
I remember when relief pitchers like Sparky Lyle or Goose Gossage would go two or three innings for the save. Not these one-inning guys. One guy has the seventh, another the eighth, another the ninth. You brought in your best to face the heart of the lineup. If a guy did well, you left them out there until you saw they were losing it.
You didn’t change just for the sake of change. You didn’t stubbornly keep going to one guy “because he’s our closer” despite the fact that the guy has been struggling for weeks and it may be best to put him in lower leverage spots for a while until he gets straightened out. Let someone else who is hot take over for a while. Not everyone is a Rivera.
Go with the hot hand instead of playing pat and trite all the time. That goes for the lineup, too.
These problems hurt the Yanks (71-42) in a 3-2, 10-inning loss to Boston last night. The loss was the Yankees 8th in their last 9 games. Since a 52-18 start, the Yanks are 19-24. That is too long of a stretch of disappointing baseball. It has to be turned around. The postseason is seven weeks away. You don’t want to be playing like this going into the postseason (granted, the 2000 Yankees finished the season 3-14 and won the WS, but that’s an outlier).
In losing 8 of their last 9 games, 5 losses are by one run. 39 of the Yanks 113 games have been one-run games, and the Yanks are 21-18 in those games. Since the All-Star break, the bullpen has lost 9 games for the Yankees. The wheels are falling off and must be put back on, and now. The Yanks still have a 10-game lead in the division with 49 games to play, but they have lost best record in the AL to Houston (the Yanks are 1 1/2 games behind the Astros). After Boston this weekend, the Yanks have Tampa Bay, Toronto and the Mets. Unless they turn things around, this bad stretch could get really bad. And in this bad stretch, bullpen management has been questionable, as have been other front office decisions (like Schmidt and Marinaccio in AAA instead of with the Yankees).
Also, the Yankees offense needs to be more than just Aaron Judge, who scored both Yankees’ runs last night.
The Yanks jumped on one-time Yankee Nathan Eovaldi for a run in the first inning when Judge walked and scored on a double by Anthony Rizzo.
Judge hit a HR (46) in the third to make it 2-0. It was Judge’s 100th RBI of the season. The Yanks didn’t score after that. It cost them. For example, Gleyber Torres is 7 for his last 50.
Domingo German pitched well, giving up only one run in six innings. His first start of the season wasn’t good, but in the four starts since, his ERA is 2.61. Nice.
So, the Yanks had a 2-1 lead going into the seventh. You are coming off an off day. Scott Effross pitched a 1-2-3 seventh inning. Only 10 pitches. Why not leave him out there for the eighth? Change for change’s sake is NOT good.
Aroldis Chapman pitched a 1-2-3 eighth. 11 pitches. Once again, if a guy is doing well, why not leave him out there? Repeating. Change for change’s sake isn’t good.
So, Boone went “formula” bringing in Clay Holmes even though we all know Holmes has been struggling. In his first 38 appearances this season, he was phenomenal, with an ERA of 0.46. However, in his last 11 games, his ERA is 10.24. Like a poker player, a manager has to play the hot hand and not stand pat. Holmes is not the hot hand right now. Effross and Chapman were. As soon as Holmes came in, I held my breath.
Holmes’ problems are of command and control, and sure enough, he walked two batters before giving up the game-tying single.
To the 10th and the ghost runner that I hate. Tim Locastro PR for D.J. LeMahieu. Judge walked. Two on and no one out and the Yanks didn’t score. Rizzo got unlucky on a line drive that was caught. A couple of feet higher and it’s probably an RBI double that scores one, maybe two runs. Josh Donaldson and Gleyber Torres both struck out. The Yanks miss Stanton and Carpenter immensely. Donaldson and Torres hitting 4/5 isn’t the answer. The Yanks were 1 for 10 w/RISP.
Boston got the hits they needed off of Luis Trivino in the bottom of the tenth and won 3-2.
Frustrating. You could see some of it coming, though. Boone, and the front office, need to be more flexible and better regarding in-game and especially bullpen decisions (Boone) and personnel decisions (Cashman). For if this collapse continues for a couple of more weeks, heads could roll at season’s end. Granted they can’t control injuries. But for things they CAN control…
We remember the great Yankees’ comeback of 1978. We don’t want a reversal of fortune.
When you are in a funk this long (19-24 in last 43 games) something needs to be said…and done. Boone can’t just sit there with rose-colored glasses on and spin things better than a White House press secretary. The Yanks need to turn it around, and now.
Judge solo HR (46). 100th RBI
Trevino 2 hits.
German 6 IP, 1 R, 5 H, 2 W, 4 K. 4.18
Effross (H, 15) 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W. 2.94 (Cubs/NYY ERA)
Chapman (H, 1) 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 2 K. 4.13
Holmes (BS, 5) 1/3 IP, 1 R, 1 H, 2 W, 0 K. 2.39
Peralta 2/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K. 2.20
Trivino (L, 1-7) 1/3 IP, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 H, 0 W, 0 K. 5.70 (A’s/NYY record)