As more and more Yankees succumbed to injuries during the four-game series at Guaranteed Rate Field (is that the worst name for a stadium ever?), more and more prospects were called up to the majors. One of the latest, an outfielder named Dustin Fowler, crashed into the right field wall last night, destroyed his knee and had immediate, season-ending surgery by the White Sox surgeon before he had a single at-bat. Now that’s cruel and it put a particularly awful period on what was an awfully wet night. Why wait over two hours in a rain delay? Just postpone the damn game for another date and let the Yankees move on to Houston.
But it was not to be and the Yanks lost the game and split the series against a bad team they should have swept. Ugh.
Back to the prospects, it was fun to see Baby Bombers Tyler Wade and Miguel Andujar make such memorable debuts, but Tyler Austin is on the DL already along with other hammy victims Starlin Castro and CC. And on the veteran side of things, I’m worried about Matt Holliday. He’s getting all sorts of tests for what they’re calling a “viral infection” (formerly a food allergy). I hope it’s nothing serious.
Luis Cessa started last night’s game and I have to say I’m never bursting with confidence when he pitches. He hasn’t impressed me much, but at this point I guess there’s not much of an alternative.
Back to Dustin Fowler, poor kid. What a bummer for him. What a bummer last night was for the Yanks after winning big in a Janer the night before. I, for one, am glad they’re getting out of Chicago.
I was so upset to wake up Wednesday morning and see we had lost the Tuesday night game. When I went to bed it was the bottom of the eighth, the Yankees were up 3-1 and I thought our chances of a win were pretty good. But no, once again Clippard came in and gave up a run, then Betances pitched poorly. It was THE topic of conversation on the local show on ESPN radio. People were putting this loss on Girardi and his mishandling of the bullpen. It is strange that Clippard keeps getting the call and blowing it every time. and Betances – was it just one of his far too frequent breakdowns or has he been used too little lately and is growing rust? I don’t know and I probably should no be questioning Girardi, he’s far more experienced than I, but things do not seem to be being managed well.
I was thinking, though, that we had just hit our low point for the season and from now on things would start to get better. Wednesday night’s game certainly felt that way. And honestly, I don’t even count Thursday night’s game against them.That they had to start a game at 11 p.m. EST is just ridiculous. I read the Yankees didn’t even get batting practice because it was raining all day. To make them play in soggy, dangerous field condition and then have them hop a plane for Houston – well, it seems there has to be a better way to handle rain situations. Last night’s game was,as you said, Jane, a nightmare.
It was too hard watching the video of Fowler getting hurt. I got near teary eyed from seeing him break down in tears as he was escorted away and Girardi tearing up as well. All we can hope for is for a successful surgery and that he can recover well for next year. They should take responsibility and pad that electrical box that hurt him so that it doesn’t happen again to someone else.
I don’t know what to make of Houston coming up. We aren’t at full strength with all the injuries decimating our team but hopefully we can somehow sneak away with the series and do well enough to keep up the pace with Boston for the divison until everyone returns healthy.
The bullpen situation has been weird, Audrey. Clippard has been terrible and Betances, after not getting enough work, seems suddenly overworked – or something. Neither has been effective in any case, but what are Girardi’s choices? The whole game was difficult to fathom.
Poor, poor Fowler, Leo. I felt so sorry for him. And yes, the White Sox need to fix their dumb outfield! Houston scares me even when our top players are healthy, but coming off a run of losses and injuries, things could be challenging for the boys.