ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Yankees, the most successful team in MLB history, are finding their offense back. After Tuesday’s 7-4 win over the Angels, their clubhouse bustled with music while fans joked and laughed. Never before had the clubhouse been so loose. The Bombers haven’t consistently won games in a while.
Yankees’ Tuesday went as planned. Aaron Judge’s three-run homer overwhelmed the Angels. And fans became jubilant expecting a turnaround in the Yankees’ fortunes.
The famed offense of the Yankees has been struggling throughout the past month.
The mighty New York team was without a win in four games until Tuesday. They shared the series honors with the Los Angeles Angels, MLB’s weakest performer, and lost game 1 to the Angels.
The Bombers were clearly underperforming. Until last month, their OPS was .657 (MLB rank 26), which is above only that of the Detroit Tigers and the Angels. At .357, the Yankees’ slugging percentage was also third from the bottom. Only the Tigers and the Angels had worst performances than them.
Dillon Lawson, the hitting coach for the Yankees, is aware that the adversity is real, but he has discovered things that have encouraged him. He says:
Manoah, Scherzer, 13 runs on day one in Oakland, Lawson said before Tuesday’s win. It really isn’t a matter of whether or not we can do it. It’s a matter of consistency at this point.
There have been bright spots in August (10-17) and since the All-Star break (15-23). The Yankees stood their ground against Toronto’s Alek Manoah. They rout Max Scherzer and the Mets. They surged past the Angels with a 13-run performance Thursday reminding their fans that their first-half troubles were over.
Lawson knows why the Yankees offense has failed to live up to the expectations. They lost big hitters, obviously.
Leg injury sidelined Giancarlo Stanton for 28 games. Matt Carpenter fractured his foot four weeks ago. Back spasms forced Anthony Rizzo to remain away for nine games in a month while DJ LeMahieu’s big toe affects his swing.
Lawson recognizes the domino effect that has developed as a result of this factor contributing to the slide.
And then everyone else tried to do what they felt was right, which is totally natural as a competitor as a teammate, you want to elevate your game but you’re playing at your highest level already. So then reaching and grasping for more, Lawson said.
And so you get all of that type of stuff coming from a really good place, but now instead of a two day thing you’ve actually got to really dig yourself out of this hole. So that’s what we’re trying to do right now.
Lawson appeals to fans to allow Stanton a few games to get back his rhythm. Gleyber Torres is getting used to balls and returning to his usual. LeMahieu is trying hard to make things happen despite all odds. Rizzo may be finding his strength back after hitting home runs for the last two games in a row.
Finding what went wrong is part of the process that Lawson and his hitters are looking at. After a long season that failed to live up to what fans expect from the Yankees, the team needs “a north star” to guide them to the World Series.
So they know that just because they won 7-4 on Tuesday doesn’t mean everything is okay with their offense.
What we have to do in order to win a World Series, the results actually matter, Lawson said.
We’ll take an ugly 3-2 win right now. You can take the bright spots, but you can’t ignore all the things that need to be cleaned up and tightened up for the postseason.
What do you think? When will the Yankees get back their fierce reputation as hard hitters? Do you have any message for baseball fans on it?
