The Yankees Have Fallen Into Last Place in the AL East

Wow, I’m gonna give you about 3,000 words here summing up that deplorable weekend in Denver, but fear not, I can do this. Remember, I’ve covered the Buffalo Bills for more than 30 years, including one stretch of 17 non-straight playoff seasons. If anyone can write about a lousy team, it’s me! And remember, we always have Wednesdays here at Pinstripe People when I write about the 2003-04 Yankees.

Once again, there are many new subscribers who are getting their first or second newsletter this morning. I’ll warn you, it’s harsh today, but how could it not be? I’m always gonna shoot you straight; I’m not giving you the Aaron Boone company line. This was a brutal weekend, and I think you’ll agree that the Yankees deserve every punch I throw.

I would say it’s unbelievable that the Yankees lost that series to the simply awful Colorado Rockies, but it really isn’t. Nothing is unbelievable when it comes to the train wreck that is the 2023 Yankees.

The Yankees have underperformed all year, and at this point you can’t even say they’re playing down to the level of their competition. When you lose series to the likes of the Rockies, Cubs and Cardinals which they have done in the first half of July, this is their level of competition. Those three teams are a combined 41 games under .500 this season and the Yankees went 3-6 against them.

They played 29 innings in these three games and scored in only six of them thanks to a putrid 7-for-31 performance with runners in scoring position. They had only six extra-base hits in a ballpark where extra-base hits are more plentiful than scenic Rocky Mountain views in the Mile High City. And even when they scored, they got lots of help from the Rockies’ woeful defense.

All this offensive buffoonery came against a Colorado pitching staff that trotted out three starters who had ERA’s north of 6.00 and had a team ERA of 5.72 which was second worst in MLB. Quite literally, the Yankees faced three starting pitchers who are among the very worst in MLB this season and still found a way to lose two of three games.

They are now 50-44 and because the AL East is so fantastic, that’s good for a last place tie with the Red Sox, the latest the Yankees have been in the cellar since 1992. And still, the clueless manager keeps imitating Kevin Bacon in Animal House screaming that “all is well, all is well” as he’s being trampled by the frantic mob.

“Tough one,” Boone said Sunday. “You’re gonna have gut-wrenching losses but you have to get through it.”

The Yankees have perfected the art of the gut-wrenching loss in a maddening season that is rapidly careening out of control. In fact, they’ve also majored in truly inexplicable, stupid losses, too. Sunday’s fit both categories. “We have 2 1/2 months to prove that we’re championship caliber and we have to do it,” Boone said.

Boone is delusional. Does he seriously believe this team has any chance of becoming championship caliber? This team isn’t even playoff caliber let alone championship caliber. I know he has to say it publicly, but when his head hits the pillow at night, he has to be cursing Brian Cashman for this shitty roster the GM has given him.

When a reporter laid it all out for him - losing a series to this lousy Rockies team and falling into last place, plus wasting his great Sunday start in the process - Gerrit Cole said, “It’s quite a picture you paint. Today was an especially tough one. It’s one of those games where you feel like everybody comes in here and asks themselves, ‘What could I have done better just to push it an extra inch over the line?’ We’re asking ourselves that question quite a bit. I think sooner than later, we’re going to figure out what it’s going to take to get through and break through.”

Sooner would definitely be better than later.

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

July 14: Rockies 7, Yankees 2

➤ What a horrible way to start the second half. Same as it ever was, I guess. Gleyber Torres led off the game with a single and Giancarlo Stanton guessed right and hit a two-run homer for a 2-0 lead with no outs in the top of the first. Looked like it was gonna be easy, as it should have been. From there, 33 men stepped into the batters’ box and they combined for six hits, one walk, and no runs. Tell me what new hitting coach Sean Casey is supposed to do with that?

➤ And this was against a starting pitcher, Austin Gomber, who had the highest ERA among qualified starters in the NL (6.40), plus an inning against reliever Pierce Johnson who started the night with a 6.49 ERA. And they were playing at hitter-friendly Coors Field.

➤ Carlos Rodon was not good. He lasted five innings and 88 pitches and gave up four runs on four hits and two walks. He did strike out six, but I thought his command was off and in the fateful second inning he couldn’t put guys away. Three straight men reached base to produce the first run, and then the killer at bat was by No. 9 hitter Brenton Doyle, during which Rodon threw a key wild pitch which put runners at second and third. He got ahead 1-2 on this guy who was hitting .213 and then couldn’t get him out. Three straight foul balls and on the eighth pitch, Doyle ripped one to left field, which as we know is the twilight zone in the Yankees defense. Isiah Kiner-Falefa was out there and he botched the play and two runs scored. His first step was in - a mistake Little Leaguers shouldn’t make - and then he realized the ball was going over his head. Had he read it off the bat, he probably would have caught it for the third out. Instead it was 3-2 Rockies.

➤ Randal Grichuk, what a royal pain in the ass. No matter where this guy has been - Cardinals, Blue Jays, and now the Rockies - he just owns the Yankees. It’s truly amazing. He took Rodon deep to make it 4-2 and he now has 18 career home runs against the Yankees, tied for the most against them of any active player with well-noted evil warlord Rafael Devers of the Red Sox. When Grichuk comes to the plate I close my eyes. He now has 180 career home runs and the only team he’s hit more against is the Orioles who, while Grichuk was with the Jays from 2018-21, were one of the worst teams in MLB. Thankfully he didn’t play in the last two games.

➤ Here’s how bad this game was. Franchy Cordero struck out on two pitches in the eighth inning. Pinch-hitting for Kyle Higashioka, he was too late getting set in the box so he was charged a pitch clock violation, meaning an automatic strike. Then he watched strike two and whiffed at strike three. You just shake your head sometimes.

BOX SCORE

July 15: Yankees 6, Rockies 3

➤ Clarke Schmidt has really been a surprise turnaround story. There was a point early in the season when it looked like, once the Yankees’ rotation got healthy, he was headed to the bullpen to be a middle reliever. But since getting blown up by the Rays for seven earned runs on May 14, Schmidt has been terrific. In his last 10 starts he hasn’t given up more than three earned runs in any of them, and in that span of 54 innings his ERA is 2.83, opponents are batting .233 against him with a .658 OPS, and he has 47 strikeouts to just 13 walks. Sadly, because the offense is so terrible, the Yankees are just 4-6 in those 10 starts.

➤ This was the first time in his career he has thrown a pitch in the seventh inning of a start. Unfortunately, C.J. Kron hit that pitch for a home run, ending Schmidt’s night, but he went six-plus innings and gave up just two runs on three hits and a walk with 8 K’s. Nice work.

➤ Hey, Tommy Kahnle is human. He gave up his first run of the season in the eighth as he clearly lacked his usual command. He was bailed out by a big double play that limited the damage to just the one run. It ended his scoreless streak to start his season at 15.1 innings, but this outing looked great compared to his next one.

➤ Another lousy night on offense. Yeah, it was a nice start as Torres led off with a triple and Stanton plated him with a ground out for a quick 1-0 lead. And then they went off in the second against another terrible Rockies starter, Connor Seabold, who had started the night with a 6.65 ERA and saw it jump to 7.18. The Yankees scored five runs on a walk, a sacrifice fly and four hits.

➤ But let’s break down that “big” inning. The first hit was scored as a double for DJ LeMahieu, but it looked like a Yankees corner outfielder was trying to catch it. If right fielder Nolan Jones didn’t misread it so terribly, that would have been a fairly routine out. Billy McKinney then struck out, and Harrison Bader hit a pop fly to shallow center. The second baseman, Harold Castro, had a tough play, but we’ve seen plenty of guys make that catch. Had Castro done so, it realistically should have been the third out. Higgy then hit a sac fly which certainly should have been the third out and no runs would have scored. Instead, Torres came up and singled home a run, and Stanton delivered the big blow, a three-run homer down the right-field line that made it 6-1.

➤ Hey, I’m not complaining about five runs because they call count. The point I’m making is this offense continued to pretty much stink. They were gifted five runs, and then went the final seven innings without scoring. Against the Rockies. In Coors Field! After Stanton’s HR, the Yankees managed three hits the rest of the game.

➤ Our Josh Donaldson nightmare could be over. He pulled a calf muscle jogging out a ground ball and Boone said it “wasn’t great.” Look, I never want anyone to get hurt, but this is addition by subtraction because Donaldson is useless at the plate. He’s hitting .142/.225/.434. We’ve been screaming for the Yankees to eat his salary and cut him, and this injury essentially serves that purpose for now.

BOX SCORE

July 16: Rockies 8, Yankees 7 (11)

➤ As I mentioned earlier, the Yankees have lost so many ridiculous games that I’m losing track, so we just add this colossal mess to the list, a meltdown in every way possible. So much so that according to ESPN Stats this is the first game in Yankees history where they had multiple leads of two-plus runs in the eighth inning or later and lost. That seems absolutely impossible, but that’s what the note said.

➤ Before all the late mayhem began, Cole was great. He went six innings and gave up one run on two hits and a walk with 11 strikeouts. He made one mistake to some guy named Michael Toglia in the second and that was it. What a shame that he didn’t get what should have been a routine win because the once-reliable bullpen exploded into an inferno.

➤ In this game, the Rockies started Chase Anderson who in his last four outings had allowed 27 earned runs for an 18.23 ERA with opponents hitting .455 against him. What did the mighty Yankees do against him? No runs on three singles in his five innings. Again, what can I say here?

➤ They finally broke through in the sixth against reliever Jake Bird, scoring three times on three singles and two Rockies fielding gaffes. It felt like that was going to be enough with the best relievers all available to close it out. However, Kahnle made a mess of the eighth as he loaded the bases, so Boone brought in Clay Holmes to put out the fire. Instead, he poured gasoline on it, serving up his first home run in 37.1 innings this year, a grand slam to Kron that made it 5-3.

➤ To their credit the Yankees fought back to tie it in the ninth, again with help from the Rockies as Billy McKinney was hit by a pitch and when Torres beat out an infield single, third baseman Ryan McMahon threw the ball into right field and McKinney scored. Torres took third on a Stanton fly ball and eventually came home on Harrison Bader’s sacrifice fly. Again, they all count, but those were two really cheap runs as neither scored because of a hit. The only hit was a 70-foot roller by Torres.

➤ After both teams failed to score the free runner in the 10th, the Yankees took a 7-5 lead in the 11th as Oswaldo Cabrera had an RBI single and scored on a single by Oswald Peraza who was recalled to take Donaldson’s spot on the roster. That second run in extras is always huge because you have to assume the opposition is gonna get at least their free runner home, so it seemed, ever so briefly, like the Yankees were going to escape with a victory.

➤ Nope. Because the Rockies had two lefties due up, Boone went to lefty Nick Ramirez to start the 11th. Jones hit his second pitch out for a tying two-run homer. And then Boone brought in Ron Marinaccio who has been awful lately and he was again. Somebody named Alan Trejo, who hadn’t homered all year, launched his second pitch to left to win the game.

I’m going to give the last words on this series to actor and noted Yankees superfan Nick Turturro. Warning, as he often does, Nick loses his mind and the F-word will be flying so if that offends you, don’t click. But you’ll miss out on the entertainment because Nick never disappoints.

BOX SCORE

 ➤ July 17, 1990: There was almost nothing that happened in the 1990 season worth remembering for Yankees fans. That team finished dead last in a seven-team AL East with a 67-95 record, a .414 winning percentage that was the fourth-worst in franchise history, with the other three worst seasons being 1908, 1912, and 1913, a bit before our time.

Even on this night at Yankee Stadium, the Yankees lost 10-7 to the Royals, but this was no ordinary night in a season filled with them. This game featured two of the greatest two-sport stars in history - Deion Sanders playing for the Yankees and Bo Jackson playing for Kansas City - and what a show they put on.

Jackson had an incredible performance as he hit home runs in his first three at bats against Yankees starter Andy Hawkins, driving in seven of Kansas City’s first eight runs. “That was colossal, no doubt about it,” Royals third baseman George Brett said. “The second home run was an eye-popper (estimated at 464 feet). I had to stop and watch that one, it got so small so fast.”

However, Jackson had to leave the game in the sixth inning due to a shoulder injury. And the play he hurt himself on came in the bottom of the sixth when he unsuccessfully dove and failed to catch a Sanders line drive to center field. The ball got past Jackson and rolled to the wall and the speedy Sanders circled the bases for a thrilling two-run inside-the-park-homer that included a wild scramble at the end before Sanders was ruled safe.

Here’s the video of the Sanders homer:

“I can’t wait to get home and watch that play on TV,” Sanders said of his homer that pulled the Yankees within 8-7 in a game they had been trailing 8-1. “It was exciting; it was mean. The adrenaline was flowing.”

Willie Wilson took over for Jackson after the play and in the seventh inning, he delivered a two-run single that made it 10-7. That meant the Royals center fielders in this game drove in nine runs. No offense to Willie, but Royals manager John Wathan said, “I think Bo would have electrified Yankee Stadium just coming up to the plate a fourth time.”

The road trip continues to Anaheim for three against the Angels who snapped a six-game losing streak with a wild come-from-behind 13-12 victory over the Astros Saturday night, but then blew a 7-3 lead in the eighth inning Sunday, giving up four runs in the ninth to lose 9-8.

The Angels are as maddening as the Yankees, no doubt. They sit at 46-48, fourth in the AL West 8.5 games behind Texas and are five games out of a wild-card spot, but this is a team that can hit and score and that means trouble for the Yankees because they can’t do either. Los Angeles ranks fifth in OPS at .778 and it ranks third with 142 home runs, helped greatly by league leader Shohei Ohtani’s 34.

The Angels don’t have Mike Trout or Anthony Rendon, both on the injured list, and Trout’s replacement in center field, Jo Adell, just got hurt so he’s on the IL. Ohtani also leads MLB in OPS at 1.041, but at least the Yankees won’t face Ohtani the pitcher as his next scheduled start is Friday.

The pitching matchups are as follows: Monday, 9:38 p.m. on YES it’s Luis Severino (7.38 ERA, what could possibly go wrong here?) against Griffin Canning (4.62); Tuesday at 9:38 on YES it’s Domingo German (4.32) against Patrick Sandoval (4.41); and Wednesday at 7:07 p.m. on Amazon Prime it’s Carlos Rodon (5.23) against TBD.