About Last Night: Little League Loss

By Paul Semendinger

August 19, 2024

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About Last Night:

The Yankees and the Tigers played in Williamsport, Pennsylvania for the annual Little League Big League game.

In the game, the Tigers battled back from a 1-0 score in the bottom of the ninth inning to tie the game and send it into extra innings. In the tenth inning, the Yankees scored a run. The Tigers then scored two runs in their half of the tenth to topple the Yanks.

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Of note, seeing the tremendous crowds around Aaron Judge before the game reminded me of a famous photo of Babe Ruth:

The Game Story:

Runs were difficult to come by in this game.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, the Tigers had a chance to score on a two-out double by Parker Meadows, but Jace Jung who was running from first base, was thrown out at the plate after a relay from Aaron Judge to Anthony Volpe to Jose Trevino. In actuality, I phrased that all incorrectly. It should read, "With two outs, Meadows doubled, and for some reason, unkonwn to all, Jace Jung tried to score. He was out, not by a mile, but by a few miles. Jose Trevino got the ball, took a nap, brushed his teeth, and then tagged out Jung."

In the top of the sixth inning, the Yankees scored their first run when Gleyber Torres who walked (and went to second on a Juan Soto walk and then advanced to third on an Aaron Judge double play ground out) scored on a wild pitch.

In the top of the ninth inning, Giancarlo Stanton had a Little League single. He hit a popup to shallow right field. The first baseman and the right fielder both seemed to say, "I got it, no you take it." And the ball fell between them.

In the bottom of the ninth, the Tigers scored to tie the game at 1-1. Colt Keith doubled. The with two outs, Jace Jung singled and Colt gallopped home. It was another blown save for Clay Holmes of the Yankees. Holmes leads the MLB in blown saves with ten.

In the tenth inning. D.J. LeMahieu singled home Anthony Volpe to give the Yankees the lead. In the bottom of the inning, the Tigers scored twice of Mark Leiter to win the game.

Player of the Game: 

Marcus Stroman pitched great. He went six innings. He allowed no runs.

Better to Forget:

The back-end of the Yankees bullpen wasted a great outing by Marcus Stroman. Clay Holmes blew the save in the ninth. Mark Leiter blew the 10th inning lead and then gave up another run and took the loss.

The mighty Yankees offense only scored on a wild pitch (in the 6th inning) and because they had a free runner on second base (in the 10th) with the silly "this isn't really the Major Leagues" ghost runner.

My Take:

I hope someone can explain why teams were permitted to have a 27th man for this game. It made no sense. "Well, if you play with Little Leaguers around, you need an extra player." Maybe they think players might get tired from signing too many autographs?

It was great to see a game with a stadium packed with kids loving the game of baseball. This is how to grow the game, no doubt.

Call me old, traditional, boring, or whatever, but I find the TV coverage of baseball games getting worse and worse and worse. There always has to be a gimmick: this player in the booth, that player mic'd up in the field. Interviews with the manager during the game. It's too much. It's overkill. The need to let the game itself be the story. It worked for a long long long time that way. The problem with gimmicks is that, eventually, there are no more of them and then you're left wih nothing. Baseball coverage is getting to the point where they are left with nothing.

Of note, when the Yankees scored in the sixth inning, the announcer suggested (maybe trying to be humerous, but it didn't sound that way) that the big league players noticed how runs can score on wild pitches by watching the actual Little League World Series games. I get the point of trying to tie this all together - the Little Leaguers and the Big League players, but he was trying much too hard. I'm sure Gleyber Torres figured out that play by watching twelve year olds over the last week or two. "You can do that? You can run home when the ball gets past the catcher? Wow. I just might try it." As if no one has ever scored from third on a wild pitch before the Little League World Series in 2024. Amazing.

Jazz Chisholm spent much of the game sitting with the kids at the game. I liked seeing that. If I had been a big leaguers, I would have done the same.

For their 27th man, the Yankees called up Jasson Dominguez. I get it, but I don't think it was a smart move. The Yankeed need to let the kid get his timing back in the minor leagues. That being said, I was glad to see, since they brought him up, that Dominguez stated the game. If he's on the big league roster, they should play him. But, Dominguez showed that he is not yet ready for prime time. In the biggest situation of the game, in the field, as the winning run was coming around third base, he hestitated, and took an extra step, before throwing home late as the winning run scored for the Tigers. At bat, Dominguez went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts.

Jose Trevino has now been active for three games and he has started two of them. As many have noticed, this is a problem with the Yankees. The manager almost always defers to the veteran player even when better options exist. Austin Wells who has now not started two of three games couldn't have been doing better and yet, as soon as the veteran came back, the young player sat. That's a problem for me. "Yeah, I know Austin, you've been the best clean-up hitter in the game since we put you there, but what do you expect? You think you earned playing time? We have an experienced guy who can play. If you get splinters from the bench go see the trainer."

Aaron Boone did a poor imitation of the Soto Shuffle at some point during batting practice that was shown on the TV coverage. I wish Mr. Boone would spend more time practing good baseball strategy than trying to copy his players. Someone should remind Boone that he's the manager, the boss, and not a fan. Sometimes it seems with the Yankees that I'm watching The Office rather than a Major League baseball team. Imitating his players seems like something Michael Scott would do. Aaron Boone seems to try too hard to be cool or fun or funny or something. Again, I wish he'd simply focus on trying to be a great manager.

At the trade deadline, the Yankees needed to improve their bullpen. They acquired two pitchers. One, Enyel De Los Santos, has already been released. Mark Leiter, the other big acquisition, has pitched very poorly for the Yankees. In 6.1 innings, he's given up 12 hits. He's also walked three and given up five runs. Mr. Cashman has not done a great job with his trade deadline deals for many years now.

It seems, for some, that the goal posts are always moving when it comes to assessing the Yankees' approach. When Brian Cashman doesn't get the needed players over the winter, some say, "Just wait until the trade deadline." Then when he does a poor job there, at the deadline, they say, "Just wait until the off-season."

The Yankees had a five game winning streak from July 27 through July 31. Absent of that stretch, the Yankees are 10-12 in the second half.

That five game stretch changed, dramatically, the narrative regarding this Yankees team. "They're the best!" They aren't. Since June 13, now over two full months, the Yankees are 24-31. The fact that the Yankees are battling for first place isn't an indication that they've played good baseball. It's that the rest of the league has played bad baseball. The Yankees haven't been good. They just haven't been as terrible as some.

In another example of poor announcing last night, as the Tigers were sending the winning runner home, one announcer said as the play unfolded, "Dominguez has a great arm." Then, after the Tigers had won, a different announcer said, "The Tigers knew they could run on Dominguez's arm." Which is it? It cannot be both. All too often, the talking points from the announcers aren't based on facts, they're nothing more than words spit out to fit the narrative that s taking place or that aready took place. In the moment, the guy has a great arm. After, we are told the Tigers were smart for having a great scouting report that targeted the weak arm of the Yankees' left fielder. It can't be both, but the talking just goes on and on.

Speaking of Jasson Dominguez's arm, remember Ruben Rivera? He threw out his arm in a big game against the Orioles late in the season trying to impress the big league team. All these years later, Jasson Dominguez, not even a year from Tommy John Surgery, fired home not once, but twice, late in the game. To me, I see far too many times that the Yankees' decision making being lacking. They had to know that was a possibility. Wouldn't it have made better sense to take Dominguez out before he'd have to tax his arm that way?

The Yankees just went 3-3 on a six game road trip against two of the worst teams in the American League.

Next Up:

The Yankees are off tonight. They resume play on Tuesday at home against the Cleveland Guardians. Luis Gil gets the start. Game time is 7:05 p.m.