NEW YORK (AP) – The New York Yankees’ players and staff are restless. So are fans.
A 5-10 start, the franchise’s worst in 24 years, has shaken a team that expects to contend for a World Series title. “Right now, we would be a team that an opponent would want to play because obviously, we’re not firing on all cylinders,” general manager Brian Cashman said Monday. “So if you can catch us right now, you’re catching us at the right time, though obviously yesterday’s games, and we look forward to that changing.”
Batting, pitching, and fielding have faltered.
New York’s .210 batting average is next-to-last in the American League, and a team with a shortage of left-handed hitters is batting just .202 against right-handed pitchers. The Yankees’ 55 runs entering Monday tied Detroit for the AL low. Ace Gerrit Cole is 2-1 with a 1.82 ERA, and the rest of New York’s starters are 1-6 with a 6.39 ERA.
Twelve errors have led to 10 unearned runs.
Only the bullpen, which has a 2.43 ERA, third-best in the major leagues, has exceeded expectations.
“There’s a lot of tossing and turning going on,” Cashman said, “but we’re going to do everything in our power to avoid that finger-pointing or having those frustrations boil over into something negative and make sure that we just rally the troops around each other and try to be there in a strong, supportive way because right now we earned any negative criticism.”Tampa Bay, which caused the game to be stopped for 2 minutes, 15 seconds. “I don’t care how bad you’ve played; no one has earned having things thrown at them on the field in that particular game,” he said. “But ultimately, the rest of it is, yeah, it’s part of the process, too. When you play bad, you’re going to hear about it. You will hear it when you don’t live up to your expectations, your fans’ expectations, or your expectations. And it’s about doing something about it as you move forward.”
New York has lost five consecutive games going into Tuesday’s interleague series opener against Atlanta. A loss would drop the Yankees to 5-11 for the first time since 1972. Cashman thought back to other slow starts. In 1997, the Yankees lost 10 of their first 15 games, finished 96-66, and earned a wild-card berth. “I don’t remember any of those because, ultimately, we got back on track,” he said. “We got through it. We found a way to be ourselves and be what we’re capable of.” Jay Bruce, who announced his retirement Sunday, spoke to the team before his final game and reminded them “about the game’s ups and downs and trying to stay consistent and staying together while you’re going through the tough times,” according to Cashman.
