The Yankees will lose their share of games during a long baseball season, but the way they lose games can magnify some of the struggles a team can have.
And right now, the Yankees' inconsistent offense reared its head in Saturday's 7-0 loss to the last place Athletics.
Entering Saturday's game, the Athletics had the second-worst ERA in all of baseball (5.42) in addition to the second-highest batting average against (.267). Those numbers didn't matter as the Yankees could only muster three hits (all singles) and through the first two games of this weekend series, have only put up three runs.
After the game, the prevailing question raised to the players and manager Aaron Boone was, what's going on with the offense?
"Yeah, just a little inconsistent, going through it a little bit right now," DJ LeMahieu, who had the team's final hit, said. "But, obviously, we have all the confidence in the world in our lineup. Just haven't gotten hot at the same time… a couple guys doing their thing, but collectively, I don’t think it's enough."
"It's just baseball. We just haven't performed our best the last couple weeks, but there's going to be ups and downs, and I think the point is just to keep going," Paul Goldschmidt, who had one of the Yankees' three hits, said after the game. "Keep making the adjustments that are needed individually and as a group and have good at-bats, that we're a very capable team. Just take it every day out there. Try to win as many games as possible."
Boone said the team was "held down" by Athletics starter JP Sears, who historically hasn't pitched well against the Yankees but has shut them down this season. In two starts against New York this year, Sears has allowed just one run across 10.2 innings pitched.
What made him effective on Saturday was the change of speeds and executing his spots to both lefties and righties. But going back to his lineup, Boone understands they've been inconsistent, but he believes there have been more good games than bad of late.
However, he feels the offense has gone away from taxing the pitchers like when they are hitting well, but Boone thinks it's only a matter of time.
"Last two days, been shut down a little bit more than we'd like, but you got to get a couple guys going, and in times like this, it always comes down to getting a big hit with runners out there," Boone said. "We're doing an okay job of creating some traffic, even though we haven't gotten a lot of hits the last two days. But I feel like, over the last week, 10 days, we've had our opportunities. We got to cash them in… It comes down to you gotta cash in when you get opportunities when you're going through a little bit."
On Saturday, the Yankees went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position and left six runners on base. Aaron Judge was the main culprit in that stat, stranding two runners in the third inning and another in the sixth. Over his last 15 games, Judge is hitting .182 with three homers and has struck out 24 times.
Boone attributes this rough patch for Judge to baseball, but was encouraged by two hard-hit balls that were outs — including a 406-foot flyball that would have been a home run in 20 parks.
But the Yankee captain isn't the only one struggling. Goldschmidt has tapered off from his hot start to the season. Over his last 30 games, the former NL MVP is slashing just .198/.267/.321 and the Yankee first baseman acknowledged he isn't helping the team as they go through this tough month of June.
"I feel good. I feel fine, but you know, I haven't played well for the last few weeks, maybe even this whole month," he said. "So, again, that's part of the game and working to see if there's, you know, adjustments to be made and trying to show up every day and perform.
"But that's hurt our team, the way I've played this month, and, again, just show up and be ready to go tomorrow and every day. Just try to help us win."
In June, the Yankees are 12-14, but they remain confident their offense will come alive again because, as LeMahieu said, they've shown who they can be already this season.
"I just saw it the first two months. And it's a long season," he said. "I hate saying that, but you want to win every game, but I know we'll be fine. We just gotta keep going, keep getting better."
The Yankees will host the Athletics for the rubber game of their series on Sunday.
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