3 moments during Yankees-Rays series that prove Tampa has gone soft
A sweep of the Tampa Bay Rays. The last time the New York Yankees did that? June 17-19 of 2019. Almost three years later, the Bombers did it again on June 14-16. And there may be a reason why.
Most notably, this Yankees team is better and different. The pitching is top notch. The hitting either bombards the opponent or comes through in clutch situations — the latter of which has been hard to come by in recent seasons.
But the Rays have … changed. Westworld’s version of baseball just hasn’t had the same edge to kick off the 2022 season, and perhaps it could be a sign of things to come. They’re by no means “bad,” sitting at 35-28, but it’s not like them to fail to punch back, play with a lack of edge/fundamentals, and complain when things don’t go their way.
Typically, they’d just sit back, do their job as they’re told, and watch the rest unfold as the Tampa-run machine did all the work, with their opponent eventually breaking down and succumbing.
In 2022, though, it appears their emotions may have gotten the best of them. During this series against the Yankees, they really played with no energy, and were miffed by a call that was correctly overturned via replay.
Errors on Tuesday and Wednesday cost them both games and they scored three total runs in the three-game series. So, have the Rays gone soft?
3 moments during Yankees-Rays series that prove Tampa has gone soft
3. Bringing in Ryan Thompson When Trying to Avoid Sweep
If you’re trying to avoid a sweep in a close game, why is anybody with a 6.30 ERA coming out of that bullpen … in the middle of an inning … to face the top of the order?! Is Kevin Cash being Weekend at Bernie’d?
On Thursday night with the Rays clinging to a 1-0 lead, Brooks Raley got the first two outs of the bottom of the sixth. Jose Trevino grounded out and Joey Gallo struck out (shocker). Raley, a left-hander, only threw 16 pitches across 1.2 innings of work.
Instead of tasking him to get out the ice cold DJ LeMahieu for the final out of the frame, Cash removed him for Ryan Thompson, who has been dreadful over the last month, allowing 11 runs over his last nine games and still struggling with control issues (despite pitching a clean frame against the Bombers on Wednesday).
Thompson proceeded to walk LeMahieu, who had four hits in his last 28 at-bats, and Aaron Judge, putting a runner in scoring position. Mind you, Raley had faced the minimum five batters over his 1.2 innings and struck out two. Thompson then grooved his trademark meatball slider right over the plate to Anthony Rizzo, who knocked a single into right field to tie the game.
The Rays were one out away from escaping the inning and Cash once again galaxy-brained himself into thinking a worse move would be the solution to the situation at hand.
2. Yandy Diaz Crying About Correct Replay Review
Because whenever you lose a game by two runs, you have to look back at when things went wrong in the top of the sixth inning when you were already down 2-0 to assess the blame. Come on down, Yandy Diaz!
In the series opener on Tuesday, Gerrit Cole worked his way in and out of trouble. Diaz led off the inning with a single, and then Harold Ramirez served up a tailor-made double-play ball for Cole. But the pitcher nearly air-mailed it into center field.
Gleyber Torres saved the day, though, with his outstretched arm, securing the ball and keeping his toe on the bag. It was initially ruled an error, but after a challenge, the replay revealed Torres made the play. The correct call was made.
That didn’t stop Diaz from complaining about it in the postgame, claiming that the umps’ “missed call” (the correct call) cost the Rays the game and that a “five-year-old” could’ve made the right call. Yes, a five-year-old, if you explained the rules of baseball to them in that moment with the picture of Torres catching the ball with his foot on the bag, would’ve told you the runner was out too!
The point we’re trying to make here is, outside of Kevin Kiermaier and Kevin Cash, the Rays don’t do this kind of whining. They usually sit back in silence, badger teams with their pesky and insistent style of play, and wait for the opposition to break down or shoot themselves in the foot.
Instead, it’s been the Rays loudly complaining about things being unfair and their fans going off the rails on social media. And they also haven’t been playing fundamentally sound baseball (errors in this series legitimately cost them two wins). Sounds like the 2021 Yankees and their fans, right?
1. Higgy’s 3-Run Bomb After IKF Intentional Walk
On Wednesday night, a battle of aces took place. The Rays trotted Shane McClanahan out to the mound against Nestor Cortes in what was a fun battle. But one manager exuded confidence in his starter. The other … didn’t.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, McClanahan fell victim to an error allowing Josh Donaldson, the first batter of the inning, to reach base. Then the left-hander got Gleyber Torres to fly out and Aaron Hicks to strike out. Two outs, Donaldson on third. Isiah Kiner-Falefa coming to the plate.
No offense to IKF, but he’s not exactly Aaron Judge. He’s been fairly clutch this year, but he has zero home runs and isn’t an intimidating bat. More than manageable for McClanahan. But manager Kevin Cash’s game of chess went too far.
He called for the intentional walk of IKF, which actually wasn’t a terrible move, because it brought up Kyle Higashioka, who is, statistically, one of the worst hitters in all of MLB — no exaggeration. But on what planet does adding traffic to the basepaths against the Yankees ever do you any good?
On a 1-0 count, Higgy correctly guessed fastball and demolished one into the left field seats for a three-run homer to make it 4-0 Yankees. The eventual score ended up being 4-3. Cash wasn’t exactly wrong in his decision to IBB IKF, but it was the fifth inning. McClanahan was only at 81 pitches. There was no reason to signal to him that you’d rather him face a worse hitter that early in the game with the stakes fairly low. Additionally, why not just attack IKF and potentially give McClanahan breathing room with Higgy leading off the next inning?
Wait … maybe the Rays aren’t actually broken? Maybe their joyless ways are just finally catching up to them.