Classic Little League Play Sums Up The Yankees Season

Another series, another series loss. That makes six in a row and the Yankees have now won just one of their last 16 series since the start of July, the lowest number in MLB which, as you know, includes teams like the A’s, Royals and White Sox. They are now 62-68 and counting the days until this horror show is over. Lets get to it.

If ever there was a play that more perfectly defined what this Yankees season has been like, it happened Sunday afternoon at Tropicana Field. Man, it was some special kind of ugly.

Randy Arozarena - who is certainly a player we can all loathe given the hot dog nature of his game, not to mention how he routinely tortures the Yankees - singled off Carlos Rodon. He then tried to steal second base and holy shit, chaos ensued.

Kyle Higashioka made a terrible throw that not even a leaping Manute Bol could have reached. It sailed into center field so Arozarena got up and took off for third. Center fielder Harrison Bader fielded the errant throw and tried to nail Arozarena, but his throw was wide of the bag. Off target, yes, but it should have easily been handled by third baseman Oswald Peraza. It wasn’t.

He whiffed trying to catch it on the hop, and then Rodon, who was properly backing up the play, somehow allowed it to get past him, too, which sent Arozarena racing home. Rodon’s throw was too late and Arozarena had the classic Little League run, a play on which four different Yankees made terrible plays, though only Higashioka and Bader were charged with errors.

Am I right? Is that not the Yankees season tied up in a neat little 15-second film clip that will lead the next baseball bloopers highlight reel?

“We haven’t been very good,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Everything has been a challenge.”

Yep, even the most basic parts of the game. It’s astonishing how fundamentally challenged this team is. Larry, Curly and Moe would have looked better handling that play than the Yankees did.

As bad as that was, the day only got worse from there. After a brief power surge of three home runs gave the Yankees a 4-2 lead, they fell apart in the sixth inning and coughed up the lead.

And still it wasn’t done being mortifying because then the Yankees pitchers kept hitting Rays batters with pitches, causing the benches to empty twice in the eighth inning.

Rodon hit one, Ian Hamilton plunked two - one of which helped fuel that game-deciding sixth inning - and then Albert Abreu hit Arozarena in the eighth inning, and the Rays said enough was enough. Do I think the Yankees were trying to hit the Rays on purpose? Probably not, but the Rays sure felt like there was some intent mixed in there.

“I think it was on purpose,” Arozarena said. “If you look back at (the) previous series, he’s hit me before. I’ve been hit in previous series’ before that. They hurt Yandy (Díaz) the other day, they hit (Isaac) Paredes in the head, so I think it probably was an issue for them.”

But that wasn’t even the lowest point of the day, at least in my view. That came in the Tampa Bay clubhouse after the fireworks subsided when Rays infielder Brandon Lowe delivered the deepest cut of all.

“Looking at it in a different view, it’s a last-place team, a team that’s not in contention,” Lowe said. “We don’t need to worry about it. We need to focus on what we need to do down the stretch. If they lose a guy, it’s not going to be quite as big of a deal as if we’re losing one of our guys. We’re focused up on kind of a bigger picture.”

Ouch. That’s what this season has come down to. The little engine that could Tampa Bay Rays - who won eight of the 13 games between these teams this season and are 17 games ahead in the standings - disrespecting and bitch-slapping the last-place behemoth Yankees on a Sunday afternoon. What a world.

Here are my observations on the three games against the Rays.

Aug. 25: Yankees 6, Rays 2

➤ Wouldn’t it have been nice if the Yankees could have put forth this type of performance when there was still something to play for? They rolled the Rays at the Trop - which of course was half-filled with Yankees fans - as they out-hit them 11-4 and rode a great outing by Gerrit Cole to an impressive victory that was wrapped up by 9:08 p.m. God I love the pitch clock.

➤ Cole dominated a good lineup as he pitched 7.2 innings and allowed only one earned run on three hits with no walks and 11 strikeouts. It brought his ERA back down to 2.95 and it was as good as he’s been all year which is saying something because he has been mostly excellent. At one point Cole retired 13 straight batters before that ended when Diaz hit a solo homer in the sixth that cut the Yankees lead to 2-1. The only other run he gave up was unearned because third baseman Peraza made an error in the eighth and Jonathan Loaisiga eventually allowed that man to score on a single by Lowe.

➤ Since becoming a Yankee, among qualified pitchers, Cole has struck out the most batters in MLB (764), posted the second-best strikeouts per nine innings ratio (11.2), thrown the third most innings (615.1), recorded the seventh-best WAR (13.2) and the 17th-best ERA (3.22). He’s been a stud, and what a shame how this season in particular has been completely wasted.

➤ How about two of the most disappointing players on the team, Giancarlo Stanton and D.J. LaMahieu, leading the offense? Stanton, coming off a four-hit game against the Nationals, ripped a two-run double during a three-run seventh that gave the Yankees a 5-1 lead. That brought his average all the way up to .205. And LeMahieu had three hits including a pair of solo homers, the first of which opened the scoring in the fifth. Through Friday, DJ was hitting .321 with a .424 on-base in August. Again, way too late, but good for him.

➤ One stat on LeMahieu that is kind of crazy and just illuminates how much he has struggled: By weekend’s end, he had just 34 RBI on the season. The only regular player with fewer is Higashioka who has 32.

➤ What was amazing about this game is that the Yankees cruised despite striking out 15 times including four by Aaron Judge and five combined by the two recent callups, Peraza and Everson Pereira, though Pereira did deliver an RBI single in the sixth.

➤ Of course, the day could not sneak by without something stupid happening. For some reason, a reporter asked Boone whether Josh Donaldson could return at some point this season. Why anyone would care about that is beyond me, but then Boone gave an answer that made my head explode. He said Donaldson could be close to a rehab assignment and then be activated before the end of the season. Why in the living hell would the Yankees activate Donaldson? His Yankee career will officially be over in a month, and now Peraza is up and basically auditioning to possibly be the third baseman for 2024. Would they really be stupid enough to give Donaldson playing time over Peraza, or any other player for that matter? Seriously, are they idiots?

BOX SCORE

Aug. 26: Rays 3, Yankees 0

➤ After that fun night, the offense predictably reverted to form and stunk the joint out with a miserable two-hit effort, both of those by LeMahieu. This was the fourth game in the last 10 where they’ve been held to two hits or less. Only two other teams have had this happen in a 10-game stretch - the 1968 Cubs and the 1904 Phillies. It’s just incredible how inept this team is. This was also the second time in a week that one player got the only hits as Ben Rortvedt did that the other night. Besides LeMahieu, the rest of the lineup went 0-for-25.

➤ Rays starter Tyler Glasnow didn’t even have his best stuff as he struck out only four in six innings, but really, does any pitcher need his best stuff to get through this lineup? “I didn’t think he was dominant today like we’ve seen him at times,” Boone said. And yet Glasnow had a no-hitter through five and gave up just one hit and two walks. This was the sixth time this year the Yankees have been hitless through five innings, tied with the Twins for the most in MLB.

➤ Clarke Schmidt put together the longest outing of his career, 6.2 innings. Unfortunately, he had no support so giving up just one earned run on six hits and no walks wasn’t nearly good enough. He was burned for two unearned runs in the second when Peraza made a throwing error (yeah, it wasn’t a great series for him) to start the inning and after a Luke Raley double, two runs scored on back-to-back sacrifice flies. Then in the third Schmidt allowed back-to-back doubles by Arozarena and Josh Lowe. That was it.

➤ Before the game, Yankees fans were greeted with the news that ticket prices will increase between 2 and 10% in 2024. The richest franchise in American sports, which currently trails only the Dodgers in total attendance this season, is raising prices a year after one of its worst seasons in more than 30 years. This franchise is just tone deaf when it comes to the fans. Whenever you here an owner say how much he loves the fans, remember that what he’s really saying is he loves the people who will pay whatever price he charges them to come to the ballpark. They don’t give a shit about you; all that matters is their financial bottom line.

BOX SCORE

Aug. 27: Rays 7, Yankees 4

➤ This was the eighth consecutive rubber game the Yankees have lost, which goes a long way toward explaining why they’ve won just one of their last 16 series.

➤ Carlos Rodon had a weird day, but I guess it was a step toward progress. He was horrendous in the first inning, compounded by the ridiculous Arozarena trip around the bases which he contributed to. He threw 31 pitches and gave up four hits including a home run to Brandon Lowe, and hit a batter. However, he regrouped just in time to leave the bases loaded and keep it a 2-0 game. From there he was excellent. He retired 10 men in a row before a walk in the fifth. After he got two outs he walked another and Boone went out to get him which, again with Boone, made no sense. Rodon was at 84 pitches and was fine and he let Boone know that, but Boone is gonna Boone, right? Boone said it was probably the best four-inning stretch Rodon’s had for the Yankees, but it didn’t stop the manager from yanking him.

➤ On came Hamilton who got out of that inherited jam, but then he came unglued in the sixth after he had retired the first two men. In order he gave up a single, hit a guy, gave up a single to load the bases, and then another single to Harold Ramirez that tied the game at 4-4. Wandy Peralta entered and he quickly yielded a two-run single to Brandon Lowe and the Rays were ahead for good.

➤ The Yankees wasted solo home runs by LeMahieu and Higashioka and a two-run blast by Anthony Volpe. After Volpe’s homer in the fourth, Peraza was hit by a pitch with two outs. He was the last baserunner the Yankees had as the next 16 men were retired in order.

➤ Hell of a series for the captain. Judge went 0-for-12 with eight strikeouts in the three games.

➤ During the fracas in the eighth, Boone and Rays manager Kevin Cash exchanged heated words. “He’s telling me I’d be upset,” Boone said. “Again, the point is, it certainly wasn’t on purpose. But I understand. When our guys get hit, not on purpose, I don’t like it, either. Unfortunately, sometimes it happens in the game. Today it boiled over a little bit.”

BOX SCORE

 ➤ Aug. 27, 1938: This was quite a day at 15-year-old Yankee Stadium, maybe one of the most compelling in the regular season to date as the Yankees swept a doubleheader from the Indians.

In the opener, Joe DiMaggio tied an MLB record as he ripped three triples, the last a two-run shot in the bottom of the ninth to give the Yankees a walk-off 8-7 victory. New York had fallen behind 7-5 in the top of the ninth when normally reliable reliever Johnny Murphy gave up four runs, hurt by two Yankee errors and a two-run triple by Moose Solters.

But in the bottom half, Tommy Henrich’s two-out RBI single made it 7-6, and then DiMaggio lined one over the head of center fielder Earl Averill driving home Red Rolfe and Henrich to win the game.

As if that wasn’t exciting enough, the more than 37,000 in attendance watched Monte Pearson throw a no-hitter in the nightcap as the Yankees rolled 13-0. Pearson walked two, struck out seven, and afterward he said in relief, “I’m glad it’s over.” The game was never in doubt as the Yankee scored five in first as Henrich hit a three-run homer and Joe Gordon hit a two-run shot off Johnny Humphries.

Pitching on just two days rest, Pearson was perfect through three innings. In the fourth, he walked the first two hitters, but then sandwiched strikeouts of Jeff Heath and Hal Trosky around a groundout by Earl Averill. He set down the Indians in order in each of the next four innings.

In the ninth, Solters struck out on three pitches, then Frankie Pytlak, hit a slow roller to second that looked like trouble but Gordon - who had two homers, a triple and six RBI - made a great play and threw Pytlak out by a step. Finally, Bruce Campbell lined out to George Selkirk in left field to end the first no-hitter thrown at the stadium in the Bronx.

The Yankees are now on to Detroit to play the lowly Tigers four times. I say lowly, but at 59-71 they’re only three games worse than the Yankees. The Tigers just got their heads caved in by the Astros, losing 9-2 on Saturday and 17-4 on Sunday so both teams come in on two-game losing streaks.

Not much to preview here. Both teams stink on offense as the Yankees are 23rd in runs scored, the Tigers are 29th; the Yankees are 29th in average (.229) and the Tigers are 28th (.234); the Yankees are 26th in on-base (.303), the Tigers are 28th (.301). On the pitching side, the Yankees are 13th in ERA (4.05) and the Tigers 20th at 4.54.

The players to watch include future Hall of Famer Miguel Cabrera who is entering the final month of his spectacular career, though he has just two homers and 21 RBI. First baseman Spencer Torkelson, who is supposed to be a future star, leads Detroit with 23 homers and 68 RBI; shortstop Javier Baez has had a terrible season but does have 54 RBI; outfielder Riley Greene, another potential future star, leads the team with a .293 average; and outfielder Kerry Carpenter has 20 home runs.

The pitching matchups are as follows: Monday at 6:40 p.m. on YES it’s Luis Severino (7.26 ERA) against Reese Olson (5.29); Tuesday at 6:40 on YES it’s Michael King (3.13) vs. Tarik Skubal (4.06); Wednesday at 6:40 on YES it’s Gerrit Cole (2.95) against TBD, and Thursday at 1:10 on YES it’s Clarke Schmidt (4.51) against TBD.