{"id":229637,"date":"2021-04-18T02:47:50","date_gmt":"2021-04-17T23:47:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/yankees-lack-of-home-runs-not-small-ball-is-the-problem\/"},"modified":"2021-04-18T02:47:50","modified_gmt":"2021-04-17T23:47:50","slug":"yankees-lack-of-home-runs-not-small-ball-is-the-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/yankees-lack-of-home-runs-not-small-ball-is-the-problem\/","title":{"rendered":"#Yankees’ lack of home runs, not small ball is the problem"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Yankees’ lack of home runs, not small ball is the problem<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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Umm \u2026 at least the Yankees embarrassed themselves less on The Day After?<\/p>\n

At least Jordan Montgomery provided some length, rather than offering to gladly pay his bullpen teammates Tuesday for six innings of relief help Saturday?<\/p>\n

At least fans didn\u2019t pelt the Yankee Stadium field with baseballs or any other round projectiles?<\/p>\n

Baby steps, right? Yet what the Yankees really need to escape this existential funk are more big flies.<\/p>\n

Their fourth straight loss, 6-3 to the rival Rays in The Bronx, included no pinstrip<\/a>ed errors, and Montgomery indeed made it into the seventh before petering out after one batter. Those were improvements on the 8-2 fiasco Friday night that prompted Aaron Boone to call a team meeting.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, though, it proved the same old story, as the Yankees struck out 13 times and went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position to fall to 5-9, the worst record in the American League. What stood out from this tale, though, was how the Rays prevailed offensively:<\/p>\n

Six hits, three of them long balls. Their first five runs came via the homer. The Yankees countered with five hits, just one of them over the wall, Rougned Odor\u2019s first roundtripper with his new team.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday was a pretty evenly matched game<\/a>, but they hit a few balls in the seats,\u201d Boone said. \u201cWhen they got their mistakes today, they hit them in the seats.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Yankees\"
Aaron Judge strikes out during the Yankees\u2019 loss to the Rays on Saturday.<\/figcaption>
Robert Sabo<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

No, while they deploy a tiny payroll relative to the Yankees,\u2019 the Rays don\u2019t win via small ball. No one really does in 2021, when pitching looks better than ever. Which is why Major League Baseball should be app<\/a>lauded for moving the mound back a foot in the experimental Atlantic League, but that\u2019s a column for another day.<\/p>\n

The Yankees\u2019 problem right now isn\u2019t that they\u2019re overly dependent on the home run. It\u2019s that they\u2019re not hitting enough home runs.<\/p>\n

They pushed Tyler Glasnow, the Rays\u2019 ace, to the ropes early, loading the bases with two outs in the first inning without scoring, before plating a run while putting two more on base with one out in the second. Glasnow escaped in the first by retiring Brett Gardner on a grounder to first baseman Yandy Diaz and in the second by striking out Aaron Judge and inducing Aaron Hicks to line out to second baseman Mike Brosseau, perfectly positioned in short right field.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s challenging to string together a bunch of hits against someone as good as Glasnow, who now sports a 0.73 ERA. It\u2019s no easy assignment to go deep off him, either, yet if you succeed once at that, you\u2019ve impacted the scoreboard, which is why clubs emphasize launch angle and sell out for the homer, accepting the strikeouts in return.<\/p>\n