To put it simply, the Yankees are struggling right now. They could use some help prior to the trade deadline. However, it seems like the level of help New York brings in is undetermined because the organization wants to stay below the Steve Cohen Tax line. Meanwhile, manager Aaron Boone is trying to find silver linings wherever he can.
It’s not working that well, though.
The Yankees played the Orioles in a rubber-game matchup on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball at Camden Yards. It was over pretty much right after it started. Luis Severino’s struggles continued, as he allowed nine runs on 10 hits in 3.1 innings of work. Seven of those runs came in the first inning.
Outfielder Aaron Judge got the day off, and the offense didn’t do much without him in the lineup. They mustered three runs on nine hits while striking out 18 (!) times. But if you ask Boone about how the offense performed, he thought there were some actual bright spots. Seriously:
Aaron Boone on the offense: "Outside of the strikeouts, I thought at-bats were building off of last night. I thought we grinded out really well. We made it really tough on Kremer. We couldn't finish off."
The #Yankees struck out 18 times. There are 27 outs in a regulation game.
— Gary Phillips (@GaryHPhillips) July 31, 2023
Wow. I know you have to stand behind your players, but it’s OK to say they got their butts whooped. That’s what everyone is thinking — both inside and outside of the clubhouse.
Does he have a point, though? Yea, a little bit — they knocked out Kremer after just four innings. And since baseball it’s so much failure, you have to stay focused on the process because that will eventually lead to results (you hope).
But still, we need Boone to slam a table like he did during New York’s 2022 second-half struggles. Or, they should bring in former Mets manager Terry Collins for a pregame tongue-lashing. It probably won’t help much overall. I mean, these guys are professional baseball players. They’re trying and are just as frustrated as anyone else regarding the results. But something like that sure would make the fan base feel a little better, right?
You can reach Matt Musico at matt.musico@xlmedia.com. You can follow him on Twitter: @mmusico8.
