Jane Heller

New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author

  • About
    • Bio
    • FAQ
  • Publications
    • Books
      • Romantic Comedies
      • Caregiving
      • Baseball
      • TV Tie-In
    • Articles
  • Blogs
    • Mainly Jane
    • Confessions of a She-Fan
  • Media
    • Videos
    • Audio
    • Press
    • Press Materials/Three Blonde Mice
  • Speaking
  • Contact

This Says It All…..Farewell, Yankees, Until Next Season

October 10, 2018

ON BASEBALL

Against the Red Sox, the Yankees Simply Don’t Measure Up

By Tyler Kepner

Oct. 10, 2018

At the end, at last, the play matched the hype. Nearly 50,000 fans, standing and screaming, praying and pleading that the old Bronx ghosts would swallow up the Red Sox one more time. The Boston pitcher unraveling. The Yankees’ bats stirring. Maybe, just maybe … and then … no.

“I was out,” Gleyber Torres said, flatly, and the replay confirmed what he knew. Steve Pearce kept his foot on first base. A furious comeback fell short in the bottom of the ninth, Craig Kimbrel held on, and the Yankees’ season expired with a 4-3 loss in Game 4 of the American League division series. That makes nine seasons in a row without a championship, and another Red Sox celebration on Yankee ground.

“That’s the one team that you don’t want to lose to,” said Brett Gardner, the veteran Yankees outfielder. “We hate losing to them, and we love beating them. They just had our number this year. They have a great team, and we just weren’t able to do enough to overcome them.”

Until the frantic finish, the standout moment of the rivals’ first postseason duel in 14 years was more comedic than dramatic: the Yankees’ backup catcher, Austin Romine, allowing a home run to Boston’s Brock Holt on Monday for the first cycle in playoff history. As a lingering image from this series, it will not inspire screenplays.

The Red Sox are onto bigger things — an A.L. Championship Series date with the Houston Astros, the defending World Series champions, starting Saturday night at Fenway Park. The Yankees will scatter for the winter, with 100 regular-season victories to keep them warm. But how much did they really improve?

This lopsided series aside, the rivalry is hot again because the Yankees so clearly measure themselves against the Red Sox, even more than in the recent past. The rest of the division cannot keep up. The Toronto Blue Jays and the Baltimore Orioles are rebuilding, and the Tampa Bay Rays are plucky and dangerous, but not a superpower.

The Red Sox are. They backed up their franchise-record 108 victories by pushing aside the Yankees and exposing the limits of their vaunted offense. The Yankees led the majors in homers last season, added Giancarlo Stanton in a trade, and promptly set a major league record for homers this season, with 267.

But just like the team whose record they broke — the 1997 Seattle Mariners — the Yankees went bust in the division series, confounded by a solid pitching staff. Except for their Game 2 outburst against a rattled David Price, the Yankees were punchless when it mattered most.

“One of their goals in this series was to keep us in the ballpark, and then coming in here, where we’re so good at that, they were able to do it,” Yankees Manager Aaron Boone said. “Credit to them for being able to hold us down.”

It was the first time since early April that the Yankees had failed to hit a homer in consecutive games at Yankee Stadium.

“We have to keep them in the ballpark — that’s the most important thing,” Red Sox Manager Alex Cora had said before the series, and he was right.

The Yankees had the pitching talent to make a deep postseason run, despite a poor showing in this series. But they hit only .249 this season, the worst average among baseball’s 10 playoff teams. If they did not hit a homer, they often struggled for hits. Red Sox starters Nathan Eovaldi and Rick Porcello combined for 12 innings at Yankee Stadium, allowing only nine hits and two runs to thwart the Yankees’ plan.

“Obviously our goal in this series was to try to get into that bullpen as soon as possible,” Gardner said. “When a guy like Porcello and Eovaldi gives them that length, it’s kind of hard to do.”

The Yankees were 4 for 26 with runners in scoring position in the series and hit .214 overall. Batting average was an overrated statistic for years, mainly because it obscured other factors crucial to run production. Now, perhaps, it is undervalued.

Since the A.L. adopted the designated hitter in 1973, the Yankees have hit for a lower batting average than .249 just three times: in 1990, when they lost 95 games, and in 2013 and 2014, when they missed the playoffs.

Each of the top seven teams in batting average this season won at least 90 games. It sounds so simple to say, but hits remain really important — and this is where the Yankees and the Red Sox wildly diverged. Last season, the Yankees had two more hits than the Red Sox. This season, the Red Sox had 135 more hits than the Yankees.

The Yankees’ pitchers trailed only Houston’s staff in strikeouts, but their hitters whiffed too often, a trait that good pitchers often exploit in October. The Yankees ranked ninth in the major leagues in strikeouts by their hitters, while the Red Sox’ offense ranked 26th. And Boston had almost twice as many stolen bases as the Yankees — 125 to 63.

“Last night I had one home run, but we really scored 16 runs without hitting the long ball,” Holt said, drenched in bubbly in the joyous Red Sox clubhouse on Tuesday night. “But we’ve got guys that can leave at any time, and we’ve got guys that run the bases. We can beat you in a lot of ways. It’s a fun offense to be a part of.”

It sure seems that way. The Red Sox hit .268 this season — nine points better than the next-closest team in the majors, the Cleveland Indians. Boston finished ninth in homers but scored the most runs.

“If you’re a starter facing their lineup, you face them three times without giving up a run, you’ve done something amazing, because they usually chip away and score runs on you,” Yankees reliever David Robertson said. “They grind out at-bats, foul balls off, get on second base and just cause havoc. If you’re not on top of your game, they can put up the runs on you real quick.”

The Yankees had a fine season, to be sure. Miguel Andujar and Torres confirmed the Yankees’ hopes for them; they are, indeed, high-impact young stars. In Boone’s first season as manager, the team improved by nine wins.

Trouble is, in Cora’s first season as manager, the Red Sox improved by 15 wins. Their high-impact young stars — Mookie Betts, Andrew Benintendi, Xander Bogaerts — are further along in their primes, and all under team control for next season, too.

And while Stanton led the Yankees in home runs (38), runs batted in (100) and games played (158) while hitting .266, Boston’s new slugger, J.D. Martinez, was better. He led the majors in total bases and nearly won the Triple Crown.

“We can hit the ball out of the ballpark, which is better than it was last year, power-wise,” said Dave Dombrowski, Boston’s president of baseball operations. “But we make contact, guys can run the bases, we’re athletic, and we’re a good defensive club. I think it’s important to go that way.”

The Red Sox have their flaws. The Yankees built a deeper bullpen, even though Boone seemed strangely hesitant to use it early in Games 3 and 4. Cora used Porcello in relief in Game 1 and Chris Sale in relief in Game 4; he might be able to survive the postseason that way, but it will not be easy.

In any case, his team — like the Astros — has earned the chance. The Red Sox ran away with the division, even with Sale limited down the stretch. Dombrowski fortified the roster with trades for Pearce, starter Nathan Eovaldi and second baseman Ian Kinsler. His counterpart with the Astros, Jeff Luhnow, added an ace last winter in Gerrit Cole, and power relievers this summer in Ryan Pressly and Roberto Osuna.

The Yankees’ general manager, Brian Cashman, made a series of pivotal in-season moves, trading for J.A. Happ, Zach Britton and Luke Voit. But the foundation of his team was simply not strong enough to find more than one way to beat the Red Sox.

Just as they did in the regular season, the Yankees had more strikeouts than hits in the series. Their only win came on the strength of three towering homers in Game 2 at Fenway. The Red Sox could not have been surprised. If they kept the Yankees in the ballpark, they knew they could win — and that is just what they did.

Filed Under: Confessions of a She-Fan Tagged With: ALDS, NY Times, Red Sox, Tyler Kepner, Yankees

Comments

  1. Leo says

    October 10, 2018 at 5:51 am

    Jane, I aired my grievances in the last post since I didn’t see this one up yet. So many questions of how things could’ve played differently if they just got the big hit in many of those RISP opportunities and if the starters aside from Tanaka were more competitive. And of course, Boone’s lack of urgency can certainly be a factor to blame. But more importantly, as I said before, I hope you and Michael stay safe from Hurricane Michael.

  2. Jane Heller says

    October 10, 2018 at 6:05 am

    I just saw your previous comment, Leo, and replied. I agreed with you on many things, but it’s all behind us now. We have to look forward even as we absorb our disappointment. As for the hurricane, thanks for asking. It’s brushing by us now with raining conditions and flooding, but nothing like what those residents of the Panhandle are about to face. I feel so sorry for them. It sounds catastrophic. Be well, and I’ll update the blog if there’s anything interesting going on. Feel free to weigh in too.

  3. Leo says

    October 10, 2018 at 6:28 am

    That’s a relief, Jane. The hurricane looks nasty and I hope those of the Panhandle took heed of the warnings.As for the Yankees, who would you like for us to target this offseason? Starting pitching is such an obvious need so Corbin would be nice to have along with re-signing Happ. Harper and Machado are the real prizes though and they can certainly change the outlook of a team. But will Hal be willing to spend the money needed to get them? That remains to be seen.

  4. Jane Heller says

    October 10, 2018 at 9:43 am

    I like all your targets for the off-season except Harper. Not going to happen with all the outfielders we already have, plus Ellsbury is still under contract. We shall see if the Steinbrenners will spend. I’d like to think they’re tired of missing a championship for nearly 10 years!

  5. Leo says

    October 14, 2018 at 7:03 am

    Hey Jane. Any thoughts on the end of season press conference from Cashman and Boone a couple days ago? A lot of information to digest. The worst news being that Didi will need to have TJ surgery on his throwing arm. That is such a huge blow. I believe I read the timetable for his return is the summer of next year but who even knows if he would be in tip top shape after missing all that time? Perhaps this increases the urgency to sign Machado? CC is also getting surgery but a minor one on his knee. The most interesting part of it though was Cashman’s brutal honesty with his plans to trade Gray this offseason. The writing was on the wall that Gray would be moved but was it smart of him to mention it to the media? I’m not sure but I could see other teams just lowballing us on offers due to Gray’s terrible year. We’ll see what happens this offseason and what moves are made as this team has several areas that need to be improved.

  6. Jane Heller says

    October 14, 2018 at 7:48 am

    Hi Leo. Quick note to say I’ve been at my high school reunion all weekend, so no time to weigh in. Yes, Didi’s surgery was a gut punch for sure. More to come.

Search

Archives

Blogroll

  • An A-Blog For A-Rod
  • Baseball & The Boogie Down
  • Baseball for Girls
  • Bats
  • Bleeding Yankee Blue
  • Blogging the Bombers
  • Bomber Babe
  • Bombers Beat
  • Boys of Summer
  • Bronx Baseball Daily
  • Can't Stop the Bleeding
  • Chat Sports Yankees Page
  • Cooperstown Cookie Company
  • Deadspin
  • DP57
  • Fanne Fatale
  • Gardy Goes Yardy
  • Generation Third
  • Heartland Pinstripes
  • It Is High, It Is Far, It Is…Caught
  • It's About the Money, Stupid!
  • iYankees
  • Jane Heller's Web Site
  • Lady at the Bat
  • Lady Loves Pinstripes
  • LenNY's Yankees
  • LoHud Yankees Blog
  • Made in 1903 Yankees Blog
  • MLB.com
  • My Pinstripes
  • MyYESWeekly
  • Paul Lebowitz
  • Pinstripe Posts
  • Red State Blue State
  • Respect Jeter's Gangster
  • River Ave. Blues
  • Ron Kaplan's Baseball Bookshelf
  • Sliding Into Home
  • Sox and Pinstripes
  • Star Ledger
  • Subway Squawkers
  • Thanking the Lord I'm a Yankee Fan
  • The Bronx View
  • The Foxx Loves the Yankees
  • The Greedy Pinstripes
  • The Sommer Frieze
  • The Yankee Scrolls
  • This Purist Bleeds Pinstripes
  • Through the Fence Baseball
  • Traveling Baseball Babes
  • Was Watching
  • Yankee Hottie
  • Yankees 'N More
  • Yankees Online Magazine
  • Yanks and More
  • YES Network Web Site
  • Zell's Pinstriped Blog

Tag Cloud

A-Rod A.J. Burnett Andy Pettitte Angels Bartolo Colon Blue Jays Brett Gardner Brian Cashman caregiving CC Sabathia Cinema Society Curtis Granderson Dave Robertson Derek Jeter Dodgers Freddy Garcia Hiroki Kuroda Indians Ivan Nova Joba Chamberlain Joe Girardi Jorge Posada Mariano Rivera Mariners Mark Teixeira Masahiro Tanaka Mets Michael Pineda Nick Swisher Orioles Phil Hughes Rafael Soriano Rangers Rays Red Sox Robinson Cano Royals Russell Martin Santa Barbara spring training Tigers Twins White Sox Yankees You'd Better Not Die or I'll Kill You

Follow Me!

  • Jane Heller on Goodreads
  • Jane Heller on Pinterest
  • Jane Heller on Facebook
  • Jane Heller on Twitter

Get in touch!

I’d love to hear from you! Contact me!

About Jane Heller

Jane Heller is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. Her fourteen breezy, witty novels of romantic comedy and suspense are now entertaining millions of readers around the world, along with her two books of nonfiction.

Copyright © 2021 Jane Heller