Schadenfreude 292: (A Continuing Series)

Greg Joyce, Post:

Fresh off getting swept by one of the league's worst teams, the Yankees came home to start a huge week with series against the top two teams in the AL East.

"It starts today," Aaron Boone said Monday morning.

The Yankees will have to give Tuesday a shot instead.

Monday, it was more of the same for the struggling Yankees' offense, which mustered just five hits in a 3-1 loss to the Rays at Yankee Stadium. . . .

After scoring only five runs on 23 hits in three games against the Tigers over the weekend — going 2-for-25 with runners in scoring position — the Yankees had only two runners in scoring position all game Monday. . . .

[The Yankees] have now scored two runs or fewer in nine of their past 12 games — a low they hadn't sunk to since 1971 . . . The result has been four straight losses and dropping six of their past seven games.

The Rays (35-20), meanwhile, have now won 16 of their past 17 to stake their claim atop the AL East, 5.5 games ahead of the Yankees (29-25), who will welcome the Red Sox to The Bronx later this week.

"We're just trying to get better," said Gio Urshela . . .

In the fifth inning, third baseman Yandy Diaz robbed DJ LeMahieu of a hit with a diving stop, then threw from his knees to start a 5-4-3 double play — the Yankees' league-worst 52nd of the season.

Kristie Ackert, Daily News:

The weekend was terrible and unfortunately for the Yankees, it extended into Monday. After being swept by the lowly Tigers in Detroit, manager Aaron Boone talked about the team being pissed off at how poorly they played and Aaron Judge said it was "unacceptable" and that the Bombers couldn't keep going to the plate, doing the same thing and expecting better results.

So, Monday afternoon, the Yankees went out and ... well, did pretty much the same thing.

After Jameson Taillon gave up three runs it was basically insurmountable for a Yankees offense that has stalled out of late. . . .

It was the fourth straight loss for the Yankees (29-25) and the sixth out of their last seven games. They have lost seven of 10 games to the American League East-leading Rays (35-20) already this season and are 5.5 games back in the division. . . .

It is the 20th time in 54 games this season that they have not managed to muster more than two runs in a game. . . .

Gio Urshela said, "We're gonna continue to keep the same approach .. . "

Urshela went 0-for-4 . . . Giancarlo Stanton is 0-for-12 with eight strikeouts since returning from the injured list on Friday night and heard the boos after his second strikeout of the day at the Stadium.

Monday, the Bombers got just three hits off 41-year-old left-handed starter Rich Hill. . . .

The Yankees had been holding it together with defense and pitching earlier this month. Sunday the Bombers had a three-error inning and Monday Gleyber Torres committed his third error in two games.

Ken Davidoff, Post:

[T]he Yankees are on pace to finish 87-75 and miss the playoffs, an outcome that would arguably represent their worst season, viewed through a macrocosmic prism of where they are in their competitive cycle, since they began their run of consecutive winning seasons in 1993.

Tough times at Yankee Stadium, the $208 million home entity falling to 3-7 this year against the $82 million visitors. With the Yankees voicing their immense respect for the Rays, both before and after this game, and the Rays commiserating with the Yankees and their horrific offense, which, at 3.74 runs per game, ties the Orioles for 13th — second-worst! — in the AL. . . .

[Jameson Taillon] allowed three runs in five-plus innings, good enough to keep a team with an adequate offense in the contest: "They play a good, hard, team game. They do a lot of things really well throughout the lineup. They got a mix of speed, a good mix of right-hand and left-hand hitters, a mix of power, a mix of contact, a mix of patience with some aggressive guys. So they throw a bunch of different looks at you. … It's a grind. They're a tough lineup."

Would you offer any of those compliments — throw in the Rays' excellent defense — to the Yankees right now? You most certainly would not. Their lack of diversity, when it comes to both handedness and speed . . . their defensive shortcomings. All of those sure matter now. The guy who had provided some diversity with his offensive approach the prior two seasons, DJ LeMahieu . . . owns a .684 OPS, an astounding 327-point drop from 2020 and 209 points from his last full campaign of 2019. Not a very promising start to Year 1 of his six-year, $90 million extension.