About Last Night: The Yankees Were Stunned by the Red Sox 9-7

About Last Night: The Yankees Were Stunned by the Red Sox 9-7

By Tim Kabel

July 27, 2024

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The Yankees were winning last night's game 7-4 headed into the bottom of the seventh inning. As the old saying goes, the Red Sox had the Yankees right where they wanted them. Before the season, Aaron Boone stated that for the Yankees to be better than they were in 2023, they would need to win games they were in a position to win. They were in a position to win last night. Tim Hill, Luke Weaver, and Clay Holmes blew the lead and lost the game.

Earlier this season, it looked as if the Yankees would win 100 games very easily. As a result of their collapse, their record is now 60-45. They would need to go 40-17 the rest of the season to win 100 games. That does not seem very likely.

Quick Stats – 

·       Aaron Judge is batting .306 with 36 home runs and 92 RBI.That is an excellent season.  Oh wait, there are two months left!

·       Austin Wells was 3-5 with a home run. Gee, it is amazing how well he hits when he plays more than one game in a row. Why wasn't he given this opportunity earlier in the season? To quote Yul Brynner in The King and I, “Is a puzzlement”.

·       Jasson Dominguez went 1-4 with 2 RBI in his first rehab game in Scranton. He was not expected to be back until September. That was the best news for the Yankees all night. 

·       DJ LeMahieu is batting .178 for the season and was benched for last night’s game. Naturally, Aaron Boone inserted him in the game to replace Ben Rice in the 7th inning for defense, positioning him perfectly to come up in the 9th inning with the tying runs on base. What did he do? He struck out. In the words of Gomer Pyle, “Surprise, surprise, surprise.”

·      12 of the 26 batters Nestor Cortes faced last night reached base. 

·       The Yankees are 2-5 since the All-Star break and have won 6 games in July.

·       Clay Holmes has replaced the “demon sinker” with the “demon stinker.”

·       On July 26th, 1925, Bob Meusel hit for the cycle in a 12-1 victory over the Tigers. Meusel is the only American League player who hit for the cycle three times in his career. 

Big Story –

At one point earlier this season, the Yankees had the best record in Baseball. Over their last 36 games, they are 11-25. The only team that has been worse than the Yankees in that stretch are the Chicago White Sox, a team that might set a record for losses this season. That is not the company you want to keep. A lot of people look at this and say, “Things will turn around. They can't possibly be this bad. They are still only two games out of first place.” Well, the Yankees have done nothing to earn any confidence. There is no reason to believe they will turn it around. This team collapsed in the past two seasons. Last year, they didn't even make the playoffs and were barely above 500. They have two more games against the Red Sox this weekend. So far this season, the Yankees are 2-5 against the Red Sox. After that, they play three games against the Phillies, a team that looks like it could win the World Series. I suspect the Yankees will sink even deeper into this hole before the month ends.

Player of the Game – 

Aaron Judge hit a three-run home run and gave the Yankees the lead, which of course, the bullpen could not hold.

Notable Performance –

Austin Wells had another big night and is doing well in the cleanup spot.

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Anthony Volpe was 2-5 with a home run and a stolen base.

Gleyber Torres had three hits. Maybe that will convince another team to take him in a trade.

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Better to Forget – 

Clay makes me want to run away from Holmes.  If he doesn’t improve, the Yankees’ bullpen will be Holmes-less soon.

My Take –  

I have several thoughts about the current state of affairs with the Yankees:

·       Perhaps we could persuade George Clooney to write an op-ed piece asking Aaron Boone to step aside.

·       When writers, commentators, or just plain fans discuss the current collapse of the team, we are not panicking. We are not exaggerating the situation. We are not being unrealistic or thinking that teams don't go through losing streaks. Teams do go through losing streaks. However, when the Yankees have the second worst record in the major leagues in what is now a quarter of the season, that tells you something. In addition, this is not an isolated incident. They did the same thing, but in different ways, in the past two seasons. There is nothing to inspire confidence in the fans that they will improve. This seems like another collapse. The fact that we have Aaron Judge and Juan Soto putting up MVP caliber seasons only makes it worse.

·       The fact that Jason Dominguez has already begun a minor league rehab is extremely encouraging. I certainly hope it is not a step toward trading him. Rather, he could come to the Major League level within a week and replace Alex Verdugo in the starting outfield. Dominguez could be one of the players who helps turn this thing around but, he has to be healthy and he has to get here soon.

·       Caleb Durbin began a minor league rehab assignment this week. If the Yankees do not acquire another second baseman, look for him to be called up once he resumes playing well at Scranton.

·       The fact that Giancarlo Stanton is likely to join the Major League roster on Tuesday without playing any minor league rehab games is very concerning. As we all know, he adjusts to his return to the Major League level after an injury the way a group of elderly women adjust to going into a swimming pool on the chilly day: It takes a while. Sticking Stanton in the middle of the Major League lineup without any rehab games would be foolish. Of course, that means the Yankees will do it.

·       So far, the Yankees have not made any moves and the trading deadline is at 6:00 PM on Tuesday. But rest easy, there are rumors that they are interested in Rich Hill. He didn't play at all last year and he's 44 years old. I'm going to run out and buy my World Series tickets tomorrow.

·       I thought when I heard Aaron Boone repeatedly say, “it's right there in front of us”, that I had heard the most inane thing possible. What does that even mean? The way this team has been playing, before long, every other team will be in front of them. As a former history teacher, I like to imagine these statements made in a different historical context. For example, if Boone had said “it's right there in front of us” to the captain of the Titanic, tragedy could have been averted. Perhaps one of his ancestors did tell George Custer, “it’s right there in front of us”, before that unfortunate last stand. Well, as ridiculous as that statement is, it has been surpassed. Last night, after the game, Aaron Boone said, “we were in compete mode during the game. We competed really well.” Every time a team steps out on a field, they are in compete mode. A gazelle is in compete mode against a lion, but it usually doesn't go very well. And how could he say that the team competed very well? They lost. To say that we were in compete mode is the most ludicrous thing I have ever heard a manager say. Boone should have been fired on the spot just for making that comment. He clearly has no answers and based on the past two seasons; he will not guide this team to victory.

·       The Yankees need to make trades for quality players before Tuesday's trade deadline. The personnel they have is not good enough to compete and they need to make sound acquisitions. Rich Hill is not who I'm thinking about.

Next Up – 

Tonight, the Yankees will play the second game of a three-game series against the Red Sox at 7;15 PM at Fenway Park. Marcus Stroman, (7-5, 3.51 ERA) will face Boston’s Kutter Crawford, (6-8, 3.37 ERA). Let’s hope Mr. Crawford is a Kutter below.