Yankees: How many more monotonous losses before a change is made?
![Hitting coach Marcus Thames #62 of the New York Yankees looks on during a game against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field on September 24, 2019 in St Petersburg, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_752,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape/cover/sport/https-3A-2F-2Fyanksgoyard-com-2Fwp-content-2Fuploads-2Fgetty-images-2F2020-2F09-2F1176913649-850x560-2fd98cd4b3adf0be0ea2c330c849067f.jpg)
The New York Yankees desperately needed a good start from Jameson Taillon against the Red Sox on Saturday and he answered the call through five innings.
It was a questionable decision from Aaron Boone to let Taillon face the Red Sox’ lineup for a third time and it backfired almost immediately. With the Yankees sporting a 2-0 lead in the top of the sixth, Taillon coughed it up when Rafael Devers to lace a two-run single.
From there, Marwin Gonzalez doubled Devers home and Boston took a 3-2 lead. When the Yankees nodded things up at three courtesy of a sac fly from Gleyber Torres, who had all of New York’s RBIs tonight, by the way, it became a battle of the bullpens.
After a scoreless seventh from Jonathan Loaisiga, Chad Green imploded in the eighth, surrendering four runs, all of which were scored with two out. Care to guess who broke the deadlock? Kike Hernandez, who entered the at bat in an 0-for-27 funk.
That pretty much put the nail in the coffin for the Yankees and their emaciated offense.
Bobby Dalbec clears the left-field bullpen and it's 7-3 Boston.
— Bryan Hoch (@BryanHoch) June 6, 2021
Yanks haven't scored eight runs since May 15.
The Yankees endured another ugly loss on Saturday and nobody is surprised.
The Yankees have struggled to put runs together late in games for the entire year and that continued in mind-numbing fashion. Their offense was freezing cold (like can’t get any more freezing cold), but so was Eduardo Rodriguez, who came into Saturday night’s start with a 5.64 ERA and a 1.443 WHIP across 52.2 innings pitched.
Referencing the aforementioned tie-breaking double from Hernandez and you’ll realize the Yankees are literally the team to face when your (pitcher or position player) is struggling.
When you consider how talented New York’s lineup is, it makes sense why some fans keep insisting they’re going to turn it around. “Their talent will eventually come through. It can’t be this bad forever. All it takes is one game.”
With most teams, those cliches wouldn’t fall on deaf ears. With the 2021 Yankees, they don’t belong to be mentioned in the same breath. Red Sox reliever Brandon Workman even decided to make things interesting by walking consecutive batters with two outs in the ninth.
The Yankees didn’t deserve to be in that position and the end result proved it, as catcher Kyle Higashioka (after getting ahead 2-0) chased a breaking ball in the dirt for the final out, marking their sixth straight game scoring fewer than six runs.
For any fans who thought the Yank’s two-game winning streak last series against the Rays signaled that this team was about to go on a tear, we feel for you. They’ve now lost seven of nine and nine of 12 and have fallen 5.5 games back in the AL East.
So, how should the Yankees proceed? We’re not going to jump the gun say Boone should get canned, but he certainly isn’t far off. At this juncture, however, it would only be coherent to relieve hitting coach Marcus Thames of his duties.
While the bullpen technically blew this game for New York, they’ve been solid for the most part this season. The offense, on the other hand, has been a disaster for ages and Thames simply has to be the fall guy. Just rip the band-aid off already.