The Games Were Close, but the Rays Are Clearly Superior

Well, I didn’t think it was possible, but I hate the Rays more today than I did Sunday morning. Man, I don’t think there’s ever been a team that doesn’t call Boston home that I hate more than the Rays. And once again, they schooled the Yankees. Just really maddening. Hey, a quick note: You’ll notice I scrapped the Eye on the Enemies section because that was just becoming a time drain for me, and since this is a free newsletter, I hope you’ll understand.

Here is the lesson that we learned over the weekend, though I’m pretty sure you’re familiar with the concept. Good teams find a way to win games and bad teams find a way to lose games. Can you guess which is the good team, and which is the bad team, between the 18-17 Yankees and the 28-7 Rays?

Sunday’s 8-7 loss was just deplorable. They had a 6-0 lead in the fifth inning with their ace, Gerrit Cole, on the mound, and still found a way to lose. I mean that’s about as bad as it gets. If you can’t win that game then what are we even doing here?

You’re gonna say I’m full of shit, hindsight being 20/20 and all, but I’ll tell you the exact moment when I knew the Yankees were in trouble. When No. 9 hitter Jose Siri hit the homer in the fifth that made it 6-1, I just had the sense that Cole was shook and it was going to go downhill and man, did it ever.

You know me, I’m about the most pessimistic person on the face of the earth, especially when it comes to the Yankees. I am a doom and gloomer; my glass isn’t half empty, it’s mostly empty. My naysaying sometimes doesn’t go the way I think, and I’ll gladly smile and admit I was wrong. But I’m telling you straight up I had no doubt Sunday when Siri hit that homer, things were about to go off the rails.

The next two Rays got hits and one run scored thanks to yet another fielding blunder by the Yankees, this one by Oswaldo Cabrera at third base, to make it 6-2. And even after Cole escaped without further damage in the fifth, I was not comfortable and sure enough in the sixth the collapse hit full stride.

And of course, Aaron Boone played a role in it, once again showing no feel for what the hell was happening before his eyes. The first two batters smoked doubles off Cole to make it 6-3, and it was clear as day that he was rattled and was now in head case mode. You could see it on his face. His slider wasn’t working and the Rays were on everything.

What does Boone do? Sits there blowing bubbles in the dugout and watches Cole walk the next guy, and then serve up a game-tying three-run homer to Christian Bethancourt. Not to one of the Rays great players, mind you, but to Christian friggin’ Bethancourt. That’s when Boone decided to wake up, though not completely, because his next move was to bring in inexperienced Jimmy Cordero.

Not someone like Wandy Peralta, a reliable and proven veteran who could come in and calm things down. He goes to Cordero who immediately walked Siri who then stole second, setting up the next inglorious mess of a moment for the Yankees. Yandy Diaz hit a chopper back to the mound, Cordero fielded it without even looking at Siri, and then threw to first, almost sailing it over DJ LeMahieu’s head. Meanwhile, Siri never stopped running and he scored the go-ahead run, from second base, on a chopper to the mound. As I said, this is how bad teams lose games.

Hey, it was nice that the Yankees tied it in the seventh thanks to Harrison Bader, but at that point it was just inevitable that the Rays were going to win. And they did.

➤ Here’s something to chew on: It’s May 8 and the Yankees are 10 games out of first place. The only other time they’ve been at least 10 games out on May 8 was in 1913. That Yankee team started 3-16 and would finish 39.5 games behind the Tigers at 57-94-2, the third-worst record in franchise history. There have only been 38 seasons in team history where the Yankees finished at least 10 games out of first place, the most recent being 2014. Wrap your head around that.

➤ At least Saturday’s lone win was fun. Well, it was if you subtract the eight innings when the offense was putrid. Before rallying for the 3-2 victory, the Yankees were 0-14 this season when trailing after seven innings while the Rays had been 23-0 when leading after seven. It was also the Rays first loss when scoring first in a game. They had been 22-0, tied for the longest such streak to begin a season since the 1884 St. Louis Maroons.

➤ Bader was great in this series. He went 6-for-13 with a homer, a triple, and seven RBI and really provided a spark to this moribund offense, but one guy alone can’t do it. You know who wasn’t great in this series? Well, a lot of guys, but rookie Anthony Volpe really struggled. He went 2-for-14 with five strikeouts.

➤ If all goes well, it looks like Aaron Judge will return to action Tuesday, the first day he’s eligible to come off the injured list. “I think he’s doing really well,” Boone said. “I think we’re going to be in a good spot come Tuesday to where he’s done everything and has been hitting for several days. So I would expect we roll when we go on Tuesday.” This being the Yankees, I’ll believe it when I see it.

➤ In news about former Yankees, a guy we used to really like, shortstop Didi Gregrorius, has been a free agent since the Phillies cut him last season, and the 33-year-old couldn’t get an MLB job so he signed last week to play in the Mexican League. In news about a former Yankee we couldn’t stand - not as a person, but as a player - Gary Sanchez is once again a free agent. He had signed a minor league deal with the Giants but it had an opt-out if he wasn’t with the team by May 1. He’s not because he was hitting .164 at Triple-A Sacramento, so he opted out. At 30 years old, he’s shot. The Yankees ought to re-sign him, he’d fit right in with this bunch.

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

May 5: Rays 5, Yankees 4

➤ I’m not sure horrible teams like the A’s, Nationals and Royals have a position on their team that is worse than left field for the Yankees. We’re talking inconceivable incompetence all season out there, both fielding and hitting, whether it has been Oswaldo Cabrera, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Aaron Hicks, or Franchy Cordero. And now we can add Jake Bauers to the list.

➤ In a 4-4 game in the seventh, Wander Franco sliced a ball to left and Bauers not only dropped it, he then bobbled it all the way to the wall which allowed the eventual winning run to score from first base. Because official scorers are complete idiots these days, somehow, incredibly, not only was Bauers not charged with two errors - first for dropping the ball that had a catch probability of 95 percent, and then another for fumbling it which allowed the runner to score from first - he wasn’t charged with any error. I don’t know what constitutes an error these days in the major leagues; it’s like trying to figure out what a catch is in the NFL.

➤ After Bauers finally corralled the ball, it was eventually relayed home and Jose Trevino failed to tag Yandy Diaz. The ump originally signaled out, but replay correctly reversed the decision. That whole sequence kind of summarizes this Yankees season. “That ball’s got to be caught,” Bauers admitted. “I got a bad read, a bad jump on it. I couldn’t recover. We’re not in that situation if I make that play. No excuses.” Again, bad teams find ways to lose.

➤ Add Randy Arozarena to The List. You know The List, my ever-growing compilation of players I loathe. Move over Vlad Guerrero Jr. because Arozarena just nudged you down a spot. The best thing about this game is that after this supreme hot dog pimped his first-inning home run about six different ways, Jhony Brito and Albert Abreu both drilled him in his next two at bats. The Yankees claimed they weren’t throwing at him. Maybe they weren’t, but I hope they were. Arozarena has killed them ever since he came up to Tampa Bay, and then he pulled that shit on that home run trot? He’s lucky they didn’t throw at his head.

➤ Brito wasn’t good. The Rays opened a 4-0 lead by scoring in each of the first three innings and he lasted only four innings, giving up six hits and a walk. His ERA is now 6.08. Like Clarke Schmidt, this guy has no business being in the rotation, but the Yankees don’t have a choice.

➤ Bader provided some momentary excitement with his game-tying three-run homer in the sixth. Here’s a stat you won’t believe: That was only the third time all season the Yankees have hit a home run with at least two men on base, a clear nod to their awful offense because it accentuates how infrequently they have runners on base.

➤ There was a great chance in the top of the eighth that went for naught. After a LeMahieu single and a shocking Kyle Higashioka pinch-hit double with one out, Bader popped out and IKF, called on as a pinch-hitter with his .196 average, struck out.

BOX SCORE

May 6: Yankees 3, Rays 2

➤ Let’s be honest here: This win emerged from thin air, a totally unexpected result, but nonetheless a very pleasant one.

➤ Bader ended up being the hero, yet he didn’t start the game. Why, I have no idea. He was healthy Friday after the collision scare Wednesday night, so the rationale behind sitting him made zero sense. So we were treated to the Bauers-IKF-Hicks outfield threesome. Thankfully in the seventh, Boone pinch hit Bader for Bauers, who dropped yet another fly ball on which he wasn’t charged with an error. Bader singled in his first at bat but was left stranded in part because of IKF and Hicks having typically useless at bats. But then in the eighth, he came through with the big hit.

➤ The eighth was quite an inning. The Yankees, as usual, had done nothing and were being shut out. But Rizzo singled off Jalin Beeks and the Rays brought Kevin Kelly into the game. He quickly gave up a single to Gleyber Torres and an RBI double to LeMahieu. And then with two outs, Bader punched a bloop to right that found turf and two runs scored. Those four hits matched the Yankees total for the rest of the game.

➤ Domingo German got off to a rocky start as the Rays had three hits and scored twice in the first on Manuel Margot’s two-run double. Two more reached base in the second but German got out of it, he cruised through the next two, then got into trouble in the fifth but worked himself out of it again. After that, the Yankees bullpen did its job. It wasn’t always pretty as the Rays had five hits off Peralta, Ron Marinaccio, Clay Holmes and Ian Hamilton, but no one scored. And how about Hamilton? He was given the ninth and earned his first career save. You’d have to say this was the Yankees best win of the season given the team they beat.

BOX SCORE

May 7: Rays 8, Yankees 7 (10)

➤ Hey, when you get right down to it, this was nothing new for the Rays. They beat another last-place team to win a series. Big deal.

➤ I’d say it’s hard to believe that the Yankees lost the 6-0 lead with Cole on the mound, but it wasn’t. Not in 2023. More than anything, it was just disappointing. You dared to think they were going to win a series against the best team in MLB, and they could not have been in a better position to do so. This loss sort of portends where this team is headed which, quite possibly, could be a non-playoff season.

➤ It started so well. A three-run rally after two were out in the third as Rizzo homered, LeMahieu singled and Bader homered. In the fourth, Trevino walked and Hicks delivered his first extra-base hit of the season, an RBI double, and he later scored on a Torres double. Then Bader tripled in the fifth and scored on a Cabrera sacrifice fly that made it 6-0.

➤ After Cordero allowed the Rays to take the lead, Bader led off the seventh with a single, took third on a double by Cabrera and scored on a Trevino groundout. Then Holmes, Peralta and Michael King combined for three nearly perfect innings, so now in the 10th, with the automatic runner, anything is possible, right?

➤ Hicks started the inning at second and took third on a fly out. But here, the Yankees blew their chance to strike first thanks to one of my pet peeves in baseball, the contact play. The Rays had the infield in and Torres hit a sharp grounder to short. Hicks ran on contact, and he wasn’t even halfway home when the ball arrived there, no chance to score. He ended up getting tagged out in a rundown, killing a scoring chance. Torres wound up at third on the play, and there he stayed when Rizzo whiffed. Bottom of the 10th, Abreu in, and Isaac Paredes stroked a winning single. Once again, bad teams find ways to lose.

➤ By day’s end, six Yankees who batted in this game were hitting .222 (Trevino) or less. Five Rays were hitting .300 or better, and none of them were named Bethancourt or Siri who combined to drive in four runs. The sad, awful truth is that the Rays are just the far superior team in every way. That’s a terribly bitter pill to swallow.

BOX SCORE

 ➤ May 7, 2017: Arguably the most famous Cub of them all, Hall of Famer Ernie Banks, was known for his unbridled love of the game and his oft-repeated “Let’s play two” mantra. Well, that’s what the Yankees and Cubs did on this fascinating night as it took 18 innings for the Yankees to pull out a 5-4 victory at Wrigley Field.

What a nutty night. The Yankees struck out 22 times; not to be outdone, the Cubs struck out 26 times. Both figures were Yankee records, breaking the former marks of 19 pitching strikeouts and 17 hitting strikeouts. The combined 48 whiffs set a major-league record, shattering the old sub-standard of 43 set in 1971 during a 20-inning game between the Athletics and the Angels.

“It’s just a crazy game,” said Yankees manager Joe Girardi, who was subjected to an additional three hours of baseball on a night when the wind-chill was in the 30s because his closer, Aroldis Chapman, blew a three-run lead in the bottom of the ninth. That meant between the two teams 10 more pitchers had to be used in the game, tacked on to the five that were used in the regulation nine innings.

Handed a 4-1 lead, Chapman walked Addison Russell to start the ninth and Jon Jay lined a single up the middle. After Willson Contreras struck out, Albert Almora Jr. and Javier Baez hit back-to-back RBI singles to make it 4-3. Baez stole second, and when Kyle Schwarber struck out, Girardi decided to intentionally walk Kris Bryant to load the bases, opting for Chapman to face the lefty-swinging Anthony Rizzo. So much for that move as Chapman plunked Rizzo on the elbow to force in the tying run.

Neither team scored again until, believe it or not, it was Aaron Hicks who helped bring this loooong night to an end. He opened the 18th with a bunt single and when Contreras, the Cubs catcher, threw the ball into right field, Hicks took second. Ronald Torreyes sacrificed him to third, and Hicks scored when Starlin Castro hit a grounder to Russell, the player who made Castro expendable as the shortstop in Chicago. Russell’s throw home was not in time, and thus the Bronx Bombers fashioned the ultimate manufactured run.

Now the Yankees come home, and we’ll see how they fare against a team closer to their level of competition, the fellow last-place A’s. Oakland lost in Kansas City Sunday 5-1 to drop its record to 8-27. However, the A’s won the first two games, meaning this was the first time all year they won a series. They had been 0-10.

Figures. Just when they start to find something, they’re up next for the Yankees. Would anyone be surprised if the Yankees find a way to lose one or even two games to this team?

They have a kid named Brent Rooker, mostly a DH, who leads MLB with an 1.126 OPS and is slashing .319/.434/.692 with 10 homers and 26 RBI. He would be leading the Yankees in every one of those categories, and he’s doing it with zero help. Of the other eight primary starters in the A’s lineup, six are hitting .224 or worse, which means right in the Yankees ballpark there.

You think I’m kidding? The A’s actually have a better team OPS than the Yankees, .685 to .684, a better on-base percentage (.310 to .300) and both teams’ batting average is .230. The A’s actually have seven more hits, and have scored only three fewer runs. This is a team with an 8-27 record.

The difference, obviously, is pitching. Oakland is the worst in MLB with a staggering 7.25 ERA, a 1.730 WHIP and a .288 batting average against. The Yankees actually have the third-best ERA in MLB at 3.61, so they’re nearly four runs better than Oakland. That’s the only reason why New York is even 18-17.

All three games are on YES. Monday and Tuesday are 7:05 starts, Wednesday is a 12:35 game. The pitching matchups are scheduled to be Nestor Cortes (4.91 ERA and in need of a bounce back outing) against ex-Yankee JP Sears (5.06) who went to Oakland last year in the ill-fated, disastrous Frankie Montas-Lou Trivino trade. Tuesday it’s Schmidt (5.83) against Drew Rucinski (7.71), and Wednesday it’s Brito (6.08) against Kyle Muller (6.82).