Schadenfreude 343 (A Continuing Series)

Greg Joyce, Post, August 7, 2023:

The fury that Aaron Boone unleashed on home plate umpire Laz Diaz on Monday night mirrored how many Yankees fans feel about the state of the team — specifically the offense. . . .

On a night when they were no-hit through 5.1 innings and loaded the bases three times, the Yankees continued to squander opportunities as they fell to the White Sox, 5-1 . . .

After stranding 15 runners in Sunday's loss to the Astros, the Yankees (58-55) left 13 men on base in Monday's loss to the lowly White Sox (46-68) . . . 

They also went 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position as they dropped to 5½ games out of the final playoff spot with 49 games to go. . . .

While Diaz did not lose the game for them, the Yankees were unhappy with his strike zone all night.

It built to a crescendo in the eighth inning in what was then a 2-1 game, when Boone was ejected — after Diaz made a called strike three on a pitch in the zone to Anthony Volpe — and subsequently lost it on Diaz, including mimicking his strikeout call and drawing lines in the dirt to demonstrate pitches missing the plate.

"I was pretty upset," Boone said after his sixth ejection of the season. "Like Gleyber [Torres'] first at-bat, he ends up walking on what I felt like was about six balls and it just continued all night. . . ."

Boone also pointed to DJ LeMahieu's at-bat in the seventh inning with one out and runners on the corners after Billy McKinney had pulled the Yankees within 2-1 on a bases-loaded sacrifice fly.

LeMahieu struck out on three pitches, two of which he watched go outside of the zone for called strikes, on the way to the Yankees stranding the tying run at third. . . .

The Yankees did not record a hit against Dylan Cease until there was one out in the sixth inning, at which point they had drawn seven walks but stranded all of them.

Jared Schwartz, Post, August 7, 2023:

Aaron Boone made sure Laz Diaz knew the exact spot the latter blew two crucial strike calls. Then he made sure to mock him on his way back to the clubhouse. . . .

Boone blew a fuse on Diaz . . . over what appeared to be an egregious strike zone. After quickly being ejected, Boone got his money's worth and continuously barked at Diaz, who shouted right back at Boone.

"You f–king stink," Boone could be heard yelling in Diaz's face on the broadcast.

He then walked over to the plate and crouched down to draw a line in the lefty batter's box, seemingly marking the spot Diaz mistakenly called pitches strikes.

After screaming again at Diaz, Boone then got into an umpire's stance behind the plate and pretended to call a batter out on strikes before pointing in mockery. . . .

[Boone] returned to berating Diaz before he was pulled away by the rest of the umpiring crew and bench coach Carlos Mendoza.

"I hear about it every f–king day," Boone appeared to yell. "You're s–t." . . .

Harrison Bader struck out swinging to end the seventh inning before Anthony Volpe began the eighth inning getting called out on strikes. That was the final straw for Boone, who began his tirade after Volpe's at-bat. Volpe saw four pitches, although the called strikes did not appear out of the strike zone.

Greg Joyce, Post, August 7, 2023:

Carlos Rodon is back where he started the season: on the injured list.

The Yankees placed Rodon on the 15-day IL Monday with a "low-grade" left hamstring strain . . . The hamstring issue is the latest setback for Rodon, whose season was delayed by a forearm muscle strain and back discomfort.

After signing a six-year, $162 million contract in the offseason, he did not make his Yankees debut until July 7. Exactly a month later, he is back on the shelf. In his six starts between IL stints, Rodon posted a 7.33 ERA . . .

Rodon's latest injury further exposes the Yankees' shallow starting pitching depth.

They did just get Nestor Cortes back from the IL, but only a few days after announcing that Domingo German would miss the rest of the season to get treatment for alcohol abuse.