ANGELS & DEMONS
BAD RELIEF HAUNTS BOMBERS VS. HALOS
THERE was a time when a stinker like the one the Yankees delivered Thursday night against the Angels could be downplayed because Masahiro Tanaka was getting the ball for the next game.
That feeling no longer is part of the Yankees’ psyche because the former ace is in the middle of a pitcher’s nightmare that seemingly has no end.
Had the Yankees been able to make an early fourrun lead against the Angels stand up Thursday night at Yankee Stadium, their level of concern wouldn’t be as high Friday evening.
After Aaron Judge’s threerun homer in the second inning, however, the Yankees sent two batters to the plate with runners in scoring position. Luis Severino and Dellin Betances pitched poorly. Starlin Castro botched a double-play ball Joe Girardi said took a bad hop in the seventh inning and Gary Sanchez threw a ball into center field.
“It’s a number of things we haven’t done well. We haven’t pitched well at times. We weren’t able to add [runs] on tonight and during the course of the year we have been pretty good at that. There were some defensive miscues on our part,’’ Girardi said following a 10-5 loss to the Angels.
It was the Yankees’ eighth loss in nine games, lowered their ledger to 39-31, dropped them into a firstplace tie with the Red Sox in the AL East and included a season-high three errors.
“It’s a number of things we need to clean up,” Girardi said. “If you want to compete at a high level you can’t continue to make the mistakes we are making.’’
After Judge’s MLB-leading 25th homer to dead center plated three runs and pushed the Yankees’ advantage to 5-1 in the second inning, the specter of Tanaka starting Friday night didn’t loom quite as large. However, two runs off Severino in the third preceded a fourrun seventh, in which three of the runs were unearned.
Suddenly, turning to a pitcher who is 5-7 with a bloated 6.34 ERA (39th among 40 AL pitchers who are qualified for the ERA title), and is 0-6 with a no-decision since May 8 isn’t a move made with confidence.
Players aren’t programmed to admit the sky is falling and there is no sense of “woe is us” spreading through the Yankees’ clubhouse. This is a club that won six straight before dropping seven in a row. The Yankees weren’t ready to recite the magic number then, and they are not prepared to predict doom and gloom now.
“Most of the losses we have had we had chances to win,’’ said Betances, who entered in the fateful seventh, allowed three of the five batters he faced to reach base, uncorked a wild pitch and gave up a killer two-run double to Andrelton Simmons. “Come back [Friday] and try to win a series against Texas.’’
The Yankees lost two of three to the Angels last week in Anaheim and two out of three to them this week in The Bronx. In between the Athletics, who have the worst winning percentage (.425) in the American League, copped four straight from the Yankees.
And now the Yankees turn to a former ace who might be, according to scouts, tipping pitches. Rookie lefty Jordan Montgomery pitched well enough to halt a sevengame losing streak Wednesday. Severino didn’t duplicate that Thursday. And based on his recent track record, Tanaka might be more Severino than Montgomery on Friday.