{"id":288442,"date":"2021-07-01T09:37:19","date_gmt":"2021-07-01T06:37:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/aroldis-chapman-may-have-just-burned-down-yankees-season\/"},"modified":"2021-07-01T09:37:19","modified_gmt":"2021-07-01T06:37:19","slug":"aroldis-chapman-may-have-just-burned-down-yankees-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/aroldis-chapman-may-have-just-burned-down-yankees-season\/","title":{"rendered":"#Aroldis Chapman may have just burned down Yankees season"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Aroldis Chapman may have just burned down Yankees season<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

\n

Aroldis Chapman took the mound inside Yankee Stadium on the other side of midnight, with dramatic visuals of fireballs exploding around him on the big center field board. Chapman is rightfully advertised as a flamethrower, which was never more fitting than it was early Thursday morning, when he might have burned down the petrified remains of this Yankees season.<\/p>\n

As a six-time All-Star with 292 career saves to his name, Chapman was charged to protect an 8-4 lead. It was not a difficult ask, even if two lengthy rain delays made it feel like this game<\/a> had started last Friday. This was a two-foot putt, and the opponent was ready to concede. The Angels were anxious to get back to their hotel to grab a few hours of sleep before returning to the Stadium for the series<\/a>-ending matinee.<\/p>\n

Truth is, this game was over in the first inning. The Angels knew it, the Yankees knew it, and every man, woman and child in the stands knew it. The Yankees knocked out the sport\u2019s reigning freak of nature, Shohei Ohtani, before he could even record three outs, tagging him for seven runs.<\/p>\n

The rest was supposed to be a formality. In fact, it seemed certain during the second rain delay of 91 minutes that the umps would call it a night. But they never did. They kept the Angels in the ballpark and, as it turned out, right in the game. Chapman got the ball in the ninth, and proceeded to show his employers that this team had not even come close to hitting rock bottom.<\/p>\n

\"Aroldis
Aroldis Chapman takes out Aroldis Chapman after the closer gave up a game-tying grand slam in the Yankees\u2019 11-8 loss to the Angels. <\/figcaption>
AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The closer walked three of the first four batters he faced, and then threw ball one to Jared Walsh. Chapman looked like a man who didn\u2019t believe in himself, and for good reason: His ERA had gone from 0.00 to 2.54 in his previous dozen app<\/a>earances, punctuated by his poor showing against Kansas City last week.<\/p>\n

Now he had to give Walsh something to hit, and hit the damn thing Walsh did. It was an 84-mph slider that went sailing into the dark night, while the diehards in the diminished crowd gasped in horror. Chapman had just surrendered the first grand slam of his distinguished career, at the worst possible time. Lucas Luetge tried and failed to bail him out, and the Angels stole an 11-8 victory that stands as perhaps the most devastating regular-season defeat of Aaron Boone\u2019s managerial career.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel terrible for [the fans],\u201d Boone said. \u201cThey deserve better than this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yes they most certainly do.<\/p>\n

Boone called the loss terrible, frustrating, disappointing, and said the franchise shared in the fan base\u2019s pain. But the manager made it clear that this was not the time for yet another sitdown with his beleaguered team.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve spoken a ton,\u201d Boone sniped. \u201cEveryone\u2019s said everything they needed to. The guys have spoken to one another. Talk is cheap right now. We need to go out and play full games and start hammering people.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Yankees don\u2019t look capable of hammering anything right now, other than the final nail in their own coffin.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to pick this sh-t up, that\u2019s it,\u201d Giancarlo Stanton said.<\/p>\n

Just the other day, GM Brian Cashman said the Yankees \u201csuck right now.\u201d He said that his product \u201cstinks to high heavens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Have you ever met another general<\/a> manager who would say those words in a confessional booth, never mind during an impromptu media<\/a> session in the nation\u2019s most volatile market?<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Cashman told The Post that during troubled times, he would fight for Boone publicly just like he fought for Joe Torre and Joe Girardi.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe easier thing to do is create sacrificial lambs to appease the masses,\u201d Cashman said. \u201cThe harder thing is to push back on that narrative and recognize our sport is very difficult, and things don\u2019t play out as you plan many times. Now, you\u2019ve got to speak the truth. We are what we are, and you have to own it.\u201d<\/p>\n