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June 29, 2021

Schadenfreude 303 (A Continuing Series)

When we last saw the fourth-place Yankees, it was Sunday afternoon and the underachieving New Yorkers had lost their sixth consecutive game of the season to the first-place Boston Red Sox.

What has happened since then?

David Lazar, Post:

Just when you think things can not get worse for the Yankees, they do.

They can't stay healthy. They can't hit. They can't pitch. And apparently, their equipment truck can't drive, either.

As if things couldn't get any worse for the Yankees this weekend. Check out the equipment truck trying to get out of town.

After a 9-2 loss to the Red Sox in Boston Sunday afternoon, the team truck driver hit a garage door exiting onto Jersey St. The truck was stuck idle as its top was caught behind a bent metal fortress, creating a spectacle for onlooking Red Sox fans to take joy in.

Kristie Ackert, Daily News:

It may be June, but the signs are already there. The mocking back pages, the level of ire rising from callers on sports talk radio screaming for the manager and general manager to be fired and the fans at the games screaming out their displeasure after every strikeout and groundout in to a double play.

The Yankees returned to the Bronx on Monday, tail between their legs after getting swept for the second time this season by the Red Sox, and knowing they are running out of time.

"Our season is on the line," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. . . . "We've dug ourselves a little bit of a hole in the division, obviously. The good news is we still are in complete control of the script." . . .

The calls for Aaron Boone to be replaced with a more emotive and fiery manager have gone from a whisper after last season to a loud chorus this season. . . .

The Yankees will be at the halfway point of the schedule at the end of this [Angels] series and time for a turnaround is dwindling. They have 13 games left against the Red Sox, including an 11-game stretch coming out of the All-Star break where they face them eight times. They have six left against the Rays and seven more against the Blue Jays, who are all ahead of them in the division standings.

That's not a lot of games to directly make up ground, but the Yankees have to find a way to dig themselves out of this. They said it: Their season is on the line every night from here on out.

Peter Botte, Post:

The Yankees made no significant lineup or personnel changes after they alarmingly were swept in Boston over the weekend, but Aaron Boone didn't mince words as his fourth-place team returned to The Bronx to face two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani and the Angels.

Boone bluntly stated multiple times that the Yankees' "season is on the line" entering the four-game set that began Monday against the Halos at the Stadium. . . .

The Yankees entered this homestand with a 40-37 overall record, 6½ games behind Boston in the AL East. . . .

"We're getting to the middle of the season. There's a lot of calendar that's gone off the clock already. . . . I think . . . we have in the guys in that room to do something special.

There's a lot of calendar that's gone off the clock.

Is English Boone's first language?

Kristie Ackert, Daily News:

Taking fire for the Yankees disastrous start to the season, Boone will still likely finish this season — the last on his contract. Yankees GM Brian Cashman has not fired a manager or coach in a season in his career and is unlikely to suddenly change the way he goes about his job. Owner Hal Steinbrenner has proven to be a cautious and careful owner, not one to make rash decisions like his father did.

And within the clubhouse, Boone is backed by his players. . . .

Boone, who admitted before the loss Monday night that the Yankees' season was on the line, has been criticized for his calm, easy nature. Fans would like to hear stories about him storming into the clubhouse and turning over the food table. It doesn't work that way for Boone.

To be fair, he's limited in what he can do by his lineup that has just Brett Gardner, Rougned Odor and Tyler Wade as left-handed hitters, Stanton stuck in the DH role because he can't play the field and a defense that is making mistakes that should have been ironed out at the minor league level.

Boone sees more good from reinforcing and encouraging the players rather than ripping his team. . . .

The bottom line is Boone's hands are tied as the Yankees try to dig themselves out of a pit of inconsistency and mistakes on the field and off.

To get a wild card the projections are that a team needs 95 wins. The Yankees would need to go 55-29 starting Tuesday night to get there.

Either the Yankees miraculously snap out of this funk immediately or there have to be changes. . . .

Cashman said Saturday that he was scouring the trade market to find help . . . as the July 30 deadline approaches.

By that date, it may be too late.

Joel Sherman, Post:

The Red Sox have spent much of the past two decades remaking themselves. . . .

[F]or more than any other team this century, it has meant championships. Four of them. And here they are again having risen. They were last in the AL East in 2012 and won the World Series the following season. They were last in 2014 and '15 then won three straight AL East titles and the World Series in 2018. They were last in 2020 and completed a weekend sweep of the Yankees to earn the AL's second-best record. . . .

[The Yankees] have not had a losing record since 1992 . . . But nearly halfway into this season, they were fourth in the AL East heading into Monday, tied with the Mariners for the AL's eighth-best record and playing most days what looks like slow-motion baseball. . . .

Remaking yourself might hurt in the moment. But not quite as much as locking yourself into a philosophy and a roster and deciding that you are going to make it work no matter how blatant it becomes that this version of card counting is not working.

Which is why the Yankees have to be thinking about a makeover and that includes being open to trading anyone, including Aaron Judge. . . .

With Judge, the Yanks not only have a financial consideration with Gerrit Cole, DJ LeMahieu and Giancarlo Stanton all locked for big dollars for a while, but more of a structural issue. How long can the Yanks expect someone of Judge's size to maintain athleticism and be a useful fielder? Because it is not like they can flip him to DH. For Stanton is near unmovable with his trifecta of large salary through 2027, poor health and a no-trade clause. . . .

Gleyber Torres has lost value. Gary Sanchez has not regained enough to get much back in a trade. The Yanks missed their best window with Miguel Andujar, Clint Frazier and Luke Voit. Want to try to see if the Nationals and Mets will bid for Gio Urshela? Want to show bad faith by trading LeMahieu so soon after signing him to a six-year contract? . . .

[The Yankees are unable] to homer its way out of everything else it does wrong. Three days at Fenway again exposed what good opponents will do against this group. Consider that Saturday, Rafael Devers tagged and scored on a 150-foot pop-up to first because Voit pursued it awkwardly, was caught by surprise that Devers was tagging and then whipped the ball side arm like you would fling a frisbee to a dog. On Sunday, with first and second and no out, Andujar caught the ball at the Green Monster and rather than throw to second to keep a possible inning-ending double play in order, he threw to third and J.D. Martinez took second. Forced into needing a strikeout, did Gerrit Cole pitch differently in allowing Devers to follow with a three-run homer?

Voit is a DH . . . Andujar is playing out of position (does he have a position?), but that would explain perhaps failing to catch a ball, not being clueless where to throw it. The two runners exploiting the Yanks — Devers and Martinez — are not burners. But the Red Sox think and play baseball better under manager Alex Cora. Under Aaron Boone — and the front office big hairy monster ethos — the Yanks don't play smart. They have, in fact, done the near impossible of leading the majors in outs on the bases while having attempted the fewest stolen bases. It's hard to combine aggressive empty-headedness with an utter lack of daring. . . .

I am not sure there would even be a good deal for Judge, considering his injury history. But the Yanks have to be open to escaping this mix of position players. And if they are not going to sign Judge long term — and with Stanton around how could they? — then they should look to their main rival to know you can make huge Betts in a makeover and not fall into years of irrelevance.

Peter Botte, Post:

On a sweltering night in which the opposing starting pitcher got sick on the mound, the Yankees found yet another way to make their fans feel ill.

Two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani homered in his first at-bat — and DJ LeMahieu's error led to the go-ahead run in the fifth inning — as the sloppy and sliding Yankees dropped their fourth straight game Monday, 5-3 to the Angels . . .

Boone's team is now 7½ games behind the Red Sox . . .

Ohtani, who is slated to pitch Wednesday night's game, put Yanks starter Mike King in an early hole as the game's second batter. He drilled a full-count curveball into the right-field bleachers — with an exit velocity of 117 mph — for his 26th homer of the season to tie Toronto's Vladimir Guerrero Jr. for the major league lead.

[Starter Dylan Bundy] departed with what the Angels later described as heat exhaustion, after vomiting behind the mound . . . in the second inning. . . .

Bundy's replacement, Jose Suarez, silenced the Yankee bats into the sixth, one inning after the Angels had regained the lead. LeMahieu booted Walsh’s grounder following Rendon’s one-out double to put runners on the corners. He then got handcuffed on Max Stassi’s sharp grounder and only was able to record one out at second base as Rendon scored. . . .

[T]he Yanks' recent spell of sloppiness continued in the eighth, even though LeMahieu wasn't charged with a second error. His relay throw sailed over Sanchez's head on Jose Iglesias' RBI double against Chad Green for a 5-3 game.

Zach Braziller, Post:

Shohei Ohtani arrived at Yankee Stadium . . . with plenty of hype, and immediately showed he was deserving of such praise.

In his first at-bat, he took Michael King deep into the right-field bleachers, launching his 26th homer of the year at 117.2 mph and 416 feet in the Angels' 5-3 win. In his next trip to the plate, Ohtani flew out to the warning track in left-center field, drawing more oohs and aahs from the crowd . . .

The Angels' dynamic right-hander/designated hitter is in the midst of a historic season, among baseball's leaders in home runs (26), RBIs (60) and OPS (1.031). On the mound, the 6-foot-4 phenom from Japan is just as impressive, notching a 2.58 ERA in 11 starts across 59¹/₃ innings while striking out 82 batters. Wednesday, he will be on the mound, putting all of his immense talents on display. He's drawn comparisons to Babe Ruth.

Following Tommy John surgery . . . Ohtani didn't pitch in 2019. In last year's abbreviated season, he made just two starts. But this year, he's back to doing both, just as he was in 2018, when in 104 games, he posted a .925 OPS, went deep 22 times and had a 3.31 ERA and struck out 63 over 10 starts and 51²/₃ innings pitched.

The high-90's fastball and the long home runs are what everyone sees on Ohtani's almost-nightly highlights. They are instant social media hits. But Maddon thinks there is so much more to his star than his impressive power. He has stolen 11 bases in 14 attempts this year, and owns a .360 on-base percentage, a high number for a power hitter. He doesn't move like a slugger. He glides. He can bunt. He'll adjust on the mound. . . .

Monday night was just a preview. Wednesday night, Ohtani toes the rubber at the Stadium for the first time.

Matthew Roberson, Daily News:

The Yankees are in serious trouble. The Bombers lost their fourth straight Monday night, falling 5-3 to the Angels to drop to just two games above .500 at 40-38. Aaron Boone's pregame exhortation that "our season is on the line" apparently didn't connect.

"I'm disappointed," Boone said afterward. "It's frustrating . . . It's certainly frustrating" . . .

The Angels got their first two runs in the top of the first when Shohei Ohtani annihilated a Michael King pitch for a solo home run that traveled 117.2 miles per hour off the bat, his hardest contact of the year. The magnificent moonshot was Ohtani's first career hit at Yankee Stadium in his first game there since 2018.

Jared Walsh contributed an RBI double later in the inning . . .

[Angels reliever] Jose Suarez walked Aaron Judge to begin the third, then . . . sat ten consecutive Yankees down . . .

Meanwhile, as Suarez kept the Yankees hopelessly off balance and showing the type of futility that put their season on the line, his offense supplied the eventual winning runs. . . .

The Angels capitalized on a DJ LeMahieu error to push a run across in the fifth, then nine-hitter Juan Lagares added on with an opposite field home run off Lucas Luetge . . .

Suarez finished his longest outing of the year with five strikeouts in 5.1 innings. He put an exclamation point on his performance by striking out Clint Frazier on a sinister changeup, leaving the tying run on base. . . .

The Halos put another run on the board in the eighth and got their final six defensive outs from the sidewinding Steve Cishek and the volatile Raisel Iglesias. When the 27th out whizzed past a swinging Gleyber Torres, the Yankees had finally been lowered into their grave. . . .

Every single day is riddled with tension now that the Yankees are spinning their wheels in a puddle of mediocrity.

Zach Braziller, Post:

Two misplays by LeMahieu — a fifth-inning fielding error and an errant throw — cost the Yankees two runs in their fourth straight loss, a 5-3 setback to the sub-.500 Angels at the Stadium. . . .

LeMahieu was unable to come up with Jared Walsh's grounder with one out in the fifth inning for his sixth error of the year, enabling Anthony Rendon to reach third. Rendon scored the go-ahead run on Max Stassi's run-scoring groundout LeMahieu was unable to field cleanly, therefore ruining any hopes of a double play.

Three innings later, LeMahieu airmailed a relay throw in which he had Scott Schebler out by a few steps. On a Jose Iglesias double to right field, Schebler came all the way around from first to score. Initially, it seemed like a bad send, until LeMahieu's throw was nowhere close to catcher Gary Sanchez, enabling the Angels to tack onto their lead.

"We're humans . . ." third baseman Gio Urshela said. . . . "We're trying to do the best we can."

Defense has been a season-long issue for the Yankees. They are 25th in baseball in defensive runs saved with minus-13 according to The Fielding Bible, a problem for a team without dominant starting pitching.

Greg Joyce, Post:

Brian Cashman has seen enough of the Yankees to offer a frank assessment as their wildly inconsistent season nears the midpoint. . . .

"[W]e suck right now, as bad as you can be," Cashman said Tuesday before the Yankees tried to snap a four-game losing streak against the Angels. . . . "[I]t stinks to high heavens. Right now, we gotta own that. I gotta call it like I see it: It's pretty bad right now." . . .

[T]he general manager offered manager Aaron Boone a vote of confidence as he headed into Tuesday with a 40-38 record.

"This is not an Aaron Boone problem and this is not a coaching staff problem."

Jared Greenspan, Post:

Stephen King knows a horror show when he sees one.

The famous author — and a die-hard Red Sox fan — certainly seems to have enjoyed the Yankees' nightmarish weekend at Fenway Park. After the Red Sox swept the Yankees out of Boston, he jokingly penned a memo to MLB commissioner Rob Manfred. 

"Is it possible we can play the Yankees the rest of the year?" King asked Monday on Twitter. 

The Red Sox outscored the Yankees 18-7 across the three-game series. On Sunday, with the Yankees desperate to avoid a sweep, Boston tagged ace Gerrit Cole for six runs in the first three innings. 

* * *

Yankees Face Unflattering Comparisons With The Red Sox During Sweep In Boston
Lindsey Adler, The Athletic, June 27, 2021

The Red Sox again proved to be a difficult opponent for the Yankees when they swept them in a three-game series in Boston, but they also proved to be something more damning for the middling Bronx Bombers: a juxtaposition.

Boston is not a team without flaws by any means, but they have speed, versatility and a lot of fun. Against the Yankees, they've shown to be aggressive baserunners who squeeze as much as possible out of their run-production opportunities. The Yankees, by contrast, squander their run-scoring opportunities at an impressive rate.

The Yankees were outscored 7-18 in the series sweep.

The Red Sox are agile and speedy, while the Yankees are by and large a stiff and slow offensive team. New York is often stuck looking for good run-creation situations, while Boston seems to create them.

Over the weekend, the Yankees went 3-for-18 (.167) with runners in scoring position and hit into five double plays. The Red Sox went 9-for-26 (.346) with runners in scoring position. . . .

Entering Sunday afternoon’s game, the Red Sox had converted 16.1 percent of baserunners into runs, most in MLB. Only 11.4 percent of Yankees baserunners had scored, the lowest rate in MLB. As of Sunday, the Yankees had taken an extra base on a batted ball only 31 percent of the time, the worst rate in MLB. . . .

The game outcomes the Yankees have produced this season have been inconsistent, but their big offensive shortcomings have been alarmingly consistent. They have hit into 75 double plays as of this weekend, second in MLB only to the 76 double plays the Houston Astros have hit into this season. That has proven to be a vexing problem for New York, but one could not better design a team made for hitting into double plays than the 2021 Yankees. The hitters get on base fairly well, are very right-handed, are hitting ground balls at an astonishing rate with runners on and are a slow team by foot speed.

To put some numbers to it:

The Yankees' .320 OPB is ninth in MLB.

Entering Sunday, 78 percent of Yankees PA were right-handed, second only to Toronto.

Entering Sunday, the Yankees had hit a ground ball in 46.6 percent of at-bats with runners on. With runners in scoring position, that figure inflates to 49.5 percent, worst in MLB.

The majority of their regulars are league-average or below in Statcast's sprint speed. . . .

Put it all together, and here's what you get: With a runner at first or second, the right-handed Yankees are putting ground balls in play and collectively do not have the speed to beat out plays or break up a double play. . . .

The Yankees, in many of their games this year, have not looked like a good team. But the Astros have run the best offense in the game this season and have a lower rate of double-play opportunities resulting in a double play.

Houston is not a particularly fast team. Many of their regular players hover around league-average sprint speed, as measured by Statcast. But with runners on, they are hitting ground balls in 41.2 percent of their opportunities — lowest in the AL and second-lowest in MLB.

The Yankees are not built to beat out ground balls. DJ LeMahieu is elite at hitting the ball where the fielders are not (often opposite field) and Brett Gardner is meant to be the left-handed speedy player. But for the most part, the Yankees need power hitting to overcome their issues with speed and baserunning.

Over the weekend in Boston, the Yankees had only three extra-base hits . . . But the Yankees are a largely right-handed team with players who are supposed to loft the ball, and they were playing in a park with an enormous wall in left field that has helped generations of hitters create extra-base opportunities.

The Yankees' style of play during their three games in Boston would not have been flattering to them regardless of their opponent. But in contrast to the Red Sox, the Yankees have looked especially slow and one-dimensional this season.

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