In these desperate times, the Yankees are smart enough to know where to look for inspiration. The 2007 Phillies and Rockies climbed back from deeper holes in fewer games. So did the 2009 Twins and 2011 Rays and Cardinals.
No, the concern now for these Yankees is more tangible, and more alarming: Where are they going to find the arms that will stop this bleeding?
Even another injury departure for Derek Jeter couldn’t overshadow a third consecutive pitching meltdown that left the Yankees as 13-9 losers to the rival Red Sox at Yankee Stadium on Saturday afternoon, giving them a historic dishonor. As FOX’s sideline reporter Ken Rosenthal shared (courtesy of Stats Inc.), never before had an American League team lost three straight home games in which it scored at least eight runs per contest.
The Yankees have been outscored in the first three games of this series, 34-25, and their team ERA is 10.55.
“We’ve got to turn it around,” manager Joe Girardi said. “The bottom line is, we’ve got to pitch better, because we are scoring some runs. We’ve got to figure out how to get them out.”
It’s a mind-blowing turn of events given that, for the majority of this season, the Yankees were an offense-starved team that stayed afloat thanks to their stellar pitching.
Saturday, for this critical matchup, the Yankees began the day knowing that relievers Shawn Kelley (right triceps), Boone Logan (left arm) and David Robertson (right shoulder) were out of commission and that Joba Chamberlain and Preston Claiborne probably weren’t available, either, due to excessive recent usage. Throw in the fact David Huff would be making his first Yankees start, getting promoted to replace the ineffective Phil Hughes, and it smelled like a recipe for disaster. Only a stunningly good outing by Huff could save the day.
And that didn’t happen. Huff threw a 1-2-3 first inning, then began the second inning by serving up a double to David Ortiz and a homer to Yankees-killer Mike Napoli. The left-hander lasted just 3 ¹/₃ innings, getting pounded for nine runs and eight hits.
“It was terrible,” Huff said. “Coming off what I’ve been doing and to have that happen today is just embarrassing on my part.”
Right-hander Jim Miller relieved Huff and picked up just four outs while giving up three more runs. If you’re grasping for any sort of silver lining during these dark times, Brett Marshall entered the game with two outs in the fifth — his second major-league appearance — and ate up the rest of the game’s innings, allowing just one more run and giving the Yankees’ offense a chance to do some damage and provide a sliver of hope against the Red Sox’s pitching.
“I learned from my last outing in May,” Marshall said. “I was kind of nervous. But I felt a lot better today.”
“He’s going to be a long man for us,” Girardi said of Marshall. “That’s how I’ll use him.”
Of course, the Yankees’ problems rise far higher than anything Brett Marshall can solve. Their bullpen has been savaged, and their starting rotation is suspect. Now, the Yankees need Sunday’s starting pitcher Hiroki Kuroda — who has been mired in the worst stretch of his season — to give them both length and quality against the best, hottest offense in the major leagues. Kuroda did just that July 20 at Fenway Park, yet that seems like eons ago. Kuroda is much worse and the Red Sox’s lineup much better.
“We’re obviously up against a really good team,” Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said. “You can’t afford to make mistakes, or you can’t afford to be not at full strength, or you can’t afford to be not firing on all cylinders, or they’ll take advantage. They’ve been taking advantage on every extra inch you give. Despite that, our guys keep fighting.”
In what has been understandably ripped as a weak minor league system, the Yankees’ best options to help — Vidal Nuno, David Phelps and Michael Pineda — also are injured. They have called up two pitchers in the prior two days, with Matt Daley’s arrival Friday preceding Miller on Saturday.
Amazingly, thanks in part to the Rays’ recent funk, the Yankees still have a mathematical chance to shock the world and make the playoffs once more. Yet you wonder what their chances are Sunday of limiting the Red Sox to, say, five runs or fewer. Based on what we’ve seen the last three days, that feels like a taller order than qualifying for the postseason.