The Yankees Choked Hard Last Night

I think the title says it all. Last night was an absolutely soul crushing loss for so many reasons.

1. It was the Red Sox- We’ve climbed back into this playoff hunt and this series could go two ways. We could beat the snot out of Boston and show we belong, or the Red Sox could essentially end our season. I missed the beginning of the game because I had a speaking engagement (NBD but KBD) but to see how much we were up, it seemed like everything was aligning for us to take climb a game in the division standings. The bats delivered and Tanaka did his job, so what could go wrong? Well you could put in your closer, who had a meltdown earlier in the week, when you could have managed this better.
2. Girardi Blew This – If you’re in the same situation and you have Mariano out there, you bring Mariano in. Dellin Betances is not Mariano. In a high pressure situation with possibly the season on the line, Girardi made the wrong move to bring Dellin in. As a matter of fact, Tanaka with 93 pitches should have pitched the 8th inning so this wouldn’t have been a decision that needed to be made. Even if we got the win last night, Girardi would have used Warren and Betances, which limits them the rest of the series, when he could have had Tanaka at least start the 8th and be an ace. After some of the hits Betances had given up in high pressure situations earlier this year against Boston, you have to try and avoid using him for no reason.
3. Betances Is Not THE GUY -I love Betances. Local kid who makes it to The Yankees and struggles but then finds a new role, is a tremendous story. However, I don’t think anyone is comfortable with him in the 9th inning role. Personally, I never have been and never will be. The 7th or 8th inning I would trust him with my life, but last night really cemented that even though we are technically in a “rebuilding” phase, money needs to be spent on a closer this off-season. Betances could change the sport with the way he sets up, but closing games is not in his immediate future.
4. This Could Be The End? – Over the last week we’ve blown a few chances to win games and make a serious move in the standings. It’s starting to look like some of that magic we’ve seen recently has run out because of these losses. Don’t get me wrong, we could rattle off 3 wins in a row to stay right in this thing, but we’ve put ourselves in a bad position. Detroit and Seattle are now ahead of us in the standings, and while we still play games against Baltimore and Toronto, we don’t play anyone outside our division the rest of the year. Rather than being in a position where we could control our own fate by winning games that we’re involved in, we now need help and that is a shitty position to be in. We aren’t out of it yet, but things don’t look great.

So there you have it. Those are the top four reasons that last night’s game sucked a big one. Beyond that I have guys like Carrabis and his lowlife followers chirping me and Dave, who can’t even give me a mention to get some pity followers for me. Must be mad about that blue check situation. #TheTeam