‘Weak-fense’ not helping the cause
A generation ago, about a month after catcher Joe Girardi and his teammates led the Yankees to their first World Series title in 18 years, an entertaining Knicks power forward lamented his team’s lack of defensive proficiency.
“We’re playing weak-fense,” Charles Oakley said.
Anyone object to a reboot and repurposing of that term — switching it over to baseball, away from defense — to capture what we’ve seen lately from the Yankees’ offense?
A quartet of groundball double plays equals weak-fense. Your number nine hitter driving in your team’s only two runs symbolizes weakfense.
Wondering whether your team can handle even a mediocre lefthanded starting pitcher in its next game? Weakfense.
The Yankees lost to the lousy White Sox on Friday night, 52, at Yankee Stadium, falling four games behind victorious Toronto (over Tampa Bay, 53) in the American League East, because their lineup teased some and delivered little, and because CC Sabathia couldn’t match the success of his last two starts as manager Girardi suddenly gave the big lefty enough of a leash to hurt himself.
And because White Sox lefty rookie pitcher Carlos Rodon, the third overall selection in last year’s amateur draft, gave the Yankees plenty of runscoring opportunities — he allowed five hits, walked five and hit two — only to escape each time besides Didi Gregorius’ tworun, gametying single in the fourth.
“It happens,” said Chris Young, who hit into the final double play of the evening, in the eighth inning. “We put ourselves in good situations, and the majority of times, we come through in those situations. Tonight we didn’t come through.”
Hmm … if you want to apply “the majority” to the entirety of this 2015 season? That’ll be allowed. The Yankees do rank second in the major leagues, behind only monstrous Toronto, with 733 runs.
Lately, though? Friday night fell more in line with the majority of what the Yankees have done this month, particularly against lefties, with Mark Teixeira (fractured right shin) gone and Alex Rodriguez (2for25) threatening once again to finally run out of gas. The team’s 103 runs in 23 September games place them 10th in the AL. On Saturday, the White Sox will start veteran southpaw John Danks, who owns a 4.59 ERA yet could find an oasis in the Yankees’ leftleaning lineup.
Kudos to Gregorius, who has come so far from his brutal April, and to Brian McCann, who reached base four times with a single, two walks and a hitbypitch. The rest of the guys, though, too often looked like the long slog of the baseball season had exhausted them, rather than enhanced them.
After Gregorius’ single, Brett Gardner dropped a base hit into short center field to load the bases with one out — at which point Chase Headley, batting second for the second straight game, hit into a 643 double play.
“I can’t put the pitch I did in play for a double play,” Headley said. “In that situation, you’ve got to get something there, and he beat me with a fastball in when I was ahead in the count (1and0).
Gardner cut short a firstandsecond, oneout situation in the sixth when he produced a 643 twinkilling. And the Yankees didn’t place a single runner in scoring position after that, as ARod in the seventh inning and Young in the eighth wrapped up the doubleplay fourbagger.
“We had our opportuni ties,” Girardi said. “We just weren’t able to cash in.”
Girardi, who has used his bullpen so aggressively this season, let his revived veteran Sabathia take the mound for the seventh; with perfect fifth and sixth frames, 86 pitches thrown and the bottom of the White Sox’s lineup due, the decision didn’t seem egregious — and Girardi added after the game he was resting Justin Wilson and using Dellin Betances only with a lead. Then seventh hitter Mike Olt and ninth hitter Gordon Beckham smoked solo homers to leftfield, just at the time the Yankees’ offensive completely shut it down for the night.
“Our worries are not in Toronto,” Carlos Beltran said. “We have to focus on ourselves.”
No question. Before looking outside, the Yankees face plenty of internal concerns. Right now, none looms larger than their weakfense.