WEST TOAST
Yanks drop 4th in row as pen fails on night when Judge hits MLB-best 23rd HR in Oakland
OAKLAND — The Yankees’ lineup usually looks like this: LF Brett Gardner, CF Aaron Hicks, RF Aaron Judge, DH Matt Holliday, 2B Starlin Castro, C Gary Sanchez, SS Didi Gregorius, 3B Chase Headley, 1B Chris Carter. It’s why they’ve been able to lead the majors in runs per game, homers and OPS.
But on Friday night, the Yankees’ lineup, which may as well have been for a spring-training game, looked like this: LF Rob Refsnyder, RF Aaron Judge, DH Matt Holliday, 2B Starlin Castro, 1B Chris Carter, 3B Chase Headley, C Austin Romine, SS Ronald Torreyes, CF Mason Williams.
“It’s not as hard as you think,” Joe Girardi replied jokingly when asked how he cobbled his lineup together. “You look at who’s available, and you put them in there. It’s probably more confusing when you have 13 guys available, but that wasn’t the case today.”
This is the state of the Bronx Bombers these days, just trying to make it home from this nightmarish West Coast trip in one piece. CC Sabathia has already hit the DL. So too, has Adam Warren. Gary Sanchez and Aaron Hicks are day-to-day. At least there’s that. But you can pretty much name any guy on this roster right now, and chances are they’re playing through something. Brett Gardner and Didi Gregorius both got Friday night’s game off. And Starlin Castro was slated to get Saturday afternoon’s game off.
“You’re getting in late and travelling a lot, but this is nothing new,” Girardi said. “This has been going on for 30-40 years. This is the game. Players have to be ready and understand that.”
The Yankees left for California riding a five-game winning streak. Now, they’re riding a three-game losing streak. After Friday night’s loss to Oakland, the Yankees only had a one-game lead over Boston in the AL East.
This season, they’ve already had to endure injuries to Gregorius, Sanchez, Greg Bird, Jacoby Ellsbury and Aroldis Chapman. Chapman is supposed to return on Sunday after being on the DL since mid-May.
Every time adversity has hit, they’ve been able to withstand it and not let things unravel. They continue to be tested.
“For me and for our club, there’s an urgency to win every day,” Girardi said. “Teams go through tough streaks. No one’s immune to them. You’re going to go through them, so we have to bounce back and put together a good streak. I know we’re beat up and we’ve had some injuries we’ve had to overcome, but we’ve done it all year long. It’s not like we’ve been completely healthy all year long, so find a way.”