The Yankees don’t look like a team ‘close to turning the corner’

When Yankees manager Aaron Boone said late Wednesday night after another sloppy loss that his team was really close to turning the corner, he must have taken a peek at the upcoming schedule.

Here come the stiffs, starting Friday night with the White Sox in the Bronx for three games.

The Yankees were swept away in three ugly games at Minute Maid Park by the Astros because they played sloppy baseball.

An Astros base runner fell down halfway to home and, because of a poor relay and lack of anticipation, the Yankees were not able to get Tony Kemp out as he scrambled his way back to third base. He eventually scored.

Fly-ball singles simply fell in front of Clint Frazier in left field on two occasions, and after each hit it appeared the pitchers — first Chad Green then James Paxton — looked perplexed that those balls were not caught.

The Astros stole bases and not only got hits against the shift, they took extra bases with Yankees infielders unable to get back to the open base.

Those were just some of the plays that cost the Yankees. They also didn’t pitch well — the bullpen is especially guilty of walking too many hitters. In 45 ¹/₃ innings, Yankees relievers have given up 43 hits and 21 walks, that’s 64 base runners.

Let’s not forget the Astros are really good, and it appears both Jose Altuve, who was bothered by knee issues last year, is healthy again, and Carlos Correa, who had back issues, is 100 percent.

So for Boone to say, “I believe we are really close to turning the corner’’ is not really an accurate statement.

The Yankees may turn the corner because they will face only one team, going into Thursday’s games, with a record above .500 over the next five series. That’s the Angels, who are just 7-6. Included in this ragged bunch, a combined 19-41 overall, are the slumping Red Sox, whose starting pitchers have been dreadful.

Red Sox starters have posted an 8.78 ERA. That’s hard to do.

Boone is a nice guy and his managerial style is not to come down on his players in any way, but he should realize it’s OK to demand a much higher level of performance, especially on the fundamentals.

The Astros, one of the few good teams in the American League, exposed many weaknesses, and Yankees players know they have to clean it up. For the Yankees to be successful with this starting staff, they are going to have to do a much better job of catching the baseball. It’s really that simple.

“The compete has been excellent,’’ Boone also said of his team.

Maybe that’s his way of saying the execution has been terrible.

That really is who the Yankees are at the start of seemingly every season. For whatever reason, the past seven years the Yankees have gotten off to slow starts, and this 5-7 start is no different.

Even Boone admitted, “We have to tighten it up a little bit, play a little bit better.’’

Yes, they do. A little bit better will enable them to beat 3-8 teams like the White Sox, who are one of those franchises in constant rebuild mode.

The next five series are a gift from the schedule-makers — with the White Sox, the stumbling Red Sox, the inept Royals, mediocre Angels and the lacking-a-punch Giants on the docket.

But that’s OK. The Yankees are allowed to beat up on bad teams, that goes back to their days of thumping the Washington Senators. The scary part is that this team did not take advantage of an easy early schedule, and that is a function of its sloppy play and inability of the monster bullpen to actually be a monster.

Rather than just beat up on the dregs of baseball, the Yankees need to start playing better defense, be more precise with their pitches, and if something is not working, like pumping fastballs down the middle of the plate to Altuve, change the plan.

Do all that, then you can say the Yankees are really close to turning the corner.

Source: Read Full Article