David Lennon: Yankees' daily struggle at the plate has them in survival mode in August
Yankees second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. reacts after striking out to end the game against the Seattle Mariners at Yankee Stadium on Thursday. Credit: Brad Penner
The Yankees are going to be playing in October. That’s fairly certain.
But what they’re experiencing right now? Here in mid-August? These already feel like do-or-die games, which is not typical for this time of year, especially for a $340 million team currently on pace for 91 wins in a very mediocre American League.
Take Thursday’s matinee in the Bronx, in which Max Fried’s one mistake was the difference in the Yankees’ 1-0 loss to the Mariners. That’s it. Just a 2-and-2 cutter that Weston Wilson was able to smack over the leftfield wall with two outs in the second inning.
On the flip side, the Yankees’ offense went back into hibernation mode the day after piling up 10 runs and 13 hits, including two homers and six doubles. They scraped together only four hits on Thursday, including two by Luis Garcia Jr., as Logan Gilbert stifled them for six innings.
The script was all too familiar: another very winnable game flushed. Fried surrendered only his second homer in 15 starts this season, and after five otherwise spotless innings, he has a 1.82 ERA in his five starts since returning from the IL on July 22.
We could go back over the rotation’s nearly airtight performance for the past two weeks, but you know the drill. The Yankees allow very few runs — the staff’s 3.28 ERA is the best in the majors — but wind up getting beaten anyway because their offense has been dysfunctional since Aaron Judge was sidelined with a rib stress fracture (he last played on May 31 and they are 32-30 without him).
That’s the most painful part. Nothing in baseball is more frustrating than a dysfunctional lineup, and witnessing the Yankees’ daily struggle to cross the plate only amplifies the perception of a major crisis. Also, it doesn’t help that the division-leading Rays recently have given off a never-lose vibe that has stirred panic in Yankeeland.
Normally, Aaron Boone & Co. don’t cater to that level of public hysteria, but the manager couldn’t resist after Thursday’s loss when asked about the surging AL East tides — including the Red Sox recently winning 32 of 37 — around him.
I asked Boone if he felt the Yankees had a similar streak ahead of them, especially with how well the rotation has pitched.
“I saw a graphic where we were 18-10 going into the day in the last 28, and it’s been the playoffs every day, it feels like,” he said. “I got people on the street saying, ‘Hey, it will turn around’ and I’m like, ‘We’re going all right.’ So honestly, I don’t even go there.
“We’re doing a lot of good things. We’re obviously wanting to get the offense jump-started and we’re seeing little signs, little crumbs of that, hopefully. But now it’s kind of on to Toronto.”
Maybe it’s promising to hear Boone channel his inner Belichick — author of the famous “On to Cincinnati’’ mantra that ultimately led to winning Super Bowl XLIX — but he does have a point. If not for the Rays’ remarkable roll and Boston’s historic July, the Yankees wouldn’t be viewed as if they’re standing still.
But Tampa Bay just completed a 9-0 road trek, beating the Rockies, Mariners and A’s to become only the second team to sweep nine or more games of a trip through the Mountain and Pacific time zones (the other was the 1977 Red Sox).
The Rays also have gone 20-10 in their last 30 games — second only to Boston’s 22-8 mark over that same stretch — to extend their lead over the Yankees to 6 1⁄2 games.
All of a sudden, that gap got big in a hurry. We’re not prepared to stick the “insurmountable” label on it just yet, but the Rays’ upcoming four-game visit to the Bronx, including a day-night doubleheader, from Sept. 22-24 already seems to be a must-sweep for the Yankees.
To their credit, Boone & Co. are mostly thriving on the edge. They’ve got 31 comeback wins this season — tied for the most in the American League (with the Rays, of course) — so the Yankees can take a punch.
Delivering a few more knockout blows, however, has been the problem. And while grinding out wins is a commendable skill, it also can be exhausting. Plus, the pitching staff — including a heavily worked bullpen — could use a rocking-chair outing on occasion to catch their breath.
“It’s helping us definitely have a slow heartbeat in high-leverage situations,” Fried said. “We’re no stranger to it, and when you play good teams, you’re going to play tight games.”
The issue is that the Yankees don’t look significantly better, and that inability to separate themselves is what keeps dimming the longer-term expectations.
Yes, Judge insists he’ll be back this season, but there’s no timetable and it’s getting late. Boone didn’t even bother providing any updates Thursday on Cody Bellinger (hamstring strain) and Giancarlo Stanton (calf strain), so it’s anyone’s guess when they’ll actually return.
So the Yankees, for now, are stuck hoping the streaky Trent Grisham can stay hot, Spencer Jones — the self-proclaimed “cool bird” — can fly higher and perhaps even Jazz Chisholm Jr. can wake up to the fact that he’s a pending free agent hitting .216 with a .687 OPS. The massive contract is gone, but there’s still time to help the Yankees get a ring on his way out the door.
“Right now, all I can think about is winning,” Chisholm said. “I’m not really thinking about how I’m playing. I just want to win a championship.”
That will have to wait until October. But it’s only August, and the Yankees seem to be in survival mode.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
