Last night the New York Yankees met up with the Toronto Blue Jays in the second game of a three-game set in Dunedin, Florida. The results were not encouraging; they lost to the Jays 7-3, and both the pitching and hitting mostly failed. Here are 3 major takeaways from the game.
Jameson Taillon, not good again
Jameson Taillon had his second start of the young season last night, and it wasn’t good. He got through the first inning just fine, but it was all downhill from there. Grichuk singled, Gurriel Jr. was hit by a pitch, Jensen walked, loading the bases. Then, Palacios had a sac fly, scoring two Jay’s runs. In the third inning, the Jays scored another run.
In the fourth inning, Taillon was still in the game, with the Yankee hitting able to pull him out of a bad start. The fourth inning did Taillon in, as allowed Marcus Semien a home run giving the Jays the 4 run lead. Later in the inning, a wild pitch and a double added another Jay’s run, and that was it for Taillon. Lucas Luetge came in the get the last out of the inning. You may say this is only one game, but Taillon is yet to have a good outing. Add to that, Domingo German has been sent down to Scranton after his two bad starts. Corey Kluber hasn’t been exactly great either; his ERA is sitting at 5.68. Taillon’s ERA is 7.56.
The once stellar-looking New York Yankee pitching rotation looks pretty bad, with only two pitchers performing well, Gerrit Cole and Jordan Montgomery. Luckily for the Yankees, the bullpen has been considerably better than the starting rotation, but if the starters continue as they have, the bullpen will soon be burnt out.
Where is the New York Yankee hitting?
The Yankee hitting has been just horrible so far this season. You may say, hey, it’s early in the season. That is true, but the more games the Yankees lose early on, the further they will be behind at the end of the season. The fact of the matter is that the Yankees hitting has been inconsistent or just not there at all.
The Yankees hitting has come alive in a few games, and those are the games the Yankees won. Last night in as in so many games, the Yankees were only able to muster up 8 hits, most in the game’s late innings when the game was out of reach. Aaron Hicks, who has been one of the worst hitters in the lineup, came alive, going 3 for 4 on the night. Other bright spots include Rougned Odor driving in a run; he has been impactful in his first three games as a Yankee, Giancarlo Stanton drove in two runs for a team-leading 9 RBI’s. If he remains healthy and continues at that pace he will have over 100 RBI’s on the season.
The biggest problem the New York Yankees are having with their hitting is that the heart of the lineup who is supposed to win games for the Yankees, in the first eleven games of the season, the 3 to 6 slots in the lineup are hitting just .143, that’s the worst in baseball. In the first eleven games of the season, the Yankees have struck out 146 times, that’s the most in MLB.
If these stats aren’t alarming to the Yankees and don’t find a way to fix it quickly, they will again fail in the division. They now anchor the AL East. To add to an already bleak-looking situation, the Yankees are hitting into double plays an inordinate number of times (15), many of them by last year’s batting champ DJ LeMahieu.
The only bright spot is the bullpen
All during the regular season, the New York Yankees bullpen has performed well, almost to the point of being perfect. Last night the combination of Lucas Luetge, Luis Cessa, and Albert Abreu only allowed on earned run over four innings. Normally over the first eleven games, they have been even better than that.
Jonathan Loaisiga, Luis Cessa, Michael King, Chad Green, Aroldis Chapman, Darren O’Day, and Justin Wilson have yet to allow an earned run on the season. Any team would be thrilled to have this bullpen. Nick Nelson is the only reliever that has not performed well.
The bottom line is that the bullpen can’t carry the Yankees season, the starters must go further into games and perform better, and the Yankees hitters have to start hitting consistently.