The Yankees Grind My Gears

Over their last 180 games, the Yankees are. Barely more than a .500 team. 91-89.

I can hear Aaron Boone now: "But they're grinding! They're savages in that box! They're not far away!"

Sorry, I forgot to say "Cliché Alert."

Hearing Boone say they're "grinding" makes me think of coffee. Actually watching them makes me want a stronger drink.

Gerrit Cole started the finale of their series away to the Colorado Rockies, and went 6 innings, allowing 1 run on 2 hits and 1 walk, striking out 11. But in so doing, he threw 102 pitches, and Aaron Boone didn't have the guts to break Brian Cashman's rule and leave him in there longer. Thus did the bullpen musical chairs begin.

The Yankees led 3-1 when he left, and Wandy Peralta pitched a perfect 7th inning. But Boone didn't leave him in, either, bringing Tommy Kahnle in to pitch the 8th, and he loaded the bases. Boone brought Clay Holmes in, and he gave up a grand slam. It was 5-3 Rockies.

A 9th-inning comeback was necessary. Billy McKinney led off by being hit by a pitch. That would be a dumb thing for a pitcher to do to start an inning, but the pitcher was Daniel Bard, who used to pitch for the Red Sox, so you never know. Gleyber Torres grounded to 3rd, but Rockies 3rd baseman Ryan McMahon threw the ball away. McKinney came all the way around to score, and Torres wound up on 2nd. 5-4.

Giancarlo Stanton flew out, advancing Torres to 3rd. Anthony Rizzo drew a walk. Oswald Peraza was sent in to pinch-run for Rizzo. Boone put the delayed double steal on: Peraza stole 2nd, but the Rockies didn't take the bait, and Torres had to stay put. DJ LeMahieu was intentionally walked to set up the double play.

They got it, but not how they intended. Harrison Bader hit a line shot to left. It was caught, but Torres was able to score. And then Peraza was thrown out at 3rd. Unwritten Rule of Baseball: Never make the 1st or last out of an inning at 3rd base. Corollary question: Why make any out at any base?

At any rate, the game was tied, and Ian Hamilton pitched a scoreless 9th. Extra innings. Neither team could score in the 10th. In the top of the 11th, Oswaldo Cabrera singled home ghost runner Anthony Volpe. One thing led to another, and Peraza, who had stayed in the game, singled home a run. It was 7-5 Yankees. All they had to do in the bottom of the 11th was get 3 outs without allowing more than 1 run.

Boone brought Nick Ramirez in to pitch. This was a stupid thing to do. He gave up a leadoff home run to Nolan Jones. With the ghost runner, this meant tie ballgame. Then he got 2 outs, thus pitching to the minimum 3 batters. No reason to bring in another reliever, though. But Boone did, bringing in Ron Marinaccio, and he gave up a walkoff homer to Alan Trejo. It was his 1st homer of the season, and only the 6th of his career.

Rockies 8, Yankees 7. WP: Gavin Hollowell (1-0, his 1st major league win, having made his debut only 2 weeks ago). No save. LP: Marinaccio (4-5).

The Yankees blew a 2-run lead in the 8th, and another in the 11th. "Grinding"? After this game, the only that's grinding is my gears.

Tonight, the Yankees begin a series away to the Los Angeles Angels, featuring Shohei "Not Better Than Babe Ruth" Ohtani and Mike "Not Comparable to Mickey Mantle" Trout. Luis Severino starts against Griffin Canning. Yeah, another one of those families that turned a last name into a first name, making their son's full name sound like the name of a law firm.

Yankees Fall Victim to Domestic Stupidity

The Yankees began yesterday with the awful news that, for the 3rd time, they had a pitcher who has been suspended for violating Major League Baseball's domestic violence policy.

True, Aroldis Chapman had been suspended for it before joining the team, and they have since let him go (twice), but they still acquired him (twice). Then, Domingo Germán was suspended right before the 2019 Playoffs, and he also missed the entire 2020 season, including the Playoffs.

Now, it's Jimmy Cordero. He's been suspended for 76 games, the rest of this year's regular season. He's not contesting it, meaning he accepts that he did something wrong. At least he's taking responsibility for his actions.

Brian Cashman acquired all 3 of these men. No, it's not as bad as what they've been alleged to have done. But put everything he's done together, and the question must be asked: When is he, or team owner Hal Steinbrenner, who hired him, going to take responsibility for his actions?

So it's not surprising that the Yankees lost last night, in the 3rd game of their 4-game home series with the Baltimore Orioles. Or maybe the suspension had no effect on their mindset, and it was "just one of those games."

After all, things went pretty well at first. Rookie Randy Vásquez, filling one of the injury-forced holes in the rotation, pitched 5 shutout innings, allowing 2 hits and 3 walks. The game was scoreless until the bottom of the 5th, which Josh Donaldson led off with a home run. After a DJ LeMahieu lineout, Isiah Kiner-Falefa singled. Anthony Volpe grounded into what should have been a double play. IKF was out at 2nd, but an error put Volpe on 2nd. And Kyle Higashioka singled him home. It was 2-0 Yankees.

But Aaron Boone followed ordered, and pulled Vásquez, who had only thrown 75 pitches, and put in Nick Ramirez. He had nothing. Nor did Michael King, who managed to close out the top of the 6th, but not before allowing the O's 4 runs, on a double, 2 singles (this is where King came in), a triple and a fielder's choice.

Volpe gave the Yankees some home, leading off the bottom of the 8th with a home run. But in the 9th, an Adley Rutschman double and a Ryan O'Hearn home run off Ian Hamilton put the game out of reach. Orioles 6, Yankees 3. WP: Dean Kremer (9-4). SV: Félix Bautista (23). LP: Ramirez (0-1).

And how did Cashman thank Vásquez for his nice performance last night? He was sent down to the minor leagues, so that Carlos Rodón could return from the Injured List, and make his long-awaited Yankee debut tomorrow night. Don't get me wrong: I'm all for Rodón being available. But sending Vásquez down hardly seems fair.

Maybe Boone and Cashman should be suspended, for violating a domestic stupidity policy. Alas, no such policy exists.

The series concludes tonight. Luis Severino starts against Kyle Bradish.

Yankees Get Comeback Win vs. Orioles

The Yankees came home, and began a 4-game series with the Baltimore Orioles. Aaron Hicks made his return to Yankee Stadium, and got the hell booed out of him.

John Sterling, the longtime Yankee broadcaster celebrating his 85th birthday on this 4th of July, might have said to his WCBS radio partner Suzyn Waldman, "You know, Suzyn, you just can't predict baseball." Well, the easy thing to predict would have been that Hicks would have a big day, maybe even get the game-winning hit for the Orioles. But no, he only went 1-for-4, raising his batting average to a whopping .229.

On the other hand, Domingo Germán was far from perfect in his 1st start since his perfect game. He allowed 3 runs, 1 of them unearned, and didn't get out of the 5th inning. Fortunately, the Yankee bullpen got the job done the rest of the way: Nick Ramirez finished the 5th and got through the 6th, Ian Hamilton in the 7th, Tommy Kahnle in the 8th, and Clay Holmes in the 9th.

Anthony Volpe and Kyle Higashioka hit back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the 5th, to close the Yankees within 3-2. Volpe scored the tying run on a wild pitch in the 7th. And in the 8th, Giancarlo Stanton and Anthony Rizzo singled, and Harrison Bader hit a home run.

Yankees 6, Orioles 3. WP: Kahnle (1-0). SV: Holmes (10). LP: Yennier Canó (1-1, and no relation to Robinson).

The series continues this afternoon, with a 4th of July matinee. Clarke Schmidt starts against Kyle Gibson. Celebrate safely, everyone: Be careful on the grill, don't drink too much, and leave the fireworks to the professionals.

Clarke Schmidt Was Not the Problem: Not Hitting Was

Just a couple of weeks ago, I could not have imagined that letting Clarke Schmidt continue to pitch would have been a good thing for the Yankees. Well, last night, against the Baltimore Orioles, it would have been. It didn't matter, though: They didn't hit.

Aaron Boone let Schmidt pitch 5 innings, in which he allowed 1 run on 5 hits and 2 walks. But that added up to 97 pitches, and Boone didn't dare defy Brian Cashman and let Schmidt pitch more. All bow down before the Holy Pitch Count.

So Nick Ramirez was brought in to start the 6th, and he pitched to the minimum 3 batters: Single, flyout, error. Boone brought in Jimmy Cordero, who got a double play. He only pitched to 2 batters in the 7th, with a runner reaching on another error. Wandy Peralta was brought in, and in the 8th, he gave up 2 walks and a double.

That put the game out of reach, because, as I said, the Yankees didn't hit. They wasted a leadoff single with a double play in the 1st inning, a walk with 1 out in the 3rd, 2 walks in the 4th, a walk with 1 out in the 5th, and another a leadoff single with a double play in the 7th.

Walks, especially the leadoff variety? Just as they can "kill you," they can "give you new life." Aaron Judge drew a leadoff walk in the bottom of the 9th. Anthony Rizzo grounded out, but that moved Judge to 2nd. Harrison Bader struck out. Willie Calhoun doubled Judge home. There was hope: Rookie sensation Anthony Volpe was the batter. He certainly tried: He hit a drive to deep center field. But a great catch by Oriole center fielder Ryan McKenna ended the game.

It should be noted that Edwin Moscos, the home plate umpire, was squeezing Yankee pitchers all night. He wouldn't give us pitches that were clearly on the edge of the strike zone. Boone didn't like that, and yelled at him from the dugout. He threw Boone out of the game, Boone's 4th ejection of the season, and his 2nd in the last 4 games. During the argument, Boone spit on Moscos -- or so Moscos claimed. It was clearly an accident: It's not the sort of thing that Boone does.

Sometimes, a manager will get himself thrown out to throw a charge into his team. If that was Boone's idea, it didn't work: Orioles 3, Yankees 1. WP: Kyle Gibson (6-3). SV: Yennier Cano (4). LP: Schmidt (2-5). The Yankees are now 30-22, 7 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League Eastern Division, and in the 5th AL Playoff slot.

The San Diego Padres now come into Yankee Stadium for 3 games. One of the preseason favorites due to their high spending, it hasn't worked out too well for them so far. They are 23-27, 7 1/2 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Western Division, and 2 games out of the last NL Playoff slot. They need this series more than we do, so they may be playing hungry. Joe Musgrove, hero of their Playoff win over the Mets last season, starts for them tonight. For us, Randy Vásquez, a 24-year-old Dominican, will start, making his major league debut.