June 12, 2021

Schadenfreude 297: (A Continuing Series)

AL East

            W   L    GB    RS   RA DIFF  EXPWL
Rays       41  24   ---   321  243  +78  41-24
Red Sox    39  26   2.0   323  280  +43  37-28
Blue Jays  32  30   7.5   303  267  +36  35-27
Yankees    33  31   7.5   252  252    0  32-32
Orioles    22  41  18.0   257  319  -62  25-38

Fun Fact: The shitty Orioles have scored more runs in 63 games than the mighty Yankees have in 64 games. The MFY are 26th among MLB teams in runs scored.

Dan Martin, Post:
For a second consecutive game, the Yankees came up short with Aroldis Chapman on the mound, this time in an 8-7, 10-inning loss to the Phillies, as they wasted DJ LeMahieu's game-tying, three-run homer in the top of the ninth.

"We're not into moral victories," manager Aaron Boone said . . .

Chapman came on in the 10th, following his disastrous outing on Thursday in Minnesota . . . This time, pinch-hitter Travis Jankowski led off with a bunt . . . [Chapman] said he wanted to throw to third, but no one covered and he threw high to first, allowing Jankowski to reach on the error.

After Odubel Herrera popped out, Jean Segura won it with a hard grounder to third.

Gio Urshela['s] throw home was late and wide, giving the Phillies a walkoff win for a third straight game. . . .

The Yankees had a chance to take the lead in the top of the ninth [but] Hector Neris [struck out] Aaron Judge and Gleyber Torres. . . .

The Yankees' day started rough, when Jameson Taillon couldn't get out of the first inning, and they received more bad news when Luis Severino was forced out of his minor league rehab start with a right groin injury . . .

[T]he Yankees, who have lost five of seven, dropped to a season-worst 7½ games behind the first place Rays.

Taillon put the Yankees in a huge hole, as his underwhelming first season with the club continued.

The right-hander started the game by allowing four straight singles and a walk as he gave up four runs in an outing Taillon called "embarrassing" and "humiliating."
Kristie Ackert, Daily News:
[The Yankees] have to start worrying about their pitching. On a day that Luis Severino left his rehab start with a groin injury, Jameson Taillon could not get out of the first inning and the Bombers' bats just couldn't catch up after being in an early hole.

Jean Segura scorched a ground ball to third base and Ronald Torreyes beat Gio Urshela's throw from the seat of his pants for the Phillies' 8-7 walkoff win in the bottom of the 10th . . .

It was the Yankees' (33-31) second straight loss — and the second straight walk-off loss. The Yankees have not had back-to-back walk-off losses since Sept. 14-15, 2014 . . .

Severino . . . will have an MRI Sunday. With Corey Kluber on the 60-day injured list with a strained shoulder, the starting pitching depth is already thin. Michael King is already in Kluber's spot in the rotation and Deivi Garcia is still struggling in Triple-A.

So the Yankees need Taillon to figure it out.

Taillon has been inconsistent in his 12 starts. . . . So far, Taillon is 1-5 with a 5.74 ERA. He has gone past the fifth inning once. He has given up 10 earned runs in the last 10.2 innings pitched, over three starts. . . .

Taillon . . . has given up the highest percentage of barreled balls in his career (10.1%) and the highest average exit velocity on hits against him (90.3 mph). He is in the bottom third of MLB in hard-hit balls and 12th percentile in max exit velocity.

Saturday was the shortest outing of Taillon's career. . . . Taillon gave up four straight hard-hit singles to start the game, including a two-run single to Bryce Harper. He then walked Rhys Hoskins before giving up a sacrifice fly to Andrew McCutchen and then an RBI single to Alec Bohm, which was the final straw. . . .

Ken Davidoff, Post:
Jameson Taillon, of all people, symbolizes these 2021 Yankees:

Big hype, small results. . . .

Losers of two straight and 12 of 17, a season-worst 7½ games behind the Rays in the American League East, the Yankees (33-31) get no points for fight, not at this stage of the season.

Similarly, Taillon receives no reprieve for his loss-turned-no-decision, not after the right-hander recorded one measly out before departing, putting his team in a 4-0 hole . . .

The two-time Tommy John surgery recipient now owns a ghastly 5.74 ERA, and on the same day that Luis Severino left his minor league start early with a right groin injury, the turn of events reflected poorly upon the Yankees' "Let's bring in four starting pitchers who combined to throw one inning in 2020" strategy for this season.

Corey Kluber [is] the guy who threw that one inning . . . and he's on the 60-day injured list with a bum right shoulder . . .

If you watch Taillon's starts regularly, you know he's not a comfortable watch . . . [H]e doesn't put guys away enough. Of the seven batters he faced on Saturday, he accrued two strikes on three of them. All three of those gentlemen . . . managed to notch base hits. . . . [W]hen Taillon reaches two strikes on a hitter, they have a slash line of 233/.282/.338 against him … [T]he overall AL line, through Friday's action, was .167/.242/.270. . . .

[Taillon:]. "I feel better than I have in a long time."

Whether he can bring his results closer to that feel, to his underlying counts, will help determine whether these Yankees, such a disappointment so far, ever catch up to their hype.

Dan Martin, Post, June 12, 2021:

Luis Severino hit an unexpected setback . . . when he had to leave a rehab start after suffering a right groin injury.

The right-hander had to be helped off the field after coming up lame in the second inning while pitching for High-A Hudson Valley in their game at the Brooklyn Cyclones, a Mets affiliate. After striking out the first two batters of the inning, Severino surrendered an infield single before suffering the injury against the next batter. . . .

It's just the latest injury issue for Severino, who has pitched in just five games for the Yankees since signing a four-year, $40 million extension in February 2019. . . .

Kristie Ackert, Daily News, June 12, 2021:

It was an all-around bad day for the Yankees' starting pitching. Even before Jameson Taillon got chased in the first inning after recording just one out against the Phillies, Luis Severino had to be helped off the field during his minor league rehab start. . . .

Severino . . . was hobbled after throwing a pitch. His trailing right leg came around awkwardly and he struggled to put weight on it. He had to be helped off the field . . .

He has pitched just 20.1 innings in the first two years of a contract extension he signed in the spring of 2019 . . . He missed all of last year's 60-game season.

Early Post web headline:
 

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