the joy of sox: Schadenfreude 313 (A Continuing Series)

September 6, 2021

Schadenfreude 313 (A Continuing Series)

Saturday, September 4

Saturday: Lowly Birds 4, Yankees 3

Sunday: Lowly Birds 8, Yankees 7

Monday, September 6

Joel Sherman, Post, September 4, 2021:

It is possible no Yankee in their 119-season, 18,000-plus game history needed a hit — much less a big hit — more than Joey Gallo did in the bottom of the eighth inning Saturday.
He had been among the majors' worst hitters (maybe the worst) since arriving from Texas in late July . . . He was on an 0-for-17 skid. . . . He was being booed by the fans and beating himself up as failure mounted upon failure.
So when he lined a Jorge Lopez pitch into the right-field seats to tie the score, there were exhales and exaltations. And now expectations, too. Expectations that the Yankees would beat the Orioles despite an afternoon of playing down to the worst team in the sport.
Instead, Aroldis Chapman raised another four-alarm alert about his trustworthiness as Baltimore scored a ninth-inning run to win 4-3. . . .
The regret — if they are going to have regret — is not trouncing the Orioles this year. A 9-6 record against an opponent, in general, is strong. It translates to 97-65 over a full season. But considering Tampa Bay is 18-1 against Baltimore and, you know, the Orioles are embarrassing, that makes 9-6 unacceptable for a club with the Yankees' aspirations. No loss against a team that had won three of its previous 28 games is acceptable.
While this one is easy to lay at the feet of Chapman . . . this is the reality: Gallo's homer was the lone legit hit the Yankees mustered against the worst pitching staff in the sport. . . .
The Yankees have split the first two games of this series against the Orioles and are a combined 9-for-67 (.134) with five runs in 20 innings. . . .
Baltimore began this series with a 5.84 ERA and the slash line against it was .272/.345/.468 — or pretty much Jose Altuve's season (.270/.343/.467). The ERA was 7.64 in the 3-24 span the Orioles took into this weekend. . . .
The Yankees need September to be their best offensive month to assure October, and — so far — that has not occurred. It is unpardonable not to bludgeon this Baltimore pitching.
The nickname is the O's, but they can't be hanging those on the scoreboard against the Yankees.

Joel Sherman, Post:

Pick your word. Unforgivable. Unpardonable. Unacceptable.
The Orioles showed up in The Bronx as a piñata. They had won three times in a month (against 24 losses). They were 50 games under .500. They were closer to Triple-A than the top of the AL East.
Yet, the Yankees lost a series to that team, which means a few more words to pick from such as humiliating and embarrassing. The Yanks haven't looked right since their 13-game winning streak, as if that took the best out of them, left them an exhausted marathoner at the 24-mile mark. Still, even on fumes, winning a series in their home against Baltimore must be par.
Instead, the piñata hit back to win two of three. On Sunday, the Yankees blew two three-run leads — 4-1 and 7-4 — and lost 8-7. They lost for so many reasons.
Because they played death-match games against the undermanned Orioles the previous two days, leaving their pen shorthanded — even more so with the team's revelation Sunday morning that its best reliever, Jonathan Loaisiga, was going to the injured list; as big an injury as the Yanks have incurred all season.
Because Gleyber Torres nonchalantly turned a routine Kelvin Gutierrez grounder that should have been the final out of a scoreless Baltimore sixth into a gift single that brought the Orioles' best hitter, Cedric Mullins, to the plate to hit a two-run homer that began a devastating domino effect for the Yankees.
Because the Orioles showed up having allowed 14 or more hits in a game 19 times this year — four more than any other team — and the Yankees managed 14 hits in 29 innings over three games. Even on Sunday, when they scored seven runs, six of them were driven in via two homers by Gary Sanchez (who in his previous 23 games had one homer and six RBIs). The rest of the team was 5-for-30 with one RBI. After Sanchez's second homer made it 7-4 in the sixth, the Yankees followed with a 1-for-12 finish. . . .
Boston is a half game behind the Yanks for the top wild-card spot. The Blue Jays are 4¹/₂ back and play the Orioles four games after four against the Yankees. So by not pulverizing the Orioles, the Yanks have made themselves more vulnerable to missing the playoffs altogether, especially if the stumble continues against Toronto. . . .
[T]he opponent over the weekend was the Orioles. A couple of blowouts could have rested the pen. A couple of wins could have at least helped the psyche — and the wild-card lead. Instead, the Yanks lost two of three.
Unforgivable. Unpardonable. Unacceptable.

Greg Joyce, Post:

Hosting the team with the worst record in baseball, the Yankees dropped the series against the Orioles, capped off by a brutal 8-7 loss on Sunday afternoon in The Bronx.
Andrew Heaney blew a three-run lead in the seventh inning as the Yankees (78-58) lost for the sixth time in eight games . . . while falling to 9-7 against the Orioles (43-92) this season. They missed a chance to pick up a game on the AL East-leading Rays, who went 18-1 against the Orioles this season . . .
The Yankees were left with just one win against the Orioles this weekend, needing extra innings on Friday night to get it. . . .
Heaney was entrusted with a 7-4 lead in the seventh inning and promptly blew it. The lefty . . . began the inning by loading the bases on a hit batter and two singles. Jahmi Jones then roped a two-run double past the reach of right-fielder Giancarlo Stanton to make it 7-6.
After Heaney finally recorded the first out, Jorge Mateo hit a bloop single over the outstretched glove of DJ LeMahieu to tie the game 7-7.
Heaney was booed off the mound and replaced by Wandy Peralta [who] quickly gave up a single to Kelvin Gutierrez that put the Orioles ahead 8-7. . . .
[Gleyber Torres made] a costly mistake in the field . . .
With two outs in the sixth inning, Gutierrez hit a routine ground ball to shortstop, which Torres took his time fielding and getting off the throw. Gutierrez hustled to beat out the infield single, and one batter later, Cedric Mullins hit a two-run homer off Albert Abreu to get the Orioles within 5-4. . . .
Torres . . .attributed it to the rain that had soaked the field.

Kristie Ackert, Daily News:

With the regular season ending four weeks from Sunday, the Bombers lost their most reliable reliever for at least a "few weeks," and then the pitchers they tried to cover with went out and coughed up six runs and the game to the Orioles 8-7 at the Stadium.
It was a devastating double gut punch that ended up costing the Bombers (78-58) the series against the Orioles, who have the worst record in baseball but have beaten them seven times this year. With the win, Baltimore (43-92) is now 49 games below .500. . . .
[The Yankees] are currently three games into a stretch of 20 straight games before a day off. They have 26 games left this season for Chapman . . . to figure out what has happened to the command of his fastball. . . .
The Yankees have to find something for this final push, because their pitching has had to carry the Yankees most of the season, because the offense has been consistently inconsistent. . . .
The offense was dismal against the Orioles in this three game series, managing eight runs in the first two games.

Kristie Ackert, Daily News, September 5:

Saturday, the Bombers managed just three hits against the worst team in baseball and dropped their sixth game of the season against the lowly Orioles. Baltimore no-hit the Yankees for six innings, withstood a late "rally," and scored a run off closer Aroldis Chapman to beat the Bombers 4-3 . . .
These games are ones the Bombers should be using to build momentum and position themselves for the playoff push. Instead, the Yankees (78-57) have lost six games to the Orioles this season, more than any other team has lost to Baltimore. The Orioles, who are still 50 games below .500, have just 42 wins overall this season. Saturday's loss opened the door for the Rays, who went 18-1 against the last-place O's, to expand their lead and get closer to winning their second straight American League East division title, and the Red Sox, who are on the Yankees heels in the Wild Card race.
The Bombers' inability to slam the door on the Orioles (42-92), who they have one more series against in Camden Yards, dropped them to 9-6 against the Birds season so far. They are also just 28-31 against the AL East this season with 17 division games left in the last 27 of the regular season. . . .
Chapman, whose own season has been like a rollercoaster of success and failure, put leadoff hitter Ryan Mountcastle on base in the ninth with a wild pitch on strike three. The Orioles first baseman would score the winning run on a sacrifice fly and Chapman took his fourth loss of the season — one shy of his career high.
Facing the worst pitching staff in the big leagues — the Orioles came into the game with a big-league worst 5.78 ERA and .270 batting average against — the Bombers bats were almost completely silent.

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