Yankees Stumble Again In Baltimore, Tanaka Flails, Sanchez Injured

The Yankees continued to find different ways to lose this afternoon, falling to the Baltimore Orioles by a score of 5-4. But that’s only the tip of today’s bad news.

Yankees manager, Joe Girardi, began the day by shuffling his lineup. But by the end of the day, he had to be pulling his hair out (if he had any) as the Yankees fell victim to the undefeated Orioles by a score of 5-4 in a game everyone would just as soon forget. Except, that we can’t.

Yankees manager Joe Girardi had seen enough. Reluctantly perhaps, he made two substitutions in his Opening Day lineup by pulling Greg Bird (1-16, .063, and 7 K’s) for Chris Carter and Aaron Judge (2-15, .133, and five strikeouts) in favor Aaron Hicks.

Whether Girardi made these moves wanting to make a statement or that he only wanted to put the Yankees in a better position to win a game today, or maybe he made the change for the sake of making a change, it translated into a team victory. And that might be all that matters.

Of interest, though, is how Girardi explained both benchings to the YES Network, attributing Bird’s absence to a sore foot that’s still bothering him from and injury suffered in Spring Training, and with Judge, he said he told the player on Friday he would be having the day off. So, maybe that’s all there is to it. Anyway, here’s the video:

Sanchez Leaves Game With Injury

Of more significance, though, Gary Sanchez was removed from the game in the top of the fifth inning when he was scheduled to hit. Though not clear as of this writing, the injury appeared to be a problem with his right wrist or hand.

And sustaining injury would affect both his throwing and his power at the plate since his right hand is also his top hand on the bat. Austine Romine replaced Sanchez in the game.

Tanaka Flails Again With His Command

Masahiro Tanaka (1-1) made the start for the Yankees, his second of the season, and managed to squeak by to earn the win. Tanaka appeared to have regained the composure he lost in his first outing, but still is looking for the command that made him a contender for the CY Young last season.

Tanaka escaped trouble in the 4th inning when the Orioles load the bases on a walk, two singles, and a hit batter, but managed to score only one run when Jonathan Shoop bounced one back to Tanaka who threw home to Gary Sanchez for the forceout.

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In the fifth inning, though, after the Yankees came back to score two more runs giving Tanaka a three-run cushion, Tanaka self-combusted again surrendering two walks, another hit batter, and two hits pulling the Orioles back to within one run.

The net effect being that Tanaka became the fifth consecutive starter unable to finish six completed innings, taking the game into the seventh inning with a lead so the tandem of Tyler Clippard, Dellin Betances, and Aroldis Chapman could close the game out.

What this speaks of for the future is anyone’s guess, but a good one might be that when August rolls around, the guys in the bullpen will be on oxygen support.

Yankees Bullpen To The Rescue Again – Not!

Adam Warren, the Yankees jack-of-all-trades these days, was called on to make his third appearance in five games and once again performed masterfully, thereby making him an early and leading candidate for the Yankees Most Valuable Player of 2017.

Perhaps thinking of  Warren’s work over the past week, Girardi elected to remove Warren from the game after he had retired the dangerous Manny Machado in favor first of Tommy Layne, who promptly gave up a double to Chris Davis, and then to Dellin Betances, who gave up run-scoring singles to Mark Trumbo and Hyun Soo Kim.

Result – the Yankees no longer lead and trail by one. The moral of the story? That’s easy. The bullpen can’t be expected to carry this team on its back. Not now, and certainly not in August.

It’s Now Serious Stuff For The Yankees

Yes, the season is young. And yes, the Baby Bomber need a chance to grow their baby teeth. But the starting pitching, which was a cause of grave concern for anyone following the team, needs to be addressed. And it needs to be addressed now before the bleeding gets even worse.

Because tomorrow, CC Sabathia (bless his heart) will take the hill in an attempt to plug a hole in the dike, and as a rule, he can be penciled in for five quality innings, but no more. Which means that, once again, the bullpen will be called on early to finish out the game.

Yankees: Rothschild Needs To Be Given A Direct Order By Team Brass

When the team visits Pittsburgh in a couple of weeks, the Yankees need to give Larry Rothschild a direct order to have dinner with Ray Searage.

This, of course, is not a plan of attack that is going to work over the course of a 162 game season. And having to go through the rest of the Yankees rotation once more over the next few days makes me want to crawl into a hole deeper than the one the tram is digging for itself, and just peek out when it’s over.

And that’ll just be to see if some other team hasn’t snatched up Jose Quintana, or if Jordan Montgomery, Chance Adams, and Chad Green are still pitching in the minors.