After Monday’s (July 23rd) gut-wrenching 7-6 loss to the Rays in Tampa, there is now new meaning to John Sterling’s Sanchez HR call … ” GARY IS SCARY”. Gary Sanchez failed to hustle on not one but two key plays in the game. The plays were like bookends. One in the 1st inning to open the scoring and the other in the 9th inning which turned out to be the last play of the game. One was on defense and the other was on offense. Both plays spoke to a continued problem.
TB took a 1-0 lead in the 1st inning when Jake Bauers doubled with 2 outs, and scored all the way from 2nd base when Sanchez allowed his 10th passed ball of the season (cross-up with Severino) and did not hustle after the ball when it bounced into foul territory. Cameras caught Severino arguing with Sanchez after the inning in the dugout. You could tell by his gestures he was complaining that Gary should have ran harder to retrieve the ball.
In the 9th inning with the bases loaded and two out Gary Sanchez came to the plate vs. Jose Alvarado with the Yankees trailing 7-6 and having the opportunity to get critics to forget about his 1st inning blunder by being the hero with the bat. No such luck. In fact Sanchez made things much worse for himself. He hit a ground ball up the middle and again did not hustle as the Rays attempted to get the force at 2nd base, couldn’t because of a HUSTLING Aaron Hicks, but an alert Rays SS Willy Adames recovered and turned it into a 4-6-3 out at 1st Base, nailing Sanchez by a good margin to end the game.
To Gary Sanchez’s credit he was quick after the game while speaking to reporters to take the blame for not hustling in the 9th inning. He also took the blame for not running harder after the ball in the 1st inning, saying ” That is another instance there. If I would have done a better job being quicker, getting the ball, maybe we have a chance to get him at home. That’s my fault”
Only hours later the Yankees put Sanchez back on the DL (right groin) after Gary said the re-injury (was on the DL from June 25) “grabbed” him on the 1st inning passed ball. Brian Cashman today (July 25) said Sanchez will be out 4-6 weeks. There are some who will give Sanchez a total pass. I won’t. Here are some of the columns I have written previously,
Many questions still remain…. Why does Gary continue to allow so many passed balls (leads MLB)? Also .. why not put your head down & run to 1B on a ground ball with 2 outs in the 9th inning? Why almost stop running when you ASSUME your teammate would be out at 2nd base on a force play? Well your teammate Aaron Hicks was not out at 2nd base because he was hustling all the way. The plays in the 1st & 9th inning got all the attention but there was another questionable play involving Sanchez that was overlooked. In the 7th inning Sanchez hit a ball into the corner in left field that one-hopped the fence. Most hitters would have gotten a double on the hit. Sanchez only got a single, not only because of the groin, but because he was very slow out of the batters box because he was “admiring” the hit instead of putting his head down & running. Why?
Gary Sanchez re-injured his groin. That quiets some of the criticism for now, but the lack of smarts & hustle still exist as far as I’m concerned. As far as I’m concerned ..GARY is SCARY until he shows that he has learned to play the game the right way.
