Up-and-down club at risk of bottoming out
TORONTO — Which way are the Yankees running?
The answer for this latest stretch in their seesaw season would be “in place,” yet that won’t be the accurate response by late Sunday night. When the Yankees play the Red Sox, particularly when they occupy second place and their rivals own the American League East penthouse, they come away with clarity, be it good or bad.
Clearly, the Yankees can’t feel particularly confident about the answers that await them.
When Sonny Gray’s second respectable effort as a Yankee, in his second start as a Yankee, resulted in his second loss as a Yankee, 4-0 to the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre, Joe Girardi’s group departed Canada in a 4-7 funk, with two losses and a tie in their past three series. They return home, with the Red Sox awaiting them Friday night for a three-game set, hardly on a high. To the contrary, their 4 ½-game distance behind the Sawx marks their widest gap of the season when you factor in the loss column, which grew to four games Thursday.
“We’re definitely having a rough moment right now,” said Gary Sanchez, who let another pitch get by him behind the plate to help the Jays score a run.
Sanchez’s battery mate, Gray, struggled with his control, walking four in six innings. Whereas his fielders betrayed him last week in Cleveland, with three errors in his very first inning as a Yankee, this time the diminutive right-hander let himself down, as his second-inning attempt to pick Ezequiel Carrera off second base sailed into center field for an error. Carrera wound up scoring the game’s first run, unearned.
Nevertheless, Gray allowed three runs in six innings, your minimum standard for a quality start, and he got no support whatsoever. The Yankees got shut out for both the third time this season and the third time in the past month, as Jays starter Marco Estrada danced in and out of trouble over seven innings — the Yankees went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position — and Ryan Tepera and Roberto Osuna contributed an inning apiece.
Since the break, the Yankees have slashed .249/.315/ .407, quite a drop from the .264/ .344/.450 that made them one of the game’s finest offensive teams in the first half.
“We haven’t been as consistent in the second half,” Girardi said. “The guys are working at it. There’s early hitting. They’re doing their cage work. They’re doing everything. It’s just been a little bit of a struggle.”
The Red Sox, conversely, arrive having won eight straight games, and they arranged their starting rotation this weekend to throw a trio of high-performing southpaws at the Yankees: Eduardo Rodriguez on Friday night, Drew Pomeranz on Saturday afternoon and, on Sunday, AL Cy Young pacesetter Chris Sale. In theory, the Yankees should handle lefties OK, except in theory, young righty bats Sanchez and Aaron Judge are mashing instead of flailing.
“I’m missing my pitches,” said Judge, who walked, doubled and struck out twice, giving him at least one whiff in 27 consecutive games. “That’s the biggest key from the first half to the second half.”
Plenty has turned south for the Yankees, whose market correction apparently knows no bounds. It’s not too late to reboot, although it might be after this weekend.
“It’s very important, especially when you’re behind in the standings,” said Brett Gardner, another bat in hiding. “We can’t wait until the middle of August or September. You run out of time.”
“I think the lineup will get better,” Todd Frazier said. And what else is he going to say?
Now is the perfect time to match those words with actions. Stopping this bleeding with a series victory, picking up a game in the standings, would help. Because right now, the Yankees are running a course that could lead them nowhere besides an October vacation.