Source: FanGraphs
This game was so stupidly 2014 Yankees. It had everything. No offense? Of course. Worn out bullpen? Indeed. Terrible defense? Naturally. Add it all together and you get a silly 2-1 walk-off loss in eleven innings. I can’t even be mad. I’m impressed at how low they’ve stooped. Let’s recap the team’s tenth loss in the last 14 games:
- Gift Run: The Yankees scored their only run after the umpires missed Ichiro Suzuki being thrown out at second on a stolen base. It was a bang-bang play, no doubt, but replays showed he was tagged out. Thankfully the Twins never bothered to challenge or even argue. Frankie Cervelli followed with a two-out single to left to give the Yankees a one-zip lead in the fifth. It was the first of two runs he helped drive in on the afternoon.
- Cy Phelps: David Phelps deserves so much better than a no decision. He gave the team seven innings of one-run ball when the bullpen was gassed, which is exactly what they needed. He allowed three hits — one a Josh Willingham solo homer off the facing of the second deck — and two walks while striking out three. Phelps retired eleven in a row at one point, immediately before the homer. He did his job.
- LMAOffense: The Yankees put runners in scoring position in the sixth, seventh, and tenth innings, but of course they didn’t get The Big Hit. (They went 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position overall.) They had opportunities to score in the late innings. This wasn’t the offense disappearing for like five innings at a time, though someone named Yohan Pino held them to one run on three singles in six innings. Blah.
- Thrown Away: Cervelli literally threw this game away. Joe Girardi went to Shawn Kelley and Matt Thornton for two innings each because the bullpen has been overworked — Kelley escaped a bases loaded jam in the eighth — which is about as risky as it gets. Thornton faced eight batters and six were right-handed. (He didn’t even get the two lefties out.) Chris Colabello just missed a walk-off homer in the 11th, instead settling for a leadoff double. A Willingham intentional walk and an Oswaldo Arcia hit-by-pitch loaded the bases with one out. Thornton got a weak grounder back to himself, started the potential 1-2-3 double play, but Cervelli threw the ball into right field to lose the game. Shoulda just held onto it, I’m not sure a perfect throw would have gotten the out. It’s their second walk-off error in the last eleven days.
- Leftovers: Alfonso Soriano missed a foul pop-up and went 0-for-4 with two feeble strikeouts at the plate. He is hitting .221/.244/.367 (61 wRC+) on the year. I defy you to find a more useless player on an active 25-man roster … Brett Gardner replaced Soriano in left to start the ninth inning but did not pinch-hit for him in the previous half-inning for whatever reason … the Yankees had no extra-base hits and the singles belonged to Derek Jeter, Brian Roberts, Jacoby Ellsbury, Carlos Beltran, Ichiro, and Cervelli (two) … Mark Teixeira and Beltran drew the only walks, so for the eighth time in the last nine games, the Yankees drew two walks or less … the so-called Bronx Bombers have been held to one run or less 18 times this season. They did it 29 times all of last year.
MLB.com has the box score and video highlights, FanGraphs some other stats, and ESPN the updated standings. The Yankees wrap up this four-game series in Target Field on Sunday afternoon, when Hiroki Kuroda gets the ball again Ricky Nolasco. Nolasco has a 5.49 ERA, which is the highest among qualified starters by one-third of a run. You and I both know that means little with this offense.
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