About Yesterday Afternoon: The Yankees Were Blindsided by the Orioles 6-5

About Yesterday Afternoon: The Yankees Were Blindsided by the Orioles 6-5

By Tim Kabel

July 15, 2024

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The Yankees had a good weekend. In fact, it was a very good weekend. But, it could have been a great weekend. It should have been a great weekend. They were poised to make it a great weekend. Then, along came the Orioles in the bottom of the ninth inning to seize the game from the Yankees. The Yankees did win the series against the Orioles. They cut the Orioles’ lead to one game in the standings. They won their first series and back-to-back games for the first time since June 10th through the 12th against Kansas City. Those were all positive signs for the Yankees. However, the lasting memory of this weekend will be the Orioles walking off a sloppy Yankees’ team to win the last game. As the saying goes, for the Yankees this weekend, it was “close but no cigar”.

Quick Stats – 

·       The Yankees won their first series in their last nine tries.

·       In 74 at bats, Ben Rice has 6 home runs and 19 RBI. In 117 at bats, DJ LeMahieu has 0 home runs and 11 RBI. In 264 at bats, Anthony Rizzo had 8 home runs and 28 RBI. Who should be the starting first baseman for the rest of the season?

·       The Yankees head into the All-Star break with a 58-40 record. That's a .592 winning percentage. That projects to 96 wins for the season. However, that is misleading because they front-loaded a lot of victories at the beginning of the season. The Yankees have been horrible for over a month and are in a downward spiral. If they continue to play the way they have for the past month, they won't win 96 games and they will not make the playoffs.

·       Aaron Judge set a Yankees’ record by hitting 34 home runs before the All-Star break.

·       In 117 at bats, DJ LeMahieu is batting .188 and has 0 home runs and 11 RBI. He has 3 extra-base hits. In 211 at bats, Oswaldo Cabrera is batting .237 with 5 home runs, 12 extra-base hits, and 27 RBI. Cabrera has not played consistently since LeMahieu returned from the IL Who should be the starting third basemen of those two choices?

·      On July 14,1934, Babe Ruth hit the 700th home run of his career in a 4-2 victory over the Detroit Tigers.

Big Story –

The Yankees resume play on Friday, after the All-Star break. They will start the nominal second half of the season in second place, one game behind the Orioles. They will not play the Orioles again until September 24th, when they open a three-game series against them in New York. Although it was great that the Yankees won this series, it was the only series out of their last nine that they actually won. They will play the Rays, Mets, Red Sox, and Phillies to finish out the month of July. So far, the Yankees are 4-8 in July. They have 12 games left in the month. They will have to go 8-4 just to be .500 for the month. The Yankees are running out of time to turn this around. I have said that this season reminds me a great deal of 2022. Well, now it is starting to resemble last year as well. Unless the Yankees correct their course, they will quite likely finish the season out of the playoffs.

Player of the Game – 

Trent Grisham was 3-3, with a home run and two RBI.

Notable Performance –

Ben Rice hit a three-run home run in the 9th inning, to temporarily give the Yankees the lead.

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Better to Forget – 

Clay Holmes blew another save and lost the game. There was sloppy defense behind him but, he certainly didn't help.

My Take –  

The Yankees have 64 games left in the season. They started out as the best team in baseball but, over the last month or so, they have been the worst. It's hard to say which team they really are. Maybe they are somewhere in the middle. If that's the case, it won't be good enough. The Yankees need to return to their winning ways of the first two months of the season. They need to perform better in all facets of the game.

In order for the Yankees to improve, they need to upgrade their personnel. They have until July 30th to make trades to improve the roster. They do not have to wait that long. Between now and Friday, they need to acquire a legitimate third baseman. They could probably obtain Matt Chapman from the Giants without giving up many prospects. They should not have to give up their top prospects. Chapman can opt out of his contract at the end of this year if he so chooses. If he doesn't, he would still be an upgrade over LeMahieu. The Yankees need to have DJ LeMahieu off the roster before Friday. There is no purpose in keeping him on this team.

The Yankees need an intimidating hitter to bat behind Aaron Judge in the lineup. Getting Chapman would help but, Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. would help a lot more. If the Yankees can acquire Guerrero, they should. Ideally, they would not have to give up Ben Rice in the deal. Then Rice and Guerrero could rotate back and forth between first base and DH.

I have read that Giancarlo Stanton is likely to be back shortly after the All-Star break ends. Being back and being ready to play and contribute are not necessarily the same thing. There has been some discussion that Stanton may not play in any minor league rehab games. That would be a mistake. Whenever he returns from an injury, it takes him an incredibly long time to regain his timing and his swing. All he can do to help the team is hit. He does not play the field. He is not an effective base runner. The only thing he can do is hit. Usually, he can hit for power. However, he does tend to go into funks where he does nothing but strike out or ground into double plays for days and sometimes weeks at a time. That would not be helpful. It would be much better to have him go through the process of regaining his swing in the minor leagues. I honestly don't believe that Stanton will provide much for the Yankees down the stretch of the season. I would bet that his best days of this season and of his career are behind him.

The Yankees need to upgrade the bullpen immediately. Scott Effross was reinstated off the IL and optioned to Scranton. As soon as he demonstrates that he is all the way back from his injury, he should be recalled. In addition, Clarke Schmidt could slot into the bullpen rather nicely when he returns from the IL. More importantly, the Yankees need to acquire some back end of the bullpen pieces. Kirby Yates and Tanner Scott would be great additions. Mason Miller from the Oakland A’s would be a tremendous acquisition. The point is that the Yankees need to acquire some arms that can turn the bullpen around. They don't need to pick anybody else up off the scrap heap or find someone wandering around outside the stadium and give him a uniform. They need to get a few actual relief pitchers.

The way yesterday's game ended was tough. I'm sure it left a bad taste in the Yankees’ mouths. It certainly did for the fans. The Yankees clearly need to retool. It doesn't make sense to wait all the way until the the trade deadline to do so. When they resume play on Friday there need to be a few changes to the roster so that everyone realizes the Yankees are serious.

Next Up – 

On Friday, the Yankees will open a four-game series against the Tampa Bay Rays at 7:05 PM at Yankee Stadium. The starting pitchers have not been announced.