A Month Later, Same Old Story For Yankees

A little less than a month ago, the Yankees hosted the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium.

The Yankees were swept.

This weekend at Fenway Park, I wanted to believe that it would be different. After all, the Yankees had rattled off three straight series, found a little ju ju and seemed to have some sense of confidence heading into their most important weekend of the year.

Well, after this past weekend. I think I owe my New York, New York audience an apology. The Yankees were outclassed and flat out embarrassed by their most hated rival. Two consecutive sweeps, but the frustration goes beyond the 0-6 record against the Red Sox.

All of the warts and weaknesses of the 2021 Yankees were on full display up at Fenway Park this weekend. The lack of fundamental play which I have harped on plenty in this column was all over the place from a Yankee standpoint.

Poor baserunning, sloppy fielding, guys throwing to the wrong bases and simple lapses that should not happen from a decent big league team yet alone a championship caliber team. In addition, the Yankees feast or famine offense was malnourished in a place where it’s imperative to score runs.

The Yankees scored 7 runs in 3 games against the Red Sox. You have no chance of winning games at Fenway Park when you score 7 runs in 3 games. In addition to the sloppy play and subpar offense, the Yankees ace Gerrit Cole could not have picked a worse time to have his worst start as a Yankee.

Cole gave up 6 runs, including 4 runs in the first inning. On a day when the Yankees needed Cole the most, he came up incredibly small.

It’s one start, that can happen. However, when “sticky stuff” & “spider tack” is front and center in the conversation for pitchers across the sport, it raises eyebrows and puts more pressure on Cole the next time out.

The look and the feel of the Yankees three months into 2021 is flat out rotten.

Before Monday’s game against the Anaheim Angels, Yankees manager Aaron Boone proclaimed “Our season is on the line.”

The Yankees then proceeded to lose yet again to the Angels 5-3. So much for that sense of urgency this weekend, Monday night or maybe all season for that matter…