Giancarlo Stanton, in midseason form, blasted a 118.6 mph line drive to left that skipped past outfielder Cal Mitchell to score two Yankees runs.
Giancarlo StantonUSA TODAY Sports
No sign of relief
Relievers Jimmy Cordero, Wandy Peralta, Albert Abreu and Demarcus Evans combined to allow nine runs in 2 ²/₃ innings.
Peralta faced three batters, allowed a home run to Drew Maggi and did not record an out.
Caught my eye
In the sixth inning, former Yankee Miguel Andujar drove a ball to center, and Oswaldo Cabrera — trying to prove he can be a center fielder, too — initially broke in.
He then reversed and sprinted back, the ball falling just out of reach for a double.
Friday’s schedule
Domingo German is expected to get the start, and Isiah Kiner-Falefa will play center field at 1:05 p.m. in Lakeland, Fla., against the Tigers.
HOUSTON — The Bronx Bombers didn’t live up to their name, and that includes the newly christened Bronxville Bomber, Harrison Bader himself. For the first time in 24 postseason games, the Yankees didn’t hit a home run, which is a likely recipe for defeat in Houston’s house of horrors.
They don’t love Minute Maid Park under normal conditions — and they missed their main weapon in Game 2 of the ALCS. Their mojo is in their muscles.
The Yankees without a home run are Christmas without Santa Claus.
Like the Patriots without Tom Brady.
Like nails without a hammer.
They are incomplete, at best. And very likely lost.
The Yankees haven’t won here all season, and it’s hard to imagine them doing it without hitting even one measly home run. They came close when certain AL MVP Aaron Judge hit one to the wall in the eighth inning. But close is all they ever seem to do against these annoying Astros, who went up two games to none in this ALCS with the 3-2 victory Thursday night.
Let’s face it. While the Yankees posted the second-highest run total in the majors this season, they are heavily dependent on the long ball. If they don’t have it, they may not have much. The Yankees were a rare major league team to score more than half their runs on homers — it was 50.8 percent of their runs to be exact — and if they don’t go deep, they may be in deep.
Aaron Judge’s long drive was caught by Kyle Tucker at the wall in the eighth inning of the Yankees’ 3-2 ALCS Game 2 loss to the Astros.Getty Images; USA TODAY Sports
Perhaps things will get better when they get back to Yankee Stadium, where they are a different team. They also won’t have to face all-time great Justin Verlander or All-Star Framber Valdez in either of the next two games.
To be fair, this was as tough a draw as possible. Houston had its pitching set up the way it wanted. Verlander is one of the greatest pitchers ever and he was having one of his better games in the ALCS opener. The Astros have about a 2.00 ERA for these playoffs, they are the only team yet to lose and they look like prohibitive favorites to run the table.
In an effort to jump-start things, manager Aaron Boone is making changes almost daily. Part of it is about the injuries, the locale and left versus right considerations. But there are enough alterations that it smacks partly of desperation.
Josh Donaldson walks to the dugout after striking out in the fourth inning of the Yankees’ Game 2 loss.N.Y. Post: Charles Wenzelberg
Boone promoted Bronxville’s own Bader, the sudden slugging star, into the leadoff spot for Game 2, and Bader acted surprised about the move on the pregame show when Lauren Shehadi of TBS asked him about the switch. Either he didn’t know, or he’s as fine an actor as he is a hitter.
While Bader contributed one of four Yankees hits and a walk, it didn’t quite do the trick. The Yankees had three singles and a double total against Valdez and a couple Astros relievers. The offensive highlight was a 50-foot grounder by Giancarlo Stanton that Valdez turned into a mess.
Judge had one of the other hits, but it was also a single, which started the two-run fourth inning that accounted for all the offense. Stanton, one of the better postseason performers in recent seasons, then hit the fairly soft grounder back to Valdez that sufficed as the Yankees’ best moment of the night.
Kyle HIgashioka heads back to the dugout after striking out in the seventh inning of the Yankees’ loss. N.Y. Post: Charles Wenzelberg
Although Stanton appears to be playing at about three-quarters speed, presumably the result of one of many foot injuries that have ailed the Yankees, Valdez panicked, turning a certain out (and maybe two) into a second-and-third situation. Anthony Rizzo followed with a run-scoring groundout and Gleyber Torres with a run-scoring ground single through the left side.
Unfortunately, that rally was all there was to write home about from an offensive standpoint. The good thing is they get to go home now, where they actually won a couple games against the Astros this season. They are now 0-5 here.
To win this series, of course, not only will the Yankees have to turn things around at home, they will eventually have to win at Minute Maid Park, where homers are indeed possible, especially into the Crawford Boxes in left field. Astros star Alex Bregman deposited the three-run shot there that became the defining moment of the game.
In the middle of the Yankees offensive ineptitude, Astros fans began chanting, “Yankees s—,” as if they were impersonating the Fenway faithful. There seems to be some surprising anger here at the team that keeps losing to their boys. If anything, you’d think they’d show some gratitude.
The Yankees continue to strike out a lot, too. After whiffing 17 times in Game 1, they fanned 13 more times. The team that eliminated the Yankees in 2015, 2017 and 2019 is threatening to do it again. The Yankees better start remembering who they are. Saturday back at the Stadium is the place to start.
Unless he acquired ESP from his days working at ESPN, Boone simply cannot be right on every personnel choice he faces for the playoffs. And the Yankees manager faces a remarkable number of questions about who plays where and when considering he is in charge of a 99-win division champ.
He will stick with his mantra that these are good problems to have because the choices involve talented players. Let’s see if he is still saying that in a week when every 20/20 hindsight champion with anger and a social media account is calling him a puppet of Brian Cashman’s analytics group or demanding his dismissal.
Short of the Yankees going 11-0 en route to their first championship since 2009, Boone should expect a hellish ride full of first- and second-guessing and perhaps players grumbling because they are not playing when they thought they would. Anthony Rizzo will play first base, and Aaron Judge will start, of course. But beyond that, there are going to be debates about how the Yankees roster is deployed. So let’s expand 3Up to take a look at Boone’s puzzle:
1. Who is closing?
Being able to pencil Aaron Judge’s name into the lineup every day is a good place for the Yankees to start in the playoffs.JASON SZENES FOR THE NEW YORK PO
This also easily can be expressed as: Who is setting up? Or even: Who are the Yankees including in their bullpen?
Using the “wrong” reliever on May 10 tends to send Yankees fans into the kind of fury that should be reserved for surgical mistakes. So if Boone, say, brings in Lou Trivino in the sixth inning of a playoff game and the righty gives up the lead, he should expect questions about why he didn’t use Jonathan Loaisiga, Scott Effross or Goose Gossage — as well as questions about why he hasn’t yet handed in his resignation.
The problem is the Yankees don’t have someone like Gossage or Mariano Rivera to anchor the ninth and make this about the baton pass from starter to closer. Aroldis Chapman lost control, confidence and his job. Clay Holmes went from an All-Star to the Pitts (if you get it, tell a friend). Holmes and Wandy Peralta finished the season on the injured list, but the Yankees believe both will be active for Game 1 of the Division Series on Tuesday.
But play it out. If the Yankees are leading the Rays 4-3 in Game 1 and the starter (we will get to that subject in a few paragraphs) is finished after six innings, what is the path to the finish line? Is Boone really going to strategize how to get the ball in the ninth inning to Holmes, who hasn’t pitched since Sept. 26 and hasn’t been trustworthy since the first week in July?
The relievers throwing the best down the stretch were Effross, Loaisiga and Trivino. The Yankees believe in Peralta’s fortitude, but he hasn’t pitched in a game since Sept. 18. Will Domingo German and/or Clarke Schmidt be given responsibility?
And what of Chapman?
Can Aroldis Chapman, who recorded a 4.48 ERA and walked 6.9 batter per nine innings, be relied upon in the postseason?Charles Wenzelberg / New York Po
Two weeks ago, the Yankees were contemplating whether his roster spot would be better used in another way. But injuries to Zack Britton and Ron Marinaccio took them off the chessboard, at least for the first round. That assured Chapman would keep his roster spot through the regular season, and it might also now get him on the postseason roster.
And now a historical aside: In 1996, Graeme Lloyd had a 17.47 ERA for the Yankees during the regular season. Damaso Marte had a 9.45 mark in 2009. Neither was a certainty to make the postseason roster. But both did because they were lefties with stuff. And the Yankees might not win the championship either year without them; they were brilliant in the playoffs.
On the basis of his pure stuff, do the Yanks throw a dart and hope that Chapman has a Lloyd/Marte moment or three in the playoffs? It is hard to forget he has given up two of the most devastating homers in Yankees postseason history and just how erratic he was this year. He is going to be a tough choice either way.
My suspicion is Boone will use the Yankees bullpen much like Kevin Cash deployed the Rays relief group in getting to the World Series in 2020. Nick Anderson, Diego Castillo and Pete Fairbanks each appeared in postseason games as early as the fifth inning and also had saves. They were used interchangeably as the main high-leverage guys — with Aaron Loup and Ryan Thomson as the other relievers in Cash’s circle of trust.
I think Boone uses Holmes, Effross, Loaisiga, Peralta and Trivino interchangeably as his circle-of-trust relievers; German, Schmidt and Lucas Luetge are around for length and emergencies; and Chapman is a break-glass-if-needed wild card.
2. Who starts Game 1?
A few weeks back on “The Show with Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman” podcast, Boone said it would be Gerrit Cole. But he hedged late in the season. The question really should be: Who do you want starting a win-or-go-home Game 4 or Game 5 if it gets there? Because whoever starts Game 1 would have full rest for Game 4 and one extra day rest for Game 5.
Nestor Cortes may not get the traditional honor of starting Game 1 in the ALDS, but he may be given the responsibility of getting the Yankees out of a winner-take-all Game 5.Charles Wenzelberg / New York Po
So if the season were on the line, do the Yankees want Cole or Nestor Cortes starting? Or do they want Luis Severino, who looked so great with seven no-hit innings in his last start in Texas?
Jameson Taillon would be lined up to start a Game 4, if necessary, if the Yankees lead the series, 2-1. If the Yankees trail 2-1, I would suspect the Game 1 starter would go in Game 4. That would leave Taillon to start Game 5 with the Game 2 starter perhaps available for a few innings of relief.
I think the Yankees should start Cortes in the opener. I believe Boone will go with Cole.
3. Who plays second base?
DJ LeMahieu came back from his toe injury to produce four singles in 16 at-bats over five games with two walks, one strikeout, lots of groundballs and no signs of his best results. Meanwhile, in his final 17 games, Gleyber Torres hit .391 with 11 extra-base hits, including five homers. His defense at this moment also is better than LeMahieu’s.
Case closed, right?
Well, I do think Torres will start Game 1, but what I cannot shake is how much Boone admires LeMahieu. He knows that LeMahieu, when right, can hit top-end playoff pitching and will never be intimidated by a big spot. But is LeMahieu even close to right?
If he is, well, stick with me.
4. Who plays third base?
Josh Donaldson’s 27.1 percent strikeout rate this season doesn’t bode well for the postseason.Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post
That will probably be Josh Donaldson, right? His defense has been strong all season, and maybe he will run into a pitch or two in the postseason. But Donaldson ended his season 0-for-15 with some shaky defense. In his last 14 games, he had two doubles, no homers, a .222 average and stuck out in 20 of 61 plate appearances.
Do the Yankees believe Donaldson will hit good postseason pitching? He spent a lot of 2022 guessing and overmatched.
Is LeMahieu an option to start at third? When fully healthy this year, LeMahieu played better defense at the position than was anticipated.
Again, which version of LeMahieu is available to the Yankees?
5. What’s the outfield?
This question might be made simple. If Andrew Benintendi (hamate)cannot make it back in time for the playoffs, the Yankees will line up with Oswaldo Cabrera in left field, Harrison Bader in center and Aaron Judge in right. But what if Benintendi is deemed ready? I’m still not sure he starts.
The Yankees have loved the extra defensive boost Bader has provided in center and the overall boost Cabrera has supplied. The Yankees won a championship in 1998 with rookies Ricky Ledee and Shane Spencer sharing left field. It has only been 44 games for Cabrera, but based on those 44 games, I would ask: Is Benintendi even an upgrade? Maybe. The rookie has not flinched yet and has shown a high baseball IQ. Will that continue into the playoffs?
In 14 games with the Yankees, Harrison Bader has provided the type of elite defense the team hopes will make a difference this month.Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post
Here is one to think about: If Benintendi does come back, can the Yankees line up Benintendi in left, Judge in center and Cabrera in right with Bader available to come in late for defense? If he does come in late for defense, he goes to center, Judge to right and who would you play in left: Benintendi or Cabrera?
6. Who plays shortstop?
Isiah Kiner-Falefa, right? Yes. Definitely.
But if an important ground ball is hit to short late in a close playoff game, would you rather have Kiner-Falefa stationed there or Oswald Peraza? You might ask the same thing even about which of those two you would want taking a big late at-bat.
The major league sample size for Peraza is far smaller even than for Cabrera. But have you seen enough to at least ask whether he Peraza a better option than Kiner-Falefa?
7. Who is the catcher?
This has been so much easier the past few years when Gary Sanchez was just losing his job about this time of the season.
The Yankees have gotten so much all season in performance, especially on defense, and spiritually from Jose Trevino. But Kyle Higashioka hit .339 with three homers in September, and also is a strong defender.
Jose Trevino’s excellent defense makes him the likely first-choice catcher for the Yankees in the playoffs.Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post
My guess is Trevino starts Game 1, but there could be starts for Higashioka as well. More importantly, the trust in Higashioka will lead to more aggressive pinch-hitting for Trevino.
8. Who is the DH?
Giancarlo Stanton. That’s who it is going to be. His postseason history alone (nine homers in 18 games) is going to give him the nod. And his homers in each of his last three regular-season starts suggest maybe he is just about to get hot.
But there sure were a lot of long stretches of bad at-bats this year. Is Matt Carpenter really going to be back? He hasn’t played since Aug. 8. Who knows if he can recapture what he had before fracturing his left foot, when for 154 impressive plate appearances, he was the Yankees’ toughest at-bat not named Judge. He hit lefties and righties. He hit good pitching. He hit in the clutch. He hit with two strikes.
If he is back and capable, he becomes the No. 1 pinch-hitting option for someone such as Trevino — and maybe even for Donaldson and Bader in certain spots.
9. Who is on the roster?
The roster goes back to 26 for the postseason. There can be no more than 13 pitchers.
My guess is 12 pitchers: Cole, Cortes, Severino, Taillon, Holmes, Effross, Loaisiga, Peralta, Trivino, German, Schmidt and Chapman.
With two off days, I think there is no need for more, though remember in the playoffs there is no automatic runner to second base in extra innings. A game will have a chance of going much longer.
Though only 23, Oswaldo Cabrera has displayed a veteran savvy no matter where the Yankees play him in the field.JASON SZENES
Chapman is the only lefty reliever. Could they also take Lucas Luetge rather than a long guy such as German or Schmidt? Would they take Luetge instead of Chapman? Is Miguel Castro in play?
They could always take 13. But that would hinder some offensive maneuverability.
The worry on Chapman is this: If he goes in Game 1 and can’t find the strike zone and has to be yanked quickly, effectively removing him as an option the rest of the way, the Yankees would be down to 11 pitchers. For that reason, do they take Castro? My gut is still Chapman.
That leaves 14 slots for position players. I think there are 11 locks: Trevino, Higashioka, Rizzo, Torres, Kiner-Falefa, LeMahieu, Donaldson, Stanton, Judge, Bader and Cabrera.
That would leave two spots from among Peraza, Marwin Gonzalez, Aaron Hicks and Tim Locastro. Though he surprisingly lasted the whole season, Gonzalez becomes an easy removal here. Cabrera offers Gonzalez’s switch-hitting and defensive versatility. Carpenter and LeMahieu can be the lefty and righty bats off the bench. Cabrera can be the backup shortstop. But maybe Peraza is the backup shortstop. If the Yankees believe Peraza offers a comparable base-stealing threat to Locastro, this would be an easy choice. I think that is hard to definitively believe so early in Peraza’s career.
Because of that, I think Peraza doesn’t make it, and they end up going with Hicks and Locastro.. But it will be a close call.
MILWAUKEE — Catcher Jose Trevino left the Yankees’ 7-6 loss to the Brewers in the seventh inning Friday night with a right knee contusion after he took a foul ball off his right knee in the bottom of the fifth.
Trevino initially remained in the game and caught the sixth before Kyle Higashioka came up to pinch hit for him leading off the top of the seventh.
“He was compromised,’’ manager Aaron Boone said of Trevino.
Marwin Gonzalez also was removed to start the bottom of the sixth with dizziness, Boone said.
Gonzalez started the game at first base and when he came out, Oswaldo Cabrera moved from right field to first, making his first appearance at the position in his professional career.
“That’s a tough spot, but he’s got that makeup that he’s gonna handle himself,’’ Boone said. “Not ideal, but that’s where we are right now from an injury standpoint.”
Jose TrevinoAP
Harrison Bader could make his Yankees debut soon, manager Aaron Boone said, adding the center fielder could be in The Bronx as Tuesday after rehabbing from the plantar fasciitis that has sidelined him since before he was acquired from St. Louis in exchange for Jordan Montgomery.
Boone made it clear prior to the game what Bader’s role will be: “Center fielder.”
“He’s a premium, maybe the best, defensive outfielder in the league,’’ Boone said. “I think we’re adding a significant player to our lineup.”
Bader was off Friday and scheduled to play minor league rehab games Saturday and Sunday. If he and the Yankees decide he’s ready, the Bronxville native will be with the Yankees when they open their homestand against the Pirates.
The right-handed hitting Bader has had a rough season at the plate, with a .673 OPS in 264 plate appearances for the Cardinals, but he has swung the bat well during his rehab assignment.
He was acquired, though, for his defense and speed.
Harrison BaderN.Y. Post: Charles Wenzelberg
Bader will give the Yankees some much-needed outfield depth, as Aaron Judge has been forced into playing center, with the slumping Aaron Hicks in left and Cabrera in right.
Boone didn’t rule out the possibility of moving Cabrera to left when Bader is in the lineup in center, with Judge back in right.
Giancarlo Stanton is not an option in the outfield and won’t be for the foreseeable future, as he returns from the injury suffered when he fouled a ball off his foot.
Boone said Stanton’s return to the outfield was “on pause,” but didn’t rule it out down the road, pointing to the fact he stayed healthy last year while playing some outfield.
Luis Severino is scheduled to rejoin the rotation on Wednesday after another solid rehab outing with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Thursday. Boone said the right-hander, sidelined since mid-July with a strained lat, isn’t completely built up, but he expects Severino to have an immediate impact.
“It’s Luis Severino,’’ Boone said. “He’s Severino. He’s having an excellent year for us and can match up with a lot of really good pitchers.”
Anthony Rizzo took batting practice against rehabbing Scott Effross and continues to feel good in his return from lower back tightness and headaches following an epidural.
Boone said there’s a “chance” Rizzo will be in the lineup Sunday against the Brewers and he believes the time off will have served the first baseman well.
“What’s exciting is that he was grinding with the back even before he went on the IL,’’ Boone said. “That’s he’s feeling good is encouraging. It allows him to impact us.”
Oswald Peraza entered Friday having not played in a week, with Isiah Kiner-Falefa performing well, though he made a big error in the eighth inning of the Yankees’ loss. Boone said Peraza might be at shortstop on Saturday.
Jasson Dominguez was among the Yankees prospects selected to play in the Arizona Fall League following the season.
The Yankees have seen the future and it is the opposing manager giving them the finger. Four of them. Any time that Aaron Judge has a plate appearance in a meaningful spot.
The next manager who allows Judge to beat his team short of it being a tie or one-run lead with the bases loaded in the final inning should be fired on the spot. Because the rest of the Yankees lineup is hit deficient.
Imagine a high school play with Meryl Streep showing up as the lead and students filling the rest of the cast. That is the Yankees batting order these days. Judge and the Pips — and apologies to the Pips.
That the Yankees swept a doubleheader Wednesday came down to this word — Twins. They just find a way to lose to the Yankees or the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders or whoever exactly that was who took two games on Wednesday to give Minnesota 108 losses in its last 147 games against the Yankees.
Three times from the seventh inning on over the two games, Twins manager Rocco Baldelli put up four fingers to walk Judge. And the Yanks failed to score all three times. Judge now has 14 intentional walks on the season, tied with Pete Alonso for the most in the majors. When asked if he expects this treatment to continue, Aaron Boone said, “Absolutely.”
Aaron Judge, who will be walked more often going forward, homered in Game 1 for the Yankees.Robert Sabo
That reflects injury and ineptitude that has left the Yankees’ attack trapped between helpless and hopeless — with a touch of hapless thrown in. Judge is having one of the great offensive seasons ever surrounded for about a month now by less protection than an umbrella in a monsoon.
Gleyber Torres, who hit third behind Judge in both games of the doubleheader, mainly had good at-bats, which included a two-run homer in the opener. But that is not enough to scare teams into pitching to Judge. Isaiah Kiner-Falefa also had good at-bats through 21 innings. He had the tying single in the 12th inning of what would be a 5-4 Yankee win in the opener. He hit a grand slam as the big blow of a 7-1 nightcap triumph blown open on Aaron Hicks’ thee-run double with two outs in the eighth.
This is the state of the Yankees these days: Oswaldo Cabrera was 0-for-20 to begin the day and hit leadoff in the opener. He ended an 0-for-25 malaise with a walk-off single in the opener, so with a .188 average, no homers and four RBIs he hit cleanup in the nightcap.
The cleanup hitter in the opener was Ronald Guzman, called up earlier in the day. He struck out his first four times then hit into a first-to-home-to-first double play with the bases loaded and no outs in the 11th (that included Judge on via intentional walk).
DJ LeMahieu (toe) and Giancarlo Stanton (foot) were not available to pinch hit, Boone said. The manager added that LeMahieu is a candidate to join an injured list that already has Andrew Benintendi, Matt Carpenter and Anthony Rizzo. Josh Donaldson was gone on paternity leave. So Judge was amid a lineup that needed name tags.
The Yankees nevertheless have won four straight (three over Minnesota). They are 9-6 in their last 15 games. In the first eight wins in that period, Judge drove in a run in each game. He homered in seven straight wins, including hitting his 55th of the season in Wednesday’s opener before drawing three walks in the nightcap. Without him, the Yankees might be, say, 2-13 or 3-12 in this stretch and hugging infamy. Instead, they still lead the Rays by five games in the AL East.
Yankees shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa (12) hits a grand slam home run during the fourth inning.Robert Sabo
Their run prevention has remained outstanding. The Yankees used the best of their bullpen to survive Game 1 and their regeneration of Clay Holmes and Jonathan Loaisiga has been instrumental. Gerrit Cole then aced the nightcap by throwing his second-most pitches ever (118) and striking out his second most as a Yankee (14) to hold Minnesota to one run over 6 ²/₃ innings.
It will have to continue this way until the Yankees get healthy and/or more than Judge hits consistently. Because opponents are going to be very intentional in how they treat Judge and the Yankees the rest of the way. Can anyone else left in this shredded Yankees lineup make that a regrettable decision?
The Yankees were rained out Tuesday, losing a likely win against their favorite opponent, the Twins, and that was about the best of the news coming out of Yankeeland.
The way things are going, for the first time the division looks to be in serious jeopardy. The Blue Jays are finally waking up, the Rays are always better than you and I think, and the Yankees, well, they are mostly licking wounds now.
Rizzo, who beat cancer in his youth and plays through all sorts of pain, joins many of the rest of the starting lineup in sick bay. If you are scoring at home, for the starting position players alone, there are four with foot injuries, which must be a record, plus one each with a hand and a head.
In Aaron Boone’s question-and-answer session Tuesday, nearly all the queries were about various aches and pains. Halfway through, even Boone looked a little depressed. Or less upbeat than usual, anyway.
“I think there are some hopeful signs for a number of the guys,” Boone said, hopefully.
For now though, they are a mess. The lineup consists of certain AL MVP Aaron Judge plus a couple of outstanding defensive players, struggling veterans and the injury replacements. Speaking of which, journeyman first baseman Ronald Guzman appeared in the clubhouse, up from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, which was the first clear sign Rizzo will miss further time.
Aaron Boone’s Yankees are banged up. (Top to bottom): Anthony Rizzo, DJ LeMahieu and Giancarlo Stanton are battling different health issues.AP (2); Getty Images; N.Y. Post: Michelle Farsi
At some point you’d think Judge might get tired of carrying the club, but he seems to march on. The Yankees are 7-6 in their last 13, and Judge has an RBI in all seven wins, and a homer in six. Until Marwin Gonzalez broke a 0-for-29 slide and homered Monday, no one other than Judge had scored this month. So Judge is scoring most of their runs, and knocking them in, too. The question next to be answered: Can one man win a pennant single-handedly?
It remains a mystery why opposing managers keep pitching to Judge. The only one who was really catching on to what’s going on is Angels manager Phil Nevin. You’d think with all the extra analytics folks teams employ nowadays, an intentional walk would be obvious for Judge at this point. As one of Boone’s previous Yankees coaches until this year, Nevin may have a little extra inside info.
That Judge has only been intentionally walked 11 times in 577 plate appearances is an indictment of the league’s managers. Everyone says they are smart, but how smart is pitching to a guy with 54 home runs and leads the league in about that many categories? Of course, now that he is surrounded by replacement-level hitters, it’s hard to imagine they will.
DJ LeMahieu and Giancarlo Stanton were obviously trying to play through pain, as we know what they were doing wasn’t them. Andrew Benintendi had surgery Tuesday to fix the hamate bone in his right wrist. Matt Carpenter, a godsend of the first half, has a broken foot. Both are hoping to be back if the Yankees advance in the playoffs. Unfortunately, that prospect is dimming now.
Andrew Benintendi had surgery to fix the hamate bone in his right wristGetty Images
In the middle of all this pain talk, Boone had to answer a question about Josh Donaldson not hustling and being thrown out turning a sure double into an out (thank you Sweeny Murti for asking the non-injury-related question that needed to be asked). Boone said he didn’t approve and talked to Donaldson but added that he generally isn’t worried about Donaldson because he knows he’s a gamer.
Donaldson appeared to be chuckling after his predicament at second, and that wasn’t a great look either. However, the situation they are in is no joke now.
The Yankees, once overpowering their opponents, are averaging less than three runs a game over their last 29 games. During a time when their pitching has been quite good, especially their starting pitching, they are 20-31 in their last 51.
They have a chance to feel a bit better with the doubleheader scheduled for Wednesday against the Twins, as they beat Minnesota in their sleep. They are 112-39 against the Twins since 2002.
But, if opposing managers start walking Judge, you wonder where the runs are going to come from. Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Jose Trevino are mostly defensive specialists (Trevino should win the Gold Glove, and he’s actually hit much better than expected), Donaldson and Aaron Hicks are hitting well below career norms, Gleyber Torres is in a hellacious slump and Oswaldo Cabrera, for all his defensive versatility and press clippings, is hitting .190.
The injuries have decimated the Yankees to the point where the division is in real jeopardy after they looked historically good early. Fangraphs still gives the Yankees an 85 percent chance to win the AL East. Nobody from that site must have sat in on Tuesday’s interview session. Or seen any of their recent games.
A second straight Yankees win Monday did not come without another injury concern.
Giancarlo Stanton fouled multiple balls off his foot and ankle in the sixth inning of a 5-2 win over the Twins, and while he stayed in the game to finish the at-bat, Aaron Hicks pinch hit for him in the eighth inning.
X-rays were negative, according to Aaron Boone, but the manager was noncommittal about Stanton being back in the lineup Tuesday.
“We’ll just see what we got,” Boone said.
Boone and a trainer paid a visit to Stanton during the sixth-inning at-bat after he fouled another ball out of play and came up hobbling. He remained in the game and grounded out.
Yankees designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton (27) is checked on by manager Aaron Boone (17) and a trainer.Bill Kostroun/New York Post
“I think it was when he was planting, it was just bothering him,” Boone said. “But nothing more.”
Stanton is less than two weeks removed from missing 28 games with left Achilles tendinitis, but Boone said Monday’s issues had nothing to do with that.
Before exiting the game, Stanton went 0-for-3 with three groundouts. The first two were missiles at 104.3 mph and 108.9 mph, but hit right at infielders.
“For being as powerful as he is, he is a guy that hits the ball on the ground and on a line a lot,” Boone said. “Even when he’s come back, so far a lot of his — he’s probably hit about eight to 10 balls, rockets on the ground. Some for hits, two today right at guys. So he’s been a little unlucky in that way.
“He tends to, because of how his swing is, be a little more line drive, a lot more one-hopper ground balls and things like that. It has been a little bit that way since coming back, but I think it’s more for G just finding that really good timing.”
Despite Stanton’s slow start back, the Yankees could ill afford him missing more time, especially with Anthony Rizzo (back) and DJ LeMahieu (toe) already beat up and Andrew Benintendi (broken hamate) set for surgery on Tuesday.
At this point, you don’t even need to hear the words or listen to the explanations — and what are they going to say, anyway? How are the Yankees going to describe what has happened to this season that was such a dream-cast just 15 minutes ago? How do you explain the inexplicable?
No. All you need to do is look at the eyes. Look at the faces. Look at the Yankees in the dugout these days, looking tortured, looking troubled, looking utterly bewitched and bewildered by what’s happening to them. They lost again Saturday night to Tampa Bay, 2-1. Their lead in the AL East is down to four games. It’s three in the loss column.
It is no longer an abstract notion that the Yankees could collapse.
They are collapsing. Their eyes tell you that much. Their body language tells you that much. And if any of the Yankees were given truth serum, maybe what they’d do is channel an old Red Sox shortstop named Rick (Rooster) Burleson who, after the fourth game of the Boston Massacre 44 years ago, shook his head and gave one of the most honest quotes in the history of quotes.
“Every day,” Burleson said, “you sit in front of your locker and ask God, ‘What the hell is going on?’ ”
What the hell is going on?
Hell, that’s what’s going on. Baseball hell. The Yankees are in such a collective hitting funk it actually felt like a positive consolation prize when Aaron Judge slammed a home run — No. 52 — in the ninth inning Saturday, snapping a 21-inning scoring drought for the Yankees.
Aaron Judge and Aaron BooneAP; Getty Images
The Yankees are living under such a dark cloud that it didn’t matter a bit that the Rays tried their best to hand them a freebie, making a couple of awful errors early, running themselves out of what should’ve been a seventh inning rife with insurance runs. Didn’t matter. Doesn’t matter. The Yankees are in such a bad place they aren’t even accepting gifts.
None of this makes sense. Not a bit of it. The Yankees are still the better team on paper in just about every game they play. But they are also showing a skin that’s paper-thin. A five-game winning streak from Aug. 21-26 that seemed to have halted all the negative mojo feels like it happened months ago.
And every day, they sit in the dugout, sit in front of their lockers, and bear a look that distinctly asks: “What the hell is going on?”
Or, as manager Aaron Boone said: “If we don’t dig ourselves out, you’ll have a great story.”
Yankees starter Clarke Schmidt allowed just two runs, but still suffered the loss.USA TODAY Sports
Great, of course, is in the eye of the beholder. The Yankees don’t want any part of that story. Yankees fans want no part of that story. Yet every day is a fresh chapter. Every day is a case study in a team trapped in its own head. Every game is a thesis in just how easy it is to lose baseball games once you hit the slippery slope.
“There has to be some level of relaxing a little bit,” Boone said. “Walking that fine line in a failing game. We’ve got to be tough-minded right now.”
Boone speaks of winning small victories now, of winning at-bats, of working counts, of stacking quality at-bats. It is sound strategy, sure, one that sounds perfectly reasonable in the quiet of a postgame manager’s office. And one that can sometimes be difficult to translate in a game
Right now, it feels as if the Yankees are trying to translate the Dead Sea Scrolls.
“We’re not where we want to be,” Giancarlo Stanton said, “but we still have a fine opportunity.”
Said Boone: “It’s right there. We have the same conversation every day. We’ve got to find a way, we’ve got to score. We’ve got thing right here to grab and take and we’re still in control of that.”
Through much of August, that’s what sustained the Yankees: As bad as they were playing, they’d built such a cushion that they should be able to right themselves and not have to spend one moment sweating. But they are sure sweating now.
They sure look perplexed in the dugout, and in the postgame clubhouse, trying to explain away one loss after another, trying to make sense of how 15 ½ games became four. No need to ask if the Yankees can collapse. They are collapsing. There are still 29 games to go, still plenty of time to right the ship.
Three wins can’t fully erase a rough monthlong slide, but perhaps they can send the Yankees on their way out of it.
For the first time in a while, the Yankees were feeling good about themselves Tuesday night after they finished off a two-game sweep of the Mets. That series victory followed a win Sunday over the Blue Jays, and gave the Yankees a three-game winning streak for the first time since July 28-30.
The Yankees’ mojo had largely gone missing during a 9-20 stretch coming out of the All-Star break (at which point they were still playing at a 113-win pace), especially during the more recent 2-9 skid in which their offense went ice cold. But they looked like a team that was starting to rediscover it over their last three games.
Giancarlo Stanton is expected to return to the Yankees’ lineup against the A’s. N.Y. Post/Charles Wenzelberg
Now, they will have a chance to reinforce that winning feeling — and to get Giancarlo Stanton back from the injured list to help — when they open a four-game series against the last-place Athletics on Thursday in Oakland, Calif., before visiting the struggling Angels next week.
“I think it’s tough to have a little bit of swagger when you keep losing games and dropping series and not playing your brand of baseball,” Aaron Judge said late Tuesday night before the Yankees flew west. “But I think the swagger’s always been there. I think it just took a little reminder of who we are and what type of baseball we play and going back to doing the basics. We got it back.”
Of course, it helps that Judge has returned to MVP form. After he went through a small rut while the rest of the lineup was also struggling, Judge crushed a home run in each of the two wins over the Mets.
“The dude is pretty much the best hitter right now,” Frankie Montas said after turning in his best start as a Yankee on Tuesday night.
In addition to Judge’s resurgence and signs that Montas is settling in, the Yankees have recently displayed other reasons to believe that they might just be emerging from their funk.
They played two mostly crisp games against the Mets, with their strong defense flashing once again — especially on a pair of double plays between Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Gleyber Torres on Tuesday night. There was a dropped pop-up between Oswaldo Cabrera and Marwin Gonzalez in right field on Monday and Torres (unsuccessfully) racing Jeff McNeil to second base while allowing Pete Alonso to score from third on Tuesday, but manager Aaron Boone attributed both to the amped-up crowd noise.
Timely hits from Andrew Benintendi also played a key role in all three wins. After a cold start in pinstripes, he is batting .310 with nine extra-base hits and a .892 OPS over his last 16 games.
“He’s been big-time,” Judge said. “I told him, ‘Hey, keep leading us. Keep being a guy that can come up in big spots.’ ”
Then there is Cabrera, whose arrival has also given the Yankees a boost. The versatile rookie seemingly has made his presence felt in at least one way every game.
There are still a few areas that offer cause for concern, though, leading with the bullpen. While some unlikely arms helped close out three straight 4-2 wins, the relief corps remains unsettled, with a mix of inconsistency and injuries popping up of late.
And in the lineup, not everyone is out of their slumps just yet. Josh Donaldson is still batting 6-for-44 (.136) with 17 strikeouts and a .445 OPS over his last 12 games, though his walk-off grand slam on Aug. 17 against the Rays certainly helped.
But the Yankees still came out of a tough nine-game homestand looking much better than when they started it.
“I think the most important thing is we learned from it,” Judge said. “We learned about what not to do. That if we don’t do the little things, we don’t make the little plays and prepare the right way, teams are going to come after us. I think it comes back to learn from those mistakes, learn from those series and time to move on to the next one.”
Giancarlo Stanton’s much-needed return to the Yankees’ lineup is coming into focus.
After going through another pregame workout on Friday, Stanton was expected to begin a rehab assignment on Saturday with Double-A Somerset in Bowie, Md.
According to manager Aaron Boone, the plan was for Stanton to serve as the designated hitter on Saturday and Sunday, then return to The Bronx to face Luis Severino in a live batting practice session on Tuesday.
Rehabbing Giancarlo Stanton works out before the Yankees’ 4-0 loss to the Blue Jays.Robert Sabo
That would keep Stanton, who has been out since July 24 because of Achilles tendinitis, out of action for the Subway Series on Monday and Tuesday.
But if he continues to respond well to the increased workload, Stanton could be in play to rejoin the Yankees on Thursday, when they begin a 10-game road trip at Oakland.
When Stanton does return to the lineup, which has largely lacked a punch without him, he initially will be used strictly as a DH
“Then keep ramping him up in his pregame work and things like that to get to a point where he’d be an outfield option for us,” Boone said.
Aroldis Chapman walked back-to-back hitters on nine pitches for the second time in three games Friday night in the Yankees’ 4-0 loss to the Blue Jays.
Those ninth-inning walks loaded the bases with one out, though Ron Marinaccio cleaned up the mess by limiting the damage to just a sacrifice fly.
Chapman had appeared to be turning a corner before his last two outings.
“Chappy struggled tonight,” Boone said. “This was a rough one tonight. We gotta get after it with him to get him back in line to how he’s been.”
Aroldis Chapman is pulled by Aaron Boone in the ninth inning of the Yankees’ loss to the Blue Jays.Robert Sabo
Severino will throw another bullpen session Saturday in advance of his live session on Tuesday, his first time facing hitters since hitting the injured list with a low-grade lat strain.
Though Severino is not eligible to be activated off the 60-day IL until Sept. 12, he is encouraged by how he has felt in his bullpen sessions and said he believes he could get big league hitters out right now.
“I don’t feel like I’m coming from any major injury,” he said. “My arm feels pretty good.”
Oswaldo Cabrera played his third different position in his third MLB game on Friday, starting in right field, a position he added to his repertoire earlier this year.
He played third base and shortstop in his first two games with the Yankees after being called up on Wednesday.
“I think one of his strengths as a player is just his maturity and his clock and way about him,” Boone said. “He’s turning himself into a really good player and I think he’s going to be a good player in this league for a long time.
“But the intangible things are really special with him.”
Clarke Schmidt helped the Yankees out of the bullpen earlier this year, but he is currently continuing to build up as the Yankees’ best starting pitching depth (which is thin) at Triple-A.
“Anytime that need comes up [in the bullpen], that’s always potentially in play,” Boone said. “But getting those starts and having that option there is important. But obviously we know he can impact us in the pen. So we’ll continue to talk through that, explore that, see what makes the most sense for us moving forward.”
Albert Abreu has struggled of late in the Yankees’ bullpen — with a 5.91 ERA over his last 10 ²/₃ innings — but he does not have any minor league options left.
“I think it comes down to his sinker command and throwing strikes early and building off of it,” pitching coach Matt Blake said.
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