NEW YORK — It was a microcosm of this American League Division Series.
During the bottom of the sixth inning at Yankee Stadium in Game 3, the sellout crowd of nearly 49,000 sat eerily quiet, waiting for something, anything, to happen as their beloved team trailed the Tampa Bay Rays 4-2.
Until then, in nearly three games of action, New York had scored four runs, but with two outs, the Bronx Bombers had a rare runner on base after George Lombard Jr. walked on five pitches.
Anthony Volpe came up to the plate with two outs and drilled a 95 mph sinker from Rays reliever Griffin Jax that came in on the middle of the plate and went to left field, where Victor Mesa, Jr., who later provided the winning margin with his two-run home run in the top of the inning,
went back to the wall trying to make the catch.
Instead, fans got flashbacks to 1996. Mesa’s attempt went awry after a fan reached over the fence to catch the ball and was later escorted out of the stadium for his efforts. In that year's American League Championship Series, 12-year-old Jeffrey Meier reached over the right-field wall to catch a ball hit by Derek Jeter, much to the dismay of Baltimore Orioles outfielder Tony Tarasco.
It’s too bad that video replay would not come to MLB for another 12 years, as New York went on to a five-game series and then went on to win the World Series.
There would be no such luck this time, because as soon as the ball went over the fence, the umpiring crew huddled and immediately sought help from Major League Baseball’s Replay Operations Center, located about 11 miles from Yankees Stadium.
Volpe came around the bases, touched home plate, and entered the dugout, congratulated by teammates, only to be called back to second base moments later after an umpire’s review ruled spectator interference. Lombard, Jr. scored on the play, but the Yankees never got any closer than the final score.
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“After viewing all relevant angles, the replay official definitively determined the spectator interfered with the ball over the field of play. The ball would not have left the playing field nor would it have been caught,” the MLB replay center later said in their explanation.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone said he had no issue with the call and felt the umpires got the call right.
Game 3 reeked of desperation from the moment Boone announced their lineup. Jazz Chisholm was benched, and Trent Grisham took the leadoff spot.
In the eighth inning, still trailing by one run oft-injured Giancarlo Stanton was called upon to add spark, making his second appearance since April 24 after a calf injury. But he struck out swinging in his only at-bat of the night.
And the bottom of the order could do nothing with Bryan Baker, who saved all three games of the series, sending the Rays back down to Tampa Bay for their upcoming third-ever appearance against either the Cleveland Guardians or Chicago White Sox in the ALCS, after striking out Grisham to end the game.
The team will again search for answers in the offseason, with a tentative March 25 Opening Day home game against the Toronto Blue Jays – that might not happen.
But in this case, the stats don’t lie: New York scored five runs in the ALDS, hit an abysmal .130 with a .192 on-base percentage and slugged .239.
Boone, who said he wants to be the manager next year and is under contract, took about 30 minutes to meet the media after the game, and the disappointment was obvious from the second he opened his mouth.
“But for us, there's just no easy way. It's a broken clubhouse. It's what you go through as a team, as a family over the last eight, nine months getting ready for this, and there's just -- it's the worst. Boone said. “So you go through a lot as a group and then it's just sudden end. It's the worst fricking feeling in the world. You know, again, offering that perspective with all due respect. And I have that perspective of we are playing a game. I understand that.
But it doesn't lessen the pain of the ending, you know, and hopefully that's something that again continues to fuel guys that are going through this for the first time and then those of us that have been through it a lot.”
The Yankees’ problem certainly wasn’t the pitching, and they will need to figure out what to do with Grisham and Chisholm, who will become free agents at season’s end.
Unless something drastic happens, there should be no scenario where those two players are back in pinstripes in 2027, as three-time AL MVP Aaron Judge, who did not appear in a game after Sept. 16 and played only 66 games all year, will most certainly be healthy whenever baseball decides to get its business in order. But Judge turns 35 in April, and Stanton will be 37 next month and could be entering the final year of his 13-year, $325 million contract, which includes a club option for 2028.
The emergence of 27-year-old Ben Rice, who hit a team-leading 41 home runs, will make a powerful trio once his two slugging teammates are back to full strength.
So it’s back to the drawing board for the Yankees, with calls for change echoing loudly again until they break a now-16-year championship drought.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Yankees left with 'broken clubhouse' after agonizing postseason sweep
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