Following a disheartening loss on Friday night, the New York Yankees walked somberly back to their respective clubhouse, but little did they know manager Aaron Boone was preparing to deliver an angry speech to the media, referencing the “embarrassing” nature of his team’s performance.
The Bombers were completely demoralized, losing 9–0 on the evening. Starting pitcher Domingo German carried the team 6.2 innings, allowing two earned runs, plenty of time for his team to provide some support.
However, Greg Weissert and Anthony Banda combined for just one inning of action, giving up six earned runs. It got so bad that utilityman Marwin Gonzalez ended up throwing four pitches to finish the game.
“That’s an embarrassing loss,” said Boone. “Hopefully, one of those rock bottom situations, where you should be pissed off and embarrassed. We’ve set a better standard around here. We just got to be better. Period.”
The Yankees recorded five total hits compared to 11 from Tampa Bay. They committed three errors, two of them via Josh Donaldson at third base.
The Yankees need to win games, and now:
The Yankees can’t afford to be losing games like this while holding a slim lead in the AL East. At one point, they hosted a double-digit lead that seemed irreversible, but they sit five games ahead in the AL East and are finding it hard to score runs at this point in time. Tampa Bay looks like the better squad, even though the Yankees have a star-studded lineup with plenty of firepower.
“It’s just embarrassing when you get beat like that and you’re going through the struggles you are,” Boone added. “I’m in charge of this team. What we’re going through right now, I know better than anyone, there’s going to be hard moments and hard times. I do think the effort’s there, I think the care is there. But we’ve set a much better standard in that room that we’ve got to start living up to.”
To make matters even worse, manager Aaron Boone tossed out Oswald Peraza in his MLB debut to take the final at-bat of the game, in which he struck out. You couldn’t demoralize a player any more than sacrificing him as the final out in a blowout loss.
Aaron Boone needs to do better first and foremost:
Considering Boone put together an embarrassing lineup, it is no surprise they failed miserably to score runs. They refuse to start Oswaldo Carrera after a solid start to his MLB career and kept Peraza on the bench despite Isiah Kiner-Falefa‘s near nonexistent power. While the team tried to add contact hitters this past off-season and at the trade deadline, the Yankees still ultimately live and die by the home run, so they need to have power hitters in the lineup to get the job done.
Kiner-Falefa provides no power, featuring just one homer this season. Peraza has launched 19 long balls for Triple-A Scranton, providing the Yankees with an alternative at SS that may provide a spark in the batter’s box.
Nonetheless, the Yankees are currently experiencing one of the biggest meltdowns in the history of the game, and if they manage the blow their excessive lead in the AL East, somebody has to be on the hot seat for their demise.