The Yankees honored their late owner George M. Steinbrenner by losing to the White Sox on what would have been his 86th birthday. You know if George were ali—Just kidding! After flying from San Diego to Chicago for Monday afternoon’s game, the Yankees seemed sluggish at the plate and in the field. Well, more than usual. Didi Gregorius committed three errors (two fielding errors and one throw) the offense and couldn’t get anything substantial going against James Shields or the White Sox bullpen.
Chase Headley hit a two-run home run off Shields to put the Yankees ahead in the second inning, but that’s all they’d get. The White Sox scored two in the bottom of the third off CC Sabathia, thanks to a two-run home run by shortstop Tim Anderson, and tacked on runs in the fifth and seventh innings.
The Yankees put runners on in nearly every inning—they went down in order in the third—and Brian McCann even made it to third base in the fourth inning, but they couldn’t push him across. In all, the Yankees left 11 runners on base and they were 0-13 with runners in scoring position. Starlin Castro went 4-4 with two doubles, but never came up to bat when someone was position to score. He was the Yankees’ hitting star of the game. Rob Refsnyder hit a double in four at bats.
Sabathia was looking to rebound from his last couple of starts, but couldn’t. His final line was: 6 IP, 8 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 9 K, 2 HR. The second home run was by former Yankee Dioner Navarro in the bottom of the fifth and it put the White Sox up 5-2. A good sign for CC was his nine strikeouts and two walks. After the game he said he needed to execute his pitches better.
He has struggled a bit lately, going 2-3 with a 4.14 ERA in his last seven starts. And coming into Monday’s game, he was sporting a 3.99 DRA on the season. On June 16, Sabathia threw a season 116 pitches in a 4-1 victory over the Twins and he hasn’t been the same since.
The Play: Dioner Navarro’s Home Run (+1.88 WPA)
The (Lone) Highlight: Headley’s Home Run
Notes
—Before today’s game, Joe Girardi said that Nathan Eovaldi would be used out of the bullpen until the All-Star break, but also that it isn’t a long-term solution. Chad Green will take his place in the rotation for now.
—Girardi also told reporters that Carlos Beltran is still unable to play in the outfield and the Yankees aren’t sure when he will be able to return to playing defense/not DH.
—The Yankees have lost three of their last four games and they’ve won only three of their last nine. In nearly all of those losses, the same things keep happening: bad starting pitching and barely any offense. Or, in the case of this past Friday night’s loss, the offense came alive too late in the game to take a lead and win it.
—Masahiro Tanaka will try to get the Yankees back on the winning side of things on Tuesday night against Carlos Rondon. It’s an 8:10 start.
Photo Credit: Kamil Krzaczynski / USA TODAY Sports
It’s time to move on. They never had a chance out of spring training. Very obvious they needed a hitter that could drive in runs and a top of rotation pitcher which they never went after. Those were signs of mediocre deals. Not sure what the plan was ? Now it’s time to unload the dead weight and bring up some young talent make some trades for the future. Fans will come to see the youth and potential future. All their is to look foward to. Off season they have to make the moves they should have this year. Time to cut ties with A-Rod he takes up valuable roster spot.