Dan Martin, Post:
Aroldis Chapman walked in the winning run on Friday night, but the closer was the least of the Yankees' problems in a 2-1, 11-inning loss to the Orioles.
Most of the Yankees' issues came from their lineup, which produced just a run in the third inning and then were blanked by Baltimore's bullpen, their execution with runners in scoring position still a problem that seems to have hung around from last year.
On Friday, they went just 2-for-11 in those situations . . .
So when Chapman threw a 3-2 slider to Ramon Urias that was called a ball by home plate umpire Tom Hallion, forcing in Austin Hays with the winning run, it's not a surprise that catcher Jose Trevino got fired up, thinking the pitch was a strike.
"I was just asking where it was at the end,'' Trevino said. "I thought I caught it good. I thought [Chapman] made a good pitch. . . . I did go back and watch it [and] it was a little up." . . .
Boone was ejected at the conclusion of the game . . .
They didn't score in the first inning after Anthony Rizzo and Giancarlo Stanton reached to start the game.
They left two more runners on in the third and had the bases loaded and one out in the fifth when Aaron Hicks grounded into a double play.
Hicks' grounder started a string of 13 straight hitters retired by Baltimore's bullpen — a streak that was only ended when Rizzo, as a ghost runner in the 11th inning, ran into Stanton's grounder to short for the first out. Stanton was given a hit on Rizzo's costly mistake. . . .
It's one of many parts of the Yankees' start that hasn't looked good — and another unwanted holdover from last year, when hitting with runners in scoring position and baserunning were issues. . . .
Asked how their approach is different this year, Boone said, "I just think we're better overall…" . . .
The Yankees have scored more than four runs or fewer in every game but the season-opener, when they scored six in 11 innings. . . .
The final inning started with Hays at second.
Clarke Schmidt got Jorge Mateo to line to shortstop before Anthony Bemboom walked. Schmidt then walked Kelvin Gutierrez to load the bases.
Chapman was then called in, a night after walking all three batters he faced against the Blue Jays before being bailed out by Michael King.
With the infield in, Chapman struck out Cedric Mullins for the second out.
After getting ahead of Urias 0-2, Chapman got to a full count before losing him — and the game.
The Yankees offense, built on power, modified to be more balanced and under new leadership, is still waiting to see results. Eight games into the season and the questions about scoring and hits with runners in scoring position are already starting after a brutal 2-1, 11-inning loss to the Orioles . . .
The Yankees' major moves this offseason were to shake up the coaching staff. In particular, the Bombers let go long-time hitting coaches Marcus Thames and P.J. Pilittere . . . [The Yankees] finished seventh in the American League in OPS (.729), 10th in runs scored (711) and were fourth in strikeouts (1,482) last season.
[New hitting coach Dillon] Lawson has instituted an organizational philosophy of "hit strikes hard" . . .
So far that has not translated to the Yankees offense.
The Yankees went into Saturday night's game against the Orioles at Camden Yards . . . below the league average in OPS (.684), OPS+ (99) and slugging (.376). . . .
[T]he Yankees went into Saturday night's game ranked 26th out of 30 in runs scored per game. Their 3.12 runs per game is only better than the Brewers, Diamondbacks and Orioles. They've had the sixth most runners left on base with 59 this season and ranked the fifth worst with runners in scoring position, hitting .180. They have the third worst run-scoring percentage in the big leagues, meaning only 20% of their runners who reach base eventually score a run — they are better only than the Orioles and Diamondbacks.
Another trend that seems to have carried over from last season is their penchant for grounding into double plays, they are second in the majors with nine so far. Last season, the Yankees were second in the big leagues with 154 GDPs, the most in the American League.
About 45 minutes after he threw his final pitch, Aroldis Chapman was still in his uniform, sitting in front of his locker going over that pitch. A slider high was called for a ball to walk in the winning run as the Orioles beat the Yankees 2-1 in 11 innings at Camden Yards Friday night.
Chapman had gone through a rough 48 hours. The Yankees' closer walked the bases loaded Thursday night, but the Yankees survived. Friday, he came in to clean up with the bases loaded and the Bombers' lost on a slider that was centimeters too high.
But that's how it goes when you are living on the thin margins of an inconsistent offense. Without run support -- this is the fifth out of eight games the Yankees have decided by two runs or less -- the bullpen has been walking a high-leverage tightrope every night.
That was a bad Yankees' trend of the 2021 team and so was losing to the Orioles.
The Yankees were 11-8 against the Orioles last season . . . The Rays, who won the American League East, went 18-1 against the O's, the Blue Jays went 14-5 and the Red Sox went 13-6. . . .
"We need to get wins," DJ LeMahieu said. . . .
It would be a lot easier to turn that around if the offense was clicking . . .
The Bombers went 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position Friday night, a trend already this season that was a problem last year. They are now 11-for-61 with RISP this season, which is an admittedly small sample size.
But it certainly brings back the memories of 2021′s frustrating offense.
The Yankees hit .237/.328/.370 with a .698 OPS last season with RISP. They had 1,165 at-bats with RISP and converted that to just 453 runs. . . .
The Yankees had plenty of opportunity to do better, but none more so than the sixth inning, when they had the bases loaded with one out. Aaron Hicks, who was ahead 3-0 in the at-bat, grounded into a double play to end the Yankees threat. In the 11th, with Anthony Rizzo as the ghost runner, Giancarlo Stanton scorched a ground ball to short, which hit the first baseman for an automatic out. Josh Donaldson struck out and Joey Gallo was tagged out by the catcher on a swinging bunt. . . .
That put the bullpen back on the tightrope Friday night.
[In the 11th] Clarke Schmidt . . . issued two, one-out walks to load the bases. That's when Boone turned to Chapman, who threw 16 pitches and only hit the strike zone four times on Thursday. Chapman found the strike zone early, going ahead 0-2 on Romon [sic] Urias, before he lost it. On the final pitch, Chapman walked in the winning run.
Aroldis Chapman threw 16 pitches Thursday night. Only four of them found the strike zone. The Yankees' closer for the last seven years, the 34-year-old has struggled with fastball command over the past two.Greg Joyce, Post:
Thursday night, Aaron Boone couldn't wait out another rollercoaster ride. As soon as Chapman walked his third batter, the minimum he had to face under MLB rules, the Yankees manager was slowly walking out to the mound to take the ball from Chapman. . . .
After seeing Chapman struggle last year — to the point where Boone was going to Jonathan Loaisiga to close while he gave time for the veteran closer to work out his issues — the Yankees had a quick hook with him. . . .
[The Yankees] have to be concerned about Chapman.
Chapman had not just walked three straight batters, but he had walked the bottom of the Blue Jays' lineup to load the bases and put the tying run at the plate. . . .
"I felt like he could have gotten out of it," Boone said of Chapman. . . . [JoS butting in here to ask Boone: "So why did you yank him as soon as you had the opportunity?"]
[T]he Cuban native is coming off one of the worst seasons of his career in 2021 and going into the final year on his contract with the Yankees with questions hanging over him.
Chapman finished with a 3.36 ERA (the second highest of his career) and allowed nine home runs, the most he has allowed in an MLB season. He also had one of the worst walk rates (15.6%) of any pitcher in baseball and hitters had the highest hard-contact rate off Chapman in his career.
On Thursday night, Aroldis Chapman walked the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth and needed Michael King to save him out of the Yankees bullpen.Dan Martin, Post:
About 24 hours later, Aaron Boone called on Chapman to put out a fire with the bases loaded and one out in the 11th inning of a tie game.
Chapman nearly did for Clarke Schmidt what King had for him the night before, but after getting within a strike of escaping the jam, he threw four straight balls to walk in a run as the Orioles walked off with a 2-1 win . . .
After striking out Cedric Mullins on a slider for the second out, Chapman's final pitch in a full count to Ramon Urias was a slider that came in just above the strike zone. His 1-2 pitch was a 97 mph fastball that might have clipped part of the zone but was called a ball low by home plate umpire Tom Hallion.
Boone said he had no hesitation going back to Chapman on Friday in a situation that left no room for error, a night after the Yankees closer had thrown 12 of his 16 pitches for balls. . . .
In the clubhouse after the loss, Chapman was looking back at video of the decisive pitches and called them "very close . . . The last one, I thought it was a little high."
Josh Donaldson has a team-high 13 strikeouts and an ugly OPS of .454, not exactly what the Yankees expected when they made him the centerpiece of the trade that sent Gary Sanchez and Gio Urshela to Minnesota last month.
"I think he's on the verge," Aaron Boone said . . .
Donaldson went 1-for-5 with a single and two more strikeouts. . . .
Two weeks into the season and already we can make some definitive assessments:
GERRIT COLE IS NOT A $324M PITCHER
Not that any player is worth that kind of crazy money, but the Yankees broke the bank for Cole because they knew they had to have a dominant No. 1 starter if they were ever going to get back to the World Series. In their minds, the money would be more than worth it if Cole filled the stadium every time he pitched, and pitched deep, and won almost all his big starts that got them both into and through the postseason. Hasn't happened.
In the pivotal Game 5 of the 2020 division series against Tampa Bay, Cole pitched well but was out of the game (which the Yankees went on to lose) after just 5.1 innings. Last year, he was hammered for nine hits and two homers in six innings by the Blue Jays in his last start of the season, and in the AL Wild Card game, the Red Sox kayoed him after just two innings. In his first two starts this year, against the Red Sox and Blue Jays, he was subpar at best (9.2 IP, 6 ER, 3 HR).
Remember, the Yankees are paying Cole roughly $1 million per start and he's been unable to give them even a whiff of the World Series. Whether or not it's the absence of the sticky stuff, if you're Hal Steinbrenner you have to be mighty concerned now about ever getting your bang for the buck from Cole . . .
This game was the Orioles' first walkoff walk in extra innings against the Yankees since June 25, 1993.
ReplyDeleteThe MFY's last loss on a walkoff walk was to the Red Sox on July 14, 2017. Also issued by Chapman!
From JoS:
"Holy shit! That was amazing!
Tonight's bottom of the ninth is easily my favourite half-inning of the entire season (so far, of course). Down by one run and facing flame-throwing Aroldis Chapman, the Red Sox did not hit a ball out of the infield in the entire inning. But they also did not make an out. They set the table with two singles to shortstop. Toss in an improbable, out-of-the-blue double steal, some sloppy Yankees fielding, an intentional walk (putting excessive pressure on Chapman, who was already having control issues), and a game-winning, five-pitch non-intentional walk - and the Yankees were forced to depart the premises in defeat as the Red Sox kicked off the "second half" with a stupendous victory.
This was an crucial game for the Yankees - as they admitted to the media many times - and when crunch time came, when New York was poised to make a statement, they instead threw it all away. The Yankees have lost 19 of their last 26 games and Boston leads the AL East by 4.5 games."
Schadenfreude 206
"Friday morning, Mike Vaccaro, Post: "The good part is, we're going to know right away about these Yankees. . . ."
Friday night: LOL"