{"id":321379,"date":"2021-08-11T07:58:17","date_gmt":"2021-08-11T04:58:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/yankees-cant-afford-too-many-more-clunkers-like-this\/"},"modified":"2021-08-11T07:58:17","modified_gmt":"2021-08-11T04:58:17","slug":"yankees-cant-afford-too-many-more-clunkers-like-this","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/yankees-cant-afford-too-many-more-clunkers-like-this\/","title":{"rendered":"#Yankees can’t afford too many more clunkers like this"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Yankees can’t afford too many more clunkers like this<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

\n

If you\u2019d like the R-rated, NSFW (and drop-dead hilarious) descript<\/a>ion that Ichiro Suzuki gave for just how hot it is in Kansas City, Mo., in the summer, that\u2019s easily available on YouTube<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There was also a long-ago August night when the great Buck O\u2019Neil was sitting in his regular seat behind home plate at Kauffman Stadium.<\/p>\n

For one of the few times ever, when he was at a baseball stadium, Buck wasn\u2019t smiling.<\/p>\n

\u201cToo hot to smile,\u201d he said, and then of course he smiled.<\/p>\n

There were few things to smile about Tuesday night in Kansas City, unless you were either:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. A \u201cStar Wars\u201d fan, as this was Star Wars Night at the K, with plenty of R2D2s and C3POs visible throughout.<\/li>\n
  2. A Salvy Perez fan. The Royals\u2019 catcher, celebrating 10 years to the day of his major league debut, blasted a pair of buzzkill home runs that ruined Nestor Cortes\u2019 night.<\/li>\n
  3. A Royals fan who has seen more than your share of slapstick out of the local nine since they won the world championship six years ago, and so who must have taken great delight in watching the Yankees kick the ball around and throw it to indiscriminate places all night during an 8-4 Kansas City win.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    \"A
    A dejected Nestor Cortes Jr. waits to get taken out of the game<\/a> in the sixth inning of the Yankees\u2019 8-4 loss to the Royals.<\/figcaption>
    Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    \u201cI don\u2019t know why it happens,\u201d Yankees manager Aaron Boone said, looking like he\u2019d gotten a bad batch of burnt ends from Arthur Bryant\u2019s Barbeque earlier in the day. \u201cBack-to-back long nights? For whatever reason we didn\u2019t play our best tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

    Look, it happens, even for a team that has played as well for an extended stretch as the Yankees have since the Fourth of July. There are easy excuses \u2014 a second straight game in 90-degree K.C. humidity (add a dozen degrees if you want to know what it really feels like), coming off a nearly five-hour, 11-inning marathon win Monday.<\/p>\n

    And as the Scooter used to put it: \u201cSometimes you\u2019re just due.\u201d<\/p>\n

    It\u2019s nights like these when we are reminded of just how fragile the daily and nightly tightrope the Yankees walk really is. Winning eight out of nine series<\/a> \u2014 with a chance to make it 9-for-10 Wednesday afternoon \u2014 has made it certain that there are genuine stakes now every time they take the field, no matter who they take the field against.<\/p>\n

    And when you are a team with gaping holes in your batting order \u2014 and not knowing yet, day to day, who the next day\u2019s starting pitcher is going to be \u2014 it\u2019s actually remarkable that there aren\u2019t more of these games now, especially because the news<\/a> general<\/a>ly comes in loud bursts from the out-of-town scoreboard.<\/p>\n

    There is the good news\/bad news series taking place in Fenway Park this week, the Rays coming from behind Tuesday (bad news in the division) to knock off the Red Sox (good news for the wild card). There are the A\u2019s, who seem to win every day now, finishing off a comeback of their own in extra innings in Cleveland.<\/p>\n

    The Blue Jays are making these days even longer now, playing out west.<\/p>\n