After the New York Yankees blew out the Indians with a shutout in the first game, and an embarrassing loss in the second game hoped to at least salvage a game to take the series in the rubber game. Instead, the Yankees played a sloppy game resulting in another 11 run bashing.
Ace Cole bombs out big time
The last thing any New York Yankee fan would have thought going into yesterday’s matinee was that Yankee ace Gerrit Cole would give up seven runs and lose the game for the Yankees. After a disastrous loss on Saturday, Yankees fans were looking to exhale and watch their ace cruise to a win of both the game and the series with the Cleveland Indians, but the exact opposite happened.
Yankee fans woke up Sunday morning bright and cheery as they would watch a game against the poor hitting Cleveland team with their ace on the mound facing a rookie pitcher with an ERA over 6. Unfortunately, that cheery feeling disappeared pretty quickly in the first inning when Cole, right off the bat gave up two runs in the first inning. He hit the first batter he faced; that should have been telling for what was about to unravel the Yankees into a shameful 11-1 loss.
In an after-game interview, Cole seemed to indicate that he thought he didn’t have that bad of a game but was unlucky. However, he did admit that he had trouble finding that put-out pitch. To anyone watching Cole pitch, it was evident that Cole didn’t have control of his pitches. In the end, Cole only went 5.2 innings using 98 pitches, ten of which were hits and giving up 7 runs. Cole, when he is on, gets better and better as the game progresses. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen yesterday; Perez knocked him out of the game when he homered off Cole in the sixth inning.
Where have all the hitters gone?
In the first game of the Cleveland series, the New York Yankees looked like the Bronx Bombers of old, hitting five home runs in the game and getting 11 hits while leaving only one player in scoring position. It was a game that the Yankees shut out the Indians. But in game two, a different team arrived on the field. The Yankees could only bring 3 runs across home plate, and the Yankee pitching failed miserably, with Luis Gil, Albert Abreu, and Andrew Heaney giving up 11 runs between the trio. Gil was rewarded by being demoted to the Rail Riders.
Yesterday, against a mediocre rookie pitcher at best, the Yankees could only plate one home run by Gio Urshela. The Yankees had 8 hits but couldn’t generate them into runs. The Yankees could only score one run against a crummy pitcher. The Yankees showed no urgency in winning as they played sloppy baseball, scoring more errors than runs.
Yankees need to thank the Red Sox, the Wild-Card story
The Yankees are holding on to dear life the hope of reaching the postseason, not winning the division but securing a wild card spot. For ten games, the Yankees held on to home-field advantage securing the number one spot. But then they started to play 5-5 baseball as the Red Sox, and Toronto Blue Jays surged. Many fans don’t realize that the only reason the Yankees have any chance of a wild card berth is because of the Red Sox collapse during August when they went 7-20.
Right now, the Yankees are 1.5 games out of a berth, looking in at the Toronto Blue Jays and the leading Boston Red Sox. Even more unnerving is that the Oakland Athletics are just one game away from taking the Yankees position. During a soft period in the Yankee schedule, they have only gone 5-5, when they should have dominated. The Yankees have just one more chance of dominating, and that starts today over the Texas Rangers, another team under .500 (.369).
It is a near must for the New York Yankees to sweep the Rangers. After that, they face teams that are ahead of them. They play three against the Boston Red Sox and three against the Toronto Blue Jays, all six away. Then the best the Yankees can hope for is to return to Yankee Stadium for the last three games of the season against the Tampa Bay Rays still in contention.
Last night after the embarrassing second loss to the Indians, manager Aaron Boone who has spent the entire season boasted about the Yankees’ potential, uttered the truest words to come from his mouth.
“We’ve got to get better in a hurry. Period.”