“Nothing’s working right now.”
Takeaways from Tonight's Game:
New York, NY — What the actual f*** was that? Besides the ninth inning, this game was a disaster. The Yankees were one for nine with Runners in Scoring position, but hey, we had some good at-bats.
The Yankees came to the ninth inning with a 2-1 lead, calling on Devin Williams for the save. Williams gave up a single to George Springer, on a 2-2 pitch, plunked Andrés Giménez, putting two on with no outs. The big blow was an RBI double by Alejandro Kirk. Another run came around on an RBI single off Leiter Jr.. That was the game.
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Devin Williams has been an utter disaster. He has an 11.25 ERA in 8.0 innings. He simply can’t be the guy for the ninth inning anymore. Luke Weaver NEEDS to be the closer.
I defended Williams, and I can’t do it anymore. He has single handedly costed the Yankees two games in the past week. I know closers blow saves, but he looks lost on the mound and his body language reeks of uncomfort.
Aaron Boone was asked about Devin Williams remaining in the closer’s role, and Boone did not answer if they are considering a change. However, when he was asked if Williams could benefit with being placed in lower leverage situations until he figures his stuff out, Boone replied with “we’ll see”.
Simply put, Boone is not going to bash his players to the media, or make decisions while the wound of the loss is still raw, but the Yankees have to know that they can’t continue to put Williams in the ninth inning to blow games.
When Williams met the media, he said “Nothing’s working right now.”, referring to his overall performance. When asked about the “we want weaver” chants reigning down from the 46,000 Yankees fans in attendance, he replied "Everyone has their opinions.".
At this point, it’s less about the opinions, it’s more about the facts, and the fact is Weaver is more proven to be a dominant closer in New York, with a 0.00 ERA in 2025 and closed out on an AL Champion team, posting a 1.76 ERA in the postseason and a 0.58 ERA since taking over for Clay Holmes last September.
Enough about the pitching, because the offense certainly had opportunities to blow this game open, but fell short.
First of all, the sixth inning with Jazz attempting to steal second on a 3-0 pitch to Anthony Volpe, was one of the dumbest things I have ever seen. I get Volpe has pretty much been dead at the plate lately, but in a hitter’s count, its not worth the stolen base. However, Boone defended this and Bellinger earlier in the inning trying to steal second after Walking, by saying:
(Via YES Network):
“Jazz has a very high-rate success. You know, get in scoring position with a strike thrower, with a lefty behind Volpe, you know, you know, runner in scoring position. Fine with that. The Bellinger one, Really good pitch to throw on and Kirk made a good throw, but we're not going to sit on our hands like we have that ability to.”
I will say that Volpe did have some better at-bats today, and did not strike out. When Anthony is putting the ball in play more, good things will happen for both him and the team. When Boone was asked about Volpe’s performance today, he said:
(Via YES Network):
“His swing tonight. I thought he looked great. I thought his BP was really good. I thought his first at-bat, you know, just missed that ball, hit it well to left. Then I thought his next at-bat was really good where he hit the ball well to center, just got underneath it a little bit, and then obviously smoked a ball to right.”
The Yankees will send their Ace out tomorrow (weather pending) to try to even this series at a game a piece.
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