NEW YORK — Think back to the day Gerrit Cole experienced the first twinge in his elbow. Remember how you felt about the Yankees beginning the season without their ace. This wasn’t just bad news, it was the Michael Corleone kiss of death for 2024.
No starter seemed capable of rescuing the Yankees. Each was sufficiently flawed to doom the rotation to (at least) a 5.00 ERA.
Carlos Rodon? With last year’s 6.85 ERA? Try again.
Not Nestor Cortes: Two shoulder injuries in ‘23. Flagged.
Maybe Marcus Stroman: Ah, no. Baggage. Lots of it.
Forget about Clarke Schmidt: Genetically programmed to be a No. 5.
What about Luis Gil? Please. Stop. He’s just a kid.
You get the point. The Yankees looked ready to disappear into the ether, and it wasn’t even Opening Day.
Now, fast forward one month, and every assumption about the Yankees has been proven to be a mirage.
The batting order, which was supposed to power the Yankees straight to October, has under-performed. The Bombers are in the middle of the pack in every offensive category in the American League except for walks. They lead the major leagues.
And that pitching staff? A tour de force. Even after a 3-1 loss to the A’s on Thursday, the numbers say Aaron Boone’s best hope for October – and, let’s face it, to save his job – is via the starting rotation.
It’s not that the Yankees have found an understudy for Cole. It’s that all the hurlers have discovered there’s life without the league’s Cy Young Award winner.
It’s not a long-term strategy (obviously), but just imagine the resources Boone will have at his disposal when Cole is healthy by late May.
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I talked to one MLB exec last week, who admitted, “(the Yankees starters) surprise me a little more every time through the rotation.”
Imagine, the Cole-less Bombers are third in the American League with a 3.06 ERA, second in strikeouts and have allowed three earned runs or fewer in 23 of 26 starts this season.
This could be the best playoff alignment since the mid-Jeter era. And the first significant test of the season is just around the corner.
Following a three-game series in Milwaukee this weekend, the Yankees head to Camden Yards for a collision of matter versus anti-matter. It’ll be the Yankees’ arms against the Orioles’ bats.
These are likely to be the East’s two best teams for the rest of the season, which means we’ll see if Rodon’s renewed fastball is for real, along with Cortes’ shoulder and Stroman’s comfort-level against a Yankees rival.
Ideally the Yankees would’ve liked to end the homestead by beating the A’s. It would’ve made for the perfect going-away present for the seven-game road trip.
But two obstacles got in the way.
First, the Bombers failed to capitalize on a first inning, no-out, bases-loaded rally against Oakland starter Alex Wood.
Not only did Wood and his 7.89 ERA pitch his way out of a disaster – Giancarlo Stanton struck out, Anthony Rizzo hit into a double play – he created a theme for the rest of the night: frustration.
The Yankees left 11 runners on base, teasing the Stadium crowd into thinking a breakout rally was coming in nearly every inning, including the ninth. More on that later.
The real problem is the Yankees’ inability to hit home runs, which were supposed to be in limitless supply this summer.
Aaron Judge and Juan Soto were prepped for a cool 100 jacks, right? Except they’re on a pace for approximately half that.
Overall, the Yankees are 11th in the majors in home runs. Not bad, but not great, either.
Boone conceded, “the home runs are a little streaky” but isn’t concerned just yet.
“We’re going to hit homers,’ he said. “Those kind of things tend to come in bunches. The biggest thing is to put ourselves in a position to have those opportunities.”
Funny Boone would mention that. Cortes survived his one shaky inning – the three-run third, when he surrendered home runs to Nick Allen and Tyler Nevin – to keep the Yankees close enough for an 11th hour comeback.
And there it was in the ninth: with one out and Anthony Volpe on first, the Yankees sent Soto and Judge to the plate. They were the potential tying runs. The Stadium, tired of the endless tease, was ready to see Oakland savaged.
This should’ve been a no-brainer, straight out of the Stomp the A’s handbook. There’s a long history of the Bombers’ dominance of this broken franchise, including the six straight series the Yankees have taken at the Stadium, dating back to 2017.
The problem was Obstacle No. 2. The A’s had their own secret weapon in closer Mason Miller, who blew away the Bombers in a 2-0 win on Monday night, striking out Volpe, Soto and Judge in the ninth inning with triple-digit heat.
Just like he did on Monday, Miller was throwing 100-mph fastballs that were as impossible to barrel as you would imagine.
Volpe got lucky, lashing a one-out single off a slider. But Miller went to work on Soto, striking him out on a 102-mph fastball that started at the belt and ended up near Soto’s neck.
It’s not often that Soto gets overpowered like that. I asked the right fielder after the game what he thought of Miller’s velocity.
“Pretty good, I have to tip my cap top him,” Soto said. “I haven’t seen him that much, not like other pitchers that I know better. But that fastball is pretty good. It rises.”
The game ended with moral victory: at least Judge didn’t strike out, lifting a fly ball to medium-deep right field.
Although not traumatic, the loss nevertheless cost the Yankees their spot atop the AL East. The Orioles are the division’s new dawgs. The winds of war are beginning to stir.
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Bob Klapisch may be reached at bklapisch@njadvancemedia.com.