The Yankees have scored two runs and collected five hits in two games against the Rays. They are down 0-2 in the American League Division Series and heading home for Game 3. Aaron Boone, asked Tuesday whether he would change the lineup, did not pretend otherwise.
“Yeah. I’m considering a couple things,” Boone said. “I haven’t settled on anything.” He said he would talk to his coaches and decide that night. No lineup had been posted as of Wednesday morning.
Here is the number that explains the whole series. Outside of Ben Rice and Austin Wells, Yankees hitters are 1-for-46.
The obvious candidates
Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Ryan McMahon are a combined 0-for-9. Anthony Volpe and Jose Caballero can cover either infield spot. Paul Goldschmidt and Heliot Ramos are right-handed options off the bench. Giancarlo Stanton, 0-for-1 in the series, could take the designated hitter spot, which would push Rice to first base.
Eight of nine Yankees starters batted left-handed in both games. Tampa Bay has built a pitching staff that specifically punishes that.
New York finished the regular season second in Major League Baseball with 223 home runs and sixth with a .409 slugging percentage. This is not a bad offense having a bad week by accident. It is a bad matchup being exploited.
The defense is what has people talking
Game 2 was a 5-2 Rays win in which the official scorer charged the Yankees with four errors, three of them in the first inning. Ryan McMahon let a Yandy Diaz chopper go off his glove. Chisholm made an off-balance throw past Luis Garcia Jr. Austin Wells was charged with catcher’s interference when his glove clipped Liam Hicks on a check swing. George Lombard Jr. added a throwing error in the fifth.
Boone’s postgame assessment was short. “Obviously, a really rough night to say the least for us,” he said, and then: “We’ve got to play catch. It’s the big leagues.”
Chisholm, for his part, called the Yankees infield “the best defenders I’ve ever played with.”
Stephen A. Smith put a number on the stakes
On ESPN’s First Take on Wednesday, Smith predicted Boone would not survive a series loss. “I’m not wishing this, but I think Aaron Boone will be fired,” he said, adding, “You can’t have three errors in the first inning.” He spent a chunk of the segment on what he called the Yankees’ baseball fundamentals.
Boone was hired in 2018. This is his ninth season. The Yankees have not won a World Series since 2009. He was reported to be on the hot seat last year as well, and he is still here, so treat the prediction as a prediction.
The math is not encouraging
Teams that win the first two home games of a Division Series have advanced 33 of 36 times. The 2017 Yankees were the last team to erase an 0-2 Division Series deficit.
Max Fried starts Game 3 at 8 p.m. ET at Yankee Stadium against Nick Martinez, who has never started a playoff game. If New York cannot score against a first-time playoff starter at home, the lineup card was never the issue.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.