NEW YORK ā The New York Yankees' players and staff are restless. So are fans.
A 5-10 start, the franchise's worst in 24 years, has shaken a team that expects to contend for a World Series title.
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āRight now we would be a team that an opponent would want to play because obviously weāre not firing on all cylinders,ā general manager Brian Cashman said Monday. āSo if you have a chance to catch us right now, youāre catching us at the right time, through obviously yesterdayās games, and we look forward to that changing.ā
Batting, pitching and fielding have faltered.
New Yorkās .210 batting average is next-to-last in the American League, and a team with a dearth of left-handed hitters is batting just .202 against right-handed pitchers. The Yankeesā 55 runs entering Monday tied Detroit for the AL low.
Ace Gerrit Cole is 2-1 with a 1.82 ERA and the rest of New Yorkās starters are 1-6 with a 6.39 ERA.
Twelve errors have led to 10 unearned runs.
Only the bullpen, which has a 2.43 ERA that is third best in the major leagues, has performed to expectations.
āThereās a lot of tossing and turning going on,ā Cashman said, ābut weāre going to do everything in our power to avoid that finger pointing or having those frustrations boil over into something negative and make sure that we just rally the troops around each other and try to be there in a strong, supportive way, because right now we earned any negative criticism.ā
Cashman accepts the carping ā but said it was unacceptable and illegal for fans to throw balls on the field during Fridayās 8-2 loss to Tampa Bay, which caused the game to be stopped for 2 minutes, 15 seconds.
āI donāt care how bad youāve played, no one has earned having things thrown at them on the field in that one particular game,ā he said. āBut ultimately, the rest of it is, yeah, itās part of the process, too. When you play bad, youāre going to hear about it. When you donāt live up to your expectations or your fansā expectations or your own expectations, youāre going to hear it. And itās about doing something about it as you move forward.ā
New York has lost five consecutive games going into Tuesdayās interleague series opener against Atlanta. A loss would drop the Yankees to 5-11 for the first time since 1972.
Cashman thought back to other slow starts. In 1997, the Yankees lost 10 of their first 15 games and finished 96-66 and earned a wild-card berth.
āI donāt remember any of those because ultimately we got back on track,ā he said. āWe got through it. We found a way to be ourselves and be what weāre capable of.ā
Jay Bruce, who announced his retirement Sunday, spoke to the team before his final game and reminded them āabout the gameās ups and downs and trying to stay consistent and staying together while youāre going through the tough times,ā according to Cashman.
While manager Aaron Boone may shake up the lineup a little, Cashman isnāt planning major roster changes.
Nearly the entire batting order is slumping: Aaron Hicks (.160, including 3 for 32 right-handed), Clint Frazier (.167, no RBIs), Giancarlo Stanton (.176, three homers, 12 RBIs), Gleyber Torres (.196), Gary SƔnchez (.237), Gio Urshela (.250) and Aaron Judge (.255, four homers, eight RBIs).
First baseman Luke Voit is expected back in May following knee surgery. Bruce, his replacement, retired Sunday after hitting .118. DJ LeMahieu has moved to first, with Rougned Odor (.125) filling in at second.
Looking ahead, left-handed reliever Zack Britton is expected back in June after elbow surgery and Luis Severino in the summer following Tommy John surgery.
āIām very proud of the fact that weāve had a lot of storms hit along the way and change doesnāt happen without a great deal of thought and effort and reason behind it,ā Cashman said. āWeāre not reactive. And so I donāt see us reacting to how to shake the roster up too quickly. And I donāt see us reacting to not believing in the staff that we have and in the players we have, either.
"And thatās the message for our players: Hey, man, we do believe in you. We know what youāre capable of. This is a bad stretch. Weāre going to get through this together. This isnāt us versus them. This is collectively all of us wearing this, including myself, and weāre going to have to find a way to get to it sooner than later so we can avoid having to feel the way we are right now and having our fans feel the way they are right now.ā
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