With Derek Jeter, Curtis Granderson, and Mark Teixeira given the full day off, the Yankees lost the rubber game with the Toronto Blue Jays, 3-0. Brandon Morrow held the weaker Yankees lineup out of the scoreboard for 8 innings.
The Yankees offense was missing huge parts of their offense as they get ready for the remainder of their season without an off day. Girardi didn’t even flinch at the possibility of giving them time in today’s game as there were opportunities to score late in the game but he stayed with the likes of Ramiro Pena and Chris Dickerson. The standout for the Yankees offense today was Eduardo Nunez, who had 3 hits today including a double. With the lineup Girardi presented today, the likelihood of a win was slim and it was evident with the lack of offense.
Freddy Garcia started today’s game and was a victim of Adam Lind twice as the Blue Jays 1st baseman went deep twice to account for 2 of the 3 runs in today’s game. Garcia has shown that he is more than capable of surrendering the home run as he has given up 7 home runs in his last 4 starts, 2 in each of his last 3. Despite Garcia leaving with only 3 runs on the scoreboard, the Yankees bullpen didn’t have their best arms available due to recent workload and upcoming series against AL East and Wild Card contending Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox. The makeshift bullpen consisted of Aaron Laffey, Luis Ayala, Scott Proctor, Raul Valdes, and George Kontos but they held the Blue Jays off of the scoreboard.
The unavailable regulars and improvised bullpen may be a clear indication that Girardi may not have valued today’s game as highly as the upcoming series will be, especially since at the time the Red Sox were trailing the Tampa Bay Rays. It might have been better to get as many wins as possible to reduce the Magic Number to make the postseason but the upcoming schedule will be difficult and getting the rest for important players could play a pivotal role in deciding how the AL East standings will look.
Ryan Nakada
@adakannayr
