Yankees' epic failure Sunday puts a bow on a miserable week
Juan Soto #22 of the Yankees runs off the field after the seventh inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Yankee Stadium on Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024. Credit: Jim McIsaac
During the ninth inning Sunday, with the Stadium nearly empty and the remaining fans sitting in the debris of the Yankees’ 14-7 loss to the Cardinals, the building was so quiet that you could hear individual voices.
“Call up Dominguez!” one cried out.
Oh, yeah. Right. The Martian. We almost forgot.
By then, after 3 hours and 21 minutes of torturous baseball by both sides, the morning outrage over Jasson Dominguez’s exclusion from the Sept. 1 call-up list had plenty of new targets. A few surprising culprits, too.
There was Juan Soto, an average defender inexplicably positioned shallow in rightfield’s postage-stamp-sized lawn, misjudging at least two fly balls and possibly a third, with the trio leading to four runs. Nestor Cortes — arguably pitching to keep his spot in the rotation — stumbled badly in giving up nine hits and five runs in four innings.
As for the bullpen, what can you say about a relief corps that gets tagged for nine runs in five innings — not to mention putting a blowtorch to the Yankees’ comeback efforts after they rallied from a 7-2 deficit to tie it in the sixth.
To think the Cardinals turned in one of the worst defensive games you’ll ever see — their two official errors don’t even scratch the surface of their ineptitude — and St. Louis still won by a touchdown?
Hard to fathom. Inexplicable, really. But this epic failure put a bow of shame on a miserable week for the Yankees, who went 2-4 against the Nationals and Cardinals, teams merely crossing off the days until vacation.
While it’s easy to get worked up about Dominguez being passed over for pinch-running specialist Duke Ellis in Sunday’s roster expansion (more on that later), Aaron Boone & Co. have plenty of issues that won’t immediately be solved by the switch-hitting Martian. They all had their turn on the Bronx stage for Sunday’s debacle.
“It’s just part of baseball,” Soto said. “Things are going to go up and down all the way. It’s not as easy as it looks out there. We’re definitely trying.”
The Yankees are 29-36 since their 50-22 start and too often have made winning look far more difficult than it should be for a team with a $313 million payroll. As for the trying part, well, that came into question Sunday when general manager Brian Cashman chose to leave Dominguez at Triple-A Scranton.
Boone explained the decision by saying they want Dominguez — still developing at age 21 after missing half this season because of UCL rehab and an oblique strain — to play every day wherever he’s stationed. And for now, the Yankees don’t feel the need to push aside Alex Verdugo to force the issue for Dominguez, who has nine MLB games under his belt.
In addition, the Yankees could be mindful of keeping Dominguez’s rookie status intact for 2025, and with 35 at-bats already on his resume, that means 96 more through the end of this regular season would cost him his rookie status. (They would pick up a draft pick if Dominguez figures into a major award as a rookie next year.)
Even with that being a possible factor, it shouldn’t keep Dominguez at Triple-A for too long. There are only 25 games left in the season, so the Yankees could flip Ellis for the Martian by midweek. No offense to Ellis, but it’s farcical to have him on the 28-man roster instead of Dominguez, especially when the Yankees insist he’s ready for the promotion.
“Certainly in the conversation,” Boone said before Sunday’s game. “Will remain in the conversation going forward. Tough call right now, but it doesn’t mean that doesn’t change in a couple days, in a week, two weeks, whatever it is.”
The Martian’s primary obstacle, Verdugo, played Sunday like a guy who realizes he’s on thin ice. Coming in, Verdugo’s .585 OPS since June 1 ranked 140th out of 146 players with enough plate appearances to qualify, but he also was on a mini-resurgence, hitting .346 (9-for-26) with a homer in his previous seven games.
On Sunday, Verdugo had two singles with runners in scoring position (but just one RBI) to pad that streak, but he earned a major demerit for his failure to catch Masyn Winn’s fly ball down the line in the fourth, turning it into a two-run double.
It was within diving or sliding range, but Verdugo pulled up. Did the manager think he had a legit chance to catch it?
“I was hoping,” Boone said.
As for the players the Yankees did recall Sunday, Anthony Rizzo’s two-hit performance was encouraging after 2 1⁄2 months away because of a broken arm. Reliever Scott Effross, however, wasn’t exactly worth the wait. In his first appearance for the Yankees since 2022, he gave up two singles and a two-run homer by Jordan Walker before Boone sprinted to the mound to retrieve him.
“The days are numbered now and every game is going to be more meaningful moving forward,” Rizzo said. “No one’s just going to lay down.”
It’s long past time for the Yankees to wake up.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
