If you drove down Exchange Street or hopped on the I-190 North ramp behind Sahlen Field in the last month, you probably noticed that colossus of a tent in the parking lot behind right-center field.
In this strange summer, that's where visiting teams playing the Toronto Blue Jays are housed. It creates the odd sight both pregame and postgame of players shuttling back and forth through the fence to get to their quarters.
In a few weeks, the giant tent will come down once the Blue Jays' season is over (and full disclosure, I'll have my parking space back for next Bisons season). But if those walls could talk? Oh, they'd have quite a story to recount.
Word is Joe Girardi made them shake a couple of weeks ago when the Phillies blew a 7-0 lead in the nightcap and lost both ends of a doubleheader to the Jays. The Red Sox had an ultra-serious talk there on the last Toronto homestand as outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr., their only Black player, decided he was not playing as part of protests against systemic racism, and his teammates supported him. The Aug. 27 game was thus postponed.
Which brings us to Tuesday. At one of their biggest crisis points in recent memory, New York Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman decided it was time to have a one-way conversation with his struggling outfit.
Imagine Yankees fans in the 716 who might have been driving or walking by at that moment having no idea what was going on inside. A few of them undoubtedly would have wanted to chime in.
"Every now and then, when I feel it's appropriate, I won't be afraid to gather the troops and have a discussion," Cashman told reporters on a video call prior to Tuesday's latest defeat, a 2-1 nailbiter that saw the Yankees' offense again fail to deliver.
Cashman, it should be noted, said he was going to have his "discussion" prior to Monday's series opener but the wind was howling downtown and that causes issues for visitors.
"We're in this tent and the tent was flapping so much you couldn't hear anything I would have said," Cashman said sheepishly.
The pregame message was mostly about trust and belief in abilities. It didn't resonate much. Fifteen of the Yankees' last 16 hitters were retired, including the last 10. They left 10 men on base and went 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position.
Once 16-6, the Yankees are 21-21. They've lost 15 of 20 and are at .500 in September for the first time since 1995. And here's a nugget: The loss ended their streak of 779 consecutive days with a winning record during September and October. STATS Inc. said that's the second-longest in history, surpassed only by their 982-game run from 1926-1958.
"We're used to better baseball than this. Our fans deserve better baseball than this," said Cashman, whose club is only a half-game ahead of Baltimore for the final playoff spot. "It's just try to get a shock to the system to get us back on track."
"I almost feel like it's embarrassing for us right now with everything that's been going on," first baseman Luke Voit said after yet another defeat. "We've just got to get back to what the New York Yankees are. I feel like teams aren’t really scared of us right now, and it’s kind of a sad thing."
Injuries have savaged the lineup and catcher Gary Sanchez, a 34-homer man a year ago, went 0 for 4 Tuesday after two days on the bench to drop his average to an MLB-worst .125.
Longtime Yankees observers point out the Cashman chat was exceedingly rare, with some noting it was reminiscent of his June jaunt to Atlanta to shake up the 2009 club when it was in a funk. That group, of course, won the franchise's last World Series. This one – especially without Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton – will be lucky to make the postseason at this point.
"He means business. He knows we need to play better," Voit said of the GM. "It wasn't a panic button. It was more, 'Go out there and just be you. Don't be somebody else.'"
Cashman didn't indict manager Aaron Boone or his coaches. He simply said he wanted to send his own message.
"I thought it was a really good message," said Boone. "Hopefully one that continues to make us unified and understanding that better days are ahead for us because of the people we have in that room and the confidence we have in the people we have in that room."
"The bottom line is we're on our own. There's no help coming from anywhere," Cashman said. "The challenge is to find a way to get through this storm, batten down the hatches and come out on the other end with clear skies and sunny days ahead. But, obviously, the work has got to be done now while the storm is upon us. If you're out at sea, the Coast Guard is not coming to save us."
Cashman is taking plenty of justifiable heat in New York for not getting anything done at the trade deadline. He says he still believes in this team. Frankly, it's hard to believe in the Yankees anymore.
"Our fans are counting on this team of being all it's capable of being and right now that hasn't happened," Cashman said. "It happened when we got out of the gate, but we lost our way here the last three weeks. We're still capable of being that team that everybody was really excited about – including ourselves – not too long ago."
