Sal's Game Two Thoughts

Sal Maiorana, a friend of the site, shares some of his thoughts on the Yankees.

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By Sal Maiorana

October 9, 2024

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For Sal's complete analysis on the New York Yankees, you can subscribe to Sal Maiorana's free Pinstripe People Newsletter at https://salmaiorana.beehiiv.com/subscribe.

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What, you thought this was going to be easy?

Come on, is anything ever easy for the New York Yankees? If you’ve been watching all season - which I know most of my subscribers at Pinstripe People have - there’s no way you could have possibly believed the Yankees were just going to roll past the Royals in this series.

They were darn lucky they won Game 1 and if a couple things were flipped in that game, they’d be heading to Kansas City later this week on the brink of elimination. They’re rather fortunate that losing Game 2 only tied the series, but now the Royals get to play at home for the next two. Of course, given how maddeningly mediocre the Yankees been in the Bronx all season, maybe it’ll be good to get out to the Midwest.

“We’ve done this a lot,” said Jazz Chisholm. “One day we get our butts kicked, the next day we’re kicking butt.”

Yeah, he’s only been with the team a couple months, but his read was right on. Game 2 was such a microcosm of the regular season, wasn’t it? And certainly a microcosm of postseasons past for the Yankees. All it took was one meltdown inning from the starting pitcher - in this case the always volatile Carlos Rodon - and that was enough to doom the Yankees because their offense was helpless against Royals ace Cole Ragans, who wasn’t even very good in this one, and four relievers.

“Still feels the same that we’re going to win it,” said Chisholm, feeling his oats perhaps more than he should have been, perhaps because he hit a meaningless solo homer in the ninth. “I don’t feel like anybody feels any different. We still don’t feel like any other team is better than us.”

Naturally, Aaron Boone showed no outward signs of concern. It was one game, the series isn’t over, and of course, as is his forever mantra, it’s still right there for them.

“We’ve got to win two more games, it’s as crucial as that,” Boone said. “It’s the playoffs. Every day is crucial. Hopefully we regroup and go take care of Game 3 since that’s the next thing in front of us. These guys are really confident and understandably so. We’ll be ready to go in Game 3.”

Here are my observations:

➤ Rodon came out like a WWE wrestler in that first inning. He looked like he was suffering from ‘roid rage with hot fire emanating from his nostrils as he blew away the top of the Royals order on 10 pitches for three strikeouts in the first inning, screaming and pumping his fist after each one. And then it was as if he expended all his energy because slowly but surely, the Royals began to peck away. He gave up a single in the second inning and two more in the third, but he escaped unscathed because he retired Bobby Witt Jr. and Vinnie Pasquantino to end the third.

➤ And then it all came unraveled in the fourth as three guys who should be applying for AARP cards killed him. He got crushed for a long solo homer by 34-year-old Salvador Perez. Then 40-year-old Yuli Gurriel singled and took second on a wild pitch. After a strikeout, 36-year-old Tommy Pham lined a single and it was 2-1. Then Pham stole second which put him into position to score on Garrett Hampson’s two-out RBI single to left that made it 3-1. On that one, Alex Verdugo stupidly threw home when he had no chance to get Pham, so Hampson gladly took second.

➤ That ended Rodon’s night and his final line showed four earned runs on seven hits. Boone brought in Ian Hamilton and he gave up a single to Maikel Garcia on his first pitch and because Hampson at second thanks to Verdugo’s stupid play, he scored. That made it 4-1 and for the life of me, I have no idea why I bothered watching the last five innings because I knew the Yankees weren’t coming back to win. There are nights when you just know with this team, and this was one of them.

➤ Thereafter, the Yankees bullpen dominated and the Royals never scored again as Boone used seven relievers who combined for five innings of scoreless ball, allowing just four hits and two walks. Yes, the Royals scored in just that one inning, but that’s all it took.

➤ Ragans has been terrific this season with a 3.14 ERA, but he lasted only four innings as he struggled with his command and threw 87 pitches thanks to four walks and a few other deep counts. However, the Yankees failed to take advantage. Just like in Game 1, they put the first two men on base in the bottom of the first before Aaron Judge, Wells and Stanton all put forth useless at bats and the Yankees didn’t score.

➤ The only damage against Ragans came when Gleyber Torres led off the third inning with a walk, took second on an Austin Wells single, and was able to score when Giancarlo Stanton ripped one to short that Bobby Witt couldn’t handle. He managed to get a glove on it but the ball trickled into left field. Still, given the two guys who were running, it was shocking that Torres made it home and even more shocking that Stanton didn’t get thrown out at first.

➤ Once Ragans was out, the Royals bullpen - which had the 10th-worst ERA (4.13) and seventh-worst WHIP (1.330) in MLB during the regular season - was just as good as New York’s. They got five innings from four relievers who combined to allow four hits and a walk and the only run came off Kansas City’s great closer, Lucas Erceg, who yielded Chisholm’s homer. Later in the ninth, Jon Berti singled with two outs which brought the tying run to the plate, but Torres swung at the first pitch and grounded out to Witt to end the game.

➤ After going 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position Saturday, the Yankees went 3-for-11 in this game and they have now left 18 men on base in the two games. Not counting Chisholm’s homer which led off the ninth, the Yankees had their leadoff man on base in five other innings and scored just the one run.

➤ “If they’re gonna keep the ball in the ballpark against you, you gotta take advantage of opportunities when you get them,” Boone said. “The good thing is were giving ourselves those opportunities.” He says that all the time, but here’s the thing - it doesn’t matter if you’re giving yourself opportunities if you ultimately don’t take advantage.

➤ Judge managed an infield single, but he’s now just 9-for-63 (.142) with three homers and 24 strikeouts in his last 16 postseason games. That’s a big problem. “If I’m not hitting 1.000, I’m not feeling good,” Judge said, spewing one of his never-ending streams of meaningless cliches. “Just gotta keep getting on base for the guys behind me. If they get on, I gotta drive ‘em in. It eats at me every time we don’t finish the job. I take a lot of responsibility for that, being on the team. If we don’t win it all, I feel like it’s my fault.”

➤ Berti played first base for the first time in his MLB career because Oswaldo Cabrera cannot hit left-handed pitching. There was a lot of talk about this decision, using Berti in a spot where he’d never played, but he was the Yankees best player. He made a couple excellent plays in the field, had his single, and he also hit two line drives that would have been trouble if they hadn’t been hit right at fielders. If I’m Boone, I’m sticking with Berti, a veteran who knows how to play and provides more of a threat at the plate.

➤ From their best two pitchers, Rodon and Gerrit Cole, here’s what the Yankees got in the first two games: 8.2 innings, seven earned runs on 14 hits and two walks. Not great. Now they have to hope that Clarke Schmidt, who was named the starter for Game 3 rather than Luis Gil, can put forth a much better performance Wednesday night because the Royals are throwing Seth Lugo who won 16 games, had a 3.00 ERA, and dominated the Yankees in a start on Sept. 10 when he pitched seven shutout innings on three hits with 10 strikeouts.