BOSTON — For the first time since 1922, the New York Yankees scored only four runs in a three-game series at Fenway Park, marking a historic low for the team during their weekend matchup. What did we just watch?
The Yankees’ pitching was effective throughout the series, keeping them competitive in each game; however, the offense struggled, producing only four total runs across the three-game set, including none in Sunday’s matchup.
The Yankees displayed poor fundamentals throughout the series, committing several costly baserunning mistakes that squandered key scoring opportunities. When asked about the baserunning issues over the weekend, Manager Aaron Boone told the media, “You know, Benny’s pretty adept at picking his spots there, obviously with two outs there. We got the trail runner coming, but we gotta be more certain than that. That’s a play where, you know, we can’t get caught like that.” Boone confirmed that the Yankees were attempting to execute a double steal in that situation, but the play was unsuccessful.
When asked about the Yankees’ offensive struggles during the series, manager Aaron Boone told the media, “Concerning? I mean, I wouldn’t put it that way. I would just say, you always — especially when you’re playing the Red Sox — you always want to put your best foot forward. They took us down this weekend, back-to-back weekends. You hate that, but we have a really good club, and just didn’t play our best here this weekend. Obviously had a hard time putting runs on the board. I thought overall, I thought we pitched pretty well and did enough run prevention wise to keep them in check to hopefully win some games, but we just didn’t get much going.”
Despite the team being swept by a division rival on the road, I observed smirks and smiles throughout the press conference, which seemed out of place given the circumstances. I feel that the mood should be somber after being swept like this, especially from the Manager who is the leader of the clubhouse and sets the tone. In my opinion, smiling and smirking could send the wrong message to the clubhouse.
The Yankees record against the AL East is not great this season, but that is partly caused by the 1–5 record against the Red Sox:
The good news for the Yankees is that they will face the Los Angeles Angels, a team they swept in Anaheim three weeks ago. The Angels are coming off a three-game sweep at the hands of the Orioles and will likely enter the series looking to play aggressively against the Yankees, who are also struggling after losing three consecutive games. On paper, the Angels are a team the Yankees should handle with relative ease. However, the same was said about the Red Sox, casting doubt on whether the Yankees will perform to the best of their abilities this week.