There's a comedian, originally from Brooklyn, now living not far away from me in New Jersey, named Vic DiBitetto. You may know him as the guy who did the video "They said snow! I gotta get the bread and milk!"
He's a big Yankee Fan, and a big fan of football's New York Giants. Occasionally, as shown in the photo above, he does videos where he puts on a Yankee cap and jersey, and pretend he's the team's "grand poobah" or "head of baseball (or football) operaish" (Italian-American for "operations") and give a nasty, profanity-laden press conference. And that's when they win!
He also does a series called "Ticked Off Vic," in which he sits in his car, so as not to disturb anybody, and says, "A very ticked-off Vic here. You know what ticks me off?" And then he explains what's ticking him off, and it's usually something stupid and/or annoying, something that would tick anybody off.
Lately, the Yankees have been ticking both of us off. Vic is ready to clobber manager Aaron Boone. I tend to blame general manager Brian Cashman. So we disagree on that.
(We've talked online, but never actually met, despite living only 10 miles apart. Aside from being a raving lunatic, he's a decent guy, and I hope he'd say the same thing about me. That, aside from being a raving lunatic, I'm a decent guy.)
The Yankees losing to the Boston Red Sox: That's what ticks me off!
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Like we did on Thursday night, the start of a 4-game series at Yankee Stadium II. Keep in mind, both teams went in as potential Playoff teams. Luis Gil allowed 2 runs over 5 innings. But he needed 93 pitches to do it. So, instead of letting a starting pitcher continue to do a good job, Aaron Boone followed his stupid pitch limit, and brought in Camilo Doval, who blew a 3-1 lead that included a home run by Ben Rice. Luke Weaver also allowed a run, and ended up as the losing pitcher.
From the 6th inning onward, the Yankees got only 2 baserunners: A single by Aaron Judge in the 6th, and a triple by Rice in the 7th. By the time Yerry De los Santos allowed 2 runs in the 9th, it was pointless. Red Sox 6, Yankees 3. A game that should have been won was lost.
Boone did it again on Friday night. Max Fried was back to his 1st-half-of-the-season self, allowing no runs on 4 hits and 3 walks, striking out 7, over 6 innings. He had thrown 99 pitches. A real manager would have let him pitch the 7th inning. But Boone is not the real manager, Cashman is, and Boone took Fried out. This time, it was Mark Leiter who allowed a run.
So, what's the big deal? One run? One run is a big deal when you score none. Here's the Yankee baserunners in that game: A single by Rice with 1 out in the 1st, stranded; a walk by Jasson Domínguez with 1 out in the 2nd, stranded; a single by Trent Grisham with 1 out in the 3rd, eliminated when Rice grounded into a double play; and a single by Austin Wells in the 6th, eliminated when Grisham lined a shot to short that was turned into a double play. That's it: 4 baserunners, none after the 6th, none even got to 2nd base. Red Sox 1, Yankees 0. A game that should have been won was lost.
Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, it did. The Saturday game might have been the worst of the season. Atrocious Pun Alert: Garrett Crochet started for the Red Sox, and the Yankees couldn't hit hard enough for Red Sox manager Alex Cora -- a former Houston Astro, a cheater hired by a team known for cheating -- to give Crochet the hook. Aside from a home run by Garrett Crochet in the 4th, they only got 3 runners as far as 2nd base, and 1 of those was due to a Boston error.
Will Warren started, and allowed 5 runs in 4 innings. Trying to give the bullpen a break, Boone brought Tim Hill in for the 5th, but he ran into trouble in the 6th, and Paul Blackburn pitched the rest of the way. Again, to give everybody else a rest, Boone left Blackburn in until he finally got the 3rd out in the top of the 9th. That meant allowing 7 runs on 8 hits and 2 walks. Cliché Alert: He really took one for the team. Red Sox 12, Yankees 1.
So the Yankees had dropped the 1st 3 games. Even if they could salvage the 4th and last, this series would have been a disaster. Boone made one significant change: Benching shortstop Anthony Volpe, whose fielding isn't good enough to justify his .208 batting average and .274 on-base percentage, and replacing him with recent acquisition José Caballero. He went 0-for-3, but had an RBI on a sacrifice fly.
Carlos Rodón started last night's game with 5 shutout innings. He wasn't brilliant, but he was tough. Jazz Chisholm hit a home run, and Trent Grisham hit 2, staking him to a 5-0 lead.
Rodón ran into trouble in the top of the 6th, but Weaver was able to stop the bleeding. He pitched a scoreless 7th, and Devin Williams pitched a scoreless 8th. The Yankees got 2 more runs in the 8th, including Chisholm's 2nd homer of the game. Doval got into a little trouble in the 9th, but finished it off. Yankees 7, Red Sox 2.
It should have been 3 out of 4 won. Instead, it was 3 out of 4 lost. To The Scum.
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There are 32 games left in the regular season. The Yankees are 70-60, 5 1/2 games behind the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League Eastern Division. If the current standings hold to the end of the season, they will be the 5th seed in the Playoffs -- and their opponent, the 4th seed, with home-field advantage, would be the Red Sox.
That possibility, and what it would likely lead to, a 1st-round exit at the hands of our hated rivals, for the 3rd time in 8 seasons, leading to a 16th consecutive season without a World Series win: That's what ticks me off!
Tonight, the Yankees start a home series with the Washington Nationals. Hopefully, it won't tick me off.
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