"No, this can't be happening... here we go again?"
At this point, we should eat a big spoonful of crapola about our 14-game lead, pretending it will matter in October. But we know what a division title buys -a bye and a home field advantage. Meanwhile, we are watching an agonizingly slow YES-Mo meltdown of the 2022 Yankees, happening so microscopically that we barely notice the wheels in our rearview mirror. Last night, Boston kicked our bleeding, sorry butts, and by this time next month, their glaring weakness, starting pitchers, will be fortified by Chris Sale, Nathan Eaovaldi, Rich Hill, Michael Wacha and Garret Whitlock.
Meanwhile, we'll wait for Albert Abreu to - I dunno - do what? Is Brian Weber available? Has anyone seen Clarke Schmidt? The Yankees are flailing and floundering, and we feel the swirl of a drain beneath our feet.
Okay, look, we all knew there'd be speed bumps. And despite the glorious YES TV graphics, this is not the greatest team in history. It sure was wonderful back when our starting rotation was a five-man firing squad, but right now, it's Gerrit Cole and the cast of Stranger Things? And even Cole is sort no sure unstrange thing.
And we can't beat Boston.
But we split, you say? Listen: When you lose the last two of a four-game set, you lost the series. You leave with a burgeoning crisis, and they leave on a jelly roll.
This is not one of those how'bout dat! vagaries of the game, where the mighty Yankees just can't seem to beat lowly KC. This is fucking Boston. This is fucking Houston. The two most hated rivals on our schedule. These are teams we'll face in October, teams we must beat in order to make 2022 anything more than a cruel practical joke, played on us by the Fates. Nobody will remember - or, for that matter, give a flying fuck - what happens in the All Star Game.
You feel the ground starting to sway.
1. Aaron Judge has sore legs. Or that's what they say. Thus far, he's been incredible - a testimony to the power of sniffing for a big contract. But we cannot forget Judge's first full season - a magnificent first-half, followed by an injury-plagued August and September. Not saying Judge won't continue to rake. But we've been here before, and if he slumps, there is nobody - nobody - to replace him.
2. Jamison Tailion has become a Five Day Deodorant Pad in a six-day heat wave. Last night, when we pulled out to a 4-0 lead, did anybody think it would last? The guy needs to be rested or replaced. I'm tired of hearing how smart Cashman was to get him from Pittsburgh. He just got whacked by Pittsburgh. And last night... ugh.
3. Aroldis Chapman remains, at best, a princess with a pea. Technically, last night wasn't his fault - when does DJ LeMahieu botch two pop flies? But with a baserunner on first, El Chapo unraveled like a 14-year-old on his first date. He couldn't throw strikes. Good grief, this guy is no rookie. He's a grizzled vet, not Adele. But here's the reality: At any moment, Chapman can come completely unglued. Imagine the implications for October? I mean, we will be facing Garbage Can Altuve, not Brigadoon Refsnyder.
4. We can tout the looming additions of Domingo German and Jonathan Loaisiga, but neither was pitching all that well when they departed. For German, it's been a long, long layoff. I'm not even sure who was President. But when he left a month ago, Loaisiga hadn't been anything close to the pitcher he was in 2021. We don't know who will return.
Today, one question burns: How do we beat Boston and Houston in October? The honest answer: We probably won't. Here we go again...
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28 comments:
Shaky starters. Errors. Bullpen meltdown.
Gird your loins. Prepare for the worst.
August is coming
el duque you have proven that the Yanks are built for the regular season and not the playoffs. We've been screaming this for years now...
I was watching the Kay-Rod cast for a little while last night. Arod mentioned "The personality of the game" not referencing anyone. My wife heard that and said something to the effect that he didn't sound intelligent talking about the subject. After awhile, I had to turn it off...in fact, the whole weekend of Fox and ESPN, sans David Cone, was more than horrible for announcers. It's a far cry from the days of Mel Allen and Vin Scully and Red Barber...whatever they have now borders on unlistenable annoying chatter. The Fox people were the worst...really...the worst...they like didn't do any studying on the teams there were covering...like at all...
When the starters were on that hot streak, a little voice in my head said it was all a mirage, a happy but very transitory period that would end when all of the starters fell back to earth and reverted to their means.
As for the bullpen, it's been clear for some time that Castro sucks, Peralta has become completely derailed, and that King and Holmes are the only two pitchers we can count on. Maybe Sears, too, but he never showed during the two disasters this weekend. Abreu can be good, he has been, but he's not.
Where IS Clarke Schmidt, anyway?
So, just like the past few years, we have Cole (not an ace) and nobody reliable. We have King and Holmes, who are only human, and nobody reliable. And we still have Chapman, but he's become a hopeless head case regardless of the state of his Achilles.
The All-Star break cannot come soon enough. Cashman cannot make moves fast enough, and he won't really try until this all continues into August.
Suddenly, the Team of Destiny and Wonder has lost its luster and been exposed for what it really is. The Team of Elmer's Glue and Baling Wire.
JM
Don't forget duct tape.
That was fucking pathetic.
So HOF Cashman is going to trade all the prospects for some washed up pitchers who will wilt in October against real team. Hopefully this year will be it for this loser.
Boston still needs to make the playoffs and win the Wild Card series before they'd have a chance to face us. Only a thin 3 games in the loss column is the difference between making the playoffs and being out of the picture for Boston at the moment. The Rays, Blue Jays, and Mariners all look quite competitive, and out of nowhere the Orioles are gaining steam. And that three-game Wild Card series will dash the hopes of many teams.
I know we're supposed to be doom and gloom today, but frankly the Red Sox did not look that impressive to me. They were very lucky to get a series split. Their defense looks absolutely atrocious. Have these guys ever played at Fenway before?
I am legitimately worried about both Jameson Taillon and Nestor Cortes though. Both seem to have hit a wall lately. Last six starts for both:
Jameson Taillon 6.54 ERA/5.25 FIP, 2.27 HR/9, 5.2 IP per start
Nestor Cortes 5.34 ERA/ 6.03 FIP, 2.83 HR/9, 4.2 IP per start
I think the Yankees need to pick up an extra starter so we can start easing their workload a bit.
The good news is that Aaron Hicks has returned to life. Since June 1, he's hitting .282/.393/.505 (.898 OPS) in 122 PA. That's a pleasant surprise.
The Rays are dead. Toronto? Treading water, on the verge of drowning. Baltimore has gotten respectable these days and is no longer a pushover. Watch out.
Splitting the Fenway series was a mirage. It was good to get a split, but those last two games were ugly. The Yankees have only themselves to blame.
And Zach, you nailed it.
They've both hit a wall primarily because they've not racked up innings like this before: Taillon pitched 144 innings last year after accumulating 34IP in 2019 and none in 2020, so he's reaching a serious threshold. He was on his way to a 200+IP in 2018 before his arm fell off, so who knows what we're going to get in the second half. But I fear the worst.
Nestor has never gone beyond 93IP in his career, so, again, who knows what we're going to get in the second half. But I fear the worst.
Sunday and Lasagna are wild cards; it's impossible to say what they have, but I suspect some fresh arms will help. The bullpen must be exhausted and El Chapo is useless.
As for Hicks, wait for the inevitable visit to the IL. In eight of the ten years he's been in the league, he's AVERAGED 69 games per year. He's at 75 now.
Tick...tick...tick...
A few days ago, I thought the inevitable collapse had started. Now, it's confirmed. This team ain't even getting to the World Series this year, much less winning it. If they do win it all, to my mind, it would be the greatest upset in sporting history. Because this team ain't got "the right stuff".
What is infuriating is that they already have all the guys they need in the minors. Where the hell are Sears, Schmidt, Miggy, Florial? They don't need to make a trade for somebody else's garbage. All they have to do is to give the kids a chance. But they won't do it. They'd rather acquire more re-treads and castoffs who are a tweak away from missing the rest of the season.
The burning question, then, is why? Are Cashman & Co. so stupid that they refuse to see youth and talent as the things that put this team over the top?
No, I go back to something that I've been seeing with this franchise for more than a decade now. Yankee management does not really want to win. I do get the feeling that Prince Hal and the Brain have been worried this year. But they're breathing easier now.
Dumb Wealthy Loser no. 1: "What can we do to torpedo this year, when our accountants are saying that we're on the threshold of making too much money and having to pay exorbitant income taxes? What if... what if... what if we win the championship? Our tax situation will explode like a 4th of July pinata."
Smart Wealthy Loser no. 2: "Easy does it, better keep those kids down on the farm, keep throwing losers out there like Gallo & Castro. Eventually, either the team collapses down the stretch and fails to make the playoffs or they run into Houston or Boston, who'll apply the coup de grace. Problem solved."
Yes we need pitching.
Tallion needs a rest and a retool. The league is on to him and his multiple pitches. He should go back to his best two or three for now.
(Really liked the 5-day deodorant line BTW)
Nestor is now predictably unpredictable and has a higher opinion of his stuff than the batters do.
But these two losses - the fault lies with Boone.
We scored five and six runs and even though it's Fenway we had leads that should have been sufficient in both games.
So, let's look at some pitching decisions.
1) Leaving Tallion in LONG after it was obvious he was done.
2) Bringing in Wandy to face three righties in a row with the game on the line when he is murder on lefties and only serviceable at best against righties.
You could see it on his face. He was facing the wrong guys.
One last thing...
It seems like every time we have a chance to really crush Boston's spirit and put them away for the season we don't. Big games. National Games. The Yankees play differently and some how and come up small.
We even lost the stupid Field of Dreams game.
Bright Lights is our Kryptonite.
Uh oh...
I was watching the Saturday night game with an old friend (all of my friends are old) who is a Sox fan. One topic we were able to agree upon was how terrible AJ Pierzniski (sic) 's "analysis" was. The "bench" that robbed elite relievers of their energy. And of course the "3-2 pitch with two outs and runners on base being an important pitch in the ballgame." But the two worst thing: the stupid split screen interviews while the game was going on;, and Sunday, the miked up Verdugo in left field. I kept rooting for someone to hit a ball in his direction and for him to be slow to react because he was chatting with the nimcompoops in the broadcast booth. The scariest event for me began at the beginning of the game while I was searching for the broadcast and initally landed on Kay and A Rod split screening the live action with their insipid commentary. I thought I was going to have to listen to them and their irrelevant guests for the over 4 hours it takes the Sox and Yankees to play the game. Eventually my rational inner self figured out that the blowhard Kay and the dim witted A Rod couldn't possibly be the telecast for the game, there must be an actual live presentation of the game that wouldn't require me to stare at the sloppily dressed Kay and ARod while the game was going on. What a hellish experience.
YDR -
I'm still not sure who A-rod's audience really is. Does ANYBODY like him? I notice he's out of the Sunday booth now. Maybe he's under contract and they need to find something for him to do.
@Doug K., I agree with you that Ba-Boone effed up the last two games. He left Montgomery in too long and almost blew that game in the 6th. Then he really did blow it in the 10th with the strange choice of Wandy Peralta. Lefties don't do well in Fenway. Freakin' everybody knows that. And here is Ba-Boone, the resident trained ape pressing blinking buttons on the rocket ship's control console.
Ma & Pa Yankee were talking about how Whitey Ford never started a game in Fenway his entire career. (I didn't know that.) It would have been clever of the Yankees to start Sears and Schmidt and push back Cortes and Montgomery. Or use 'em out of the bullpen to get a couple of lefties out. Flexibility is not the Yankees's forte. We sure could've used Sears and Schmidt in this series, huh?
Baseball America released its midseason Top 100 Prospects list this morning.
Anthony Volpe is down eight spots to no. 16.
Oswald Peraza is down 18 spots to no. 79.
Jasson Dominguez has fallen off the list entirely. He's hitting .262/.371/.438 for Tampa with a 27.3 K%.
No other Yankee prospects made the list. No Austin Wells, Ken Waldichuk, etc.
I tend to trust Baseball America more than MLB Pipeline and some other outlets that tend to overhype the Yankee farm system. So this is not great news.
When you have a titan like Harold at the helm...
When you have a genius like The Intern running the show...
When you have a four-star general like Boooone dictating strategy...
When the team is playing well, they all look like masters of the universe. Pull back the curtain and this is what you get. A lot of tired old men and retreads enjoying the mild weather.
Man the battle stations. August is coming.
We have a really good team when the starters consistently go six innings. When they don't our thin bullpen gets exposed. The starters have run into the long feared innings barrier. Better call for Luis Castillo.
Bartolo Colon is only 49 or 50. Just saying.
I'm so thankful I don't have to deal with baseball tonight.
Zach, as usual, with the telling stats. And they're not good!
It WAS a mirage, DickAllen, you're right—particularly after Devers got hurt. We should have had them by the short-and-curlies.
And Doug K., you hit the nail on the head. This goes all the way back to Torre, letting the Sox get away with the mugging of our team in Fenway, in 2004.
We constantly refuse to admit the BoSox are our rival. Yes, they are—especially after 4 rings in the last 18 years. They are, as well, consistently the best-funded, best-managed challenge to us in the AL.
Coops and HAL, and their various minions all like to pretend that it's all the same to us. Nope. This is the team we need to beat first, close to home. We threw away a great chance to put a big hurt on them this weekend.
Reynolds (Bryan) is a wrap now that he's been sidelined with an oblique strain.
Anyone have Gardy's cell phone number?
I wanted to call him to see if he could give Andujar a ride to Yankee Stadium tomorrow.
Don't go around tonight,
well it's bound to take your life,
There's a bad moon in the rise.
I hear the voice of rage and ruin.
So, it turns out this blog is really an online support group for victims of "Pinstripe Trauma Syndrome Disorder," or...uh...PTSD.
That was my thought after reading these comments.
Oh well. At least I'm in the right place.
Love it, Bitty!
Incidentally, Hammer: Contrary to what Ma and Pa said, Whitey Ford DID start games in Fenway.
11 of them, all told. He was often hit harder than he was elsewhere...but the Chairman of the Board did gut it out to go 7-4 in those games. He also pitched several times in relief.
Boy, you can't trust anyone anymore!
Thanks, Hoss. It did sound incredible: Whitey Ford never ever started a game in Fenway?
Like the Captain's song in the Gilbert & Sullivan farce H.M.S. Pinafore, when the sailors question the Captain's line that he was never ever sick at sea. "No, never?" asketh the sailors. "Well, hardly ever" admiteth the Captain!
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