounded into double plays in the 7th and the 8th. Stanton hit a 3-run homer in the 7th, and singled home a run in the 9th. Aaron Boone went for it in the 9th, replacing Stanton with a pinch-runner, Austin Wells, to put more speed on the bases. But Alex Verdugo popped up, and Torres struck out, and the game went to extra innings.
Holmes allowed 2 runs in the 10th. The Yankees fought back: With Torres as the ghost runner, LeMahieu singled, and Oswaldo Cabrera was sent in to pinch-run. Ben Rice got Torres home with a sacrifice fly. Then Cabrera got caught stealing 2nd, a play upheld upon review. Jose Trevino drew a walk, but Jahmai Jones struck out to end the game: Orioles 7, Yankees 6.
The Thursday afternoon game was a disaster. Rookie Luis Gil had been brilliant in his 1st 14 appearances of the season. This time, all his good luck got reversed at once. He allowed a run in the 1st inning, and then, in the 2nd, the roof caved in: He allowed a single and a homer, got a groundout, then gave up walk, single, single, double, walk, single, and hit a batter. By the time Boone rescued him and brought in Michael Tonkin, 6 runs had crossed the plate. It was 7-0 Baltimore.
Torres homered in the bottom of the 2nd, and Aaron Judge did so in the 3rd. But the O's kept going, and were up 11-3 going to the bottom of the 5th. The Yankees took back 2 runs in the bottom of the 5th, but 11-5 was as close as they would get. The final was 17-5, and while the Yanks were ahead of the O's by half a game overall, the O's now led the Yanks by a game -- Cliché Alert -- in the all-important loss column.
*
So the Atlanta Braves came in for an Interleague series. Carlos Rodón had nothing, and didn't get out of the 4th inning. Chris Sale, like Cole working his way back from injury, started for the Braves, and did very well. Here's all the Yankee baserunners for the game: Volpe with a walk to lead off the 1st, Jones with a triple in the 2nd (driven home by a LeMahieu groundout), Jones and LeMahieu walking to lead off the 5th but getting stranded, Stanton singling in the 7th but getting erased on a double play, and Volpe suffering the same fate in the 9th. Braves 8, Yankees 1.
Could the Yankees rebound on Saturday: Yes: Marcus Stroman pitched well into the 7th, Judge and Trent Grisham hit home runs, and the Yankees won on Saturday, 8-3.
Cortés pitched okay yesterday. But the Yankees just couldn't get anything going. Soto singled with 1 out in the 1st, but was stranded. Grisham singled with 1 out in the 3rd, but was erased on a double play. Rice singled with 2 out in the 5th, but was stranded.
There was some hope in the 6th. Grisham led off with a single, and Volpe doubled him home. Soto grounded to short, and Volpe was thrown out at 3rd in a fielder's choice. Judge singled, but Verdugo grounded into a double play. Rice singled with 2 out in the 7th, but was stranded. He would be the last baserunner: Braves 3, Yankees 1.
*
Here's how things stand. We've played 80 games, almost exactly halfway through the regular season. The Yankees lead the AL East with a 52-28 record. The Orioles are 49-28, a game and a half behind, but even in the loss column. Everybody else is well back: The Boston Red Sox, 9 games; the Tampa Bay Rays, 13 games; the Toronto Blue Jays, 15 1/2 games.
The Yankees' winning percentage is now .650, a pace to go 105-57. But it is no longer the best in the AL: The Cleveland Guardians are at .653. At .662, the Philadelphia Phillies have the best record in baseball.
The Yankees still have hitting issues. Look at these on-base percentages: Oswaldo Cabrera, .276; Trent Grisham, .278; DJ LeMahieu, .280; Anthony Rizzo, .289; the catchers, Jose Trevino and Austin Wells, a combined .289; Gleyber Torres, .296. An on-base percentage under .300 is unacceptable. Giancarlo Stanton, at .302, and Alex Verdugo, at .305, are barely above it.
And now, Stanton and Rizzo, 2 hitters we were counting on, are both on the Injured List. So is Clarke Schmidt. So is Cody Poteet, who had taken Schmidt's place in the rotation, which, I suppose, now belongs to Cole.
The annual injury crisis has hit, as has the annual concerning slump. It's test of character time, time to see if adding Juan Soto really has turned this team around, or if they're just another round of Brian Cashman's gutless wonders.
The Yankees have today off. Tomorrow night and Wednesday night, we go to aptly-named Flushing to take on The Other Team. Then it's 4 games over the border against those pesky Blue Jays. Then back home for 3 against Cincinnati, and 3 against Boston. Then another roadtrip: 3 in Tampa Bay, 3 in Baltimore. That will take us to the All-Star Break.
No comments:
Post a Comment