It was Willie Calhoun who was standing in right field just under the Judge’s Chambers firstly of Sunday night’s rubber game against the Red Sox.
Media relations associate Tristan Vitale began handing out the black robes shortly before first pitch.
The jurors who were sitting within the Judge’s Chambers made essentially the most of their night within the privileged seats on the bench, but they sure missed No. 99.
And we were reminded again that so will the Yankees, 3-2 losers in 10 innings, until Aaron Judge is back.
Judge’s absence puts immeasurable strain on the pitching staff to carry the fort for so long as it possibly can until someone, anyone with a bat in his hands, can pick up the slack.
Nobody did.
They were chanting “Volpe, Volpe” with DJ LeMahieu on third with the tying run and two outs after Jose Trevino had whiffed within the tenth, on an evening when Bucky Dent was sitting within the suites to witness his favorite rivalry.
But Anthony Volpe, struggling enough for Aaron Boone to rest him at shortstop, fanned against Chris Martin, and Kiké Hernandez’s RBI single off Ron Marinaccio proved to be the difference.
Bring on the Mets!
And the way in which the Mets been playing, bring on the Mets as soon as possible, because Tuesday night’s Subway Series opener at Citi Field won’t be here soon enough.
There is completely no margin for error without Judge, and if to err is human, the Yanks were too human on tonight.
Gleyber Torres made a lazy, nonchalant backhand stab at a one-hop lob from left fielder Billy McKinney that allowed Hernandez to advance to second and eventually rating the tying run off Michael King within the eighth.
Torres sang the blues.
“I attempted to catch really fast and check out to possibly throw to first base. … The error is on me … nothing difficult. … just perfect throw. … Every part is on me,” he said.
McKinney classily took the blame, but he was being too kind.
“We gotta be more careful with the ball,” Boone said.
We’ll never know if the dominant Yankees bullpen — this time the baton was passed from Scranton-to-Bronx yo-yo Nick Ramirez to King to Clay Holmes to Marinaccio — could have given Boone enough relief.
Aside from the rehabbing Carlos Rodon plunking Calhoun within the left elbow during live batting practice and Calhoun living to inform about it, and Boone coming away impressed with Rodon’s 93-96 mph velocity, and one other quality outing from Clarke Schmidt, and a leaping catch on the wall by McKinney, there was little else to comfort Boone.
As an example, Anthony Rizzo was picked off second by starter Brayan Bello with two outs within the sixth.
“Couple of things today we didn’t do great,” Boone said.
Therein lies the issue. The Yankees are 8-10 without Judge. They’ve scored 21 runs within the seven games since Judge’s toe woes began. Just a few things they fail to do great in a game can cost them dearly.
Oh, and Rizzo is mired in a 1-for-30 slump since June 2, or the worst possible time. He slammed his bat in disgust after one at-bat when he flied to right.
“He’s just going through a tricky stretch straight away,” Boone said.
The Yankees managed three hits and one in all them, a Trevino ground ball that caromed off second base, gifted them their lone runs within the second.
Thankfully, the Yankees made Judge their $360M man. They are only one other team without him. Sort of just like the Mets without Pete Alonso. Just one other team that struggles to seek out a strategy to win without him.
Flubway Series until further notice.
Bring on the Mets … Please!