This is going to be a quick post today. Like with the post about the Lions before this, I have very little positive to say. Ben Rice. That’s it. That’s all I’ve got that is positive to say.
Things went wrong immediately in the first. McMahon couldn’t field what should’ve been a groundout, Jazz Chisholm Jr. forced a throw that could not be made which resulted in a run, and Wells was called for catcher’s interference on what would have been strike three. Three errors in the first inning. Pathetic. Cam was lucky to get out of it and only be down 1-0. For the first three innings, the Rays had at least two baserunners in every single inning. In that same period, we didn’t get on base once. It was an awful showing to start.
Rice started the 4th with his first homer of the day which was nice to see and Bellinger scorched a single. Sadly no one else could do a thing but at least we were tied. Schlittler had a good 4th inning and on to the 5th we went. Wells doubled, McMahon and Rice walked, Bellinger hit a deep fly ball that went about 400 feet but ended up as a fly out. It was a good inning but we didn’t come away with anything.
Bottom of the 5th was misery again, more errors and dysfunction from the infield. Jones hesitated on a fly ball that he might’ve been able to catch, Cam got pulled after only 4.1, and the Rays put 4 more runs on the board. We were down 5-1. Only 2 of their runs were earned which goes to show that playing clean defense matters. The next few innings sucked, Boone continued to keep our lefty batters in against their lefty pitcher and unsurprisingly we could not touch him. The exception being Ben Rice who hit another home run. We quickly got out three times against their closer and that was that.
The only time all game that there was any hope and life was after Rice’s first homer; the rest of the time was unacceptable. The entire game was watching the Yankees shoot themselves in the foot over and over, the manager changing nothing, and waiting for the inevitable Yankees defeat. With Cam on the mound we needed to win but instead had what was probably the most embarrassing postseason performance since game 5 of the 2024 World Series. We sucked.
I still expect to win game 3 because the Yankees love to have their false hope gimmick. I think we win game 3 with Fried on the mound and then get shut down by Rasmussen again on Thursday. This game was humiliating and it is no different than years past. The defense sucked as it did in 2024. And it is the exact same song and dance as last year: beat Boston in the wild card and get destroyed by a division rival in the ALDS. It sucks to watch but honestly is not too surprising since this year’s team is the run-it-back Yankees anyway. Hopefully I am wrong and we win the next three. I don’t think it’ll happen but there will always be that small part of me that wants to believe.