BUFFALO, N.Y. — Just another COVID curveball for 2020, I never, ever thought in my lifetime I would see the New York Yankees play a game in Buffalo. Full disclosure, I’ve been a Yankees fan since I was little, but this season has been a surprise disaster for the Bronx Bombers.
The Yankees have won just 5-of-19 games and trail the Blue Jays by two games in the American League East. Toronto has won 9-of-13 and in my mind look better equipped to stay ahead of the Yankees.
Yes, the Yankees have been without Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton for much of the season, but players that should be coming through aren’t even coming close. In this game New York held a 6-2 lead going into the bottom of the sixth inning. The Yankees bullpen blew up as it does pretty much on a nightly basis and allowed 13 batters to come to the plate giving up 10 runs. It was the first time the Yankees bullpen allowed 10 runs in an inning since 1932.
The only players that are performing for the Yankees are DJ LeMahieu, Luke Voit and Clint Frazier. Last season Gleyber Torres, Gary Sanchez, Brett Gardner, Aaron Hicks and Miguel Andujar couldn’t be stopped. This season Sanchez is batting .130, Gardner is in at .170, Torres is batting .233, Hicks hit a homerun on Monday, but is still at a paltry .209. Andujar has come on the last few games, but is batting .217.
Mix that in with Mike Ford who is hitting .142, Thairo Estrada who’s hitting .200 and Tyler Wade at .158 and you’ve got a huge mess.
If the pitching had been coming through, the Yankees might have been OK, but ace Gerrit Cole signed a huge free agent deal and is 4-3 with a 3.63 ERA. He’s the guy that’s supposed to stop the bleeding and he’s lost three straight starts. Masahiro Tanaka is 1-2 with a 3.38 ERA and it gets worse from there. Star closer Aroldis Chapman missed the first half of the season with COVID-19, but since coming back he’s never been worse. Chapman has a 7.20 ERA and has blown two out of three save attempts.
If I were Brian Cashman manager Aaron Boone would’ve been fired after this game. I never would’ve hired him in the first place. Cashman plucked Boone out of the ESPN booth with no managerial experience. He got away with it last year, but he has no answers and it looks like his players are just mailing it in.
Toronto lost its best player in Bo Bichette, but they didn’t fret over it. Multiple players stepped up to fill the gap. The Blue Jays have great young talent in Bichette, Cavan Biggio, Lourdes Gurriel and Vladdy Guerrero. Mix in Teoscar Hernandez and Rowdy Tellez. Hernandez is now hurt, but Bichette should be back soon.
Not only do I think the Blue Jays will easily beat out the Yankees, but unless drastic measures are taken, New York likely will fall out of the playoffs.
Anyway, Monday, September 7, 2020, it’s a night I’ll never forget because the most storied franchise in professional sports history, the New York Yankees played a game in my hometown, Buffalo, New York.
