Things have hit rock bottom for the New York Yankees this baseball season. It's gotten so bad that their players are trolling fans and attacking inanimate objects in the dugout.
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After a rocky inning of relief in last night's 7-3 loss to the Los Angeles Angels, Yankees right handed pitcher Tommy Kahnle took out his frustrations on the standing fan keeping him and his teammates cool in the visitors dugout at Angels Stadium.
Tommy Kahnle is furious with himself pic.twitter.com/tIiiiabRkp
— Talkin' Yanks (@TalkinYanks) July 20, 2023
Kahnle, who started the season with 16 straight scoreless innings, gave up a run for the third straight appearance. The 33-year old walked two and offered up an RBI double to Taylor Ward to dig the Yankees into an even deeper hole, down 7-3 after eight innings.
Upon returning to the dugout, Kahnle fired his glove at the fan (a perfect strike, no less), then stomped on the cooling device several times to make sure it was good and dead.
The Bronx Bombers went meekly 1-2-3 in the top of the ninth to suffer their fourth loss in a row and their first sweep at the hands of the Angels since July of 2009. Meanwhile, Yankees manager Aaron Boone was seen sitting with Kahnle on the bench. The conversation seemed calm, and Kahnle was in control, listening attentively and nodding.
The game had already gotten off to a rocky start before Kahnle's shakiness. Starter Carlos Rodón served up two-run homers in each of the first two innings and was lucky to survive for 4.1 frames, allowing six runs on four hits and five walks.
The Yankees eventually walked 11 Angels batters, including 4 to Shohei Ohtani, one of them intentional.
As Rodón left the field, he blew a kiss to Yankees fans in the stands who were booing him.
Since the All-Star break, the Yankees, minus their superstar slugger Aaron Judge, have lost five of six games and fallen into last place in the American League East, nine games behind the Tampa Bay Rays and 3.5 games out of the final wildcard spot.
Yes, for those keeping track, they would still be tied for first if they played in the American League Central.
"We're not very good right now," said Aaron Boone after the game in an emotional press conference. "The silver lining in it all is it is in front of us and we control that."
11 months later and it’s still “in front of us” https://t.co/1T0VYWul4C
— Talkin' Yanks (@TalkinYanks) July 20, 2023
The Yanks will likely get a bill from the Angels organization for the destroyed fan, but there's a possibility that the Yankees could be forking over much more than that to the franchise who currently rosters the most exciting player in baseball, and possibly all of sports.
As the trade deadline approaches, the Shohei Ohtani sweepstakes may or may not be on, with the Yankees likely to be a contender for the two-way phenom. If they keep losing ground to the Angels, however, it makes things more likely that the Yanks might stand pat, or even sell at the deadline, while making it less likely that the Halos give up on the season.
Needless to say, the heat is on for the Evil Empire. And now they have one less fan to keep them cool.
