Frustration continues to grow in the Yankees camp and Saturday night was a clear example of that. In a tough 7-0 loss to the Oakland Athletics, Ian Hamilton had a tense moment with rookie Jacob Wilson, in the midst of a game where nothing went right for his team and the controversy grabbed the attention of the media and fans.
The incident occurred in the top of the sixth inning, when Hamilton, visibly upset with his performance, allowed a two-out single to Denzel Clarke and then walked Lawrence Butler. Wilson batted back to the mound and as he ran to first, he received an extended look from Hamilton, who even told him to run, as he had not left the batter’s box with the expected urgency.
“I was having a bad inning. A little emotional, I took the ball, looked at him and told him to run. It wasn’t personal. I was frustrated with the inning, and that was it. Then he asked me what I said, and I just walked away,” Hamilton explained in a postgame press conference.
Wilson downplayed the moment. “This is baseball, and sometimes things get heated. It’s part of the game, no hard feelings. As players, you get frustrated. It’s no big deal.“
A bad time for the Yankees
Beyond the controversies and exchanges of words, the focus is once again on the Yankees’ worrying offense. A team that started the season with overwhelming power at the plate has now been shut out twice in its last 13 games, something that only happened twice in its first 69 games of the year
In addition, the defeat was at the hands of a team with one of the worst ERAs in the league (5.42) and the second highest batting average against (.267). The team performed poorly on the field and off it they tried to downplay the statements of their players, but clearly something is not working.
Aaron Boone’s concern
When a team is not doing well on the field and its performance declines as the games go by, the main target is usually the manager. If we add to this the conflicts of his players, the criticism will be even greater, since the coach must lead and unite the squad. In this regard, Aaron Boone was somewhat concerned about the performance of the team.
“We haven’t had many hits in the last couple of days. We haven’t been hitting home runs either. In times like this, it’s all about getting a big hit with runners on base,” he explained.
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