Schadenfreude 308 (A Continuing Series)

Ken Davidoff, Post:

Woof. This could be one hella ugly second half in The Bronx.

It would help if the Yankees responded to their nothing-left-to-lose status by playing a looser brand of ball, by emulating John McClane in the first "Die Hard" movie. But sometimes a crappy team is just a crappy team, and these guys, first riddled with underperformance and now hit by a COVID-19 outbreak, looked pretty awful as they emerged from the All-Star break by falling meekly to the rival Red Sox, 4-0 Friday night at Yankee Stadium. That dropped them to 0-7 against Alex Cora's American League East-leading bunch this season and left them nine games behind Boston in the division.

"We're in a hole," manager Aaron Boone said. . . .

[C]ommon sense says the Yankees (46-44) are toast. They couldn't get any sort of groove going before the All-Star break . . . and now [Aaron] Judge headlines the sizable list of positive-testing talent. . . . [T]his pinstriped season feels deader than Marco Polo.

"Paper is paper and the game is the game, so anything's possible . . .," said Gerrit Cole . . . 

[T]he Yankees' patchwork lineup, featuring Rougned Odor hitting third and Trey Amburgey making his major league debut in right field, managed three hits against Boston starter Eduardo Rodriguez and two relievers. Giancarlo Stanton struck out three times and grounded into a double play . . .

With what's left, the Yankees just can't stack up on paper to the Red Sox, Rays or Blue Jays, the three teams ahead of them in the division. And as perfect 2021 karma would have it, the schedule lines up the Bosox seven times . . . and the Rays three times before the July 30 trade deadline . . .

Buckle up and grab a barf bag. The floor of this Yankees season just dropped a few more stories.

Pinstripe Alley: 

Dan Martin, Post:

Even with six players on the COVID-19 injured list, a handful of new players on the roster and a season slipping away . . . the Yankees' attitude heading into Friday night's game against the Red Sox was  "business as usual."

The Yankees then went out and played like it, losing another game to Boston, 4-0, in The Bronx.

If you're keeping score, they're down six players due to COVID-19, have lost all seven games against the Red Sox and are nine games back of Boston in the AL East, in fourth place. And they're just two games over .500 (46-44). . . .

[T]he Yankees used a ragtag lineup to start the second half of the season, and it was about as productive as their regular lineup had been in the first half. . . .

Friday presented a different challenge, as the Yankees had to start Chris Gittens and Trey Amburgey, who was making his MLB debut. [Hoy Jun Park also made his MLB debut, as a pinch-hitter] . . .

[Jordan] Montgomery opened the second by walking Xander Bogaerts and giving up a double by Rafael Devers, which Brett Gardner couldn't run down in left-center.

Bogaerts scored on a groundout to short by Hunter Renfroe. After Christian Vazquez flied to the warning track in left, Christian Arroyo homered to right-center to make it 3-0.

That resulted in a chorus of boos from the crowd as Montgomery needed 36 pitches to get out of the inning. . . . 

[The Yankees'] biggest issue came on offense, as they were shut down by left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez, who tossed 5²/₃ scoreless innings. . . .

The Yankees managed just three hits, and were shut out for the second time in five games. . . .

"We've got to find a way," Boone said. . . .

Instead, the Yankees fell further behind in the division and certainly didn't look like a team that's poised to make a run. That's especially true with six of their next eight games scheduled against the Red Sox, who had lost four of five heading into the break, but played like a first-place team on Friday.

Kristie Ackert, Daily News:

Friday, they began the most critical stretch of their season with a 4-0 loss to the Red Sox with a lineup you would most likely see in a spring training road game rather than a must-win, division game in July. . . .

The  Yankees (46-44) lost their seventh straight to the division-leading Red Sox (56-36) this season and dropped to nine games back in the American League East. It's their worst start against their division rival since 2009, when they went 0-8 . . .

Kristie Ackert, Daily News:

Aaron Boone is walking a fine line with Aroldis Chapman. The Yankees manager needs the closer to get back on track, but with the Bombers looking to dig themselves out of the hole they fell into in the first half of the season, he can't risk another blow up. . . .

"I wouldn't hesitate to put him into a lower leverage or medium leverage situation. . . . I also am not going to hesitate to put him in the biggest spot in the ninth inning. . . . [I]t's a matter of getting out there  . . . I think it can really snowball . . ."

Chapman has given up 14 earned runs in his last 10 [games]. He's walked 11 . . . and gotten through just 6.2 innings in those 10 appearances.

Matthew Roberson, Daily News:

The Yankees are ignoring reality.

Nearly every day since Aaron Hicks went down on May 12, the team has penciled Brett Gardner into center field. . . .

Now in his age-37 season, Gardner provides negative on-field value for a team that's been trying to wring offense out of its dry dish towel of a lineup. . . .

For a team still fighting tooth and nail for a postseason spot, starting a center fielder with a bat made of balsa wood is actively hurting their chances. . . .

Along with [a] .194 average, he’s slugging an unplayable .304, as 24 of his 37 hits this season have been singles. The patient veteran can still work a walk . . . but now that he's no longer a stolen base threat, even those free passes have become less valuable. The advanced numbers are even less kind.

By wRC+, a statistic that quantifies a player's offensive value by weighing each outcome (double, triple, etc.) rather than treating each time on base equally, Gardner is the fifth-worst offensive outfielder in the game. Of the 93 major league outfielders who have made at least 200 plate appearances this season, only four have a lower wRC+ than Gardner's. The league average wRC+ is always 100. Every point above or below 100 means that hitter is one percentage point better or worse than league average.  . . .

Gardner has a wRC+ of 76. A replacement-level hitter would be better by a whopping 24 percentage points, and Gardner is still in the lineup every single day.

The Yankees have a few solutions to this self-created problem that they stubbornly and confusingly haven't addressed yet. . . . 

[C]ontinuing to push the "season's on the line" narrative while trotting Gardner out there every day is irresponsible. . . . [S]omething has to be done. It should have been done yesterday, just as it should have been done last week, but this Gardner-sized wound needs treatment, stat.

Thursday, July 15:

Friday, July 16: