Yankees ace Cam Schlitter said all the right things after Game 2 debacle, but he's 100% wrong

After dominating the Boston Red Sox (yet again), New York Yankees fans couldn't wait to see what Cam Schlittler had in store for the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 2 of the ALDS. Schlittler's domination of the Red Sox came with an interesting wrinkle, as his newfound curveball laid waste to Boston's lineup and foreshadowed him impossibly reaching yet another level of greatness.

Instead of flying high, though, Schlittler was immediately grounded. A Ryan McMahon error led off the inning, and Rays first baseman Jonathan Aranda followed with a single.

Just like that, Schlittler was in trouble. He got a ground ball off the bat of Junior Caminero, and a nice play from George Lombard Jr. secured the first out of the inning. Unfortunately, Jazz Chisholm Jr., in a decision that he inexplicably stands by, fired the ball wildly in the general vicinity of first base, allowing a run to score on the second error of the inning.

Things further unraveled from there. Schlittler was pulled after 4 1/3 innings with just 76 pitches. He allowed four runs, but only two were earned. The righty wasn't nearly as sharp as he was against Boston, but he was also consistently put in bad situations.

After the game, though, you wouldn't know how much the team let him down. Schlittler showed real leadership, saying all the right things and taking it on the chin to protect his teammates.

"I'm not disappointed in our defense. I'm not disappointed in the offense. Really just disappointed in myself. That's baseball, and those things are gonna happen. But I've got to be able to work through those. I wasn't able to do that today," Schlittler said.

Some, like the trolls over at the Baseball Is Dead Podcast, tried to distort what happened and frame Schlittler in a bad light. He certainly could've pitched better, but he was far from the reason that the Yankees suffered a 5-2 defeat.

The rest of the Yankees must follow Cam Schlittler's lead and hold themselves accountable for the abysmal ALDS showing

Blaming your teammates in front of the media is never a good look, but if Schlittler had done that, it would be kind of understandable. New York committed four errors in the field, and could have had more. Chisholm Jr. almost threw another ball away in the first when George Lombard Jr. snagged his off-target toss that seemed ticketed for left field and converted the force at second. Any hope to turn two was dashed, however.

There was also Trent Grisham's "highlight reel" catch in the bottom of the fourth. While it looked impressive, it had a 91% catch probability per Statcast, and it was nearly a double as the plodding center fielder struggled to get to the spot.

It wasn't just the glove work that was shoddy in Game 2, either. After nearly being no-hit by Drew Rasmussen in Game 1, the Yankees bats came out with a whimper yet again.

Ben Rice came to play, clobbering two homers in the affair. That was basically it, though, as New York could only muster two other hits, an Austin Wells double and a Cody Bellinger single. The trio of Rice, Wells, and Bellinger is a combined 5-for-20 in the series. The rest of the lineup has gone 0-for-38.

It's refreshing to see a superstar put the entire weight on his shoulders, and his teammates should be very grateful. Schlittler stood up in front of the microphones and blamed himself when the defense and lineup were far more deserving of being called out. Now, it's time for his teammates to take a hard look in the mirror and hold themselves accountable for the unacceptable play.

The Yankees aren't dead yet, and if the team rallies as a way to make it up to Schlittler for taking the fall, the 25-year-old superstar will have done his job after all. If not, there need to be some uncomfortable conversations about accountability throughout the organization.

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