From Jake Rill:
The dejected face of Max Fried — perched on the top railing of the first-base dugout at Rogers Centre by early in the fourth inning on Sunday evening — said it all.
The Yankees’ left-handed ace glumly looked on as the Blue Jays’ offense kept pouring it on.
Fried aimed to lead a bounce-back showing for the Yanks, one that could have evened the American League Division Series before it shifted to New York. Instead, an uncharacteristic start by the 31-year-old southpaw became a reason for Toronto’s 13-7 win that pushed its advantage in the series to 2-0.
They scored seven runs and they had their best pitcher going. That this ended up in a blowout loss is just pathetic.
But, I dunno, at the same time, sometimes good pitchers fucking suck. Mike Mussina gave up five runs in Game 1 of the 2001 World Series. Andy Pettitte then gave up six runs in Game 6 of the 2001 World Series.
Roger Clemens, who has had some of the best pitching performances in Yankee postseason history, had a terrible game in his much-hyped-up showdown with Pedro Martinez in Fenway in the 1999 ALCS.
So I guess I shouldn’t read TOO much into Fried’s pathetic performance, except to note that he has had a hard time pitching in Toronto all season long, and since the only way the Yankees can possibly win this series is for him to pitch well in Toronto in Game 5…well…that does not bode well.
Will Warren, also, made it very clear why there was never a chance that he was going to ever start a game in this series in Toronto.
Featured image is Max Fried in his feel-feels in the dugout after losing the game (and possibly the series) for the Yankees.
Scoring runs when you’re already down 12, and when the other team is just trying to get outs, isn’t the same as scoring run in some kind of situation that, you know… matters.
When it got to seven runs, I note, Toronto brought in their fireballing reliever and they Yankees went straight back to meekly folding.