Oh, What A Ninth!

by Paul Semendinger

April 14, 2026

***

...mid-April in twenty six

What a very special time for the team

As I remember, What A Ninth!

On these pages, Aaron Boone receives a great deal of criticism. (He has earned it.)

And last night we saw what have been some of the worst managing ever. But it wasn't from Mr. Boone. It was from Angels manager Kurt Suzuki.

There are times when a pitcher simply has nothing. And in the ninth inning, with a two-run lead, and the game in hand, manager Suzuki let a pitcher, Jordan Romano, who had absolutely nothing, at all, blow the lead, and then the game, for his team.

Here's a recap:

Jazz Chisholm led off. He was batting under .200. He had been hitless in the game. It mattered not. Chisholm singled to right.

Trent Grisham came up. He was batting under .200. On a 3-1 pitch, he hit a game tying home run.

Two batters - two hits - two runs. Tie Game.

Jose Caballero stepped to the plate. He was batting under .200. He took Ball One and then ripped a double down the third base line.

Three batters - three hits - the winning run now on second base, no outs.

I do not like baseball's three-batter minimum rule for a pitcher, but Romano had reached that point. He faced three batters and was not competitive against any of them. It was time to take him out. At that point, any pitcher would have been a better option.

Suzuki left Romano in the game.

Austin Wells strolled to the dish. He was batting under .200. He walked on a 3-1 pitch that was almost a wild pitch that would have lost the game because Jose Caballero was now on third base after stealing the bag without a throw since Romano didn't seem to be able to even keep him close to the bag at second.

And yet Romano still remained on the mound as Ryan McMahon took his turn in the batter's box.

This, was Ryan McMahon, a batter hitting .108. He was 0-for-2 on the day. Romano couldn't put McMahon away. McMahon kept hitting foul balls and the count eventually got to three balls and two strikes.

And then...

Romano threw a game-ending wild pitch.

Yankees Win!

Jordan Romano's line: 0 innings, 3 hits, 2 walks, 3 runs. Loss.

It seems that every single person saw that Jordan Romano had nothing last night. Everyone in the world saw that, it seems, except his manager.