The Yankees played the Red Sox, so that means the Yankees lost. The Yankees are now 0-5 against their rival this season.
The Yankees played the Red Sox, so that means the Yankees lost. After scoring just three runs on Friday, the Yankees scored only two on Saturday, losing 4-2. The Yankees had a chance to go to Boston and have a big weekend to erase their deficit in the loss column, and instead, they have only let it grow.
The Yankees’ inconsistent season continued in Boston on Friday with a 5-3 loss to the Red Sox.
The Yankees’ inconsistent season continued in Boston on Friday with a 5-3 loss to the Red Sox. An all-right-handed lineup only scored three runs off Martin Perez, who is barely in the majors, Scumbag Domingo German and Luke Voit made errors, Gleyber Torres had another 0-for-4 and Phil Nevin got Gio Urshela thrown out at the plate with no outs. If you wanted to sum up the 2021 Yankees in a single game, Friday’s series-opening loss would be the perfect example.
The Yankees have won seven of nine, have won three straight series and have gotten themselves within striking distance of first place in the AL East.
The Yankees have won seven of nine, have won three straight series and have gotten themselves within striking distance of first place in the AL East, something that seemed impossible less than two weeks ago. Now they have a chance to tie the Red Sox in the loss column in a weekend series that is the biggest of the season to date.
The Yankees’ turnaround has coincided with Gary Sanchez’s turnaround as the catcher looks like his 2016 and 2017 self.
The Yankees have won seven of nine and three straight series. They have cut their deficit in the AL East to three games in the loss column and have a chance to possibly erase that deficit completely with a back weekend in Boston.
1. I was told many times the 2016-17 version of Gary Sanchez no longer existed. That a lot of players come up and take the league by storm only to fade away and become nothing more than an average or replacement level player. That Sanchez would never return to being the player who was the face of the Yankees for the last half of 2016 and 3-hitter in 2017 and who represented their greatest lineup advantage.
I have taken a lot of criticism over the last couple years, (even from within my home) about my unwavering support for Sanchez. I defended him against the Austin Romine Fan Club and the Kyle Higashioka Fan Club. I stood by him when he .186 in 2018 and .147 in the shortened 2020 season. When he was wrongly benched by the idiot and loser that is Aaron Boone in the postseason, I was told it was the right move. When the Yankees tendered Sanchez a contract (as if there was ever any other choice), I was told it was foolish and they would regret it. Now all I can do is laugh at everyone who told me Sanchez would never be the player he once was, not even for a week.
In a perfect world, if every Yankees hitter was hitting to the best of their abilities of their career and healthy and able to play the field, this would be the optimal Yankees lineup:
1. DJ LeMahieu, 2B 2. Aaron Judge, RF 3. Giancarlo Stanton, LF 4. Gary Sanchez, C 5. Luke Voit, 1B 6. Gleyber Torres, SS 7. Miguel Andujar, DH 8. Gio Urshela, 3B 9. Aaron Hicks, CF
Over the last nearly month (since May 27), Sanchez is hitting .338/.410/.743 with six doubles, eight home runs and 18 RBIs in 83 plate appearances. Since returning to his former home in the 3-hole, he’s 6-for-15 with two doubles, three home runs and seven RBIs. In the four games he has batted third, the Yankees are 4-0, and Sanchez is single-handedly responsible for two of the wins (June 20 against Oakland and June 23 against Kansas City), and he was arguably the most important player in the other two games as well (June 19 against Oakland and June 24 against Kansas City). He’s once again the Yankees’ biggest lineup advantage since no catcher can do or is doing what he does at the plate.
I have long been mocked for being the self-proclaimed President of the Gary Sanchez Fan Club, telling the mockers that I believe the Sanchez of 2016-17 is still in there and still exists. That version of Sanchez not only exists, but is here.
3. Either Boone is so adamant about not wanting to play Sanchez with Gerrit Cole that he was willing to let Sanchez catch a day game after a night game this week, or Cole is so adamant about not wanting to throw to Sanchez. I’m beginning to think it’s the latter, and that’s a horrible look for Cole, who is clearly not who I thought he was if he needs a personal catcher as a security blanket, and it’s a bad look for the the Yankees, who will continue to play an inferior lineup when Cole starts.
It’s also because Giancarlo Stanton can’t play the field. I’m not sure who is to blame here. Is Stanton saying he doesn’t feel comfortable in the outfield or is it the Yankees not wanting him to risk injury? In case you haven’t noticed, Stanton does a fine job getting injured when only serving as the designated hitter, so it’s not like that role has kept him healthy and in the lineup DH and not have Sanchez’s bat in the lineup when Cole pitches because Cole can’t handle throwing to someone he didn’t grow up with in California. Stanton needs to play the outfield. If he gets hurt doing so, so be it.
4. After Boone managed his bullpen and his team to a blown lead and loss in the first game of the series against the Royals, he did his best to do it again in the second game of the series. With runners on first and third and two outs in the ninth and Carlos Santana up, Boone went out to the mound to hold a conference on how to pitch to Santana. Aroldis Chapman, Sanchez, Boone and the infield were in agreement on how to handle Santana and Boone returned to the dugout. Right before Chapman could throw the first pitch to Santana, Sanchez called time and stood up. I figured they were going to go through the signs again. Instead, Boone had signaled to Sanchez to intentionally walk Santana and bring up Sebastian Rivero, who was still looking for his first major league hit.
The move would force the bases loaded, and with Chapman being extra wild lately (coinciding with the crackdown on foreign substances for pitchers), there would be no margin for error. And Chapman needed that margin for error, as he walked Rivero on four pitches with the fourth pitch nearly headed for the backstop. Chapman blew the Yankees’ one-run lead and when he left the mound the Royals had the lead. Boone had betrayed his closer and catcher and his team and had gone against what they had agreed to.
5. “He wanted to pitch to Santana,” Boone said after the game. “In hindsight, and not just because it didn’t work out, I think the right move was probably to go ahead and let [Chapman] pitch to him. I just didn’t want to let [Santana] beat us in that spot or get too careful pitching around, leading to a wild pitch or something.”
How is this guy still managing the Yankees? I will say it again: Boone is the Yankees’ biggest obstacle to a championship. Not the Rays or Red Sox or Blue Jays or Astros or A’s or White Sox or the National League winner. The Yankees’ own manager is what stands in the way of their success. The Yankees’ offense is the only thing that can combat Boone because they have the ability to outscore his idiotic decisions. And they had to on Wednesday night, as Sanchez and Luke Voit won the game for the Yankees and erased all of the bad Boone had done. There’s no doubt Boone thinks his moved was the right because the Yankees came back and won, like a fool at a Blackjack table who stays with a 16 against a 7 and miraculously wins the hand.
6. “When I got back to the bench and just kind of looked out there, that’s why there was a little bit of a pause,” Boone said of his mound visit with Santan due up. “I just felt like I wanted to take our shot the other way. It was my call in the moment, and I think that led to some of the frustration. But Chappy and I absolutely talked about it, and we’re good.”
I doubt “they’re good” the way Boone says they are. Back in February, he said the clubhouse would be fine with the return of Scumbag Domingo German and within a day Zack Britton had openly said it wasn’t fine. Last October, he said he talked with Sanchez about the decision to go with Higashioka in the postseason, and then in the offseason, Sanchez said he was never told. No one should believe anything Boone ever says. So when he says he and a player have a good line of communication or have worked through whatever issue there is, don’t believe him. The simple fact he has to address means they’re not good.
7. “We’re playing for a lot. These guys care,” Boone said of his decision to go against his closer. “Sometimes you’re going to get upset. That’s part of playing the high-stakes game of Major League Baseball.”
No one is saying the Yankees don’t care. Michael Kay thinks every night he needs to ask the question, “You think these guys don’t care?” Who is saying they don’t care? Being bad and underachieving and losing like they have done for the majority of the season doesn’t mean they don’t care. But the Yankees players certainly don’t need their lead play-by-play man and manager to petition for them that they care.
8. I’m sure Michael King cares. He just isn’t any good. The Yankees are now 2-3 in games he has pitched since he became a starter or opener or whatever you want to call him. In only one of those five games did he not allow first-inning runs. This is after he was incapable of being a starter/opener last season and the Yankees’ decision to stick with him throughout the shortended season nearly cost them a postseason berth. King needs to be removed from the rotation. He can’t possibly be the team’s “best” option. I know he isn’t the best option as long as Deivi Garcia is in the organization, regardless of what he’s doing in Triple-A.
9. Having King and Jameson Taillon back-to-back in the rotation opens the door for losing streaks to start or be extended. King isn’t good and doesn’t give the team length, and the same goes for Taillon. And I say this coming off King’s best start of the season and Taillon’s as well. I’m not foolish enough to think one OK King start and one good Taillon start is enough to think one or both of them are now going to be trustworthy starting options. Thankfully, neither of them will pitch this weekend in Boston (since the Yankees will have enough problems with a lefty starting at Fenway in Jordan Montgomery and Scumbag German who gives up home runs at an unbelievable rate), but they will both pitch next week against the Angels and Mets. For now, it seems like the Yankees are fine with continuing to use both of them as starters and fine with leaving them pitching on consecutive days in the rotation, considering they have had the chance to pull them from the rotation and break them up within it and they haven’t done either.
10. This a very, very, very important weekend. At the end of play on Sunday night, the Yankees will either be tied in the loss column with the Red Sox, trailing by two games, trailing by four games or trailing by six games. Each game is incredibly important and could be the eventual difference between an ALDS spot and a wild-card spot or a wild-card spot and no postseason. Three weekends ago when the two teams met, the Yankees blew late leads in two of the three games (King lost them the other game within the first five batters). That can’t happen again.
This is the most important series of the season to date. We’ll have a good idea of who the 2021 Yankees are after it.
If the Yankees have truly turned their season around, we will look back at the week they swept the Blue Jays and took two of three from the then-best team in the American League as the exact point of when they did.
The Yankees followed up their series sweep of the Blue Jays by blowing a late one-run lead to the A’s. Instead of putting together another losing streak, they put together two come-from-behind wins in the second and third games of the series.
1. That was easily the biggest series win of the season for the Yankees. Coming off a three-game sweep of the Blue Jays and following Friday night’s disappointing loss, it would have been very 2021 Yankees for them to lose again on Saturday and then on Sunday as well. But rather than let Aaron Boone’s mismanagement of a 3-2 lead in an eventual 5-3 loss ruin their weekend, the Yankees battled back with comeback wins on both Saturday and Sunday. If the team has truly turned their season around, we will look back at the week they swept the Blue Jays and took two of three from the then-best team in the American League as the exact point of when they did.
2. The Friday pitching matchup between Jameson Taillon and James Kaprielian couldn’t be a better way to sum up Brian Cashman’s inability to trade for and away starting pitching in his tenure as general manager. The Yankees picked Kaprielian in the first round of the 2015 draft and traded him to Oakland in 2017 to acquire Sonny Gray. The Yankees traded Kaprielian, Dustin Fowler and Jorge Mateo for Gray. They ended up trading Gray after 2018 to the Reds for Shed Long. They then traded Long to the Mariners for Josh Stowers. Stowers was traded to the Rangers for Odor. The Yankees used Kaprielian (2.84 ERA and 42 strikeouts in 38 innings for first the A’s) to acquire Gray (3.14 ERA and 1.148 WHIP in 52 starts for the Reds) and all they have to show for it is the .194/.263/.388-hitting Odor who the Rangers are paying $27 million to not play for them.
3. Kaprielian was good in the series opener (5.2 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, 2 HR), earning the win, while Taillon failed to get through five innings once again (4.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 1 HR). Both pitchers have injury histories and are always one pitch away from being out for an extended period of time again (like any pitcher, really), but there’s no doubt as to which pitcher the Yankees would be better off with.
4. Yes, that was Gary Sanchez batting third on Saturday for the A’s. It feels like it’s been a decade since Sanchez last batted that high in the order for the Yankees, but if you remember, he the team’s 3- and 4-hitter when they came within a game of the World Series in 2017. (Joe Girardi was smart enough to bat Aaron Hicks in the bottom third of the lineup.) Sanchez continued his career resurgence by going 3-for-7 with two doubles, a home run and a walk against the A’s, while batting third on both Saturday and Sunday.
5. Sanchez’s on-base percentage sits at .340, a number he hasn’t seen since 2017 (.345), and his OPS is back over .800 at .820. He’s on a 34-home run pace over 162 games and is three doubles away from matching his 2019 total (12), which he did in double the amount of games played. Sanchez is back (hitting .344/.408/.719 since May 27) and if he’s back for good, I just got a lot more optimistic about this Yankees season.
6. We will find out on Tuesday night how serious Boone is about putting the best team on the field to win. If Kyle Higashioka is starting because Gerrit Cole is starting, we will have our answer. Tuesday is a night game, Wednesday is a night games and Thursday is a day game. If Sanchez doesn’t catch on Tuesday, that means he’s only going to catch and possibly play in one of three games in a series (since Giancarlo Stanton can’t play the field still)? That can’t happen. But I expect it to.
7. The best possible Yankees lineup right now:
DJ LeMahieu, 2B Aaron Judge, CF Gary Sanchez, C Giancarlo Stanton, RF Luke Voit, 1B Gleyber Torres, 2B Gio Urshela, 3B Miguel Andujar, DH Clint Frazier, LF
Unfortunately, that’s not even close to happening.
8. Every year I think “All-Star Game voting, already?” The Yankees have played 71 games and the season is 44 percent complete. Sanchez seems like he’s now headed for the All-Star Game, and if he keeps up his current production, he could even start. He will likely join Cole and Aaron Judge, and I would think Aroldis Chapman as well. Pretty poor showing from the Yankees in voting to this point, but it’s to be expected with how bad they have been this season.
9. The game-ending triple play on Sunday had me thinking maybe this season is going to be special. While the Yankees have won five of six, the Rays have lost six straight, and now the Yankees trail Boston by four games in the loss column and the Rays by three. The insurmountable division deficit has become very surmountable thanks to a rare Rays losing streak coupled with the loss of their staff ace in Tyler Glasnow. Three of the Rays’ losses in this six-game losing streak have come by one run and four of them have come in extra innings, all walk-off losses. The Yankees needed the Rays to falter at some point to have a chance at getting back in the division, and it has happened. Not only that, but it happened as soon as the Rays took their biggest lead over the Yankees. As for the currently-in-first-place Red Sox, yeah, I’m not worried about them.
10. I’m worried about the next three days. The Yankees play the Royals, while the Rays and Red Sox play each other. One of the two teams above the Yankees is going to win over the next three days, and it’s the Yankees job to make sure they don’t lose. The Royals aren’t good and the Yankees have Cole going in the first game of the series. This is an enormously important three days and three games and it’s followed by a weekend series against the Red Sox.
For the first time in a while, I feel good about the Yankees. This week will determine how long that feeling lasts.
