Three takeaways from Yankees' series vs. Rays

TAMPA, Fla. — Three takeaways from the Yankees' series against the Rays at Steinbrenner Field, where they won three out of four games:

1. The Yankees took care of business

Much was made — and not without cause — about the strange circumstances of the Yankees playing a “road” series at Steinbrenner Field, the franchise’s spring training home since 1996. But other than using words such as “odd” and “weird” before the series opener, primarily related to using the visitor’s clubhouse and the third-base dugout, they treated it like any other road series. Before Thursday’s game, Rays second baseman Brandon Lowe predicted the Yankees would get used to the oddity of it all in about “30 minutes,” and that proved prophetic. Only Devin Williams’ ninth-inning implosion Saturday, when he allowed four runs in what became a 10-inning loss, kept the Yankees from a four-game sweep.

2. MLB official scoring continues to not be very good

Aaron Boone, ejected for the first time this season, still was irate afterward regarding Aaron Judge’s at-bat in the eighth inning, when he was called out on strikes. Boone, though in his words “hot” earlier in the day over called third strikes on Jasson Dominguez and Trent Grisham by plate umpire Adam Beck, was far more upset about third-base umpire Scott Barry calling Judge's towering drive one pitch before the strikeout foul when replays appeared to show it fair.

But Boone, during his postgame news conference, also took a detour in verbalizing something players, coaches, managers and executives have commented about privately  in recent years: the woeful inconsistencies in official scoring decisions, especially when it comes to charging players with errors (most official scorers now err on the side of awarding hits rather than errors). It has been  a noticeable change the last few seasons, even as MLB has contended that nothing has changed in that regard. Those inside the game believe otherwise.

“Look, I scratch my head at the official scorers nightly,” Boone said. “They throw an error up on the board at Yankee Stadium and then we go to these other places and they can fire up a hit with the best of them. It’s a different game in every other park, it really is. I’m sure there’s some that are similar. But there’s times I get involved [in these situations during] the year and I’m like, ‘what are we doing?’ ”

3. Jazz is going to Jazz

Ask the outgoing, one-of-one Jazz Chisholm Jr. a question and you’ll get an honest answer. It makes him popular with the media and, far more important, with his teammates. There’s no telling where his stream-of-consciousness answers will lead, with Saturday one example. Chisholm was fined $5,000 and suspended one game for his ejection during Thursday’s game, the suspension coming about because he took to X just minutes after the ejection to criticize a strike three call (which appeared low) by plate umpire John Bacon. MLB policy prohibits uniformed personnel from using electronic devices, other than iPads approved by the league, during a  game. Players appeal suspensions pretty much 100% of the time and Chisholm is no different, though his reasoning had an unintentional (or maybe slightly intentional) comedic bent to it. He said there’s a “gray area” in the policy, given that he had been ejected and  technically wasn’t “in” the game. Credit him for creativity, but the suspension is all but certain to be upheld.

By Erik Boland

erik.boland@newsday.comeboland11

Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.