Clay Holmes Fails Again: His 11th Blown Save Ends in a Crushing Defeat

If you were surprised by what happened Tuesday night, I don’t know what to tell you because you had to see it coming the moment Clay Holmes took the mound. True to form, Holmes blew another game, this one in spectacular fashion, and the Yankees are now sitting in second place in the AL East. If you have the stomach for it, lets get to it.

Sept. 3: Rangers 7, Yankees 4

Folks, the NFL starts this week and my suggestion is to forget about the Yankees. It’s not worth the aggravation watching $300 million worth of underachievement because we all know how this is going to end a little more than a month from now: For the 15th year in a row, this team will be packing up its lockers without a hint of champagne in the clubhouse.

I have no choice to keep watching because I’m committed to doing this newsletter. And I appreciate those of you who read it, but honestly, if these missives were left unopened in your inbox for the rest of the year, I’d be sad but I wouldn’t blame you because why would you want to relive this shit? Believe me, on days like this it kills me to have to do it.

Clay Holmes did it again. He took a victory, one that would have kept the Yankees in first place in the AL East, and turned it into yet another soul-crushing, gut-wrenching, utterly disgusting loss. That’s 11 goddamn saves he’s blown. That’s 11 goddamn games the Yankees should have won, 11 games that would have had them on easy street in the division. Hell, even if he had blown only half of those they’d be cruising to a division crown and probably a first-round bye.

Instead, Holmes did what he has now come to perfect this season, turning a win into a loss while the idiot manager Aaron Boone stands there in the dugout, blowing his bubbles and watching it happen.

“There’s been times I’ve thrown well and gotten beat,” Holmes said. “Obviously tonight was one of those where I didn’t throw very well. Wasn’t very good at all and definitely didn’t deserve to come out on top the way I was throwing. Just lost the delivery there. Lost the feel for the sinker. Slider, was just leaving it up. Think I was just getting a little too quick. The command went with that. Obviously that one hurt. That was a tough one. Have to bounce back and show what we’re made of.”

Afterward the Rangers - who are also going nowhere and in fact, won’t even make the playoffs - finished their home plate celebration, Boone was asked if he will finally consider stop using Holmes as the closer. “I’m not going to answer that when we’re raw and emotional,” Boone said. “We’ll talk through it and do what we think is the best thing. He’s really important to us down there. We need his excellence to be part of the group down there. So this is a tough one.”

Excellence. That’s the word Boone used.

As always, my man and NYPD Blue legend Nick Turturro is speaking for all of us:

So while Boone figures that out, we’re left to be raw and emotional watching this bum, as are his teammates because despite the lies they tell the media every time Holmes blows a game, saying he’s their guy and no one’s better - just imagine my eyes rolling as I type this - deep down they have zero confidence in him and are sick of watching him, too.

“It’s tough,” said Carlos Rodon, whose outstanding performance and victory Holmes ruined. “Baseball can be very cruel. It’s a cruel game. But I have a lot of faith in Clay Holmes. He’s a good teammate, so he’s got all my support. I’m looking forward to seeing him out there again.”

Unbelievable, the stupid shit some of these guys say. All Rodon had to do was stop at “it’s a cruel game.” There was no reason to flat out lie to the reporters and ultimately the fans.

What say you, Brian Cashman, the man who failed to acquire a legitimate closer at the trade deadline and instead shopped at the Goodwill store to bring useless relievers Mark Leiter and Enyel De Los Santos to the team. De Les Santos was so bad he was cut within weeks and is now pitching for the worst team in MLB history, the White Sox. And Leiter has sucked. There’s no other word to describe his pinstripe performance to date.

Cashman said the day after the deadline that Holmes was his guy, he was comfortable with him as the closer, and all would be well. Since the deadline, Holmes has pitched in 12 games, has blown three saves, nearly blew a couple others, and his ERA is 5.23. For the season, it is now 3.27 and in case you’re wondering, for closers, that’s egregiously bad.

For a closer to have an ERA like that, it’s akin to a quarterback completing like 30% of his passes. You can’t win with performances like that and Tuesday, the Yankees did not win because Holmes continues to be incapable of doing the only job he has - pitch a clean ninth inning.

Here are my observations:

➤ Rodon was fabulous, and not that pitcher wins mean anything anymore, but Holmes cost him one he truly deserved. He pitched six innings and gave up just one hit, a solo homer by Josh Jung, while striking out a season-high 11 men. What a shame that he had to watch this shitty bullpen, and the shitty closer, make it all for naught, regardless of what he said about Holmes afterward.

➤ Once again, another lousy left-hander, Andrew Heaney, dominated the Yankees and for a long time it looked like Rodon would be blaming the offense for wasting his performance. Heaney pitched five scoreless innings and gave up just three hits and a walk while whiffing eight. It’s baffling how the Yankees can’t hit left-handed pitching.

➤ Rangers manager Bruce Bochy did the Yankees a favor by going to his own shaky bullpen and Jose LeClerc coughed up the Rangers 1-0 lead in the seventh. Jazz Chisholm and Anthony Volpe singled, and then Chisholm distracted LeClerc and caused a balk that moved the runners to second a third. Chisholm scored on Jose Trevino’s ground out, and Volpe came home on Alex Verdugo’s bloop single to put the Yankees in front.

➤ Then in the eighth, the Yankees did exactly what they needed and tacked on, giving the shitty bullpen a little breathing room. Gleyber Torres walked, Aaron Judge singled, and then with two outs Chisholm singled to load the bases and Volpe followed with a great eight-pitch at bat that ended with a two-run single. Not that it mattered.

➤ Texas came right back with two in the bottom of the eighth off Tommy Kahnle, Jake Cousins and Tim Hill. Of course some terrible defense also proved costly. DJ LeMahieu lost a chopper in the lights and made an error. Why LeMahieu was still in the game when the actual starting first baseman, Anthony Rizzo, was sitting in the dugout, is absolutely flabbergasting, but that’s Boone just being clueless.

➤ Then Torres had a hot shot up the middle that he should have had go under his glove. It probably would have been an inning-ending double play; instead it went for an RBI single. “It was a tough play on this track that’s obviously fast,” Boone said. “If he stabs it, we probably get a double play there, but it’s a tough one.” Hill came on and gave up a sac fly that made it 4-3 and everyone should have known right then that with a one-run lead, there was no way Holmes was going to protect it.

➤ In that ninth, it was like looking out your front window, seeing two cars driving down your street, and knowing they were going to crash into each other and the only question was going to be how much damage would be done. Well, it was a baseball tragedy. Facing the bottom of the order, Holmes got the first out easily, but then gave up a single to No. 8 hitter Carson Kelly and he walked No. 9 hitter Josh Smith and dangerous leadoff man Marcus Semien to load the bases. It was still 4-3, but I’m sure every one of you who happened to still be watching knew it was over, and it was, seven pitches later when he gave up a walk-off grand slam to rookie Wyatt Langford.