After another crushing defeat to the Toronto Blue Jays, the New York Yankees sit just eight games above Toronto and Tampa Bay in the AL East. Their lead is quickly diminishing with every passing loss, and considering there’s still a month and a half left in the regular season, this is no time for the Yankees to start throwing away games.
After their 4–0 loss against Toronto, manager Aaron Boone took the stage, trying to motivate his team but indicating they are going through a rough patch right now and just need to power through it.
The Yankees missed their opportunity to turn things around:
There was hope Josh Donaldson‘s walk-off Grand Slam on Wednesday night would be enough to change the course of the team, but they immediately backed it up with a 9-2 defeat in the first game of a four game series against Toronto on Thursday.
- Yankees’ veteran infielder has rehab assignment delayed after MRI revealed lack of healing
- Yankees place hard-throwing reliever on 15-day IL with hip injury
- Yankees preparing to make superstar ‘top priority’ in free agency next off-season
“We should be ticked off right now and we need to start playing better. Plain and simple,” Boone said after the Yankees’ fifth loss in their last six games, and the team’s eighth in their last 10 outings.
The Bombers have two games left against Toronto but have Gerrit Cole on the mound Saturday afternoon against Mitch White, who has a 3.72 ERA over 65.1 innings. The biggest issue isn’t pitching matchups, it is a simple reality that the Yankees haven’t been able to take advantage of struggling starters.
White was recently acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers, giving up four runs in his last 8.2 innings. He has a 4.85 ERA pitching away this season, losing both of his games, presenting the Yankees with a good opportunity to get back in the win column.
“You pour a lot into trying to shake hands at the end of the day, and we’ve been able to do that on balance on a really high clip this year. We’ve hit a rough patch and we’ve got to dig ourselves out,” Boone continued. “We can sit here, and I can keep answering questions and talk about it … but we’ve got to go do it. And the good news is we’ve got all the pieces in that room to do that. I know that’s coming. I know it’s going to happen, but it really sucks going through it.”
Rookie Oswaldo Cabrera has contributed three hits in his last two games, providing a major spark. He even robbed a home run playing right field during Friday’s game.
The Yankees have enjoyed his spark, but he is unable to hit for everybody else in the lineup, which has been difficult to experience. Luckily, the team is expected to get back Giancarlo Stanton this upcoming week, which can’t happen fast enough. They desperately need Stanton’s bat back in the clean-up role. Donaldson has been otherwise uninspiring aside from his walk-off Grand Slam.