Splitting With the Oakland A's is an Unacceptable Result

What, you didn’t think I’d ignore last night’s lousy loss just because I was covering the NFL Draft and got to bed at 2:30 a.m, did you? I’m a multi-tasker. I was in the Bills’ media room all night with my iPad on my desk watching the Yankees lose to the A’s for the second time this week which is ridiculous. Lets get to it.

April 25: A’s 3, Yankees 1

If nothing else, the Yankees offense was active as they rapped out 11 hits for the second night in a row. The difference was that on Wednesday, those 11 hits produced seven runs because they included three home runs and a 4-for-8 effort with runners in scoring position. Win.

Thursday, the 11 hits netted one run, a second-inning solo homer by Jose Trevino that glanced off the foul pole in right field, and the Yankees went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position. Loss. And a split with the friggin’ Oakland A’s which is simply unacceptable on every level.

Like so many Yankees games already in this young 26-game season - which continues a trend that goes back a couple years now - this one was close to unwatchable. It’s just so frustrating to see this team’s seemingly never-ending struggle to come up with clutch hits. There are nights when you just went to throw your remote through the TV, or in my case last night, slam my iPad on the floor.

“You want to create that traffic, but you gotta deliver on it,” Aaron Boone said. “We weren’t able to do that tonight.”

No, they weren’t. They left 11 men on base and somehow managed to score zero runs after they loaded the bases with no outs in the first inning, and loaded them with one out in the fourth and came away with nothing. Right there, you all had to know this wasn’t going to be their night, and it wasn’t.

Here are my observations:

➤ They started the game like this: Anthony Volpe walk, Juan Soto double, Aaron Judge walk. Perfect, right? And then, Giancarlo Stanton whiffed and Anthony Rizzo grounded into a double play. Ugh. Then in the fourth, Stanton reached via an error, Rizzo singled and after Gleyber Torres made his customary automatic out, Alex Verdugo singled. But of course, because station-to-station Stanton was on second, he couldn’t score so that loaded the bases again. And right on cue, Trevino grounded into a gut punch double play. Unbelievable.

➤ In the fifth they got two men on but Stanton failed to deliver; in the sixth they had two men on and Oswaldo Cabrera - whose merry joy ride to start the season is crashing to an end - grounded out; and then they had a man on in each of the final three innings and never got him home.

➤ All this madness came first against Oakland starter Alex Wood who began the night with a 7.89 ERA. He made it through 5.2 innings and despite allowing 10 baserunners gave up just the one run on Trevino’s porch job homer. Then the impressive A’s bullpen took over and covered the final 3.1 innings on three hits, a walk and six strikeouts.

➤ Their closer, flamethrower Mason Miller, is incredible. Holy shit, I’d never even heard of this guy until this week and he flat out looks like the best closer in baseball with that 103 mph fastball and devastating slider. He made Soto look foolish with a three-pitch strikeout in the ninth, and he struck Soto out on four pitches when he faced him Monday night. He was an eye-opener on an otherwise pretty lousy team.

➤ Nestor Cortes pitched well enough to win if his teammates had helped him. Unfortunately, he had one bad inning and that’s all it took. In the third he gave up a solo homer to Nick Allen who may not be bigger than a Smurf and is also married to Boone’s niece. And after a single, Cortes got drilled for a two-run homer by Tyler Nevin who is the son of former Yankees coach and Boone buddy Phil Nevin. Cortes pitched seven innings and put up zeroes in the other six but on some nights with this offense, the pitchers have to be spotless and Cortes wasn’t.

Sorry folks, but no Box Score Briefs this morning. I have my limit and I couldn’t get to that today because of the late night.

The Yankees now enter into a tough week on the road, starting with three games in Milwaukee against the NL Central-leading Brewers who are 16-8, and then it’s on to AL East-leading Baltimore for the first showdown against the team that will undoubtedly win the division.

I’m as surprised by Milwaukee’s fine record as I am the Yankees’ surprising 17-9 mark. The Brewers have won their division two of the last years, but this was supposed to be a step back season. Their fine manager, Craig Counsell, bolted for the Cubs; they lost one of their best pitchers, Brandon Woodruff to an arm injury; they are currently playing without inured star outfielder Christian Yelich; and they traded their best pitcher, Corbin Burnes, to the Orioles. Thanks for that, by the way.

But they are finding ways to win because they are tied for third in MLB with 31 home runs, they’re fourth in OPS at .764, third in batting average at .264, and they’re eighth in team ERA at 3.42. Yeah, that’ll get it done. Catcher William Contreras, second baseman Brice Turang, shortstop Willy Adames, center fielder Blake Perkins, DH Rhys Hoskins, and 20-year-old rookie Jackson Chourio are all players to watch.

The pitching matchups are as follows: Friday at 8:10 on YES it’s Luis Gil (2.75 ERA) against Colin Rea (2.08); Saturday at 7:10 on YES it’s Carlos Rodon (2.70) against Joe Ross (4.20); and Sunday at 2:10 on YES it’s Marcus Stroman (2.93) against Tobias Meyers (1.80).