Inconsistency of lineup doomed Yanks
NEW YORK — Do or die, and we’re not sure the New York Yankees were ever awake.
Perhaps the Yankees underestimated the Boston Red Sox when they came to Fenway Park on Tuesday night, ready to pick up where they left off in late September, eager to knock Boston out of postseason contention once and for all.
Instead the Bronx Bombers, a team that looked grim and withdrawn by the seventh inning of an elimination game, were sent home for good — before getting the chance to play the Rays in a rematch of last year’s ALDS. The Yankees were supposed to show up to the one-game playoff like a force to be reckoned with, only to be badly overmatched by the division rival.
Dating back to Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS, the Yankees are 1-8 in playoff games vs. the Red Sox. The sting never gets easier.
“Guys are bummed,” said Yankees Manager Aaron Boone.
Yankees GM Brian Cashman, feeling the pressure knowing it’s been 12 years since the Yankees won the World Series, attempted to make the killer trade deadline moves that were meant to help send them to the Fall Classic. But the players that snoozed through nine innings of playoff baseball on Tuesday were no championship-caliber team.
Joey Gallo, who went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts and left two men on base, wound up making minimal impact for his new club. Anthony Rizzo homered in the wild-card game and showed promise as a bigger factor for the Yankees had they advanced, but he didn’t get the chance to continue. Still, while Gallo and Rizzo re-energized the Yankees for that encouraging second-half run, the club fell flat in October.
Red Sox GM Chaim Bloom is the hero, for now, who picked up a key trade deadline acquisition that helped bury the Yankees. Kyle Schwarber delivered the Big Papi-esque blow when the slugger began his postseason by clubbing a towering home run off Gerrit Cole that put Boston ahead 3-0. As the Yankees tried to wipe the sleep out of their eyes, Schwarber tossed his bat toward the Red Sox dugout, watched his solo shot sail to right field, and rallied a frenzied Fenway crowd to a playoff win.
Cole and the Yankees offense fumbled their opportunity, but was anyone really surprised? The 2021 Yankees struggled all season, flashing moments of greatness paired with equally insufficient outcomes. The non-competitive Yankees we watched on Tuesday provided a fitting ending to a painful year that featured impassioned play only in the final two-month sprint of the season.
“I’m sick to my stomach,” Cole said late Tuesday night after his damaging two-inning start.
Aaron Judge’s compelling year, a 39-home run/98-RBI season that is sure to garner AL MVP votes, was wasted. All year, the Yankees offense was frustrating and lethargic.
The Yankees posted 10 no-walk games in the regular season, with six of them coming after late August. By the time they shuffled into Fenway Park for a win-or-go-home wild-card game, this was a Yankees team that looked depleted and anxious at the plate. Boston arms dominated, with Nathan Eovaldi punching out eight Yankee batters and three more relievers who put up zeroes.
New York again went with an all-or-nothing aggressive approach, one that hurt the Yankees against a Red Sox pitching staff that was all nails. The Bombers drew no walks in nine innings at Fenway and struck out 10 times. As Giancarlo Stanton recorded three of the Yankees’ six hits, the lineup was as disjointed as it had been all season.
Thanks to their early elimination, Hal Steinbrenner and the Yankees have ample time this offseason to fix a fractured team. The Yankees must hope the defeated and baffling club they advertised in 2021 was the last of its kind.
“Guys are crushed,” Boone said. “Tonight was another tough one to take. We’ve been through a lot of wars with guys in that room and guys are scarred.”