I have seen the Yankees play badly before, but I have never seen them be this stupid on a regular basis.
I knew they were going to lose the middle game of their series with the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, because the opposing pitcher was Nathan Eovaldi. Whenever Brian Cashman gets rid of a player, and he plays against the Yankees, he shows why the Yankees initially wanted him. He took a shutout into the 8th inning.
Think about that for a moment. Cashman has built a Yankee lineup loaded with righthanded power hitters, apparently with the intention of aiming for those close left field walls at Fenway and Minute Maid Park in Houston, in the Playoffs.
But you have got to get to the Playoffs first, and while the Yankees do play a total 12 games a year in those 2 ballparks, they have to play 81 games a year at Yankee Stadium II, which favors lefthanded hitters and guys who can hit to the opposite field.
Jordan Montgomery started, and allowed only 3 runs in 6 innings. Albert Abreu pitched the next 2, and allowed only 1 run. Seems to me, if you can hold the Sox to 4 runs at the little green pinball machine off Kenmore Square, you should be able to win the damn ballgame.
The Yankees couldn't. Gary Sánchez singled to right with 2 outs in the 1st inning. He was stranded there when Giancarlo Stanton, of course, struck out they didn't get another base runner until Judge led off the 4th with a single. He was stranded there when the next 3 batters couldn't advance him, including, of course, another Stanton strikeout.
With 1 out in the 6th, DJ LeMahieu and Judge both singled, but Sánchez grounded into a double play to erase them. Stanton led off the 7th with a single, but they couldn't advance him. Finally, with 2 out in the 8th, LeMahieu went to the opposite field and hit a homerun, And Eovaldi was taken out.
From that point onward, the Red Sox bullpen seemed to be doing everything in his power to give the game to the Yankees, and they couldn't take it. With the new 3-batter rule -- I like to call it the Boone Logan Rule -- Hirokazu Sawamura either had to pitch to at least 3 batters or get the 3rd out. And he walked Judge, Sánchez and Stanton to load the bases.
Think about that for a moment. Here are 3 of the least walkable guys in the major leagues today, because the umpires always seem to give the Yankees giant strike zones, and these guys will swing it just about anything. And they were batting against the Red Sox, a team the umpires favor, in Boston. And this guy walked them all.
And he was then replaced by Adam Ottavino, another former Yankee pitcher, who was let go because, as he had veen before he was a Yankee, he is terribly inconsistent.
The tying runs were on base. The moment was made for a Yankee hero the batter was Luke Voit, who, when healthy, is a really good right-handed power hitter, and he was aiming at the green monster pretty crowded too short to end the threat.
Top of the 9th. Gio Urshela flies to center. That's 1 out. But Gleyber Torres, dropped to 7th in the order due to a hellacious slump, singled. Rougned Odor grounded into a force play. Man on 1st, 2 out.
Brett Gardner drew a walk. LeMahieu singled Odor home. Again, the tying runs were on base. The batter was Judge. Against Ottavino. At Fenway.
He struck out. Ballgame over. Red Sox 4, Yankees 2. WP: Eovaldi (8-4). SV: Ottavino (5). LP: Montgomery (3-2).
How do you hold the Red Sox to 4 runs at Fenway Park, and lose? How do you get the tying runs on base in the 8th and the 9th Inning, at Fenway Park, and lose?
How do you let Adam Ottavino beat you 2 nights in a row? In any ballpark, but especially Fenway?
I will tell you how you do those things: By playing stupid baseball. And this is a terrible time to be playing that way.
The series concludes this afternoon. Gerrit Cole starts for the Yankees, but, as we've seen, that guarantees nothing. Eduardo Rodriguez starts for The Scum.
Can we please get more than 4 runs today?