Series Recap: Swept By Boston
Photo Via: Associated PressThe Red Sox came into town with Alex Cora at the helm and they beat up on the Yankees as if they knew beforehand they would win. Last weekend, the Yankees were swept by the Detroit Tigers because Aaron Boone rested half the lineup and bullpen in order to ensure they are a full-go for the Tampa and Boston series. Well, now the Yankees went 2-5 in the 7 games versus those divisional opponents. This is what I have been screaming from the mountain top all season long: WIN THE GAME IN FRONT OF YOU. Baseball is a whacky game — use your best players early and often, because you have no idea how the next game is going to go.
Game 1 (Red Sox 5, Yankees 2)
This game was over before it even started. Immediately in the first inning, the Red Sox put two runners on base for Rafael Devers (slugger to watch from our series preview). Devers SMOKED a fastball into the upper deck before the bleacher creatures could even finish the roll call.
King cruised for a bit after that, but the damage was already done. Even an immaculate inning could not fix this outing.
The only other bright spot all game was Aaron Judge’s solo homer off Nathan Eovaldi.
The Yankees took a 5-2 loss and the game was never even in doubt. Another poor effort. Hirokazu Sawamura pitched 2 innings out of the Red Sox bullpen and struck out 5 of the 7 batters he faced. That is a real thing that happened to this Yankees team.
Yankee of the Day: Aaron Judge (8): 2 for 4, HR, R, RBI.
Game 2 (Red Sox 7, Yankees 3)
Jameson Taillon deserved better. He was up to the task and pitched 5 scoreless frames. Gio Urshela did his best to help out Taillon. This play to get Bogaerts out was absolutely remarkable.
Gleyber Torres demolished a 2-run homer and things seemed great.
But in the back of your mind, you knew something was going to go wrong. Things fell apart in the 6th inning. Alex Verdugo hit a ground ball against the shift. Then Xander Bogaerts hit a fly ball to the left field wall that Miguel Andújar was awfully confused by, which turned into a double. The fly ball had a 95% catch probability, yet Andújar did not even get leather on it. Taillon stayed in to face Devers, and he just kept trying to get the fastball by him since analytics tells the Yankees that Devers cannot hit fastballs. Instead, Devers smoked it for a 2-run single to tie the game. Boone then went to Jonathan Loáisiga, who surrendered an infield single to Hunter Renfroe and a double to Marwin Gonzalez, which gave the Sox a 3-2 lead.
One inning later, Gleyber Torres tied things up after a Gio Urshela ground rule double.
The Yankees failed to take the lead, but at least there was some hope with the game tied. That is, until Chad Green showed up and handed the game on a silver platter to Boston and Boone just left him to die out there. Green had no faith in his breaking ball, so it became batting practice for Boston.
It was capped off by Bobby Dalbec hitting one of the furthest home runs of the season. I mean, this was just CRUSHED.
To twist the knife a bit, Adam Ottavino entered and sat down the Yankees 1-2-3 hitters in order.
It was a brutal, brutal loss — which seem to be stockpiling in 2021.
Yankee of the Day: Gleyber Torres (6): 1 for 3, HR, R, 3 RBI. Sacrifice fly.
Game 3 (Red Sox 6, Yankees 5) (10 Innings)
Sunday Night Baseball — all eyes were on the Yankees and Red Sox as the Bombers try to evade a sweep at the hands of their rival. What better way to bring baseball to a launching pad then to have an umpire call a strike on a pitch 9 miles outside of home plate with a full count and 2 outs in a tie game in the bottom of the 9th inning.
The story of the night was this pitch and the aftermath. But let’s start from the beginning of the game. Domingo Germán started and gave up an early solo shot in the first to Verdugo.
Typically, that would take the air out of the game for the Yankees, but not this time. The offense showed a little fight out of the gate. The Kraken got things going with a 2-RBI double in the first inning as the fourth of four consecutive hits by the Yanks.
Miguel Andújar made a great throw to prevent Bogaerts from getting a double, and the Yankees maintained their 2-1 lead.
Then we got to see C.C. Sabathia behind the Yankees dugout. This team cannot lose with C.C. on hand, right?
With the Red Sox threatening to score while facing a 3-1 deficit, Lucas Luetge came in and made an amazing pitch to strike out Devers to end the inning.
An Andújar double play ruined the bottom half of the 6th, so Luetge came out again for the top of the 7th. this time, the Red Sox were ready for him — and he was not ready for them. Luetge walked Hunter Renfroe on 4 pitches and then gave up a home run — barely — to Marwin Gonzalez to tie the game up.
Things got worse in the 8th inning. A popup to right field turned into an easy double when Clint Frazier stared at D.J. LeMahieu back-pedaling. The ball landed, and the embarrassment landed with it.
The Red Sox took the lead on a sacrifice fly by Bogaerts, even though Boone could have elected to walk him and try for the double play ball from Devers, who grounded out right after. Very weird decision, especially with the lefty Wandy Peralta on the mound.
The Yankees did not roll over, though. After an Aaron Judge walk, Gleyber Torres roped a double to tie the game. Judge trekked all the way around the bases with a little help from a bobble in left field by Verdugo.
This is when the blown call on Odor occurred. Phil Nevin blew a gasket and got ejected from the game, along with Carlos Mendoza (which really should have been Marcus Thames).
The Red Sox took the lead in the top of the 10th on a double by Bogaerts (of course).
The Yankees tried to answer in their half of the inning, but of course a ground ball double play ruined that. Tyler Wade nearly got the Yankees out of it, but a D.J. LeMahieu ground ball up the middle was fielded perfectly by Marwin Gonzalez and the game was over.
Yankee of the Day: Gleyber Torres (7): 2 for 5, 2B, R, RBI, SB.
Series Talking Points
Boone Stays Quiet: The strike-3 call to Rougned Odor was one of the worst strike calls I can remember. Multiply it by the fact that it was Sunday Night Baseball, Yankees vs. Red Sox, and the Yanks were on the verge of a sweep by Alex Cora and it was one of the worst calls to happen to the Yankees ever. Yet, Aaron Boone did not even seem phased by it. However, it is not as if the dugout as a whole took the same approach. Phil Nevin — with the bandage from his IV still on his arm — ran out of that dugout and stood up for these players. Boone even tried to hold him back. Marcus Thames screamed at Crew Chief Bill Miller from the top step. It seemed like Aaron Boone could not even be bothered to be angry. Yes, he was recently ejected on Thursday, but you just HAVE TO blow up on blue there.
All the typical managerial decision-making blame gets shifted off of Boone all the time. We hear that the lineup card being out of whack is not his fault. We hear that using an opener in the playoffs was not his fault. We hear that resting players and not pitching guys 3 days in a row is not his fault and are organizational decisions. Questionable pitch-calling and defensive shifts are blamed on the analytics department. What can we blame on Boone? He is the manager. Well, this one is easy. You HAVE to stand up for your team when a call like that is made. It is the one thing we are 100% certain he is in control of and he did nothing. That was the back-breaker for me. I have been a Boone supporter for the most part over the years — definitely more so than any other Yankees fans I know — but he is in dangerous territory now. I am not sure if his days are numbered with this franchise, but it does not seem like Aaron Judge particularly sees eye-to-eye with Boone most of the time (yes, there is a substantial height difference). This is all pointing towards things falling apart one way or another.
Move On From Clint Frazier: The Yankees keep trotting out Clint Frazier every night. He had a big hit against the Rays, but that is about it for him on the year. Through 60 games, Frazier has a -0.9 bWAR. People immediately jump to, “Well Gardner has been bad, too!” Here are a couple reasons why that does not matter. First, Gardner has a -0.1 bWAR. Frazier has been NINE TIMES AS BAD AS GARDNER. Second, Clint Frazier is in his prime. This is supposed to be the best year of Clint’s career and he has been a flat-out embarrassment. He cannot hit, he cannot field, and he is not a cerebral player on the base paths. Brett Gardner at least showed for over a decade that he can play baseball. Third, Frazier has a minor league option and Gardner does not. Frazier can be sent down to the minors. The Yankees would save some service time on him and he can maybe learn how to catch fly balls and run the bases. However, I am willing to bet he would throw a fit since he has in his head that he deserves to start every day. Fourth, Brett Gardner can play center field. I cannot imagine how disastrous moving Clint to center would be, and I hope the Yankees do not even try it. Fifth, Gardner is a good baserunner and is a veteran voice for the Yankees clubhouse.
I do not want to say that I am happy with Gardner’s play at all. I am not. But at least you know you will get baserunning and defense. With Clint you get nothing but the oh-so-occasional home run. It is not worth it anymore. Hopefully, the Yankees figure out a way to not have to start either guy in the outfield at some point, but if I have to pick one, it is Gardner easily.
Clint Frazier is hitting .185 with a .623 OPS and hitting is supposed to be the only thing he does well. How long can you let this continue? Move on from it.
Series Totals
Hitting
D.J. LeMahieu: 3 for 13 (.231 AVG), 1 BB (.286 OBP), 0 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 4 K (.516 OPS), 0 SB
Giancarlo Stanton: 1 for 8 (.125 AVG), 1 BB (.222 OBP), 0 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 3 K (.347 OPS), 0 SB
Aaron Judge: 4 for 10 (.400 AVG), 3 BB (.538 OBP), 4 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 2 K (1.238 OPS), 0 SB
Gio Urshela: 5 for 13 (.385 AVG), 0 BB (.385 OBP), 2 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 5 K (.846 OPS), 0 SB
Gleyber Torres: 5 for 12 (.417 AVG), 0 BB (.385 OBP), 2 R, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 2 K (1.135 OPS), 1 SB
Gary Sánchez: 3 for 11 (.273 AVG), 1 BB (.333 OBP), 0 R, 0 HR, 2 RBI, 5 K (.697 OPS), 0 SB
Clint Frazier: 2 for 10 (.200 AVG), 1 BB, 1 HBP (.333 OBP), 0 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 4 K (.533 OPS), 0 SB
Brett Gardner: 0 for 4 (.000 AVG), 3 BB (.429 OBP), 0 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 2 K (.000 OPS), 0 SB
Kyle Higashioka: 0 for 1 (.000 AVG), 0 BB (.000 OBP), 0 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 1 K (.000 OPS), 0 SB
Chris Gittens: 0 for 7 (.000 AVG), 1 BB (.125 OBP), 0 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 4 K (.125 OPS), 0 SB
Miguel Andújar: 1 for 8 (.125 AVG), 0 BB (.125 OBP), 1 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 2 K (.250 OPS), 0 SB
Rougned Odor: 0 for 5 (.000 AVG), 0 BB (.000 OBP), 1 R, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 3 K (.000 OPS), 0 SB
Tyler Wade: 1 for 1 (1.000 AVG), 0 BB (1.000 OBP), 0 R, 0 HR, 1 RBI, 0 K (2.000 OPS), 0 SB
Pitching
Michael King: 5.1 IP, 4 R, 4 ER, 6 H, 0 BB, 1 HR, 5 Ks, 6.75 ERA
Jameson Taillon: 5.1 IP, 3 R, 3 ER, 6 H, 1 BB, 0 HR, 3 Ks, 5.06 ERA
Domingo Germán: 5.2 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 1 HR, 3 Ks, 1.59 ERA
Brooks Kriske: 1 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 2 Ks, 0.00 ERA
Nestor Cortes Jr.: 2 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 4 Ks, 0.00 ERA
Wandy Peralta: 1.1 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 0 Ks, 6.75 ERA
Luis Cessa: 1 IP, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 H, 1 BB, 0 HR, 0 Ks, 9.00 ERA
Lucas Luetge: 3 IP, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 1 HR, 3 Ks, 9.00 ERA
Jonathan Loáisiga: 1.2 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 0 HR, 1 Ks, 0.00 ERA
Chad Green: 0.2 IP, 4 R, 4 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 1 HR, 1 K, 54.00 ERA
Aroldis Chapman: 1 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 HR, 1 K, 0.00 ERA
Nick Nelson: No appearances.
Albert Abreu: No appearances.
Deivi Garcia: No appearances.
Jordan Montgomery: No appearances.
Gerrit Cole: No appearances.