From Bryan Hoch:
José Caballero unloaded several games’ worth of frustration with emphatic celebrations on the basepaths late on Saturday, having delivered a pair of big hits to jolt the Yankees’ stalled lineup.
It still wasn’t enough.
Caballero drove in three runs, connecting for go-ahead knocks in the eighth and 10th innings, but Jonathan Aranda got the last word in a 5-4, 10-inning loss to the Rays at Tropicana Field. The Yankees have lost four straight.
Jazz is getting a lot of grief for his dumb answer about what his plan was there, but the fact of the matter is that as soon as Jazz didn’t make the catch (and with Belli jumping in front of him, blocking his view, there was pretty much a zero percent chance of him making the catch), there was no way that he was going to tag Diaz with the ball and throw the ball to first in time to get Aranda. Jazz is a dummy, no doubt (and him still making the throw to first for some dumb fucking reason looked hilariously stupid), but come on, this ridiculous, “Well, he could have made some miraculous play there, and since he didn’t, he’s a bum” stuff is nonsense.
The Rays made a couple of good bunts, then hit a chopper. You could have peak Bill Mazeroski playing second base there and there wasn’t going to be a double play there. Just a tough bounce.
Similarly, should Rosario have played Simpson’s bunt better? Sure, but come on, he wasn’t getting Simpson either way. Dude’s the fastest guy in the Majors. He was just the worst guy to have up there for the Yankees. Plus, of course, Austin Wells suddenly being unable to throw ANYone out is a problem, too, so Simpson reaching meant that he was automatically taking second. And Taylor Walls can actually bunt, unlike the Yankee shitty hitters.
While that inning was painful, the game really came down to the fact that, once again, the Yankees hitters didn’t hit. This shouldn’t have made it to extras. Also, for maybe ONCE, Boone could try using Goldschmidt in one of these close games late. Please, Boone, all I’m asking is to not get to the end of a close game without letting Goldy hit over Grichuk or Wells or whoever. What is even the POINT of having a guy like Goldschmidt on your bench if you’re not going to ever fucking USE him off of the bench? I assure you, if Goldy came up in the ninth inning and made an out, I would have said, “Oh well, you tried your best shot.” I’m not going to knock you, Boone, for doing the right thing.
For instance, the clear call was to stick with Max Fried in the 8th inning of this game. Some people were all, “If the Yankees had better relievers, Fried wouldn’t have pitched the 8th.” What are you fucking TALKING about? Fried was CLEARLY the right call. His pitch count was totally fine. He just fucking choked. What are you gonna do? Sometimes your best pitcher fucking chokes. Shit happens.
I have to assume that this offense will eventually figure shit out, but until they do, they’re going to keep losing these pathetic one-run games (0-5 in one-run games so far this season).
At least they’re going to get an easy game on Sund…oh fuck, it’s Drew Rasmussen. Well, at least they’ll still be over .500 heading home!
About the Author
