Batting Cleanup: Finding Rock Bottom is Harder Than It Seems

Batting Cleanup
Written By Will Harris
The Yankees’ offense had trouble mustering much of anything this weekend (Kathy Willens / AP)

The Yankees’ offense had trouble mustering much of anything this weekend (Kathy Willens / AP)

Game 1: Yankees Lose 8-2

Jackie Robinson Day

Everyone wore 42 on Friday in honor of Jackie Robinson. Of course, Robinson is celebrated each year on April 15th (or 16th, for teams like the Yankees who don’t play on 4/15) to honor his becoming the first Black MLB player in 1947. Check out his stats though. To whatever extent one of the best known baseball players in history can be underrated, Robinson certainly is. Derek Jeter racked up 71.3 bWAR in 12602 PA over 2747 games. Jackie Robinson had 61.7 bWAR in just 5804 PA over 1382 games. On a per game basis, Robinson was about as valuable as Joe DiMaggio.

Bad From the Start

The Rays hare tormented the Yankees in the last couple of years, and appeared to be sticking to the status quo early. Nick Nelson, in the game as the opener, walked Yankee Killer Austin Meadows and allowed back-to-back doubles to Yankee Killer Randy Arozarena and frustrating opponent Brandon Lowe. After a swinging bunt by Yandy Diaz moved Lowe to third (just bunt for real, you’re the Rays everyone would think it’s cute), Nelson struck out two of the next three batters to escape without allowing any more damage.

And It Only Got Worse

The Yankees got themselves in trouble again in the fifth, when the Rays BABIPed themselves into a couple of runs. Joey Wendle legged out a shift-beating infield single, and scored on a weakly-hit but well-placed double down the line by Brosseau. Adames then hit a hot shot at Urshela, which Gio couldn’t handle, and the ball bounced into left field, allowing Brosseau to score. Just like that, it was 4-0 and the game felt unwinnable.

The game went from unwinnable to lost later in the inning. After Cessa walked two Rays in a row to load the bases, he got Randy Arozarena to rap into what appeared to be an inning-ending double play. Gleyber handled the ball cleanly and made a good flip to Odor, but Rougie threw the ball to … not first base, allowing another two runs to score.

I thought the fifth inning was BABIP Hell for the Yankees, but it paled in comparison to the sixth, when this happened to put the Rays up 8-0.

Here are the hits.

Nick Nelson: Married, but Totally Out of Control

That’s right ladies, you don’t have a shot with Nick Nelson anymore.

Congratulations to Nick and his new wife Abigail on a month of marriage!

But Nick… We need to talk.

Nelson’s control could have been worse in the first inning on Friday, but not by much. Only 15 of his 30 pitches were strikes, and those that were in the zone were pretty poorly located.

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That’s… Uhh…. not great.

On the bright side, he produced swinging strikeouts against Joey Wendle and Mike Brosseau on pitches that absolutely did not deserve swings, and had his fastball velocity sitting at 97, so it’s good to see that the stuff was there even if the control wasn’t.

King of Anything

Mike King looked good until he didn’t. After getting two quick outs to start the fourth inning, he walked three straight batters, highlighted by some nonsense from Jerry Layne.

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Ultimately, King got out of the bases-loaded jam by getting Yandy Diaz to ground into a fielder’s choice.

That was it for King, who went 3 IP and struck out 4 without allowing a run. He was much less efficient on Friday than in his first appearance, throwing only 52% of his pitches for strikes as opposed to 71% on Easter Sunday. As a result, it took him 69 pitches to get through 3 IP, after his 6 IP took only 68 pitches in his first outing. Despite all that, he maintains his 0.00 ERA for a bit longer.

Remember When Baseball Was Fun?

Giancarlo Stanton launched this garbage time, opposite-field home run after Wacha left the game, but that was it. I can’t figure out how to take the auto-generated subtitles out of the embedded video, so enjoy those.

To quote John Sterling, the Yankees only managed “three measly hits” in this one, and it was just about the worst game I’ve seen them play in a long time.

Game 2: Yankees Lose 6-3

Bad Glasnow, Bad Yankees

Glasnow came into the game holding current Yankees to a triple slash of .191/.273/.324 (.596 OPS) since 2019, veritable Yankee Killer stuff. That’s the same OPS that Michael Lorenzen posted in 2019. Michael Lorenzen is a pitcher.

It was pretty clear Glasnow didn’t have his best stuff on Saturday, but it didn’t matter. Despite throwing just 62 of his 105 pitches for strikes over 5 innings, Glasnow managed to allow only 2 H and 1 R and survive the 4 walks he dished out.

It’s important to capitalize when a top-of-the-line pitcher like Glasnow gives you an opportunity, and the Yankees spectacularly failed to do so.

Gumby to the Rescue?

Jordan Montgomery has started three times this year, and each time the Yankees have needed him to deliver in a big way. He delivered 6 scoreless innings against Baltimore in his first start and followed that up with a gritty performance to salvage a game at the Trop last Sunday.

Montgomery looked to be earning his budding reputation as the stopper for the Yankees (as his mentors Andy Pettitte and CC Sabathia had before him) through six innings. Going into the seventh, Gumby had allowed only 2 H (both homers) and 3 R. Boone yanked him after he threw 5 straight balls to begin the seventh, and Loaisiga allowed an inherited runner to score (well, a runner who replaced an inherited runner on a fielder’s choice and counted as an inherited runner as a result) on a 2-run home run by Joey Wendle to make it 5-1 Rays. All in all, 6+ IP, 2 H, 4 R, 7 K for Montgomery on 86 pitches. Very nearly exactly what the Yankees needed.

Signs of Life?

Reprising the above, because unfortunately it applied on Saturday as well.

Until the seventh inning… With one out, Rougned Odor hit his first home run as a Yankee to cut the TB lead to 5-2. DJLM and Judge followed that up with a single and a double respectively to make it a 5-3 game. Check out the offense!

In true 2021 Yankees fashion, it was too little, too late. After getting hit around a bit, Colin McHugh struck out Aaron Hicks, and Ryan Thompson came in to strike out Stanton to end the inning. The Rays tacked on another run in the ninth after Justin Wilson gave up a single, Kyle Higashioka allowed a passed ball (he must be the Yankees’ catcher with defensive issues I keep hearing about), and newfound Yankee Killer Francisco Mejia doubled home Brosseau. That made it 6-3, and the Yankees went down quietly in the ninth to close it out.

#PrayForGary

Gary Sanchez left the game after the fourth inning after taking a foul ball off his hand. The Yankees have said he is day to day and will evaluate if he is available for the series with the Braves that begins on Tuesday. He had two built-in off days coming up with a Cole start (Higgy catching) and a scheduled off day on Monday. Signs point to him being ready for the Braves series on Tuesday. His x-rays came back negative, and we saw him warming up Cole prior to the third inning on Sunday, and Michael Kay reported during the game that Gary was available off the bench.

Game 3: Yankees Lose 4-2

Jay Bruce

The Great Jay Bruce Experiment of 2021 ended on Sunday, as Bruce announced he would retire at the end of the game. He finishes his career as a 3x All-Star, a 2x Silver Slugger, and with 319 home runs. Fact: Jay Bruce is the first major leaguer EVER to finish his career with 319 home runs who is not Cecil Fielder or Cecil Fielder’s son.

Please Salvage Something

The Yankees entered the third game of this series sporting the worst record in the AL, and having already clinched the loss in 4 of their first 5 series to start the year, but put Gerrit Cole on the mound to try to keep the Yankees from suffering their first sweep of the year. There’s no question he’s the guy the Yankees want out there, as he came into the game sporting a 1.47 ERA over 18.1 IP in his first 3 appearances this year.

Rays Gonna Rays

The Rays did some weird stuff, and yes, I do maintain that using an opener qualifies as “weird stuff.” They started Andrew Kittredge, with Ryan Yarbrough on deck as the bulk guy. As we previewed, Yarbrough was putting his Yankee Killer credentials on the line as he tried to stabilize his performance after a shaky start to the season.

Kittredge went went 1.2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, facing the first 6 batters in the lineup for the Yankees, all righties, before turning things over to the southpaw Yarbrough.

Yarbrough certainly looked like a Yankee killer today, going 5 IP while scattering 2 hits and allowing a single run. He kept the Yankees from breaking into the more vulnerable parts of the Tampa bullpen, and passed the baton to Diego Castillo with two outs in the seventh.

Castillo walked Kyle Higashioka (hard to do), and then got DJ LeMahieu to fly out to end the inning. Ultimately, he struck out 2 without allowing a hit in 1.1 IP in the seventh and eighth.

With the Rays leading 4-2, Jeffrey Springs came on to close things out, and close things out he did. He struck out Torres, got Urshela to ground out to first, and got Rougie Odor to line out into the shift to end it.

Joey Wendle May Be THE Yankee Killer

I am so tired of Joey Wendle. I am convinced I’ve never seen him get out (although I am told it has happened), and his home run in the eighth against Darren O’Day gave the the Rays an insurance run and a 4-2 lead.

Cole Train on Time Again

Up against the prospect of the Yankees losing 5 in a row, Cole delivered. He has been infinitely dependable in his time as a Yankee and today was no different. He set the tone with an 8-pitch inning in the first, but labored a bit in the second after hitting Joey Wendle with an 0-2 slider. It took 8 pitches for Cole to retire Yoshi Tsutsugo alone, who lined out to a sliding Aaron Judge in right to end the inning.

Cole was the victim of a number of defensive miscues in the top of the third, leading to the Rays scoring two runs, only one of them earned. After that, he really found his stride. Cole retired 13 Rays in a row from the third through the seventh to keep the Yankees in the game. With one out in the seventh, things fell apart (to the extent that’s possible for Cole). He allowed a single and a double to Wendle (Yankee Killer) and Tsutsugo to give the lead back to Tampa. Final line on Cole was 6.1 IP, 5 H, 3 R (2 ER), 0 BB, 10 K on 109 pitches. Love our ace. Hate the offense that refuses to support him.

Aaron Hicks Owes Gerrit Cole an Apology

In the third inning, Kevin Kiermaier hit a pop fly to shallow center after Mike Zunino singled to left. Hicks, knowing he wouldn’t catch the ball, deked Zunino nicely and froze him between first and second, setting up an easy fielder’s choice. Once the ball dropped, Hicks bobbled it and allowed Zunino to get to second safely. The next batter, Yandy Diaz, ripped a single to center that Hicks did not field cleanly, allowing Zunino to score easily from second, and allowing Kiermaier to go from first to third. Kiermaier would score on a sac fly by Manny Margot later in the inning to make it 2-1 Tampa. That unearned run seemed to loom large, especially after Wendle’s insurance homer.

I’ve Never Seen an Offense This… Offensive

They didn’t find the offense early, as Kittredge retired the side on just 12 pitches in the first, striking out DJ and Judge in the process.

HOWEVER, Giancarlo Stanton led off the second inning with a home run, his third of the year, and gave the Yankees their first lead in a game since this blog was launched. Let’s hope that was a sign of things to come for Big G.

Here is Stanton’s homer.

And here are your authors having an Absolutely Normal Time reacting to this baseball team.

Such is the life of a Yankees fan today. DISCLAIMER: The Stanton home run does not appear to have turned the season around.It’s possible Manny Margot bet the over in this game (I’d imagine he lost, but he did his part), as he elected not to throw h…

Such is the life of a Yankees fan today. DISCLAIMER: The Stanton home run does not appear to have turned the season around.

It’s possible Manny Margot bet the over in this game (I’d imagine he lost, but he did his part), as he elected not to throw home on DJ’s RBI single with two outs in the fifth. The ball was in Margot’s glove before Gio even got to third, and Margot was nearly on the infield dirt, but did not even try to nab Gio at home. That tied things up at 2, but was the last run the Yankees would push across in this one.

Kyle Higashioka walked twice on Sunday, which is twice more than he walked in the 2019 and 2020 seasons combined (weird). The first walk set up DJ’s game-tying single in the fifth. The second, which came with two outs in the seventh, appeared to set up a go-ahead, opposite-field home run to DJ off the bat, but his fly ball settled into Manny Margot’s glove on the warning track.

For the second time in three games, the Yankees could manage only 3 hits against Tampa’s pitching, and scored only 2 runs. At some point this needs to change. Someone needs to get hot. I don’t know who, nor how, but this team needs to find something soon. This offense is disgusting and I am flummoxed as to how this futility has lasted so long.

Just Remember, Cervelli Says

Looking Ahead

I’m glad that’s over. The 5-10 Yankees will look to turn things around against the Braves in a quick, 2-game series in the Bronx beginning on Tuesday. Look out for our preview tomorrow morning.

Let’s go Yankees.

All stats come from Baseball Reference, FanGraphs, and MLB Statcast

Will Harris
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