Source: FanGraphs
Sunday afternoon started with a great ceremony honoring the soon-to-be retired Derek Jeter and ended with another sleepy loss, this one to the Royals by the score of 2-0. The Yankees have now lost three of their last four series, with the one series win needing that Koji Uehara meltdown on Thursday night. Let’s recap:
- Two Errors: The Yankees were charged with two errors on Sunday and both led to runs. First, Shane Greene fielded a weak grounder and threw the ball into right field, allowing Josh Willingham to chug in from second base. It would have been the third out of the second inning. Carlos Beltran dropped a fairly routine pop-up leading off the third inning — you can tell the sun was giving him some trouble, but the ball was in his glove at one point — and the run eventually came around to score on a stolen base and an Eric Hosmer single. Beltran’s throw home on Hosmer’s single was off-line, otherwise there would have been a play at the plate because Alex Gordon stumbled around third. Two defensive miscues, two runs. Par for the 2014 course.
- Punchless: Believe it or not, the Yankees had a man reach base in seven of nine innings. They never had a runner reach third base though, and they mustered just a ground ball single in three innings against Kansas City’s high-powered bullpen. Jacoby Ellsbury, Jeter, Beltran, and Mark Teixeira had their four hits, all singles. Jeter’s was an infield single. Jeter, Beltran (two), and Stephen Drew drew walks. They went 0-for-16 with a walk with men on base. Not men in scoring position, just on base in general. This offense is: bad.
- Leftovers: Greene really had to battle, especially early on. He threw 54 pitches in the first two innings and 36 in the next three, allowing just the two unearned runs in five innings. It was a grind but Greene didn’t melt down … Adam Warren (two innings), Shawn Kelley (one inning), Josh Outman (one out), and Esmil Rogers (two outs) did fine work out of the bullpen, allowing only three base-runners (one was an intentional walk) in four scoreless innings … Friday was the first time the Yankees lost a game without allowing an earned run since May 1996. Naturally, they did it again on Sunday. Zero times in 18 years, then twice in one series. Baseball.
The box score and video highlights are on MLB.com. FanGraphs has some other stats and ESPN has the updated standings. Depending on what happens elsewhere in the league, the Yankees will be either 4.5 games (Mariners lose) or 5.5 games (Mariners win) back of the second wildcard spot. FanGraphs has their postseason odds at 3.3% at the moment. The Yankees are off on Monday — final off-day of the season! — and will then open a three-game series with the Rays at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday night. Hiroki Kuroda and Chris Archer is the scheduled pitching matchup. There are only eleven home games left in the season, so head over to RAB Tickets if you want to catch any of them live.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.