Luis Gil's Road Back Takes a Detour

While the Yankees were embarrassing themselves Wednesday with a performance a Little Leaguer would laugh at, thus losing another series to the Blue Jays and falling four games behind, I watched Luis Gil pitch in Rochester, and he wasn’t much better. These are dark times my friends. Lets get to it. 

I’m no scout, but having witnessed in person Luis Gil’s third rehab start, and first at Triple-A, he’s not ready to come back to the Yankees.

Before Gil took the mound at Rochester’s Innovative Field Wednesday night, Aaron Boone was asked by reporters in Toronto if this would be the 2024 AL rookie of the year’s last rehab start if it went well and Boone said “not necessarily.” Well, it didn’t go well, so I would expect Gil will stay with Scranton Wilkes-Barre and make at least one more start.

Given that it wouldn’t happen until at least Tuesday, that means Gil wouldn’t even be an option for the Yankees until the first week in August, again, if that one goes well. Of course, the way the Yankees are playing right now, it might not even matter when Gil returns because they continue to sink further in the AL East standings after losing for the sixth time in their last seven games in Canada.

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Maybe I’m wrong and maybe the Yankees will decide that Gil might as well come up and start using his live bullets for them, but they always play it cautious, especially with pitchers, and if the Rochester Red Wings could score five runs in 3.1 innings off Gil, yeah, he’s not ready to face big league hitters.

I knew almost immediately that it wasn’t going to be a great night for Gil. After the Rail Riders scored four runs in the top of the first inning, Gil’s first two pitches were 93 mph fastballs that Robert Hassell, one of the top Nationals prospects, fouled straight back. His third pitch was a 94.8 mph heater and Hassell crushed it for a no-doubt homer to right.

After throwing 22 pitches to get out of the first, Gil needed only 10 to go 1-2-3. He hung a terrible slider to Andrew Pinckney who ripped it to left but Everson Pereira made a nice diving catch. He struck out the next man on three pitches, then got an easy grounder to short.

But he found big trouble in the third and Rochester scored three runs to tie the game. Light hitting No. 9 batter Nasim Nunez blooped a single to right, and after he was erased on a fielders’ choice grounder by Hassell, Hassell stole second, Yohandy Morales walked on a 3-2 pitch, and Jose Tena beat out a swinging bunt where Gil fielded the ball but threw too late to first. Andres Chapparo just missed a grand slam, hitting a deep fly into left-field corner that scored a run, and Nick Schnell lined a double to right on a 94 mph fastball that plated two.

Gil started the fourth and his first pitch was popped down the right-field line where second baseman Andrew Velasquez made a tremendous catch, and then he went to a full count on the next batter and Rail Riders manager Shelley Duncan took him out because he was at the Yankees’ limit of 67 pitches which, of course, is the height of stupidity. Like, he couldn’t throw one more pitch to maybe get the out?

Reliever Kervin Castro came in, threw a ball so the walk was charged to Gil, and that man eventually scored to close out Gil’s unimpressive line: 3.1 innings, five runs on four hits and three walks with four strikeouts. His fastest pitch was 96.2 and he averaged 94.3 on his four-seamer.

As for Spencer Jones, the Red Wings cooled him off in the first two games of this six-game series. He came into town as the hottest hitter in Triple-A, but Tuesday he went 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout as the Rail Riders’ 11-game win streak ended, and then in a 12-inning victory Wednesday he went 0-for-4 with a hit by pitch, a run, an RBI and a strikeout.

July 21: Blue Jays 4, Yankees 1

➤ Biggest series of the season to date, and this was how the Yankees started it? They were lifeless, and once again were beaten by a team that in my eyes is clearly better. I don’t give a shit how many former MVPs the Yankees have on their roster, or what their inflated payroll is, Toronto plays baseball better, plain and simple, and that was once again evident as they beat the Yankees for the fifth straight time in their building and would eventually go on to win the series.

➤ The Blue Jays are pesky pains in the ass because they don’t strikeout; they put the ball in play and when you do that against the Yankees, good things often happen because as we know, Boone teams are always fundamentally challenged. If you still need proof of this, the fifth inning should have convinced you as Oswald Peraza and Anthony Volpe each made brainless errors that cost the Yankees two runs. And on the Volpe error, Paul Goldschmidt - who usually saves errors - should have been able to scoop that shitty throw, but this time he didn’t.

➤ Carlos Rodon was not good as he walked a season-high five and gave up six hits, so obviously that’s way too much traffic and as I said, when a team puts the ball in play against the Yankees, runs are going to score. Yes, he battled for four scoreless innings as he kept getting out of the messes he was creating with his lack of command, and he should have walked off the mound trailing only 2-1 through five. Bo Bichette’s two-run double after George Springer walked and Vlad Guerrero singled should have been it in the disastrous fifth inning. But then Peraza and Volpe turned routine grounders into run-scoring plays and it was 4-1.

➤ As for the offense, pitiful. Kevin Gausman made them look silly for seven innings, his only mistake being Giancarlo Stanton’s solo homer leading off the fourth. Otherwise, he allowed three other hits and two walks while striking out eight.

➤ The Yankees only chance to do something came in the eighth, and it yielded nothing. Trent Grisham led off with a walk and after Aaron Judge struck out, Jazz Chisholm singled. But then Stanton lined out and Jasson Dominguez grounded out to kill the threat. After that at bat, Dominguez was in an 0-for-18 slump. Why the hell didn’t Cody Bellinger pinch hit in that situation? For that matter, why the hell didn’t he start? He’s been arguably their best player for the last several weeks, and in this important game, Boone gave him a “scheduled” day off. And then he doesn’t even use him in this situation, opting for Dominguez who is clearly helpless right now. It’s just Boone lacking any awareness, as usual.

What they said in Monday’s clubhouse

• Boone: “I’m concerned about us playing well and getting consistent. It’s been a month now where we haven’t been our best. We need to start playing better consistently and putting wins in the win column. That’s all we can really worry about. We can’t worry about, ‘We’re up this, we’re down that.’ We’ve got to play well.”

• Peraza: “I rushed through the sequence of defending that ball. Rodón is pitching a good game and it’s a play I got to make there.”

• Rodon: “Our goal is to not only win this division, but to go out there and get a chance to go to the World Series. It’s tough. They’re playing good baseball right now; obviously, you can tell. They strung together some really good at-bats. I just wasn’t crisp.”

July 22: Yankees 5, Blue Jays 4

➤ Ben Rice saved his teammates from what was surely going to be another miserable loss with one big swing in the top of the ninth. His home run off Jays closer Jeff Hoffman allowed the Yankees to avoid a loss in a game they led 3-0 and 4-1, snapped their drought in Toronto, and ended the Jays’ franchise-record 11-game home win streak.

➤ If not for Rice, all of the postgame conversation would have centered on yet another egregious error by Volpe which cost the Yankees two runs, and another pathetic outing by Jonathan Loaisiga. Volpe’s throwing error on a simple, routine play in the sixth allowed Miles Straw to reach. He scored one out later on a double by Davis Schneider, and then with two outs, Boone replaced Tim Hill with Loaisiga so he could go righty on righty with Springer and to the surprise of no one, Springer hit an RBI single that tied the game at 4-4. Neither run would have scored had Volpe just gotten that first out.

➤ Chisholm had given the Yankees a quick lead with a three-run bomb in the first off Max Scherzer, and Bellinger - back in the lineup where he should never leave - homered in the fifth to make it 4-1. All five of the Yankees runs came via the homer, and they had only three other hits.

➤ Cam Schlittler pitched similarly to Rodon in his second MLB start. He struggled to command his breaking pitches and the Blue Jays wore him down with their never ending string of tough at bats. He gave up a run in the first when Springer singled and scored on a single by Barger, and another in the fifth on yet another Barger RBI single. Man, this kid has just killed the Yankees, but shit, the entire Jays roster has killed the Yankees. Schlittler got through five innings with 90 pitches, but allowed seven hits and three walks, so that’s not good. That’s a WHIP of 2.000 which is unsustainable. He was fortunate the damage wasn’t worse. Still, he could have gotten the win if not for the Volpe/Loaisiga-fueled sixth inning travesty.

➤ Props to Luke Weaver who came on after Loaisiga gave up a leadoff double in the seventh as he left that man stranded, then got two outs in the eighth. However, he walked Schneider so Boone made a dangerous decision to pull him at 30 pitches in favor of Ian Hamilton to face Springer. I mean, I couldn’t believe it. That’s like chum in the water, but incredibly, Hamilton got Springer on a liner to left. Devin Williams then worked around a Guerrero leadoff single in the ninth by mowing down Bichette, Barger and Kirk which was a pretty impressive thing.

What they said in Tuesday’s clubhouse

• Rice: “It was huge. Obviously, we’d lost five in a row to these guys, so coming back and getting a win here - it gives us some good momentum. Just kind of knew what the fastball looked like, so obviously that helped. I’m always ready to go first pitch no matter what. Just depends what I’m looking for and in that situation, I was looking for something up in the zone to drive and I was able to get it.”

• Boone on Schlittler: “He feels he’s got the stuff to handle you. That shows in the way he carries himself. It shows the way he attacks. He’s not afraid. You really see his stuff play. He walked a few guys while throwing a lot of strikes, so that’s the one part he’d probably like to have back. But to give us five strong innings there, put us in position to win, I thought he was really good.”

July 23: Blue Jays 8, Yankees 4

➤ What an embarrassment. I mean, how would you describe it? But then you watch the postgame show on YES and Boone and his players look as if all is well, as if they don’t give a shit that they just disgraced the pinstripes with a laughable performance.

➤ If you thought the fifth inning in Game 5 of the World Series was bad - and yes, it was - this game was worse. I’m not sure I can ever remember a team making more idiotic mistakes in one nine-inning stretch than the Yankees in this one. After seven innings, the Yankees had more errors (4) than they did hits (3). That about sums it up.

➤ After Dominguez homered in the second, the horror started in the fourth when, in the top half, Jays starter Chris Bassitt struck out Judge, Rice and Chisholm. Then in the bottom half, the ultimate Yankee killers, Springer and Guerrero, produced the tying run off Max Fried who did not pitch well. Springer singled and scored on Vladdy’s double. Then there was a walk and two singles for a 2-1 lead.

➤ In the fifth, Volpe tied it with a homer, and then the Jays scored twice without a hit. Walk, Fried wild pitch, walk, wild pitch, and a Fried error on a swinging bunt by Guerrero and two runs scored on the play because JC Escarra extended the misery by letting the throw get away, and because the Jays are always hustling. You can’t make this shit up.

➤ Judge tied it with a two-run homer in the sixth so you think, OK, some game-changing momentum, right? Wrong. Bottom half, Bellinger lost a fly ball in the twilight sky for a triple, Myles friggin’ Straw, he of the .600 OPS, doubled home a run ending Fried’s night, and then Loaisiga got burned when Rice booted a ball at first base that allowed Straw to score to make it 6-4.

➤ In the seventh, Scott Effross came in and as usual, he sucked. Guerrero singled and took second when Dominguez misplayed the ball for the Yankees fourth error, then Bichette homered. Game over.

➤ Fried is the ace, but he wasn’t in this game. Yes, he had no help from his defense, but four of the six runs were earned, and he allowed six hits and three walks, plus he contributed the wild pitches and the error.

➤ In this series, all 10 runs the Yankees scored came via the home run. They didn’t manufacture one run in 27 innings of play and that’s yet another reason why they’re not winning anything this year. Yes, so many of their offensive numbers look great, but I’ll argue a lot of it is fool’s gold because they’re so reliant on the long ball, just like they always are, and we know exactly where that has gotten them in the last 24 years - one title.

➤ Since they led the AL East by seven games on May 28, the Yankees are 21-26 and they are now a pitiful 11-18 vs. the AL East. That’s just ridiculous. In their seven games at Rogers Centre, they won only one and made 11 errors. Apparently that place is haunted.

What they said in Wednesday’s clubhouse

• Boone the idiot: “Just not good enough. We’ve got to obviously tighten it up. Confident we will. We’ll continue to work at it. We have good defenders here. But tonight was obviously a rough night for us. I think it’s here and in this building we haven’t played well. Overall we should be moving forward a good defensive club. We need to be.”

• Judge: “We got a lot of things we got to clean up. Defense is one of the things we got to clean up. Going into this off-day, we just got to refocus and tighten it up a little bit on defense. Pitchers are putting us in good spots to keep us in games so our offense can do its thing. We give any good team extra outs, it’s not going to go well for us.”

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It certainly doesn’t get any easier for the Yankees as after a day off Thursday - which I think we need more than they do - they open a seven-game homestand with three against the Phillies who blew a chance to sweep the Red Sox Wednesday, pissing away a 5-0 lead and losing 9-8 in 11 innings.

Philadelphia is a team loaded with stars, but like the Yankees, they’ve sort of been stumbling around since late May and after the Mets took a big tumble starting in mid-June and handed them first place, now the Phillies are a half-game behind in the NL East with a record of 58-44.

Here are some of the Phillies top players to watch:

➤ DH Kyle Schwarber: One of the game’s premier sluggers, he leads the Phillies with 34 homers, 78 RBI and a .940 OPS.

➤ 1B Bryce Harper: For the season he leads the Phillies with a .378 on-base, and in the 17 games since his return from a three-week injury absence he’s hitting .322 with an 1.107 OPS.

➤ SS Trea Turner: Leads the NL with 119 hits and he leads the Phillies with 25 stolen bases.

➤ RF Nick Castellanos: Has 13 homers and his 55 RBI are second on the team

➤ RP Orion Kerkering: The Phillies bullpen has really struggled but Kerkering in the setup role has been solid with a 2.79 ERA.

The pitching matchups are scheduled to be:

• Friday, 7:05, Apple TV: Will Warren (4.91) vs. Taijuan Walker (3.75) who has split his time between the rotation and bullpen with 10 starts in 21 games and has a poor 1.380 WHIP.

• Saturday, 1:05, YES: Marcus Stroman (5.64) vs. Ranger Suarez (2.66) who is a stud even though he’s not a big strikeout guy. Then again, now he gets to face the whiff-happy Yankees.

• Sunday, 1:35, YES: Carlos Rodon (3.10) vs. Zach Wheeler (2.39) who can make a strong case for being the best pitcher in the NL as he leads the league with 164 strikeouts and a 0.875 WHIP.