Yankees Struggle Against Dodgers

The Yankees began the official, though not numerical, 2nd half of the season by hosting the 2-time defending World Champions, the Los Angeles Dodgers. For a team riddled with injuries, it was not a good combination.

Gerrit Cole started on Friday night, and in 6 innings, he allowed 5 hits, no walks. He was brilliant. But the Yankee bats, depleted by injuries to Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton, couldn't hit, either. Jazz Chisholm singled with 2 out in the 2nd. Trent Grisham drew a walk with 2 out in the 3rd. In the 4th, Jasson Domínguez doubled, reached 3rd on an error on the throw to 2nd, and scored on a passed ball with Chisholm up.

In the 6th, Ben Rice singled with 1 out, and Cody Bellinger singled with 2 out. But Domínguez, having giveth a run, now taketh away a chance, by striking out to end the inning. So, through 6 innings, the Yankees were lucky to have a 1-0 lead.

Cole had thrown 92 pitches. That's usually enough for manager Aaron Boone to take a starting pitcher out, possibly on orders from general manager Brian Cashman. This time, he made the opposite mistake: He left Cole in for the top of the 7th. Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. Cole hadn't walked anybody yet, but he started the inning by walking Mookie Betts. And then Max Muncy hit a home run.

As the great New York sportscaster Warner Wolf would say, "Turn your sets off right there." Three Yankee relievers allowed just 2 baserunners, and it didn't matter. The Yankees went down 1-2-3 in the 7th. They looked like they might have something going in the 8th. Grisham walked with 1 out, and Rice doubled, but Grisham was thrown out at the plate. Paul Goldschmidt was intentionally walked, with Max Schuemann sent as a pinch-runner. Bellinger just got under a pitch, and it didn't quite go out, and Andy Pages caught it in center field. The Yankees went down 1-2-3 in the 9th.

Dodgers 2, Yankees 1. I'd like to say this one is all on Boone, but the Yankees only needed to score 1 more run to at least send this game to extra innings.

The Saturday afternoon game was rained out, forcing a day-night, split-admission doubleheader for yesterday. The opener was a battle of aces. Yoshinobu Yamamoto was up to the task. He allowed a home run to Grisham in the 4th, and a double to Chisholm and an RBI single to Anthony Volpe in the 8th.

Schlittler was not up to it. He gave up 2 runs in the 3rd, including an RBI double by Shohei Ohtani. He gave up 2 more runs in the 5th, and, at 4-1, the game already felt over. In the 8th, Jake Bird allowed a double, 3 singles and a walk, and ended up with 5 runs charged to him. He should not be in the major leagues. The Dodgers won, 8-2.

So the nightcap became a must, to prevent a total humiliation, not quite on the same level as the Dodgers taking 2 out of 3 Yankee Stadium games in the 2024 World Series, but perhaps capable of preventing the Yankees from being taken seriously for the rest of this season.

Boone decided to go for a bullpen game. I shuddered. But Ryan Yarbrough pitched 2 2/3rds innings, Paul Blackburn pitched 2 1/3rd, and Brent Headrick pitched 2, so no runs through 7. With 2 outs in the 1st inning, Goldschmidt doubled and Bellinger singled, giving the Yankees a 1-0 lead.

But Boone brought Fernando Cruz in to pitch the 8th, and he gave up a game-tying leadoff homer to Tommy Edman. After 2 walks, Boone got Cruz out of there, and brought in David Bednar, the closer. He got 5 outs, allowing just 1 walk. And Chisholm hit one out in the bottom of the 8th. Yankees 2, Dodgers 1, to salvage the finale, and restore some pride.

*

And yet, the Yankees actually benefited from their arch-rivals, the Boston Red Sox, being on a hot streak. They swept the Tampa Bay Rays 4 straight at Fenway Park. They have now won 13 straight games, and 18 out of their last 20. So the Rays now lead the American League Eastern Division by a game and a half over the Yankees, with the Sox having gotten back into the race, 6 games back.

That's a little good news. There was also bad news on the injury front: Aaron Judge probably won't be back before August 1, and Max Fried's 1st injury-rehab start, at Class AA Somerset, was a bit shaky. But Clarke Schmidt had his 1st batting-practice session, and it apparently went well.

Tonight, the Yankees begin another 3-game home Interleague series, this one with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Paul Skenes pitched yesterday, so the Yankees won't be facing him. As Bill Murray would say, So we've got that going for us, which is nice.

Yanks Turn Hopeless Series vs. Braves Around

The Yankees began the official, if not numerical, 2nd half of the regular season with a 3-game Interleague series against the Atlanta Braves at Truist Park in suburban Cumberland, Georgia.

For the 1st 14 innings, it was a disaster.

Starting pitchers Gerrit Cole and Clarke Schmidt are out for the season. Luis Gil is only now making rehab appearances in the minor leagues.

General manager Brian Cashman hasn't seen fit to acquire a new starter, or to promote one from the minor leagues. And field manager Aaron Boone refused to accept that Will Warrem was on 4 days' rest, and Max Fried was on 5.

Put it all together, and the Friday night game was planned as a "bullpen game." And it was awful. Ian Hamilton allowed 3 runs in the 1st innings. Rico Garcia, 31 years old and newly selected off waivers from the Mets, made his Yankee debut, and allowed 3 runs in less than 2 innings.

A 7th-inning comeback was woefully sufficient, and the Braves won, 7-3.

The Saturday afternoon game began worse. Will Warren was okay for 3 innings, then fell apart. And nobody in the bullpen seemed to ha e anything, either. It was 5-0 Atlanta after 4 innings, and 7-2 after 5.

Then the Yankees once again proved that they can turn any stadium into a "little league field." Anthony Volpe hit 2 home runs, and homers were also hit by Cody Bellinger and, as a grand slam in the 9th, Trent Grisham. Yankees 12, Braves 9. Luke Weaver pitched a scorless inning and 2/3rds for the win.

Yesterday, Marcus Stroman had his best start of the season so far, allowing just 1 run over 6 innings. Aaron Judge hit his 36th home runs of the season, and the Yankees won, 4-2, to take a series that looked hopeless and make it 2 out of 3 on the road.

Judge's home run was the 351st of his career. That ties him for 6th on the Yankees' all-time list:

1. Babe Ruth 659

2. Mickey Mantle 536

3. Lou Gehrig 493

4. Joe DiMaggio 361

5. Yogi Berra 359

6. Aaron Judge 351

T. Alex Rodriguez 351

As broadcaster Michael Kay would say, Those are not just big names, those are iconic names.

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The Yankees now head to Canada to play the Toronto Blue Jays, who lead them by 3 games in the American League Eastern Division, with 63 games to play. Here are the projected starting pitchers for the series, with all games having a scheduled starting time of 7:07 PM:

* Tonight: Carlos Rodón vs. Kevin Gausman.

* Tomorrow: Cam Schlittler (in his 2nd major league game) vs. Mark Scherzer (in his 472nd).

* Wednesday: Max Fried vs. Chris Bassitt.

Thursday will be an off day, and then the Yankees come home to face the Philadelphia Phillies, who are leading the National League East by a game over the Mets. So it doesn't get any easier.

One of the Worst Performances In Yankee History

Game 5 of the 2024 World Series: Dodgers 7, Yankees 6. One of the worst performances in Yankee history, a set of 4 innings that were worse than the first 3 games combined, as bad as those were.

It started out so well. Aaron Judge and Jazz Chisholm hit back-to-back home runs in the 1st inning, giving the Yankees a 3-0 lead. Alex Verdugo singled Anthony Volpe home in the 2nd, to make it 4-0. Giancarlo Stanton hit one out in the 3rd, making it 5-0. And through the 1st 4 innings, Gerrit Cole had allowed no runs, no hits, just 2 walks. He wasn't overpowering, but he was getting the job done beautifully.

And then came the top of the 5th inning. Yankee Fans who saw this inning will see it in their nightmares until they die:

* Kike Hernández singled to right.

* Tommy Edman hit a fly ball to center field, and Judge dropped it.

* Will Smith grounded to short, but Volpe can't make the double play. Bases loaded, nobody out.

* Cole struck Gavin Lux out.

* Cole struck Shohei Ohtani out. He got to within 1 strike of getting out of it with no runs.

* Mookie Betts grounded to 1st. But 1st baseman Anthony Rizzo was too far from the base to make the play. And so was Cole, so Rizzo couldn't throw to him. It was like Bill Buckner and Bob Stanley in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, except that, this time, the 1st baseman did get the grounder. Stanley often gets blamed for not covering 1st, but Cole wouldn't have made it in time, either. This was not bad defense, it was just bad luck, and good hitting by Betts. Kike scored. 5-1.

* Freddie Freeman, who seemed to be out-hitting not just the Yankees but his own teammates, singled to center, scoring Edman and Smith. 5-3.

* Teoscar Hernández doubled to center, scoring Betts and Freeman. 5-5.

* Max Muncy drew a walk.

* And Kike batted again, grounding to short, and Volpe stepped on 2nd base to force Teoscar out, and finally end the inning. That's 5 runs on 4 hits (1 of them an infield hit), 1 walk and 2 errors.

It would have been understandable if the Yankees were shellshocked by this. But they loaded the bases in the bottom of the 5th -- but couldn't score. Somehow, Cole survived all this, and pitched a 1-2-3 6th inning. He went 6 innings, allowing no earned runs -- 5 unearned.

In the bottom of the 6th, Juan Soto and Judge walked, Chisholm grounded into a force play that eliminated Judge and moved Soto to 3rd, and Stanton flew to center to sacrifice Soto home. Rizzo drew a walk, but Volpe grounded out to end the rally.

It was 6-5 Yankees, and there was hope again. But the shadow of that 5th inning was too large: It didn't feel like all we had to do was get 9 more outs.

Cole and Clay Holmes got through the 7th. But manager Aaron Boone did not leave Holmes in to pitch the 8th, and Tommy Kahnle allowed singles to Kike and Erdman, and walked Smith. Again, bases loaded and nobody out. Boone brought the closer in, Luke Weaver. Lux hit a sac fly to center, scoring Kike. Ohtani was awarded 1st base on a very dubious catcher's interference call. And Betts flew to center, scoring, Edman. 7-6 Dodgers.

Dodger fans have ripped their manager, Dave Roberts, for the Dodgers' shortfalls over the last few years, with their only World Series win being in the "COVID Bubble" year of 2020. But with this "bullpen game," he outmanaged Boone -- or, rather, Boone let Roberts outmanage him.

The Yankees had men on 1st & 2nd with 1 out in the 8th, but didn't score. And they went very quietly in the 9th, with Walker Buehler striking Verdugo out swinging for the final out. The Dodgers had won the World Series in 5 games, despite Clayton Kershaw being injured and unavailable for the postseason. Freeman, of course, was named the Series Most Valuable Player.

For the Dodgers, a glorious moment, an 8th World Series win, 7 if you properly do not count the 1955 title in Brooklyn. For Roberts, total redemption, and putting himself in the conversation for election to the Hall of Fame once he retires. For Ohtani, a title that cements him as a baseball legend, though his own World Series performance was awful. For Freeman, who had previously won the Series with the 2021 Atlanta Braves, and Betts, who had previously won it with the 2018 Boston Red Sox *, possibly raised to the status of future Hall-of-Famer. (They might have gone on to make it, anyway.)

For the Yankees, a season of big moments, including the 1st American League Pennant in 15 years. And yet, it cannot be termed anything other than a failure. They scored just 7 runs in the 1st 3 games, won Game 4, took a big lead in Game 5 to forge some hope of the greatest comeback in baseball history... and then had the nightmare inning. Once again, the fundamentals were bad. The Yankees took out the fun, and left "da mentals."

To find a worse inning in postseason play, you have to go back to the 1929 World Series, Game 4, bottom of the 7th. It began Chicago Cubs 8, Philadelphia Athletics 0. The inning and the game ended A's 10, Cubs 8, and the A's won the Series the next day.

Of the 28 Major League Baseball teams that didn't get this far, most if not all of them would be content with what the Yankees did this season. But those of us who are Yankee Fans cannot be content with this.

Yes, the umpiring was bad. It was also bad in the ALDS against Kansas City, and in the ALCS against Cleveland, and we won, anyway. It shouldn't have been an issue this time. The Yankees had their chances, and blew them.

What can you do, except hope that team management will make the necessary changes for next season. But they won't, will they?