Yanks Drop Game 1 Against Jays, 3-1
- Andy Singer
- 10 hours ago
- 3 min read
By Andy Singer
August 14th, 2026
I wish I had all kinds of insightful, revelatory thoughts about tonight's game. Unfortunately, tonight's game was on Apple TV, so I had no way to watch. However, I followed along with the live feed on ESPN/Statcast and have watched all of the available game clips, so I have a fairly good feel for what happened. Given the circumstances though, I'll be discussing this game in bullet-point form. Let's go through it quickly:
The Yankees took a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the 6th inning. They didn't leave the 6th inning with the lead. Despite what the box score will tell you, it wasn't Gerrit Cole's fault. Before I try to explain the play that cost the Yanks the game, I want you to watch it:
For those of you that watched the game, I'm sorry for asking you to relive the above play.
First off, Cole pitched effectively, and perfectly placed a fastball low and away to induce what should have been an inning-ending groundball to secure a double-play.
McMahon's throw wasn't great, but it wasn't an awful short-hop. Garcia should have snagged the hop to finish the double-play. The official scorer didn't give him an error on that play. Garcia's error came on what followed.
Garcia was right to immediately look to 3B with Vladito rounding 2nd to come to 3B. That one of McMahon or Lombard (preferably Lombard given that McMahon handled the throw across the diamond and his momentum took him towards the pitcher's mound) wasn't at 3B to receive the throw was a far bigger problem.
Gamecast was very little help in helping me understand what happened on that play until I saw the video. I wish I could say I was surprised. At this point, I'm very used to even very good Yankee fielders being out of position on critical, bang-bang plays. Nice to see that Lombard is getting that initiation process over with early.
I haven't written about anything else that happened in the game, because this one play was really the story. When you can't score runs on offense, defensive fundamentals are that much more important. The Yankees have never been a good fundamental team since Aaron Boone took over as manager.
Aaron Boone was tossed from the game for arguing balls and strikes in the 6th inning. The ball in question was an egregiously bad strike call against the Yankees. If only there was a way to challenge the umpire's call in these situations...oh, right.
This was very easily George Lombard Jr.'s worst game as a pro. In addition to being out of position on the most pivotal play of the game in the 6th inning, Lombard also got thrown out on the bases after overrunning 2B on a hard single from Grisham to the RF. Everyone talks about how mature and coachable Lombard has proven to be on his quick climb to the Majors. Let's hope tonight's game is a good learning experience.
Seriously, how many times do we need to watch the Yankees tank their fundamentals under pressure? This issue was displayed on a national stage in the World Series in 2024. How are we still talking about it in August 2026, almost 2 years later? In my line of work, if the people I managed continued to make egregious mistakes year-over-year, my job wouldn't be terribly secure. Somehow, the Yankee coaching staff isn't graded by the same standards.
Gerrit Cole continued his stretch of really good pitching tonight. He deserved a win, like Fried the night before.
Grisham stayed hot tonight with 2 hits, including a homer. Since August 3rd, Grisham is hitting .333 with 5 homers. He remains a valuable hitter in the Yankee lineup when he's healthy. I hope he stays healthy long enough for reinforcements to arrive.
The Yankees really need to win the next two games in Toronto. After tonight, I'm not feeling terribly optimistic.
Ben Rice looks so totally off at the plate right now. Frankly, I haven't seen him look this out of it since his rookie season. I can't help but wonder if he's healthy, given the Yankees' history here.
All we can hope for is that the Yankees shake off tonight's loss and regroup through the remainder of the weekend. Let's hope Schlittler can break the Yanks' 2 game skid. Schlittler has struggled a bit against the Jays, with a 4+ ERA against them in 4 starts. Let's hope the law of averages takes over tomorrow.
As with you and probably many other fans, i didn't see a single pitch of the game. A couple of observations; I'm not sure Lombard out of position mattered anyway, the throw across the diamond looked off line and i think they're lucky GLJ didn't tear up a knee. This team does not hit with risp because they do not value fundamental skills. Rice stopped hitting when he was permanently removed from playing the field. Note, dominguez is hitting .313 with six homers and 21 RB at AAA, while Ramos is hitting .080 with a 393 OPS as a Yankee. When will Cabellero replace jazz?
As I said about the Garcia Jr. deal, it really tells me Rice isn't really all that healthy. Remember last year, Volpe hit, what 19 HRs with a torn shoulder, so Rice's 32 bombs shouldn't surprise anyone.
The manager doesn't run Spring Training anymore. For years, even before he was a Yankees coach, Rob Thompson ran Spring Training, including all the different defensive drills. Knowing just how analytical Cashman made this organization after getting rid of Girardi and his staff, does anyone think that baseball fundamentals are a top priority around here since? Boone just does want Cashman wants him to do, that's why he still the manager here. Cashman's contract is up at the end of the season, and…
Thank you, Andy.
You summarized the point many have been driving home for years:
"if the people I managed continued to make egregious mistakes year-over-year, my job wouldn't be terribly secure"
This is the frustration with the Yankees. They provide their fans with a poor product, do nothing about it, and still want the fans to believe they care about winning a World Series (when in reality, they don't).