The Yankees lost another game and lost another game to the Mets. But they didn’t really have a chance in the 3-2 loss thanks to their manager.
Here are 10 thoughts on the Yankees.
1. “You can’t predict baseball,” John Sterling famously said on the radio for decades. Unfortunately, John, sometimes you can.
The Yankees lost to the Mets four hours before the game started on Tuesday when they posted their lineup for Game 103 of the season at 3:05 p.m.
Jahmai Jones, DH
Juan Soto, RF
Aaron Judge, CF
J.D. Davis, 1B
Anthony Volpe, SS
Gleyber Torres, 2B
Alex Verdugo, LF
Carlos Narvaez, C
DJ LeMahieu, 3B
There were some dark lineups during the 2013 season when Eduardo Nunez, Ben Francisco, Kevin Youkilis, Travis Hefner, Lyle Overbay, Vernon Wells, Jayson Nix, Chris Stewart, Reid Brignac, Brendan Ryan, Brent Lillibridge and David Adams were Yankees, but Tuesday’s lineup would go toe-to-toe with any of those.
Boone thought loading up with seven right-handed hitters against the left-handed Jose Quintana would throw off the 35-year-old veteran, completely disregarding that every right-handed Yankees hitter other than Judge sucks.
And yes, this was Boone’s lineup. After the 2020 ALDS loss to the Rays, when asked if he’s a puppet for the front office, Boone said, “Ultimately, I’m writing out the lineup and I’m making these decisions.” Prior to the 2022 season, on CC Sabathia’s podcast, Boone said, “No one’s ever made a lineup for me. I make the lineup.” Any Yankees fan who has watched Boone mismanage and ruin countless games in his six-plus years as Yankees manager knows this was his lineup. There’s no Ivy League graduate, analytics guru or data scientist who would ever come up with, support or defend a lineup like Tuesday’s.
2. After going 4-for-8 on Sunday and Monday, Oswaldo Cabrera was on the bench. The Yankees’ third-best hitter in Austin Wells (.844 OPS over the last two months) was also on the bench. Trent Grisham and his Gold Glove defense and ability to run into one was next to Cabrera and Wells on the bench (earlier this season Boone justified using Grisham against a lefty because he said Grisham is a reverse splits guy). Ben Rice, who was allowed to start against Chris Sale, would have apparently been overmatched by Quintana, so he too was on the bench.
A day after the Yankees plated their most runs (nine) in more than half a month, Boone couldn’t just let things stay as they were. If used, I didn’t expect the lineup from Monday to put up nine runs again since Monday’s game was likely just the type of random outburst the 2024 Yankees provide and nothing more, but couldn’t we at least find out?
3. Boone penciled in Jones as his leadoff hitter. The 26-year-old with a career .535 OPS and 48 OPS+ who entered the game with just 44 plate appearances in 102 games this season was going to set the table for Soto and Judge. He hit a weak ground ball to third in his first at-bat, struck out on four pitches in his second and struck out again in his third. When his spot came up a fourth time, Boone had seen enough and removed him for a pinch hitter.
4. Protecting Judge, Boone decided the best man for the job would be Davis. Davis was released by the Giants in spring training. He then signed with the A’s and was released by them on June 23 after hitting .236/.304/.366. The A’s are on pace to lose right around 100 games again. Do you know how bad you have to suck to get released by them? Davis entered the game 1-for-13 with six strikeouts as a Yankee and hadn’t started a game since July 3. He struck out in his first at-bat, hit into an inning-ending double play in his second and struck out in his third. Guess what happened in his fourth trip to the plate? Boone removed him for a pinch hitter.
5. Carlos Narvaez got his first major-league start behind the plate. After singling in his first major-league at-bat over the weekend, he went 0-for-2 with two strikeouts. He was also pinch-hit for.
All three of Jones, Davis and Narvaez were removed early for pinch hitters. The trio went a combined 0-for-8 with six strikeouts and one double play.
6. “We’ll get the middle of the order settled here in the comings days,” Boone said. “It changes the equation a little bit.”
Certainly having Giancarlo Stanton bat behind Judge is a better option than Davis, but Stanton isn’t going to come save the season. The Yankees aren’t getting 2018 Stanton. And while Stanton has been good this season, it’s already been more than a month since he last played, so who knows how he will be for the remainder of the season, and if he will even be healthy for the rest of the year.
7. Soto and Judge were held down, and when that happens the Yankees don’t have a chance when the players who should be playing are playing, let alone when Boone gives away a game with an early-March, spring training lineup. Soto went 0-for-4 with a walk and the Mets walked Judge four times. In the one plate appearance in which they pitched to Judge he didn’t do anything.
That one plate appearance came in the ninth inning. Soto walked with one out against the wild lefty Jake Diekman and with Soto on first, the Mets couldn’t walk Judge and put Soto into scoring position as the tying run. Diekman’s first pitch to Judge was a 96-mph fastball in the zone and Judge took it, likely surprised that the Mets were pitching to him and that Diekman was able to throw a first-pitch strike after walking Soto on four pitches. Judge took a changeup for a ball, fouled off a changeup, took a fastball for a ball, and then at 2-2, took a second 96-mph fastball for strike 3 on the inner half.
Judge is a .216/.322/.431 in late-and-close situations this season (plate appearances in the seventh inning or later with the Yankees tied, ahead by one or with the tying run at least on deck). He’s a .325/.447/.662 hitter when the Yankees lead by more than four runs.
8. Was Boone surprised the Mets pitched around Judge in his first four plate appearances with Davis as his protection?
“Different teams, different approaches,” Boone said in an annoyed manner.
Yes, different teams, different approaches, indeed. While the Mets are willing to put Judge on first base and make someone else beat them, the Yankees are more than happy to continue to pitch to Rafael Devers and let him single-handedly beat them. In all four of Judge’s walks, he never reached second base.
9. The problems the Yankees went in to the All-Star break with thinking they would be magically resolved after a four-day layoff are still present. After splitting a home series against the willing-to-sell Rays, the Yankees remain winless against the Mets (0-3) in the 2024 Subway Series. The Orioles and Royals lost, but the Red Sox won, so the Yankees’ loss-column lead on a postseason spot is three games. It was 13 games on June 14.
10. After Wednesday’s season series finale against the Mets, the Yankees have Thursday off before heading out on the road for six games against the Red Sox and Phillies. The Yankees are 11-22 since June 13, and for as bad as things have been since then, they could get a lot worse if the offense doesn’t show up over the next seven games, or if the manager doesn’t allow it to.
Last modified: Jul 24, 2024
