OAKLAND, Calif. — Welcome to the Short-Series Nightmare for the Yankees.
The Yankees are learning some valuables lesson on this swing out west. First and foremost is they are not as invincible as their 57-37 record makes them out to be as they sit high atop the AL East. Despite all of their success, this is what could happen to the Yankees in the postseason if they run into some strong pitching.
The scrappy A’s have shown to be a little bit like the Rays of previous seasons. They have plenty of young pitching and just enough offense to make it interesting. Now they are just one win away from a four-game sweep of the mighty Yankees.
The Yankees lost their third straight one-run decision to the A’s last night at the O.co Coliseum, 2-1, and this time they were beaten by their own playbook.
Incredible rookie Yoenis Cespedes and ancient Brandon Inge slugged solo home runs off Phil Hughes to forge the victory for Oakland. Cespedes’ shot to deep left came in the fourth and Inge led off the eighth with a blast to right-center to snap the 1-1 tie.
“Cespedes is strong,’’ manager Joe Girardi said. “He hits the ball hard and squares it up on a consistent basis.’’
The A’s aren’t intimidated by the Yankees anymore, that’s for sure.
“They’ve really pitched well against us,’’ Mark Teixeira said. “If you pitch, you have the chance to win every game.’’
The win was the eighth for the A’s in their past nine games and pushed them into a tie for the second wild-card spot.
“There are some talented kids over there, and they are throwing the ball well,’’ Girardi said. “These guys have been command guys.’’
In 27 innings here, the Yankees have scored all of six runs as they have been completely throttled by three rookie pitchers. Last night it was Jarrod Parker, who allowed one run over eight innings. Lefty Sean Doolittle came on in the ninth, and after surrendering a leadoff single to Alex Rodriguez, he struck out Robinson Cano, Teixeira and pinch-hitter Andruw Jones.
The Yankees have struck out 25 times in this series and walked once. This series is giving the Yankees nightmares of what could happen when the playoffs roll around. Their offense has to find a way to manufacture runs in this type of game.
On Friday night, Tommy Milone delivered seven scoreless innings as he faced 25 batters. He threw first-pitch strikes to 22 of the batters he faced. Too often, opposing pitchers try to nibble against Yankees hitters, and they soon find themselves in trouble in the count and in the game. Attack early and make the Yankees expand the strike zone.
The Yankees have learned these A’s, a team they have been steamrolling for years, cannot be taken lightly. This is a much different team than the one the Yankees saw earlier in the season. General manager Billy Beane’s shrewd signing of Cespedes is beginning to pay huge dividends as the Cuban defector learns the difference between the MLB strike zone and the much wider international strike zone.
“We just can’t get him out right now,’’ catcher Russell Martin said.
Cespedes also picked up four hits Friday night and now has a nine-game hitting streak going during which he is batting .593. He is doing his mini-Bo Jackson imitation.
Friday night’s walk-off win was Oakland’s 10th of the season, though they really should be called dance-off wins because young teams like the A’s dance off the field in victory. Ten different A’s have contributed to the “dance-offs’’ with Brandon Moss becoming No. 10 Friday night with his game-winning single off Cody Eppley.
Last night it was a different Brandon, the veteran Inge, who did the damage against Hughes.
“We feel we can beat anyone,’’ Moss said. “We’ve come a long way. We don’t have a ton of big names, but we have good players.’’
The Yankees have learned that the last three nights. The A’s have been a nightmare.