Yesterday was August 16. The anniversary of the deaths of Babe Ruth, the Sultan of Swat, in 1948; and Elvis Presley, the King of Rock and Roll, in 1977. The Yankees paid tribute to them by playing as if they were dead.
Or maybe they paid tribute to the guitar duo of Santo and Johnny, who had a Number 1 instrumental in 1959, with a song titled "Sleep Walk."
Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, but not as much as sleep walks can.
Two games of this homestand, both against the Tampa Bay Rays. Two decent performances by the starting pitchers, first Gerrit Cole, now Nestor Cortes: 7 innings, 3 runs, 4 hits, no walks. That should be enough for a team with the Yankees' kind of hitting ability to get the job done.
Instead, here's what was done:
* 2nd inning: Andrew Bentintendi singled with 2 out, and was stranded.
* 5th inning: With 1 out, Benintendi tripled. He scored on an error that allowed Miguel Andújar to reach 1st base. Isiah Kiner-Faelfa drew a walk. And Marwin González grounded into a double play.
* 7th inning: Josh Donaldson led off with a single, and advanced to 2nd on a groundout. He was stranded.
* 8th inning: Gleyber Torres singled with 2 out, and was stranded.
That's it: Just 6 baserunners, 3 of them in 1 inning. Another pathetic performance at bat. Another good pitching performance wasted. Hell, we even got a scoreless inning of relief from Albert Abreu, for nothing.
Rays 3, Yankees 1. WP: Jeffrey Springs (5-3). SV: Jason Adam (7). LP: Cortes (9-4). That's 22 losses in our last 32 games. Now 9 games, 8 in the loss column, ahead of the Rays. Forget the Toronto Blue Jays: It's always been the Rays we should have been worried about.
The series concludes tonight. Domingo Germán starts against last year's Yankee no-hitter pitcher, Corey Kluber. Will it be another no-hitter for him? I wouldn't put it past these sleepwalking Yankees. Then the Jays come in for a 4-game weekend series.