It's An All Or Nothing Kind Of Team

The Yankees offense is either hot or it’s not.  There is no in between for this 2018 Yankee team.  They are either smashing the ball with chart topping exit velocities or they are hitting dribbles or nothing at all.  It’s an all or nothing kind of team and we are in the middle of it.

Through six and half innings in the Bronx last night, the Yankees had no runs on the board, while the Red Sox chipped away at J.A. Happ.  Sure it’s September baseball where the game elevates to new heights and anxiety levels make you jittery.  We as fans have hung in there with this team but it’s has been laborious and down right torturous at times; enough to make you crazy. It was that way last night until Neil Walker smashed one to right field giving the team a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the 7th.

As WFAN said Tuesday afternoon during the Carlin, Maggie and Bart show, we need the team to “show a little fight.” I couldn’t agree more.  The performance of this team is simply lackluster, falling to teams that are weaker than them and showing no sense of urgency to score runs or protect against them.  The only way the Yankees know how to do it is through the long ball.  Grateful for that last night but we need more from this team.

If it’s not the offense it’s the defense particularly behind the plate with Gary Sanchez the usual suspect. Sanchez continues drop the ball literally, putting the Yankees at a serious disadvantage behind the plate.  His passed ball gave the Red Sox an early lead in the game, a lead that they carried into the late innings last night.  Many say that if you take the bat out of Sanchez’s hands and sit him for better defensive catcher Austin Romine, we lose something offensively.  I don’t agree.  I don’t think Sanchez has earned his spot back behind the plate or in the line up.  He hasn’t done much for the Yankees in either position.  He’s an all or nothing player and right now, he’s nothing.

I’m grateful for the Yankee win, but truthfully speaking, shallow performances and low energy from this Yankee team brings everyone down, even us here at BYB.  I wish the Yankees had more fight in them, and I am hopeful the Walker home run ignited some, but the errors in the 9th inning say otherwise.  This all or nothing kind of team needs to turn their bus around and go back to the depot to refuel.  The deadline is approaching; it’s time to face it head on.

–Suzie Pinstripe
BYB Managing Editor
Twitter: @suzieprof