The Sommer Frieze

Over the course of a season, a team will make decisions that will have you scratching your head and also decisions that you disagree with. Tonight was one of those times.

The Yankees merry-go-round of relievers, some of whom don’t even pitch a game for them before they are sent down or DFA’d for someone else who was DFA’d by another team or teams is just mind boggling and hard to keep track of lately. You hardly get used to someone being here before that pitcher is gone and someone else is here that another team got rid of, and you are left wondering what the heck is going on here and why. And one of those decisions and pitchers took the loss in tonight’s 7-6, 11-inning loss to Milwaukee which dropped the Yankees’ record to 17-10.

Another decision was made by manager Aaron Boone, and I didn’t like it at the time, thought it would backfire and it turned out that it did. I believe it cost the Yankees the game.

The Yanks struck first, when Juan Soto homered in the top of the first (7) to put the Yanks up 1-0. They went up 2-0 in the top of the second when Alex Verdugo homered (3).

Luis Gil gave up a 2-run HR in the bottom of the second that tied the game, then he gave up another 2-run HR in bottom of the third that put the Brew Crew up 4-2.

In the top of the fourth, with two out, Oswaldo Cabrera singled and stole second. Austin Wells walked, then Trent Grisham got his first hit of the season and first hit as a Yankee. It was a 3-run HR (1) that put the Yanks up 5-4.

And here is where I believe Boone cost the Yankees the game. After five innings, Gil had thrown 95 pitches. He had given up the four runs. He had thrown the two gopher balls. To me, he was done. Instead, Boone had him start the sixth inning. I never would have had Gil go out there for the sixth. So, what happened? Our old buddy, Gary Sanchez, led off that inning with a double off Gil. THEN, Boone pulls Gil. Too late. A ground out moved Sanchez to third, a SF brought him in. Tie game. The game goes to extra innings. You never know, but the way the game progressed, it never should have gone into extra innings. The Yankees should have won the game 5-4, and not lost it 7-6. Gil never should have started the sixth inning. Here is where I believe Boone lost the game for the Yankees. By having Gil start the sixth.

In the top of the tenth, Giancarlo Stanton, as a PH, a role he usually does not do well in, doubled in the “Ghost Runner,” Jose Trevino, to put the Yanks up 6-5, but Michael Tonkin came in to pitch the bottom of the tenth. Tonkin was just picked up off the waiver line by the Yanks the day before when they sent Cody Morris back to the minors and added Tonkin. Tonkin started the year with the Mets. He pitched in three games for them. He then went to the Twins, for whom he pitched ONE game. He then went BACK TO THE METS, pitching two MORE games for the Mets, before the Mets let him go AGAIN, then the Yankees picked him up. Which is why I wrote at the top of this post that some moves have you scratching your head and you just disagree with.

So, the season is 27 games old, and no offense to Tonkin, but he has bounced from the Mets to the Twins, back to the Mets and now to the Yankees, and here he was, just having joined the team and being put on the roster, being thrown into the game to protect the lead in the tenth inning. A passed ball moved the ghost runner to third, a single tied the game. He did get out of the inning.

The Yanks didn’t score in the top of the eleventh, and in the bottom of the eleventh Tonkin, who in his brief time with THREE different teams is 1-3 this year, gave up a single that cost the Yanks the game. No offense to Tonkin, but I am wondering why the Yanks picked him up. Why the constant merry-go-round of reliever transactions?

To me, the Boone move of leaving Gil in and the Tonkin move cost the Yanks this game. Players play the games, but I place a lot of blame on this one on the manager and the front office.

Here is one stat that will blow your mind. In Yankees’ wins this year, Aaron Judge is hitting .263. In their losses, he is 1 for 36.

Soto 2 hits, RBI. Solo HR (7).
Verdugo Solo HR (3).
Grisham 3-run HR (1).
Stanton 1 for 1. PH RBI double.

Gil 5+ IP, 5 R, 6 H, 2 W, 6 K. Gave up 2 HR. 4.01
Marinaccio (BS, 1) 1 1/3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 1 K. 1.42
D. Santana 2/3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 0 W, 1 K. 4.38
Ferguson 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 W, 1 K. 5.06
Holmes 1 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 W, 2 K. 0.00
Tonkin (L, 1-3) (BS, 1) 1 1/3 IP, 2 R, 0 ER, 2 H, 0 W, 0 K. 5.23 Combined stats, 3 teams.