The Yankees dropped another one against Tampa Bay. Looking listless again today, if a panic button exists, find it!
If the Yankees don’t know it, by now, their fans surely do – this is serious, folks.
Five hits produced only one run today, tallying yet another league-leading grounding in double plays (averaging one a game), with another throwing error by a suddenly relapsing Gleyber Torres. At the same time, Jameson Taillon needed 85 pitches over five innings to surrender all three Tampa Bay runs.
17,000 fans at Yankees Stadium could not have been less thrilled as the Yankees have now dropped their fourth straight and six of their last ten to fall 5.5 games behind the Rays, and five in the all-important loss column.
Paint the kettle even more black, you say. Hear this, the Yankees face no one but the Rays and the Boston Red Sox for the rest of this week, and Gerrit Cole can only pitch once.
They say hitting is contagious, and the Yankees are going out of their way to prove the baseball axiom – except they’re on the wrong end of the theorem.
A quick scan of today’s box score shows a team all dressed up with nowhere to go, with the same list of characters who haven’t been hitting, still not hitting.
Yankees: We Ain’t Buying It Anymore, Aaron
Gone are the days when Aaron Boone can meet with reporters, saying it’s early and sooner or later these guys will start to hit – and we’ll be just fine.
It’s no longer believable, and worse if Boone still has trust in his words, he needs a sitdown with a new guru besides the analytics he reads every night before making out the next game’s lineup.
You know the culprits, and it’s easier at this point simply to name Aaron Judge and Gio Urshela as the only two Yankees pulling their weight this year.
Surrendering three runs by the Yankees pitching staff as they did today is not a crime. Still, as the season wears on, it’s worrisome that the pitching can last with Corey Kluber gone, with Deivi Garcia and Michael King having difficulty picking up the slack and in need of more fine-tuning in the minor leagues.
Over the last few days, we’ve rued about the Yankees’ plight and what can be done about it, first assessing blame at the doorstep of principal owner Hal Steinbrenner, allowing Brian Cashman to exceed the luxury tax limit.
Readers chimed in, though, leaving the issue with Cashman and his misfiring trades and free-agent signings while effectively wasting the millions Steinbrenner has sent his way over the years.
Others point to Aaron Boone, who, besides over-relying on the number sent to him every day, is open to criticism regarding the use of his soon to be an overworked bullpen, sticking with Gary Sanchez, and for allowing the listless team he once called “Savages” to go on their unmerry way with no accountability for their underperformance.
Yankees: There’s No Way Out
Fix the blame anywhere it belongs, but the bottom line is this Yankees team is stuck in a quagmire, with its origins mired in the past and no way out today.
The Yankees can’t erase the $29 million they are paying Giancarlo Stanton this year, nor can they erase the load he carries on team payroll through 2028, when he will be 38.
Some of it is simply bad luck with good players and bodies that cannot withstand the challenge of a sport that extends over six months and 162 games.
Beyond Stanton, Luke Voit is beginning to look like another one of those players. Aaron Hicks has long been an invalid who’s supposed to be the Yankees centerfielder, as the benefactor of a $70 million contract awarded to him by Brian Cashman.
If the playoffs started today, the Yankees would be sitting at home watching the two Wild Card teams, the Red Sox and Indians, fight it out for a chance to advance.
I am not usually the one that handles it, nor is it your job to figure this thing out, but from the outside looking in, this is shaping up to rapidly becoming a lost cause for even the most strident Yankees’ fan…
Author’s Correction
My apologies and thanks to several readers who pointed out an error when I misstated that the Rays have won 16 of the last 17 games against the Yankees. In fact, the Rays have indeed won 16 of their last 17, but they’ve done so against the entire league.
Here’s What Readers Are Saying…
John Allan Boy, this is so true. If Boone & Cashman don’t figure it out, we will be sitting home in October.
Matt Kelly Steve Contursi did you even read the article that said the rays have won for the 16th time in their last 17 games which is right not their last 17 games against the Yankees you just need to change that part
Author’s Note: Others have pointed to the same discrepancy, but I have to stick with the headline on MLB’s website that reads –
Hill helps Rays stymie Yankees, win 16th of 17
Edward Sperl Yankees finding out spending big bucks does not guarantee a winner.
Joel Bonnell I don’t think there’s anything wrong with this team and the talent that they have
Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona. Not all holes, or games, are created equal.
