Epitaph of the 2018 Yankees: They always pissed us off

Last night, as the Rays were taking command, Suzyn Waldman blew a gasket. Once again, she said, this Yankee team cannot sustain a winning streak. She'd thought winning the first two in Tampa would launch something, a charge that  captured the Wild Card home field. After all, the Rays no longer cared. They were phoning it in. Sweep the series, and the Yanks could sleepwalk through Boston this weekend, knowing the games didn't matter.

Nope, didn't happen. Not our style. 

Instead, the Yankees pissed a game away in the eighth, and then gave their fans a pineapple colonoscopy in the ninth, losing by one. Oakland won on the West Coast, and our magic number remains stuck at two with four games to go. We can still lose that advantage. And, frankly, nothing in the 2018 Yankee fossil record suggests this team is above such a Met-like collapse.

If I were the A's, Redsocks - or anybody, for that matter - to beat the Yankees in October, I would simply do the following:

1. Never give Miguel Andujar a first-pitch strike. Throw them in the dirt. He loves to swing at the first pitch. Last night, with the Rays' closer looking wild as a dingo, Andjuar popped up the first pitch, which was well off the plate. He is a great hitting talent. He is not a smart player.

2. Add a base-stealer to your roster. Want to wreck the Yankee bullpen closers? Replace a man on first with a speed demon, a David Roberts. It blows the mind of Dellin Betances. Frankly, it does everyone's. Gary Sanchez won't call sliders in the dirt. You can launch a huge inning. One runner, that's all.

3. Run out every grounder. Andujar double-clutches on routine plays, sometimes throwing late to first. With the exception of Didi, the infield is weak, defensively. Any ball can be kicked, any throw short-hopped. 

4. Don't be afraid to walk Aaron Judge. The batters behind him, especially Giancarlo Stanton, are a train wreck. (And Didi will be hitting with a bad wrist.) For some reason, the Yankees hope this will magically change, that the 3-4-5 in the order will start producing. But last night, it was stunning to see Luke Voit batting third. It's as if Boone were throwing in the towel, going with whomever is hot. Not long ago, Voit was hitting eighth. Now, third? Amazing.

5. Bring in fresh pitchers constantly. The Yankees don't do well against the Tampa model. For the Redsocks, simply bring in Stephen Wright, the knuckleballer. The Yankees cannot touch him, and they will not change their swings to accommodate the change. He can throw multiple innings, multiple games. His very presence will change a game.

Listen: It's been a decent year, in wins and losses. Trouble is, this was supposed to be something more. This was going to be the season that launched a Yankee resurgence, maybe even a dynasty. All that young talent - Judge, Sanchez, Bird, Frazier, Torres - they were going to be cresting. Now... I dunno. I guess we could still get hot, but the omens are everywhere. And Suzyn had it right:

The single most consistent aspect of the 2018 Yankees is that whenever they seem to jell, they leave us unfulfilled. And the greatest disappointment is probably yet to come.

(Both Mustang and I will be exhibiting at the Baltimore ComicCon this weekend. If you happen to be in the neighborhood, look for the AHOY Comics table and say hello. Also, forgive me in advance if my posts look a bit ragged. Hangovers can do that to you.)