Fans Beside Themselves After Yankees Forfeit Easy Run Thanks to Lack of Effort

Just Thursday, in a sweep at the hands of the Cincinnati Reds, New York Yankees fans let Trent Grisham hear it over a ninth-inning mental blunder that resulted in a single turning into a double.

The next night, the Yankees base running took an easy run off the board for the Yankees.

In the bottom of the third inning on Friday against the Boston Red Sox, New York had runners on the corners (DJ LeMahieu on first, Anthony Volpe on third). Ben Rice hit a ball straight to first and was tagged for the second out of the inning. LeMahieu charged at second and was tagged out for the double play. Presumably, Volpe should have had enough time to score from third base to at least get a run out of the exchange before switching sides.

Instead, Volpe lumbered into home and didn’t touch the plate before LeMahieu was tagged out. Result? No run.

It was the correct call by the home plate umpire, and one that’s hard to watch for Yankees fans. The only people to blame are Volpe, for ball watching the play at-hand and not hustling home, and LeMahieu for not having the situational awareness to get himself engaged in a run-down to give Volpe as much time as possible.

As for what can explain the lack of concentration, one could point to the rain delay that lasted about a half an hour just before this offensive set that may have gotten players out of their groove. The easier, and likely better, explanation is that the Yankees just are not playing like themselves, and have let the general down mood permeate.

It’s a sign that the bad times are yet to turn around for the Bronx Bombers, who have lost 14 of their last 20 games. They’ve gone from up 2.5 games in the AL East to down 2.0.

Fans could not accept what they saw: