Moments removed from their Friday night win over the Mets, Yankees players found a gift in their lockers.
Waiting for each of them inside Citi Field’s visiting clubhouse was a pair of custom Timberland boots. The footwear came complete with each players’ name and number, and courtesy of Jazz Chisholm Jr.
“It’s a New York thing,” Chisholm, who had been taking his teammates’ pants before giving them boots, told the Daily News before Sunday’s Subway Series finale. “We’re trying to just show that we’re a little bit more New York than them.”
Unfortunately for the Yankees, they didn’t stomp on the Mets on Saturday night after showing up in their new Timbs. Sunday also ended in defeat, as they lost a 10-inning affair, 7-6, and the season’s first battle for New York in disastrous fashion.
The Yankees were one out away from taking the Subway Series, but closer David Bednar hung a first-pitch curveball to Tyrone Taylor with two men on in the ninth inning. The Mets’ outfielder responded with a three-run jack, which tied the game at six.
The Yankees then failed to score in the top of the 10th despite getting their ghost runner to third with one out, as the struggling Austin Wells grounded into an inning-ending double play. A few minutes later, the Mets walked off the Yankees, who were using a five-man infield, when Max Schuemann and Anthony Volpe collided on a soft chopper up the middle with runners on the corners.
“It’s in no-man’s land,” Aaron Boone said, noting that he didn’t think a clean play would have resulted in an out at the plate.
“It just didn’t end up where I wanted it to be,” Bednar added of his misplaced breaking ball.
That unfortunate series of events brought an end to what Boone called a “terrible road trip.” The Yanks went 2-7 against the Brewers, Orioles and Mets.
“It’s very frustrating,” Schuemann said. “We’re a really good team. I think it’ll turn.”
Now the second-place squad, 28-19 and three games back in the American League East, will return to the Bronx for a seven-game homestand. They’ll host two division rivals, Toronto and Tampa Bay.
The third-place Blue Jays, playing the Bombers and visiting Yankee Stadium for the first time since winning the ALDS there last October, are 21-25 and 9.5 games out of first. While the aching Canadian club is under .500, Aaron Judge said the reigning American League champs still have a “great” team.
“Anytime a team knocks you out of the postseason, you can’t wait to see them again,” Judge said. “I haven’t watched much of their games yet. I know a couple of their guys are banged up a little bit, but I’m looking forward to, tonight, doing a little research on them.
“It’s going to be a good matchup, but I think the boys are ready.”
Toronto has Patrick Corbin, Dylan Cease and Trey Yesavage lined up to start the first three games of the four-game set. The Jays haven’t announced their series finale starter yet, while Ryan Weathers, Will Warren, Cam Schlittler and Carlos Rodón are scheduled to throw for the scuffling Yankees.
While the Yankees’ matchup with the Jays is highly-anticipated given the way last season ended, the Rays are the ones pacing the AL East. With a 30-15 record, they hold a three-game division lead.
Tampa, speedy, contact-oriented and buoyed by an impressive pitching staff, has already swept the Yankees this season, taking three games at Tropicana Field in April. That series came amidst another sluggish stretch for the Yanks.
Now the pinstripers are hoping to snap out of another funk as they return to the confines of their own ballpark.
“We gotta have a short memory and move on and get ready for this [homestand], because we got a big division opponent coming in,” Judge said. “You can’t let a tough road trip or some tough games falter you. The boys are locked in. They know what they need to do, and we’ll get ready for this week.”
