Sports

Best Of Times To Worst For Yankees

April 9, 2018 2:23 PM·

By William Coppola 

In Charles Dickens “A Tail of Two Cities,” we are told: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us.” That was what Sundays final game of this four game series between the Yankees and the Orioles would turn out to be.

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The best of times was the bottom of the first inning when the Yanks put 5 big ones on the score board, batted around the order and chased the Birds starter Mike Wright Jr. before he could retire the side. It truly was a great way to start the day on a cold but sunny afternoon in the Bronx. Yankee starter Jordan Montgomery was getting outs and it began to look like it would be a comfortable win and happy day for the 37,096 in attendance, but then Baltimore began to chip away at that five run lead. It kind of creeped in slowly. A seeing eye hit here a soft grounder through the hole there and before you knew it it was a one run game at 5-4 after a two-run home run by the Orioles DH Danny Valencia. That was it for Montgomery who only lasted 4.1 innings. He needs to go deeper into games on 86 pitches.

Giving up 10 hits, four runs with only only four strike-outs was a disappointing performance for the big lefty. At times his curve was nasty and at other times it was a hanging meatball.

But the Yanks still had the lead when they brought in 25 year old Domingo Germán who got them out of the inning. He lasted 2.2 innings giving up only 3 hits with 5 strike-outs. Unfortunately one of those three hits was a two run home run to Anthony Santander and just like that the Orioles took the lead by one in the seventh inning. So now it was the worst of times. After the Yanks tied it up in the bottom half of the seventh, we saw Dellin Betances look good in the eighth and Aroldis Chapman equally do his job in the ninth. Was this about be the “season of light?”

Any ray of light was snuffed out in the 8th when Aaron Judge inexplicably took off for second with pitcher Daren O’Day standing motionless on the mound. It was an easy pick-off that ended the inning. Now the darkness began to creep in. After the Birds took the lead in the top of the 12th inning, the Yankees loaded the bases with no one out and Judge at bat. What happened next was the worst case scenario for the Bombers as he hit back to the box for a rare 1-2-5 double-play. Credit an alert Caleb Joseph who went to third instead of first for the DP. Leaving runners on first and second  instead of second and third.

And then the winter of despair as Giancarlo Stanton garnered his second platinum sombrero of the home-stand with his fifth strikeout of the day and another 0 -for 6 game.

The fans booed Stanton throughout the game. Granted he looked bad again but hey folks, we are only 10 games into the season. They should have been booing themselves for doing the wave in the bottom of the seventh with runners on first and second representing the tying and go-ahead runs with one out. Come on Yankee fans, get behind your team and support them. How about booing the visiting team once in awhile. If you think players just shrug that stuff off you are highly mistaken. Anyone remember pitcher Ed Whitson?

Sure it was the worst of times today but allow me to quote Scarlett O’Hara in “Gone with the wind: “After all, tomorrow is another day! “ There are another 152 games left in this still to be written story

COPPOLA IS A CONTRIBUTING SPORTS COLUMNIST FOR THE BRONX CHRONICLE. HIS BASEBALL BACKGROUND AS A PLAYER, COACH, UMPIRE, AND ADVANCED SCOUT BRING EXTENSIVE KNOWLEDGE TO HIS OPINIONS. 
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Author: Rich has covered countless New York Mets and Yankees games along with some of the greatest boxing matches over the years. His award winning sports column has been in the Bronx News (which recently folded) for 28 years. Mancuso also has been a sports journalist for the Associated Press, New York Daily News, Gannett Westchester newspapers, Boxing Digest Magazine, The Sports Network and Latinosports.com. Bronxites will recall that Rich once hosted a sports talk television program, “Bronx Scoreboard” on Bronxnet Television. In addition, Mancuso recently concluded a four-year run hosting a sports talk program on the Whitney Broadcasting Network station WVOX.