Gerrit Cole and the Yankees were embarrassed in what was supposed to be a lopsided matchup in Texas.
Monday night’s game was about as lopsided as a matchup as you can have: the Yankees against the Rangers and Gerrit Cole against Jordan Lyles. You would have never known which team is the one that is supposed to contend for the World Series, and which team is destined for 100 losses, or which pitcher will be in the conversation for not just Cy Young, but MVP, and which pitcher is barely hanging on to a career in the majors. The Yankees were embarrassed in the series opener in Texas.
The Yankees won another series. Another series they had a chance to sweep and didn’t, but another series win nonetheless. The Yankees took two out of three in Baltimore and are 6-0-1 in their last
The Yankees won another series. Another series they had a chance to sweep and didn’t, but another series win nonetheless. The Yankees took two out of three in Baltimore and are 6-0-1 in their last seven series.
1. The Yankees keeping putting themselves in favorable situations to sweep series, but aside from their sweep of the Tigers, they keep failing to win each series finale. I understand the old adage “It’s hard to sweep,” but it shouldn’t be when you have a multi-run lead or when you have possibly the best pitcher in the world on the mound or an elite reliever entering a game. Those are the situations the Yankees have had in the last three series in which they were one win away from a sweep, and each time they came up short.
The Yankees won the first two games against the Astros two weeks ago, had a 3-1 lead in the third game and were nine outs from a sweep with Cole on the mound and Chad Green then coming in when they blew it. Two series later, they won the first two games against the Rays in Tampa and then scored one run in the series finale (in the ninth inning). They had a 4-0 lead before Jordan Montgomery took the mound on Sunday, and he gave it all away in three innings.
The Yankees lost a lot of winnable games in April and they have had many opportunities to erase all the bad they did last month, yet they keep blowing each chance. Yes, they have won 16 of 23. It could have and should have been more.
2. Gio Urshela won Friday night’s game with a three-run home run in the seventh inning. It was his first at-bat of the game as he pinch hit for Tyler Wade. Why was it his first at-bat of the game? Because Aaron Boone felt it would be best to give Urshela the night off due to knee soreness. The “night” turned into six innings and Urshela was brought off the bench to prevent the Yankees from losing a second straight game.
Urshela produced a nine pitch at-bat in which he would off tough, near-perfect cutters away until he finally got one he could put in play and he crushed it for an opposite-field home run. The at-bat proved Urshela didn’t need the night off if he was capable of putting together an at-bat of that caliber and able to hit a home run and not just a home run, but an opposite-field home run. It was completely unnecessary for Urshela to not start the game, and had he, maybe the Yankees aren’t trailing in the seventh inning and in desperate need of a three-run home run to take the lead.
3. The unnecessary rest didn’t end there. Aroldis Chapman was unavailable to pitch in a one-run game despite having had the previous day off. Why? Because he had pitched two consecutive days prior to that day off, and he had pitched in two of the three days before that. So Boone made Chapman unavailable in a one-run game.
4. To make matters worse, Boone decided to go batter-to-batter in the ninth inning. He let Wandy Peralta start the inning even though Jonathan Loaisiga was ready. Peralta gave up a leadoff single to put the tying run on base, and then Boone went to Loaisiga. Why not go to Loaisiga to begin the inning? Why does Boone always have to try to get cute and think he’s so damn smart and smarter than everyone else? It shouldn’t be this hard to beat the Orioles. It shouldn’t be this hard to write out a lineup card and to properly manage a bullpen with the Yankees’ roster.
5. On Saturday, the Yankees jumped out to a three-run led in the first and made it 5-0 in the second. In the sixth it was 8-0 and they went on to win 8-2. It was a nice, easy, comfortable win. It’s the kind of game the Yankees should have against the Orioles.
After homering twice on Friday, Judge homered again on Saturday, and then again on Sunday. He has five home runs in his last 25 plate appearances and six games and has 12 on the season, while hitting .298/.399/.611. He’s been awesome.
My criticism of Judge has never been about his ability. I love Judge. My criticism has been about his inability to stay healthy and his seemingly need to go to Boone with any little ache or pain that then puts him on the bench for a couple of days. Judge is great and easily the Yankees’ best player when healthy and most important part of their lineup. Health has always been the issue with him. He’s been mostly healthy in 2021, though he has needed a few unnecessary days off. I’m sure he will get at least another one off in the final four games of this season-long, 10-game road trip. Thankfully, he’s healthy enough to play, unlike his fellow oft-injured teammates.
6. Aaron Hicks going down with a tear in his wrist at the same time Giancarlo Stanton went down with quad tightness was almost too perfect given the amount of time those two have missed since 2019.
I’m not surprised Hicks is hurt again. He has been injured his entire career. For a player who missed so much time in his 20s, giving him a seven-year extension to take him through his mid-30s was ill-advised. He’s going to be 32 in 2021 and has missed time as a Yankee with injuries to both obliques, a hamstring strain, shoulder bursitis, a strained intercostal, he’s playing with a surgically-repaired elbow, and now might have a surgically-repaired wrist to go along with it. And oh yeah, he missed the third two months of 2019 after suffering a significant back injury. If it seems like Hicks’ body is being held together with Elmer’s glue, Scotch Tape and Silly Putty, it’s because it pretty much is. At least he’s only signed for another four years after this one and then in 2026, the Yankees will pay him to not play for them. Jasson Dominguez better tear through the minors.
7. As for Stanton, no surprise there either. I’m more surprised when Hicks and Stanton are healthy than when they aren’t. The Yankees have now played 40 games and Stanton has had four of them off for personal rest and has missed three due to quad tightness. So he has already not played in 18 percent of the season. Good thing Aaron Boone gave Stanton those four days off as it prevented him from getting injured.
At the same time Boone announced Stanton would be out with quad tightness, he said he had been recently thinking of putting Stanton in the outfield. BULLSHIT, cough, cough. Of course, Boone says this at the same time he announces Stanton has a quad issue. Because now there’s no way Stanton will play the outfield and Boone will use this latest injury as the reason. Boone was never going to put Stanton in the outfield. Never.
8. If you thought Jordan Montgomery might have taken a step toward becoming more than what he has been in his career with his dominant performance against the Rays, well, Sunday’s disaster against the Orioles was a good wake-up call. Montgomery was given a four-run lead before he ever took the mound on Sunday, and immediately, he gave two runs back. When he took the mound in the third inning, he had a three-run lead, and he erased that too with a pair of doubles, a single and a walk. He lasted only three innings, allowed five earned runs and eight baserunners, and his ERA is up to 4.75 this season. “Crooked Number” Montgomery appears to be back. Don’t let that one start at the Trop fool you.
9. Gary Sanchez continues to quietly turn his early-season slump around. His two-run home run in the first inning on Sunday prevented the Yankees from destroying yet another bases-loaded, no-out situation. It was Sanchez’s third home run in 26 plate appearances, and he now has a .351 OBP and .885 OPS in May, reaching base safely in eight of the nine games he has played this month.
Meanwhile, for Kyle Higashioka, who briefly became the “full-time” catcher, he has only played in three of the last nine games, as he’s hitting .077/.200/.231 over his last 30 plate appearance, and that slugging percentage is only that high because of his solo home run off Max Scherzer. Higashioka isn’t an everyday catcher. Apparently, it took Boone nonsensically taking away at-bats from Sanchez to realize that.
10. The Yankees are now 4-2 on the road trip, and once again, it could have and should have been more. I’m happy with them winning two out of three in Tampa, but blowing a four-run, first-inning lead in Baltimore is unacceptable. Six runs against the Orioles should be more than enough to get a win, and that’s a game the Yankees likely wish they could have back. Then again, there’s been a lot of games through the first 40 I’m sure they wish they could have back.
Now it’s off to Texas, where the last-place Rangers await, who have lost six straight. The Rangers suck. They are already seven games back in the AL West and their season is over and it’s the middle of May. This is a team the Yankees should easily handle, and with Gerrit Cole on the mound in the series opener, it’s hard not to once again think about the potential of a big series in terms of wins.
The Yankees should return home having gone no worse than 7-3 on this road trip. Anything less than winning three out of four in Texas will be an enormous disappointment.
The Yankees beat the Orioles 5-4 on Friday in Baltimore, but they nearly didn’t thanks to Aaron Boone.
The Yankees beat the Orioles 5-4 on Friday in Baltimore, but they nearly didn’t thanks to Aaron Boone. The Yankees manager decided Gio Urshela needed the day off, even though he was able to pinch it in the seventh inning, and hit a go-ahead, three-run home run.
Aaron Hicks didn’t play because of a wrist tear, Giancarlo Stanton didn’t play because of quad tightness and Aroldis Chapman wasn’t available because having two of the previous four days off wasn’t enough for him.
The Yankees have the third-lowest amount of runs scored in the AL. When is the offense going to show up?
The Yankees won two out of three against the Rays at Tropicana Field, but only scored five runs in the series. The Yankees have the third-lowest amount of runs scored in the American League and the season is 37 games and 23 percent complete. When is the offense going to show up like the Yankees keep saying it will?
The Yankees did what they rarely ever do by beating the Rays on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. Not only did they beat the Rays, but they won a series against them at Tropicana Field.
The Yankees did what they rarely ever do by beating the Rays on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. Not only did they beat the Rays, but they won a series against them at Tropicana Field.
1. The series opener in Tampa was the best start of Jordan Montgomery’s career. The Yankees needed a big performance from someone other than Gerrit Cole, needed to set the tone for the three games and needed to beat the Rays. Montgomery was great, allowed only one run (a Mike Zunino solo home run since Zunino has to homer in every series against the Yankees) and struck out a career-high nine. He avoided the crooked number inning which has been a staple of his career, didn’t give up a lead (another staple of his career) and gave the Yankees six great innings. His next start comes on Sunday in Baltimore against the Orioles, who he has pitched well against in two starts this season (11 IP, 10 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, 1 HR, 1.64 ERA, 1.000 WHIP), so I expect him to have another big day at Camden Yards.
The only thing that worries me is Sunday will be the sixth game in six days for the Yankees as part of this season-long, 10-game road trip. A Sunday getaway day game before going to Texas for four straight games means we are going to see something resembling a spring training lineup from Aaron Boone in the series finale in Baltimore. Montgomery better have his “A” stuff because he might not get much run support.
2. No Yankees starter is really getting any run support. The Yankees scored five runs in the three games in Tampa (1.7 per game). The series prior they scored “11” runs against the Nationals, but three of those runs were a result of the automatic runner at second base in the 10th and 11th innings, so they really only scored eight runs in that series (2.7 per game). Even against the Astros, three of their 17 runs came on an Alex Bregman throwing error.
The Yankees’ offense is nowhere near having arrived in 2021. They are fourth in the division in runs (only ahead of the last-place Orioles by five), and only ahead of the Orioles and Tigers in the entire American League.
3. “I’m not worried about our offense,” DJ LeMahieu said after Thursday’s loss. “We’re in a good place.”
Three “everyday” Yankees are below the Mendoza line in Gary Sanchez (.197), Aaron Hicks (.194) and Clint Frazier (.141), as are Brett Gardner (.182), Rougned Odor (.164) and Mike Ford (.095). Miguel Andujar doesn’t have a hit in 13 at-bats and Luke Voit doesn’t have one in six.
LeMahieu himself is only hitting .264 with a .716 OPS. He has three home runs on the season and two of them came in the same game. Aaron Judge has been inconsistent, Giancarlo Stanton’s crazy two-week run has ended, Gleyber Torres has been mostly bad and Gio Urshela has been pretty good, but is hurt again, and probably won’t play on Friday.
Ronald Acuna has a league-leading 12 home runs. That’s two more home runs than LeMahieu, Frazier, Ford, Torres, Andujar, Gardner, Voit and Tyler Wade have combined. Even if you had in Jay Bruce (who retired after playing in 10 games and still has as many home runs as Torres) and Mike Tauchman (who was traded to the Giants two weeks ago), Acuna still has one more home run than all of those players combined.
The offense was supposed to be a sure-thing in the regular season until the lineup only faces elite pitching in the postseason, and the starting pitching was supposed to be the team’s biggest concern (it was, but it’s been much better of late). It’s been the opposite through 37 games and 22 percent of the season.
4. Cole has never been a concern. Cole dominated the Rays on Thursday to clinch the three-game series for the Yankees with eight shutout innings and 12 strikeouts. If not for the magical catching powers of Kyle Higashioka, I don’t know that Cole would be capable of the season he’s having, currently leading the league in wins (5), FIP (1.11), WHIP (0.684), walks per nine (0.5) and strikeouts per walks (26). Somehow, even with a 1.37 ERA over 52 2/3 innings, the Yankees are only 5-3 in his eight starts, and had to win 1-0 in his most recent start.
The offense has scored 31 runs in Cole’s eight starts (3.9 per game) and 10 of those came in one game (10-0 win on April 30 against the Tigers) when he only needed one run to work with because of his six shutout innings. Take away that game, which is the only time the Yankees have scored double-digit runs this season, and it’s 21 runs across seven games. If any other Yankees starter was given the run support Cole has been given, the Yankees would be much worse than the 5-3 they are in Cole’s starts.
5. In theory, Jameson Taillon is good. He’s 6-foot-5, 230 lbs., a former second-overall pick, throws hard and has a devastating curve. On top of that, he’s an easy guy to root for given his health and injury history. In reality, Taillon hasn’t been good as a Yankee. Sure, he’s only made seven starts, but he hasn’t given the team length (four of seven starts have been less than five innings and six of seven have been five innings or less), and the performance has been mediocre at best (5.40 ERA and 4.45 FIP).
I didn’t expect more from Taillon. He’s giving me what I thought he would as a guy who has barely pitched in two years. To me, he’s Phil Hughes. He looks like Hughes on the mound, throws exactly like Hughes with his new short-arm delivery and can’t put away hitters with two strikes, just like Hughes couldn’t. If this is what Taillon is going to be full time, then OK, he’s a solid No. 5 starter. However, that’s not what he was advertised as or traded for to be.
6. Luke Voit made his 2021 season debut on Tuesday. He played on Tuesday and on Wednesday. On Thursday, he wasn’t in the lineup. Why? A planned day off, according to Boone. A planned day off after having had already had the first month-plus of the season off. To make matters worse, the Yankees faced a lefty in Rich Hill and could have used Voit’s right-handed bat in the middle of the order.
There is no medical fact or any science behind giving a player a day off after playing two games following knee surgery. The only way to prevent a player from an injury is to not play. Ever. Does Voit having Thursday make it any less likely he won’t get hurt on Friday or Saturday? Of course not. All it did was make it so he wouldn’t get hurt on Thursday. If the Yankees have solved injury prevention as an organization then why do they hold the single-season record for most players placed on the injured list and why do all of their players keep getting hurt?
7. Aaron Hicks wasn’t in Thursday’s lineup because of wrist soreness, requiring an MRI. This comes after Hicks was held out of Tuesday’s lineup because he fouled a ball off his leg on Sunday. (He was healthy enough to play through the foul ball and finish the game on Sunday, and healthy enough to be in the original lineup on Tuesday, though not healthy enough to actually play on Tuesday.) As a Yankee, Hicks has had every injury imaginable, and this wrist issue is the latest to be added to the long list. There wasn’t an update on Hicks following the game, which isn’t good, and I expect to him at least go on the injured list. It wouldn’t be baseball season without Hicks landing on the IL at least once.
8. Gary Sanchez is quietly coming out of his slump. He’s 4-for-13 with a double, two home runs and three walks in his last four games. His average still sucks (.197), however, nearly Yankees batting average sucks.
Sanchez’s on-base percentage is up to .351 and he has walked in 15 of the 24 games he has played in, including six of the last seven. Even in Sanchez’s 33-home run 2017 season, his on-base percentage was only .345 and in his 34-home run 2019 season, his on-base percentage was .316. The power hasn’t completely been there (though four home runs in 24 games is a 27-home run pace over 162 games), but we are seeing good things out of Sanchez at the plate.
9. Meanwhile, Higashioka who briefly took over the majority of the catching duties is hitting .087/.192/.261 over this last 26 plate appearances. Thankfully for him, one of his two hits in that time was a home run (the one off Max Scherzer), otherwise his .453 OPS would be even worse than it is, and it doesn’t get much worse than that.
Again, I like Highashioka. But he’s not a starting catcher and he’s not better than Sanchez. He doesn’t have magical powers that make starting pitchers better, and he has zero to do with Cole being one of the best two or three pitchers in the world, if not the best pitcher in the world. It was only a matter of time until Higashioka gave way to Sanchez again, and it happened even faster than I thought it would.
10. The Yankees have won 14 of 20 and are 5-0-1 in their last six series. If they continue to play like they have over their last 20 games, they will be where they want to be at the end of the season and that is as AL East champions with the best record in the AL and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
The easy way to achieve that is to beat up the bad teams in the AL, and there are a lot of them. The Yankees have gone 7-3 against the Orioles and the Tigers this season, which is good, but not good enough (because of their play against the Rays and Blue Jays), considering they are only 4-3 against the Orioles. This weekend in Baltimore presents another chance for the Yankees win another series and beat up on a bad team before going to Texas for four games against another bad team.
The hard part of the 10-game road trip is over and the Yankees did what they needed to do in Tampa. A 5-2 record in Baltimore and Texas isn’t too much to ask. It shouldn’t be too much to ask.
