Yankees feeling the pressure but not panicking through difficult stretch

By Deesha Thosar
FOX Sports MLB Writer

NEW YORK — Where did the Yankees' swagger go?

It has been missing for a few weeks now, as an uninspiring and disjointed New York lineup has been shut out in four out of its past nine games. There was no sense of self-assurance in the most critical moments of the Yankees’ 4-0 loss to the Rays on Monday in front of 42,192 at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees have lost 10 of their past 12 games, and they’ve scored just eight runs in their past 59 innings, or five games.

"Right now, we gotta do better," manager Aaron Boone said following Monday's loss. "It's hard. It's hard right now. We gotta find a way. We gotta keep digging ourselves out of this. You go through something like this, a couple individuals that struggle a little bit with their confidence right now, you gotta find a way when it's difficult."

Fans are irritated. They spent money on parking, tickets, food and drinks and filled up Yankee Stadium, only to watch their team crumble in front of a division rival. Fans poured it on in the fourth inning following a particularly underwhelming at-bat from outfielder Aaron Hicks. High-decibel boos blared after Hicks, with the bases loaded and the Yankees trailing by one run, grounded into an inning-ending double play. 

It marked the fourth time this season that Hicks has produced that exact outcome, which leads the major leagues.

At least some Yankees are struggling with the pressure of their recent stretch. Boone mentioned as much, multiple times, in his postgame news conference Monday. "A few individuals are wearing it," he said again and again. 

But what always followed that admission was Boone’s expectation that his players should be equipped to navigate and handle the adversity. 

"Obviously, it’s not nice to hear boos," said Hicks, who's slashing .218/.339/.305 in 102 games this year. "But when you’re having the season the way that I am, that’s kind of the way it goes, especially around here. They want results."

"People are getting on you. That's part of this business. That's part of wearing this uniform — certainly, wearing the pinstripes," Boone said. "It's gonna be gut-check time. It's gonna be difficult at different points of the season. We gotta find a way to level through that and just focus on your process, play your game."

How much panic has this disappointing stretch caused in the clubhouse? Frankly, not much. Despite going 8-16 since the All-Star break, the Yankees still lead the American League East by 10 games. They can thank the Blue Jays for that sizable edge. Toronto has gone 3-8 in its past 11 games and has so far failed to take advantage of the Yankees’ second-half plunge.

The Yankees will insist that their double-digit divisional lead is not causing complacence. Ask them about their possible lack of urgency, and they will laugh, as Gerrit Cole did Monday following his strong six innings of one-run ball against the Rays. 

The Yankees are motivated to win every night, third baseman Josh Donaldson said, and no one in that clubhouse is waiting for a magic potion to come and save them. 

"We come to play every day," Donaldson said. "We're not getting complacent in what we're doing. But we do realize — we've earned the cushion that we have at the moment. And nobody's fretting that we lost a few games. Obviously, we're not trying to make a habit out of it. We know that we have the team to compete and to win a lot of games, like we have this year."

The Yankees are frustrated, to be sure. First baseman Anthony Rizzo smashed his helmet on the dugout bench, over and over and over, after he struck out against southpaw Ryan Yarbrough in the third inning Monday. Losing is lousy, and no one wants to get back to their winning ways more than the Yankees. After all, they were on pace to set records this season. Many expected the 2022 Bronx Bombers, whose 64 wins in the first half set a franchise record, to break the 2001 Mariners’ record of 116 wins in a season. But with the way they’ve been playing lately, it’s difficult to believe this team was being compared to the vaunted 1998 Yankees.

While this recent stretch has given fans every reason to question whether this is a championship-caliber team, the Yankees' divisional advantage means they still sport a 100 percent chance of making the playoffs, per FanGraphs. The Blue Jays' squandering their opportunity to pounce on the going-through-it Yankees means New York can afford to practice patience and trust the process. 

It might sound boring, Boone said, but that’s really all the Yankees can do in these dog days of August. Well, that and eagerly await the returns of their injured players, key cogs such as Giancarlo Stanton (left Achilles soreness) and DJ LeMahieu (toe injury).

"It’s just a matter of getting everything clicking," Boone said. "We've had a couple of key guys out to varying degrees over this stretch. But that happens with everyone. You gotta be able to find a way when you don't necessarily have everyone or it's not perfect. That's our biggest challenge right now — is to find a way to push through in a lot of these games where a lot of good things are happening, but we're not good enough to ultimately be shaking hands at the end of the day."

In the backdrop of the Yankees (72-44) trying to ride out the baseball calendar and withstand their unfortunate injuries is a particularly challenging schedule. They are in the midst of a three-game series against the Rays (61-53), followed by four games against the Blue Jays (61-53), in which the Yankees’ still-strong lead could really take a hit if Toronto seizes the opportunity. Then New York's nine-game homestand wraps up with the final Subway Series of the regular season, against a Mets team (75-41) that has looked unstoppable behind Max Scherzer and Jacob deGrom.

This homestand could still be a turning point for a team that was ruthless to begin the season. Aaron Judge and his major-league-leading 46 home runs are a constant lineup threat. The Yankees' pitching staff, ranked third in MLB with a 3.29 ERA, is beginning to get back on track. Cole has allowed just one run in his past 18 innings pitched. There are encouraging pieces holding this team together. Now they just need a spark — and some consistency — to get their swagger back.

"It’s just one of those funks that's hard to put into words," Cole said. "The challenge is that it can be a little bit deflating when you are in this situation and, you know, we're selling out and not getting the results. But nobody's going to feel sorry for you. Baseball's tough, and things like this happen. 

"You can't choose as a player and as a team what bad things are going to happen to you. You can only choose how you respond to it." 

Deesha Thosar is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. She previously covered the Mets for three-and-a-half seasons as a beat reporter for the New York Daily News. The daughter of Indian immigrants, Deesha grew up on Long Island and now lives in Queens. She never misses a Rafael Nadal match, no matter what country or time zone he’s playing in. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.