The Yankees offense was lifeless again in the 4 0 loss

The Yankees offense was lifeless again in the 4-0 loss to the Blue Jays

Can’t say enough about how bad the Yankees are looking right now. They went into August with an average record for the last six weeks or so, and somehow they made that look good compared to their current game. It’s the same shit day in and day out, and the only respite is small miracles that result in slim wins. But that was rare, and New York is now 4-13 in August and 12-24 since its peak on July 8 after another terrible effort on Friday night.

The offense never got a man past second base, and Kevin Gausman barely worked a sweat as he turned seven shutout innings in a 4-0 Blue Jays win. The Yankees were completely hidden for the fifth time in 13 games. They’ve scored just 14 runs in the last 7 competitions and 8 of those came during Wednesday’s unlikely win – a real outlier. Otherwise it was pure misery.

The fans at Yankee Stadium had barely settled into their seats when rookie Oswaldo Cabrera gave them their one real highlight of the night. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. received the starting nod for Toronto while George Springer struggled knee painbut he made a good impression as a jumper, lifting Jameson Taillon’s first throw to the limits of Yankee Stadium’s outfield.

Cabrera went back to the wall, jumped…

…and stole a homer from Gurriel to start the ballgame. As a reminder, Cabrera had never played outfield prior to 2022, and this was only his fourth professional start out there (and first in the majors). The 23-year-old makes a terrific first impression on fans in his debut home stand.

From there it was all downhill. A walk by Aaron Judge and a single by Josh Donaldson gave Andrew Benintendi a chance to get them on the board with two outs in the first, but Gausman pulled him back with a grounder. From there, the 2021 All-Star had no trouble flipping the lineup, and Taillon instead allowed Toronto to take the opening lead in the third. Whit Merrifield led with a single, Cavan Biggio doubled him into third, and while Jamo contained the damage neatly, a grounder from Gurriel scored the first run of the game.

The real problem for Taillon came in the fourth when he again allowed the leading man to hurt him with a single to the left (this time by Alejandro Kirk). Teoscar Hernández was the next hitter and he hit a fat victim that landed right down the middle.

Apple TV+’s show may have missed it mostly because they aired an interview with Aaron Boone, but it certainly counted. That was just a terrible pitch, and the score was 3-0 with no sign of life on the Yankees offense. Even the small hope sparked by a leadoff single from Gleyber Torres in the fifth was oh so fleeting as Isiah hit Kiner-Falefa straight into a double. Very helpful! I’m glad he’s here and not Oswald Peraza or Anthony Volpe.

Taillon threw a perfect fifth but would not survive the next inning. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Kirk started the sixth with doubles and singles respectively, and the call went to Lou Trivino. Unlike Monday night, the former Athletic brought the goods, saving Taillon from further trouble with a Hernández pop-up, a Bo Bichette strikeout and a Matt Chapman force-out. It really was a great job making it a three-barrel ball game and saving Taillon from an ugly pitching line. Five innings with six hits and three runs allowed doesn’t look good, but it certainly looks better than four or five runs. Thanks to Taillon Trivino.

There’s not much more to say about the rest of the game because the Yankees’ lineup just kept going. It was so lifeless and pointless that on PSA Slack we switched to talking about our favorite forms of alcohol. The only baserunner to make sixth place was Anthony Rizzo with a two-out bleeder that left for a single, and Donaldson promptly huffed to end that nonsense.

From the seventh? Oh anyway, I’ll just list the play-by-plays because if the Yankees call on a Friday night like they have better things to do, you can bet I do too:

  • Benintendi third pitch flies out to the left
  • Torres lineout the second pitch to the right
  • IKF first-pitch flyout to the right – end of the seventh
  • Cabrera sixth pitch flies to the left (at least the beginner tries!)
  • Jose Trevino, first pitch, groundout to shortstop
  • DJ LeMahieu groundout from third place to second – end of eighth place
  • The judge reaches for the interference of the catcher (lol)
  • Rizzo five-pitch strikeout
  • Donaldson lineout with the first pitch to the shortstop
  • Benintendi Six Pitch Fly Out to Center (Final Out)

Oh, and just for fun, Aroldis Chapman walked in and melted down a single, two walk and one wild pitch in the ninth. Ron Marinaccio replaced him with an out and the fourth run landed a victim fly. That Yankees lineup wasn’t going to come back anyway, but I still can’t wait for Aroldis Chapman to get off my baseball team.

Gerrit Cole will get the ball for a matinee game against Mitch White tomorrow afternoon, looking to keep the AL East lead from a seven-game lead for the first time since June 9. The first pitch will be at 1:05pm ET, again on regular TV/online streaming services. No word yet on whether Cole – he of three career home runs – will try to fit into the lineup in hopes of someone scoring a bloody run for him.

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