A big series, a huge series is upcoming for the Yankees against Boston. ...Fred Kerber, Post:
So look ahead. Do not look back — especially at the past few days. We're talking Mona Lisa with facial hair ugly, including a doubleheader sweep by Cleveland on Wednesday. ...
The frustration began in the first inning and never stopped. The Yankees dropped the opener, 2-1, when Cleveland did its scoring in the first inning. Then, in the first inning of Game 2, the Indians sent 10 men to the plate, scored four times and won, 9-4, their seventh straight win and the Yankees’ third consecutive loss before an announced crowd of 39,598. ...
[CC Sabathia said] "We're in a good spot." ...
The spot though isn't nearly as good as it once was. After the Red Sox defeated Toronto 7-1 on Wednesday night, they enter the series 5.5 games up on the second-place Yankees, whose wild-card perch is suddenly not overly attractive, either. ...
Normally, a doubleheader against a division leader this time of year would be a big deal by itself.
But with the Yankees set to take on the Red Sox in a four-game steel cage death match where the games promise to be "the most important" of the season, according to Yanks manager Joe Girardi, the rainout-induced doubleheader at the Stadium against Cleveland on Wednesday became something of an undercard. ...
[I]t's not like Yankees-Red Sox is a matter of life and death. Nope.
It's bigger than that.
Mike Mazzeo, Daily News:
Gary Sanchez's woes behind the plate continued, and they cost the Yankees big-time in a 2-1 loss to the Indians on Wednesday in Game 1 of their doubleheader at Yankee Stadium. The Bombers are now 15-23 in one-run games.PASSEDBALLA!
Sanchez, who has struggled with his blocking all season, committed his 13th passed ball of the year on a low fastball that didn't even hit the dirt in the first inning. The miscue allowed Francisco Lindor to score from third for Cleveland's first run of the game. ...
The Yankees had a great chance to tie things up in the seventh. But Aaron Hicks (strikeout) and Sanchez (flyout) were unable to drive home Ronald Torreyes from second with one out. The Bombers went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position on the day, stranding eight. ...
Sanchez's 13 passed balls are the most by a Yankees catcher since Jorge Posada also had 13 in 2007 (1,111 innings). Sanchez committed his 13th in his 693th inning behind the plate, according to baseball researcher Katie Sharp.
Stefan Bondy, Daily News:
Gary Sanchez's bad defense is baffling Joe Girardi.
After the catcher allowed another passed ball Wednesday -- a crucial one that represented Sanchez's AL-leading 13th of the season -- Girardi had no explanation.
"I can't tell you why. Those are things we continue to work on with him. It's unfortunate," Girardi said. ... "It's unfortunate." ...
"I tried to catch it, and I dropped it," [Sanchez] said, before adding later, "It's something that happens in games. I'm not perfect." ...
Sanchez was moved to DH for Game 2 of the doubleheader Wednesday, which the Yanks lost, 9-4. ...
Sanchez also had a rough day at the plate, going a combined 1-for-8 while grounding into a pair of double plays.
Since jumping in on a brawl and wailing on unsuspecting Miguel Cabrera and Nicholas Castellanos a week ago, Sanchez is just 4-for-25 with zero runs and one RBI. As a result of those punches he has a likely suspension looming, which will probably help the Yanks' defense.
Mike Mazzeo, Daily News:
So much for gaining any sort of momentum.Mike Mazzeo, Daily News:
The Yankees started the week just 2.5 games behind the Red Sox in the AL East. But after getting swept by the Indians it's back to 5.5 again as Boston heads back to the Bronx for a four-game series.
The Bombers fell to the Tribe for the third-consecutive time, losing 9-4 in Game 2 of Wednesday's straight doubleheader at Yankee Stadium.
Boston completed its own sweep of Toronto on Wednesday night ...
The Yankees scored just seven total runs against the AL Central-leading Indians in the series.
Judge received a two-day physical and mental break on Monday and Tuesday in which he did not participate in any baseball activities. ...
"I've got ice on my shoulders, my knees. I wish I could ice my whole body. I've got to ice it every day. The whole body is kind of beat up," Judge admitted on Wednesday morning. ...
Judge was hitting just .179/.341/.352 since the All-Star break entering Game 1 ...
John Harper, Daily News:
With the Red Sox coming to town looking now to bury them in the AL East, the slumping Yankees desperately need someone to pump life into their sputtering offense, and more than ever all eyes turn to Aaron Judge.
It's a huge burden for a rookie, perhaps unfair in some ways, but in truth the Yankees aren't serious contenders without Judge's unexpected first-half heroics, and if he can't bust out of his killer slump this team may not even make it to October.
As such, Wednesday's doubleheader sweep at the hands of the Indians was even more crushing than it sounds for the home team, in that Judge's two-day break from baseball provided no miracle cure for his struggles.
Not that he had a terrible day, going 1-for-4 with an infield single to deep short, a walk and two strikeouts for the day, including a pinch-hit whiff to end the first game.
And afterward Judge said he was encouraged, saying, "I felt like I was swinging at the right pitches," which he believes is his road map out of the dark forest that is his .182 batting average since the All-Star break.
Still, there was nothing that stood out as a reason to think it was any sort of breakthrough day, and so you can't help but wonder where this Yankee season is heading now. ...
In any case, the Yankees have no choice but to keep Judge in the lineup, because it's not like the other outfielders are lighting it up these days.
Mostly Judge is either going to hit his way out of his slump or the Yankees might be in some real trouble in September.
When [Aaron] Judge was benched this week, Yankees manager Joe Girardi called it a "mental day," which is a nice modern euphemism. Judge has gone from the American League MVP in the first half to the guy the Yankees would rather substitute Jacoby Ellsbury for on some days.
If Judge is going to rebound, the club needs him to be not just better, but luckier.
In 84 games over the first half, he hit .329 with 30 homers and 66 RBIs. His 1.139 OPS was Barry Bonds-like. He struck out a lot, nearly three out of every 10 at-bats, the 11th-worst rate in baseball. He mitigated that by walking a ton (61 times). His "walk is as good as a hit" approach allowed him to reach base at a .448 clip.
In 41 games in the second half, he is hitting just .179 with seven homers and 16 RBIs. His second-half OPS is an Ellsbury-like .692. His strikeouts have increased to nearly 36 percent of his at-bats, the third-worst rate in baseball. ...
Girardi isn't chasing World Series No. 28, the number on his back, as much as he is chasing first place in the American League East ... [T]here are high stakes for everybody the rest of the way, maybe none bigger than the Yankee manager's. ...
[Girardi] is at the end of a four-year contract ...
The Yankees haven't won the East since 2012. The Yankees haven't won a playoff game since Game 5 of a Division Series against the Orioles that year. Girardi is in his 10th year managing ... He has made the playoffs five times, missed four times. Now he tries to get his team, with so little muscle memory about real postseason success, to rouse itself over the next [30] games and look like a big team again. ...
[T]he Yankees haven't been the Yankees for a long time. ...
[T]hey have been a sub-.500 team now for nearly 100 games since they started out 21-9. ...
With all that, the division is still sitting there for them. The Red Sox are coming to town ... Chance, for one Labor Day weekend, for them to look like the Yankees again, if any of them can remember how. Starting with the manager.
2 comments:
Couldn't have been more annoyed at the Judge love earlier this year. Supposedly reasonable sports writers, like the enlightened group at Fangraphs were also head over heels for Judge, some going as far as to say they would take Judge's next 5 years over Mookie's.
The guy is 25 and has no track record of success. His BABIP was like .450 going into the all star break.
All this did was expose the media's enormous desire to fawn over a yankee. Never mind the true stars in Trout and Harper. No one can be the face of the sport but a Yankee which makes me sick.
*squee!*
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