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Yankeemetrics: Bronx bummer, bats broken (Aug. 13-16)

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(Newsday)

Monday mess
The week got off to a terrible start as the Yankees were embarrassed by their Big Apple rivals in a 8-5 loss on Monday. The Mets punished the Yankees pitchers with five home runs, the most the Yankees have ever surrendered in a Subway Series matchup.

Luis Severino’s slump reached another level as he was blitzed by the weak-hitting Mets, coughing up four runs on seven hits — including two homers — in four innings. #NotFunFact No. 1: The last Yankee starter to allow that many hits and runs against the Mets in an outing as short as Severino’s was Jaret Wright on July 2, 2006.

A.J. Cole entered in the sixth and immediately poured gasoline on the fire as Todd Frazier took him deep to lead off the inning, the first of three solo dingers Cole would give up before getting pulled with one out in the seventh. Thanks to that awful performance, Cole earned our #NotFunFact No. 2: He is the third Yankee reliever to allow at least three homers in a game while getting no more than four outs. The others were Darren Holmes (May 20, 1998) and Tom Ferrick (May 7, 1951).

We’ll end this section on a positive note, with a milestone salute to the Gritty Gutty Brett Gardner, who hit his 200th career double. He is the 30th Yankee to reach that mark, but just the third to combine it with at least 200 career steals and 50 homers. The others: Derek Jeter and Roy White.

(Newsday)

It’s Happ-ening
The Yankees quickly rebounded from Monday’s misery, taking a 1-0 lead on an Aaron Hicks RBI single in the first inning against the Rays en route to a 4-1 win on Tuesday night. The victory made the Yankees an MLB-best 30-4 (.882) when scoring first in the opening frame this season.

J.A. Happ delivered a gem and pitched like an ace, giving up just one hit over seven scoreless innings. After walking four guys in the first four frames, he retired 11 of the final 12 batters he faced, improving to 3-0 with a 1.89 ERA in three starts as a Yankee. Happ and Lance Lynn have rightfully earned their pinstripes since coming over at the deadline:

This was a notable start for Happ in several ways:

  • It was the first time in his career that he completed at least seven innings and didn’t allow more than one hit.
  • It had been nearly four years since a Yankee pitched seven or more scoreless innings while giving up one hit or fewer in a game. That last guy to do it was Michael Pineda on Sept. 22, 2014 against the Orioles.
  • And you have to go back four more years to find the last time a lefty achieved the feat, when CC Sabathia held the A’s to one hit over eight scoreless innings on Sept. 2, 2010.

Happ was aggressive in pounding the zone with his fastball-heavy arsenal, but the Rays couldn’t square up his pitches as he located them on the edges and changed eye levels while carving thru the lineup multiple times. A ton of four-seamers up and two-seamers down kept the Rays off-balance and helped him get a whopping 30 foul balls, the most in a game by any Yankee pitcher this season.

Austin Romine added a couple insurance runs in the fifth with an opposite-field shot to give the Yankees a 3-0 lead. It was his eighth homer of the season (in 199 plate appearances), one more than he hit in his 611 career major-league plate appearances prior to 2018. The last time he had eight or more longballs in any pro season was when he hit 10 homers at Double-A Trenton in 2010.

RISP-Fail, Part I
The one game win streak came to a screeching halt on Wednesday as the Yankees dropped a very boring game to Rays, 4-1. The bats fell silent in the clutch, going 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position while leaving a small navy of 10 men on base.

Luis Cessa put the Yankees in an early hole as Tampa Bay raced out to a 5-1 lead before he got the hook in the fourth inning. He’s now given up 10 runs and 14 hits in his last two games in a Yankees uniform:

Only one other Yankee pitcher in the last 10 seasons allowed at least five runs and seven hits in back-to-back outings of fewer than four innings pitched — Masahiro Tanaka last year on May 14 and May 20.

Miguel Andujar was the lone offensive highlight, going 2-for-4 with a game-tying homer in the second inning and a double; the rest of the lineup was 3-for-28. Nine of his 19 homers (47 percent) this season have either tied the game or given the Yankees the lead. The double and homer were his 54th and 55th extra-base hits of the season, the most by a Yankee rookie age 23 or younger since a 23-year-old Joe Gordon had 56 in 1938.

(Getty)

RISP-Fail, Part II
It was deja vu all over again for the Yankees, who lost 3-1 to the Rays on Thursday as their offensive deep-freeze continued for a second straight day. They have lost 17 of their last 26 games against AL East teams, after starting the season 18-9 within the division.

The loss was even more depressing because the Rays had been a virtual punching bag for the Yankees in the Bronx recently. They had won 12 straight home series against the Rays dating back to September 2014, their longest streak of series wins at the current Yankee Stadium against a single opponent. The last time they lost a series in the Bronx to the Rays was June 30-July 2, 2014 — the starting pitchers for the Yankees in those three games were David Phelps, Hiroki Kuroda and Vidal Nuno.

But perhaps the most miserable stat is the fact that the Yankees couldn’t score more than one run on Wednesday or Thursday. This is the first time ever that the Rays have held the Yankees to one run or fewer in consecutive games within a series at Yankee Stadium (old or new).

The clutch-hitting woes reached a peak in the bottom of the ninth when they loaded the bases with no outs and down by two runs. The Rays called on Adam Kolarek to get the final three outs, rookie who entered with zero career saves and 6.17 ERA in 23 1/3 major-league innings.

The next three at-bats were a microcosm of the Yankees’ season-long performance with the bags full: Greg Bird popout, Brett Gardner strikeout, Austin Romine strikeout. To put that futility into context, this year teams with the bases loaded and no outs scored at least one run 83.5 percent of the time, and the expected number of runs scored in that situation is 2.3, per Baseball Prospectus’ expected runs matrix.

The Yankees are now hitting .213/.263/.361 with the bases loaded this season, ranking 27th in batting average, 26th in on-base percentage, 24th in slugging percentage and 25th in OPS (.624). If you believe in history repeating itself ….

The last time the Yankees finished with a bases-loaded OPS that low was 1991, a year that ended with the fifth-worst win percentage in franchise history; and the last time they finished with a bases-loaded batting average that low in a non-strike season was 1952, a year that ended with a World Series Game 7 victory over the Dodgers.

Game 121: Win the Series, Please

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(Jim McIsaac/Getty)

The Yankees lost last night, in one of the more frustrating games in recent memory – though, to be fair, that’s largely due to the fact that the Rays are the most annoying team in Major League Baseball. And the edge in the season series is on the line this afternoon, as they’ve split the first fourteen games thus far. Let’s end the series on a high note, gentlemen.

As an aside, this is the Yankees last series against a team with a winning record until they visit Oakland on September 3. Their next five series are against the Blue Jays (55-65), Marlins (48-75), Orioles (36-85), White Sox (44-76), and Tigers (50-71). This is as good an opportunity as they’re going to have to put some distance between them and the A’s (and maybe even gain ground on the Red Sox) as they’ll have the rest of the way. Winning this series would be an ideal start.

Here are the lineups:

New York Yankees
1. Aaron Hicks, CF
2. Giancarlo Stanton, DH
3. Miguel Andujar, 3B
4. Didi Gregorius, SS
5. Gleyber Torres, 2B
6. Neil Walker, RF
7. Greg Bird, 1B
8. Kyle Higashioka, C
9. Shane Robinson, LF

RHP Masahiro Tanaka

Tampa Bay Rays
1. Mallex Smith, RF
2. Joey Wendle, 3B
3. Jake Bauers, 1B
4. Tommy Pham, LF
5. Ji-Man Choi, DH
6. Kevin Kiermaier, CF
7. Willy Adames, SS
8. Brandon Lowe, 2B
9. Michael Perez, C

LHP Blake Snell

It’s going to be a hot one in the Bronx today, with temperatures slated to hit the 90s by the early afternoon. Thankfully, there’s no rain in the forecast. The first pitch is slated for 1:05 PM EST, and the broadcast will be on YES.

Roster Moves: Luis Cessa was sent back to Scranton following last night’s game. Tommy Kahnle was recalled to take his place on the roster.

Game 120: Middle of the Homestand

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(Presswire)

Somehow there are still five games to go on this homestand. It’s a long one. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. Love me some home games in Yankee Stadium. Just feels like the Yankees have been home all month, yet somehow they have only played one more home game (60) than road games (59) this year. Such a weird schedule this year.

Anyway, the Yankees won last night’s series opener and they are 4-2 six games into this eleven-game homestand. They’re 7-2 in their last nine games overall. The Yankees have been kicking butt at home all season and hopefully it continues tonight. Here are the lineups:

New York Yankees
1. LF Brett Gardner
2. DH Giancarlo Stanton
3. CF Aaron Hicks
4. SS Didi Gregorius
5. 3B Miguel Andujar
6. 1B Greg Bird
7. RF Neil Walker
8. C Austin Romine
9. 2B Ronald Torreyes

RHP Luis Cessa

Tampa Bay Rays
1. RF Mallex Smith
2. 3B Matt Duffy
3. 1B Jake Bauers
4. 2B Joey Wendle
5. DH Ji-Man Choi
6. CF Kevin Kiermaier
7. SS Willy Adames
8. LF Brandon Lowe
9. C Michael Perez

RHP Jake Faria

Clear skies and warm in New York today, and, for the first time in a few days now, there’s no rain in the forecast. Tonight’s game will begin at 7:05pm ET and YES will have the broadcast. Enjoy the game.

Injury Updates: Aaron Judge (wrist) received a cortisone shot. Brian Cashman said they expect Judge back this season, but it is obvious his return is not imminent … Gary Sanchez (groin) is tentatively scheduled to begin a minor league rehab assignment next Friday. That is not set in stone yet. Depends how he progresses between now and then. That’s just their target date … Gleyber Torres is fine. Just a day off. “Pressing a little bit,” said Aaron Boone, stating the obvious.

Roster Move: George Kontos was designated for assignment to clear a roster spot for Cessa, the Yankees announced. They have an open 40-man roster spot now. My guess is Cessa will be sent down tomorrow for another reliever (Tommy Kahnle?) since the Yankees won’t need a fifth starter for a while.

Game 108: Bounce Back

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(Maddie Meyer/Getty)

Gosh, did last night’s game suck, or what? That was no fun. Forget about that and focus on tonight. Speaking of tonight, the Yankees really need a win. Not only for the sanity of the fan base, but also to stay alive in the AL East race. They’re five back in the loss column with 55 games to play. Doable. They just don’t want the deficit to get any worse. I mean, duh.

Big start for Luis Severino tonight! For a few reasons. One, Sonny Gray and CC Sabathia combined for 5.2 innings the last two games, so the pitching staff is a bit of a wreck. The Yankees need innings. And two, Severino himself has been kinda crappy the last few times out. We need to see the good version of Severino again and soon, as in tonight. The Yankees need to bounce back as a team and Severino needs to bounce back personally. Here are the lineups:

New York Yankees
1. LF Brett Gardner
2. RF Giancarlo Stanton
3. SS Didi Gregorius
4. CF Aaron Hicks
5. 2B Gleyber Torres
6. 1B Greg Bird
7. DH Miguel Andujar
8. C Austin Romine
9. 3B Neil Walker

RHP Luis Severino

Boston Red Sox
1. RF Mookie Betts
2. LF Andrew Benintendi
3. 1B Steve Pearce
4. DH J.D. Martinez
5. 2B Ian Kinsler
6. 3B Eduardo Nunez
7. SS Brock Holt
8. C Sandy Leon
9. CF Jackie Bradley Jr.

RHP Rick Porcello

Another hot, humid, and cloudy night in Boston. Sticky to your seat weather. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10pm ET and you can watch on WPIX locally and MLB Network out-of-market. Enjoy the game.

Injury Update: Aaron Judge (wrist) is progressing well and he could begin taking dry swings and hitting off a tee very soon, as in before the end of the weekend. Good news … Gary Sanchez (groin) is doing some light rehab work. He hasn’t been cleared to start running or to resume baseball activities yet.

Roster Move: Welcome back, Tommy Kahnle. He was called up and Luis Cessa was sent down, the Yankees announced. Kahnle might only be here for one day since Chance Adams is coming up to make tomorrow’s start. Interestingly enough, Aaron Boone said today the Yankees considered a few different options for Cessa’s roster spot today, including some outside the organization. Hmmm.

Game 107: Round One

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Man of the people. (Presswire)

The biggest series of the season? The biggest series of the season. Certainly the biggest series of the season to date, at least. There’s still 50-something games to play after this weekend. Anyway, the Yankees and Red Sox open a four-game series at Fenway Park tonight, and here are the AL East standings at the moment:

  1. Red Sox: 75-34
  2. Yankees: 68-38 (5.5 GB)
  3. Rays: 56-53 (19 GB)
  4. Blue Jays: 48-59 (26 GB)
  5. Orioles: 33-75 (41.5 GB)

A two-team race. The Yankees and Red Sox have the two best records in baseball, and this is the first time they’ve met this late in a season with the game’s two best records since the Game 163 tiebreaker in 1978, if you can believe that. The Yankees are trying to gain ground to make the division race an actual race. The BoSox are looking to bury the Yankees and run away with this thing.

Obvious statement is obvious: A split is the absolute bare minimum this weekend. Winning three of four would be swell. A sweep would be incredible. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. The Yankees seemed to do that yesterday against the Orioles. Felt like they got caught looking ahead to this series. Worry about tonight’s game and tonight’s game only. Gotta win one before you can think about winning two or three or four. Here are the lineups:

New York Yankees
1. CF Aaron Hicks
2. RF Giancarlo Stanton
3. SS Didi Gregorius
4. 2B Gleyber Torres
5. 3B Miguel Andujar
6. 1B Greg Bird
7. DH Luke Voit
8. C Austin Romine
9. LF Brett Gardner

LHP CC Sabathia

Boston Red Sox
1. RF Mookie Betts
2. LF Andrew Benintendi
3. 1B Steve Pearce
4. DH J.D. Martinez
5. 2B Ian Kinsler
6. 3B Eduardo Nunez
7. C Blake Swihart
8. SS Brock Holt
9. CF Jackie Bradley Jr.

LHP Brian Johnson

It is cloudy, warm, and windy in Boston this evening. Not ideal baseball weather but it’ll do. Tonight’s game will begin at 7:10pm ET and you can watch on YES locally and MLB Network out of market. Enjoy the ballgame.

Rotation Update: Sonny Gray has been moved to the bullpen, mercifully. He’ll be available starting Saturday. “I’ve struggled and they’ve given me ample opportunity to figure it out … I don’t think my days as a starting pitcher in this league are over, but right now it’s all about winning and doing my part, and my role right now is in the bullpen,” he said. Lance Lynn will take Gray’s rotation spot.

Injury Update: J.A. Happ has been placed on the 10-day DL with his hand, foot, and mouth disease. Crazy. The move is retroactive to Monday, so he can return as soon as next Thursday. He’ll miss just one start. Sucks he had to miss a start this series though. What can you do? … Aaron Judge (wrist) has been running and going through agility drills and all that. He is inching closer to swinging a bat.

Roster Moves: Both Luis Cessa and Luke Voit have been called up, the Yankees announced. Voit is wearing No. 45. Something tells me he won’t fit into Chasen Shreve’s jersey. Voit’s up as an extra right-handed bat for the weekend. As for Cessa, he replaces Happ — they had to use Happ’s disabled list stint to bring Cessa back because it hasn’t been ten days since he was sent down — and right now Saturday’s starter is TBA, but it’ll be Cessa unless he’s needed out of the bullpen tonight or tomorrow. Tyler Wade was sent down to make room for Voit. Shane Robinson remains on the roster and Neil Walker is now de facto the backup infielder. My guess is Voit will go back to Triple-A after this series and Ronald Torreyes will return.

Game 101: Back Home

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(Al Bello/Getty)

The quick three-game road trip is over — when’s the last time the Yankees had a three-game road trip? — and the Yankees are back in the Bronx for a six-game homestand against the teams with the two worst records in baseball. Four against the Royals (31-70), then an off-day Monday, then two against the Orioles (29-73).

The Yankees are 8-8 this season against the three current place teams in the AL (O’s, Royals, Rangers) and there’s nothing they can do about that now. Those games are in the bank. All they can do is take care of business going forward. This homestand is a great opportunity to beat up on some bad teams and rack up some wins. One game at a time though. Here are the starting lineups:

New York Yankees
1. LF Brett Gardner
2. DH Aaron Judge
3. SS Didi Gregorius
4. RF Giancarlo Stanton
5. CF Aaron Hicks
6. 2B Gleyber Torres
7. 1B Greg Bird
8. 3B Neil Walker
9. C Austin Romine

RHP Sonny Gray

Kansas City Royals
1. 2B Whit Merrifield
2. RF Rosell Herrera
3. 3B Mike Moustakas
4. C Salvador Perez
5. 1B Lucas Duda
6. DH Jorge Bonifacio
7. LF Alex Gordon
8. CF Brian Goodwin
9. SS Adalberto Mondesi

RHP Jacob Junis

It is a bit cloudy in New York this evening but there is no rain in the forecast, and that’s all that matters. Tonight’s game will begin at 7:05pm ET and you can watch on WPIX locally and MLB Network out-of-market. Enjoy the ballgame.

J.A. Happ Update: In case you missed it earlier, the Yankees traded Brandon Drury and Billy McKinney to the Blue Jays for Happ this afternoon. It’s a done deal. Happ is on schedule to start Saturday, though Aaron Boone said they’re probably going to push him back a day or two just to give him some time to get settled in. Makes sense.

Roster Moves: Zach Britton is with the Yankees and is active tonight. They already had an open 40-man roster spot, and Luis Cessa was sent down to make room on the 25-man roster Also, Britton is wearing his usual No. 53. Third base coach Phil Nevin will change numbers, if you care about such things … Shane Robinson was called up to replace Drury. He takes his 25-man and 40-man roster spots. Robinson played in Triple-A Scranton’s doubleheader this afternoon. Assuming he gets to the ballpark in time, he could play in two Triple-A games and one MLB game in the same day. That’d be neat. Anyway, the Yankees will have to make another move to get Happ on the 25-man roster in the coming days. No 40-man move is required because he’ll take McKinney’s spot.

Game 100: Gleyber Returns

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(Presswire)

Game 100 is always an interesting milestone for me. The season is more than halfway over and has been for a while now, but seeing that triple-digit game number really drives home the point that damn, we’re getting into the home stretch here. Crazy how fast the baseball season can go by. At least it’s been a fun one so far. Lots of teams out there are basically running out the clock and waiting for the season to end.

Anyway, welcome back Gleyber Torres! As expected, he was activated off the disabled list today. He missed 15 games — was it really only 15 games? — and, during those 15 games, his second base replacements hit .255/.328/.455 with five doubles and two homers. Neil Walker hit .294/.415/.471 in 41 plate appearances while Gleyber was out. Huh. Who knew? Anyway, glad Torres is back. He’s good and fun. Here are this afternoon’s lineups:

New York Yankees
1. CF Brett Gardner
2. RF Aaron Judge
3. SS Didi Gregorius
4. LF Giancarlo Stanton
5. 2B Gleyber Torres
6. 1B Greg Bird
7. 3B Miguel Andujar
8. DH Neil Walker
9. C Kyle Higashioka

RHP Luis Cessa

Tampa Bay Rays
1. CF Kevin Kiermaier
2. 3B Matt Duffy
3. 1B Jake Bauers
4. DH C.J. Cron
5. LF Joey Wendle
6. 2B Daniel Robertson
7. RF Carlos Gomez
8. SS Willy Adames
9. C Adam Moore

RHP Ryne Stanek

Nathan Eovaldi was supposed to start for the Rays today, but he was scratched this morning because he’s been traded to the Red Sox. So much for that. Anyway, it is hot and raining outside in St. Pete and nice and cool inside Tropicana Field this afternoon. Today’s game will start at 12:10pm ET. I didn’t accidentally post the game thread early. It is a 12:10pm ET start. YES will have the game locally and MLB Network will have the game out-of-market. Enjoy the ballgame.

Roster Moves: Gio Gallegos was sent down after last night’s game and Luis Cessa was called up this morning to make today’s start. He’s taking Domingo German’s rotation spot … Tyler Wade was sent down to Triple-A Scranton to clear a roster spot for Torres.

Injury Updates: Aaron Hicks jammed his shoulder sliding into second base the other night and is doing better. He took batting practice the last two days and everything went well. Hicks is available to play today, though the Yankees are giving him that one extra day to rest up … Brandon Drury is going to avoid the disabled list after taking that pitch to the hand last night. He is day-to-day.

Zach Britton Update: Zach Britton is not with the Yankees and isn’t on the active roster for today’s game. He’ll meet the club in New York tomorrow for the start of the homestand. The trade went down late last night and there’s no sense in making him travel to Tampa, arrive late to today’s game or possibly miss it entirely, and then turn right around and fly to New York with the team this evening.