Schadenfreude 375 (A Continuing Series)

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Yankees - 001 101 000 - 3  7  0

Yankees' season ends in bitter disappointment again as Rays sweep ALDS
Greg Joyce, Post

For the 17th straight year, the Yankees will not be World Series champions, this time falling woefully short . . . as they were swept out of the ALDS in three games by the Rays in a 4-3 loss on Wednesday night . . .

After their offense let them down in Game 1 and their defense joined in to fail them in Game 2, the Yankees' bats were held in check once again in Game 3 . . . resulting in an all-too-familiar feeling in The Bronx. . . .

And so, a year after they bailed out of the ALDS in four games against the AL East champion Blue Jays, the Yankees played their way into another early exit . . .

[T]he Yankees never led against the Rays. They mustered all of five runs across the three games . . .

Trent Grisham, with the tying run on second, chased a pitch well out of the zone to end it. . . .

[Max] Fried . . . was not his sharpest. Twice after the Yankees had tied the game, he gave up home runs to give the Rays the lead back.

The first came on Ryan Vilade's solo shot in the fourth inning, inches past the outstretched glove of a leaping Jones at the short porch, to put the Rays up 2-1.

Then in the sixth, Fried hung a sweeper and by the time Mesa put a swing on it, the left-hander had dropped to his knee because he knew what was coming. Mesa's two-run shot sailed high and far into the right-field seats, giving the Rays a 4-2 lead.

   

Yankees swept by Rays in ALDS after fan interference overturns Anthony Volpe homer in Game 3 loss
Peter Sblendorio, Daily News

With the Yankees on the brink of elimination, Anthony Volpe appeared to hit a game-tying two-run home run in the sixth inning . . .

But in a season-altering gut punch, an umpire review found that Volpe's clutch, two-out blast against reliever Griffin Jax had some help.

Replays determined a fan's outstretched hands aided the ball over the left-field wall. The initial call of a home run was overturned, resulting in an RBI ground-rule double for Volpe and leaving the Yankees trailing still, 4-3.

That proved to be the final score as the Rays completed a three-game sweep and extended the Yankees' World Series drought to 17 years.

"It's a broken clubhouse," manager Aaron Boone said. . . . "It's the worst."

Tampa Bay tagged Yankees co-ace Max Fried for four runs — all with two outs — over his 5.2 innings. . . .

But the lasting image Wednesday was Volpe's 357-foot screamer caroming off of the fan's hands — and Spencer Jones striking out moments later to strand Volpe at second base. . . .

Fried wasn't at his best Wednesday, permitting an RBI single to Jonathan Aranda in the third inning, a solo homer to No. 9 hitter Ryan Vilade in the fourth, and Mesa's go-ahead blast in the sixth. . . .

With two outs in the eighth, pinch-hitter Giancarlo Stanton struck out against Kevin Kelly with the tying run at first base. And in the ninth, Trent Grisham went down swinging against Rays closer Bryan Baker for the final out, stranding a runner at second.

The Yankees totaled just three runs and 12 hits in the ALDS, batting a collective .130 — their lowest average in a multi-game postseason series ever.

"This is my fourth season. It's four too many times having this taste in my mouth," Volpe said. . . .

This is the third year in a row that an opponent celebrated a playoff series victory at Yankee Stadium, following the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2024 World Series and the Toronto Blue Jays in last year's ALDS.

The 17-year championship drought is tied for the Yankees' longest since they won their first World Series title in 1923.

   

 
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Fan interference at center of Yankees Game 3 . . .
James O'Connell, Daily News

The fans certainly made their presence felt on Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium.

Just not in the way they had hoped.

Fan interference was at the center of the Yankees' season-ending 4-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 3 of the ALDS. . . .

After a few attempts of identifying the correct spectator, NYPD officers escorted him out of the stadium. The fan was greeted with some unfriendly chants on his way out of the ballpark. . . .

The Yankees have had a bit of a run with fans interfering on the field. During Game 4 of the 2024 World Series, two fans essentially tried to rip a ball out of the glove of Dodgers right fielder Mookie Betts in foul territory — those two were indefinitely banned from all MLB stadiums.

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Yankees fan booted out of stadium after home run interference controversy
Christian Arnold, Post

[A] Yankee fan . . . was escorted out of Yankee Stadium after he stuck his arm out over the ledge of the wall in left field to catch a ball hit by Anthony Volpe in the bottom of the sixth in ALDS Game 3. . . .

Video showed the Yankee fan, who was wearing a dark blue bomber jacket, being walked out of the outfield stands by a uniformed member of the NYPD and what appeared to be several members of Yankee Stadium security. 

He was also leaving with another fan, who was wearing a pinstriped Yankees jacket and cap. 

In another clip that circulated online after the controversial moment, security staff was seen approaching the fan in his seat almost immediately after the umpire ruled the fan interference call . . .

Yankee fans around them did not appear to have too much of a reaction toward the spectator as he exited with stadium staff.

The Rays got out of the inning with a 4-3 lead, the same score as the final. . . .

(Twitter; Rays fans in front; MFYfans in back)

Fan interference serves as a bitter reminder just how far away Yankees are from magic of dynasty years
Mike Vaccaro, Post

The Yankees lost the game 4-3. The Rays swept them in this ALDS. They were booed off the field in their own stadium. Nuclear winter awaits on the other side of the World Series, and who knows what the sport will look like whenever the labor wonks return it to us. . . .

"The ending is terrible," Aaron Boone said, his voice quiet, his mood chastened, his season over . . . "It's the worst. . . . The worst frickin' feeling in the world."

[T]he Yankees haven't been champions for a long time. It is now 17 seasons in a row without a title, so Hal Steinbrenner now has a drought to match the 17 empty seasons his old man oversaw between 1979 and 1995. Only the Yankees of 1903-22 — when they were mostly the JV team in town to John McGraw's Giants and were known as "Highlanders" for half of it — have known a longer championship Sahara. . . .

[W]hen the Rays recorded the 27th out Wednesday night, and began their celebration on the field before retreating to the visiting clubhouse where the champagne was waiting on ice, it continued what has become one of the more troubling — borderline inexplicable — patterns imaginable.

The Yankees watched the Rays dance on Bronx turf Wednesday. The Blue Jays did the same thing last year, the Dodgers in 2024, the Astros in 2022. The Red Sox, of all teams, have done it twice, after the catastrophic collapse in 2004 and again in 2018 . . . This has become as baleful an annual tradition as tax day.

sad bench

Trent Grisham can't provide leadoff spark for Yankees with uncertainty looming
Dan Martin, Post

Trent Grisham hit leadoff with the idea of getting more base runners on in front of Ben Rice. 

Instead, Yankees season ended with Grisham striking out for the third time of the night — with Rice in the on-deck circle — in a 4-3 loss to the Rays in Game 3 of the ALDS. 

With the Yankees fighting for survival, Grisham got the call to hit leadoff — despite being the worst leadoff hitter in the game this season. . . . [A]mong the 16 players with at least 350 plate appearances at the top of the lineup in the majors, Grisham had the lowest batting average (.199) and OPS (.680). . . .

He popped out in the first, struck out looking in the third, lined out to left in the fifth and whiffed looking again in the seventh, this time getting booed by the Stadium crowd. 

And in the bottom of the ninth, with Jazz Chisholm Jr. representing the tying run at second and two outs, Grisham was no match for lefty closer Bryan Baker.

Max Fried falters for Yankees and leaves Carlos Rondon a non-factor in ALDS
Dan Martin, Post

Just like the rest of the Yankees in this series, Max Fried wasn't good enough. . . .

[The lefty] allowed runs in three of his last four innings in Wednesday's season-ending 4-3 loss to the Rays . . .

The Yankees said prior to the game that there wasn't really a debate about whether to go with Fried or fellow southpaw Carlos Rodón [perhaps the rotation's best pitcher down the stretch outside of Cam Schlittler] . . .

[T]he Yankees head into the offseason with Rodón not having been a factor in the postseason. 

The real issue the Yankees had against their AL East rivals, whom they couldn't catch in the division and proved to be no match for in the playoffs, was their lineup. 

Fried, just like Gerrit Cole and Schlittler. . . was forced to be nearly perfect. 

And he wasn't.   . .

It was not the ace-like outing the Yankees were looking for . . . 

Fried has now had very mixed results in four playoff starts with the Yankees . . . struggling badly in the ALDS in Toronto last season before allowing four runs in less than six innings Wednesday.

This Yankees ending was sad and predictable — don't expect anything to change
Joel Sherman, Post

Welcome back, Red Zone Yankees.

You are Groundhog Day reliable.

Flip the calendar to October and here you are — and there you go. Annual. Dependable. Disposable.

I dubbed you the Red Zone Yankees last year after you . . . lost to the AL East champ Blue Jays in the division series. Just another year of journeying close enough to see the championship end zone — but unable to get in. . . .

[It's] another case of déjà Boone — running into a superior team at this time of year and crumbling before them. We have seen this movie. Too often.

This year the Yankees did not even bother to win a division series game — heck, they never had a lead in 27 innings in getting swept three games to none. . . . [T]he Yankees had to watch yet another team celebrate in front of them and their fans in The Bronx. . . .

[Yankee Stadium] is [now] a place for various foes to spill champagne. . . .

[T]he team that lived by the long ball was eliminated by it. Ryan Vilade . . . went opposite field just over the fence for a solo homer in the fourth inning, a 340-foot lob that just eluded the leap of 6-foot-7 Spencer Jones and that Statcast had as a homer in just one of 30 parks — this one.

Trying to maintain a 2-2 tie in the sixth, Fried gave up a no-doubt, two-run blast to Victor Mesa Jr. . . .

This is a 17th straight year now without a championship. A Boone team has made the playoffs eight times and been eliminated by an opponent with a better regular-season record all eight. This will lead to another rite of fall — calls for Boone's job and that of GM Brian Cashman.

No one should expect changes. . . . The reality is that they keep fielding teams short of the ingredient to get all the way through these playoffs. They are never playing their best at this time of year. Never playing loose, smart and well.

The Rays went into first place for good on June 27. The Yankees were put into position to play catch-up and were just not good enough. Not good enough for 162 games. And not for three days in October.

They lost Game 1 because they did not hit enough and Austin Wells made a baserunning gaffe. They lost Game 2 because they did not hit enough and played defense like they were wearing gloves on the wrong hand. They lost Game 3 because they did not hit enough and were let down by the strength of the team, a starter, Fried.

Yes, they were missing Aaron Judge. Yes, Giancarlo Stanton was limited to two pinch-hit at-bats and struck out in both . . .

There are always excuses. That is familiar too. This is what happens . . . Something happens to them when they get tantalizingly close to baseball heaven. When the calendar flips to October. When the best is needed.

But there was no best. They scored five runs in three games — or one more run than they had errors in Game 2. They could not get the big hit, make the big pitch, record the routine out when it was necessary.

So another year goes by in which they fall short again. Not good enough.

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Once again, the Yankees’ season ends with a division rival partying at their place
Gary Phillips, Daily News

As their division rivals popped bottles inside Yankee Stadium’s visiting clubhouse, the home side filled with frustration and sorrow.

"It’s just heartbreaking," Jazz Chisholm Jr. said.

"We didn’t do our jobs, didn’t finish the goal," Aaron Judge chimed in.

"They do a little of everything," Max Fried added. "They put the ball in play, they get a bunch of hits, they run the bases well, play good defense, and they pitched. So they played a pretty complete series, and they beat us."

All of those comments were delivered a year ago, when the Blue Jays defeated the Yankees in a four-game ALDS, celebrated at midfield, and boogied in the Bronx. And yet, they are just as fitting now. . . .

The only major differences? It was the Rays who raged this time, and they were able pull off a three-game sweep.

"I don't like that," said Judge, who didn't play this postseason due to a calf strain. "I don't like other teams celebrating in our place."

Tampa already knew how to host a boozy bash at Yankee Stadium, as they also commemorated a division crown there a few weeks ago. . . .

The Yankees and their aging superstars — namely Judge, Gerrit Cole and Giancarlo Stanton — will watch what is left of the playoffs from home while getting another early start on the offseason. . . . [A] looming work stoppage hovers over the sport . . . A potential lockout could cut into another season for Judge, who is 34 and also missed 99 days with a fractured rib this year, and Cole, who is 36 and made 22 starts following Tommy John surgery. . . .

While Cashman’s deal is up after the season, it would be shocking to see anyone else in the general manager’s chair. And even after another sloppy postseason, Boone could remain as manager. He has survived disappointments like this throughout his ringless tenure . . .

For now, the Yankees can only lament another premature end. They can only reflect on why, time and time again, a roster that does enough from March through September falls short in October, or why their years-long reputation for poor play under bright lights persists.

If those issues do not get corrected, there will be more wallowing over early exits, and more Yankee Stadium parties that the home team isn’t invited to.

Anthony Volpe’s tying home run in Game 3 overturned after Yankees fan interference

Chris Kirschner, New York Times

Anthony Volpe sent Yankee Stadium into a frenzy for a few moments after what seemed like a two-run home run to tie the score . . . 

Volpe rounded the bases as fans threw drinks onto the field in celebration. But MLB’s video replay center determined a fan interfered with the batted ball by sticking his hands over the wall, hauling it into the stands above the outstretched glove of Rays left fielder Víctor Mesa Jr.

The home run was overturned and ruled an RBI double, which meant that instead of a 4-4 score, New York trailed, 4-3. . . . Rays reliever Griffin Jax then struck out Spencer Jones . . . to end the inning. The 4-3 score held and the Rays took Game 3 to eliminate the Yankees and advance to the American League Championship Series. . . .

Stadium security quickly reached the fan and whisked him out of the section, taking him up the steps and out through an exit on River Avenue.

Even after the fan was taken away, other fans in the section chanted expletives in the direction of the people he was seated near.

After the play, and as Volpe rounded the bases, fans threw trash onto the field in the direction of Mesa. Beer cans, cups and assorted debris were hurled from the stands and into left field. The fan who interfered with the play held the ball up high, raising it in his right hand in triumph while another fan wrapped him in a hug.

Junior Caminero brutally trolls with broom and 'da Yankees lose' chant after ALDS sweep
Christian Arnold, Post

Junior Caminero had no problem rubbing salt in the Yankees' wound after the Rays swept the Bronx Bombers out of the playoffs. 

The Rays third baseman taunted Yankees fans after Bryan Baker struck out Trent Grisham for the game's final out and secured the ALDS sweep at Yankee Stadium. 

The TNT broadcast captured Caminero mimicking a sweeping broom while looking into the stands before going over to join his teammates in celebration. . . .

MLB posted a video on social media of Caminero doing an impression of David Ortiz by saying his signature "da Yankees lose!"

Caminero did it while he was on the field, shouting the phrase and putting his hand against his head to mimic sleep. 

He shouted it again while speaking with Spanish-speaking media inside the Rays clubhouse and another time when TNT's Lauren Shehadi interviewed him. 

"The best! The best! Sweep!" Caminero shouted when Shehadi asked him about celebrating a series victory at Yankee Stadium. "Da Yankees lose!"

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Aaron Judge was 'hating every single moment' of watching Yankees' ALDS loss from bench
Dan Martin, Post

Aaron Judge has been here too many times before: watching another team celebrate in front of him at Yankee Stadium. 

"Just hating every single moment of it,'' Judge said of his thoughts when he was sitting in the dugout after the Rays beat the Yankees 4-3 to complete a three-game sweep of the ALDS. . . .

Judge was forced to miss such a sizable chunk of the regular season due to a fractured rib that cost him over three months and then the strained calf that prevented him from playing in the postseason. . . .

Asked how close he was to being activated for the ALDS after missing the wild-card series . . . He said he was "feeling great" . . .

Judge was asked what the team needs to do to get better and avoid being in this situation again, as they have every year of his career. 

"We're the Yankees,'' Judge said. . . . "They give us a winning team every year."

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They went home!