There’s still one Yankees player left from their last many-moons-ago World Series team. Brett Gardner was in his 20s and still had a little hair growing from his scalp back in 2009. One of the big reasons that he’s still playing at 37 is he’s craving to win one more title before ending what’s been a very good career, all 14 of his seasons as a Yankee.
Gardner returned this season on another one-year deal drinking the Kool-Aid that this Yankees team had all of the puzzle pieces necessary to repeat what Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Mariano Rivera, Hideki Matsui and the rest of the gang did 12 years ago.
True or not, Gardner says that he feels the same now even though the Yankees’ current status is like toilet water spiraling to the septic tank.
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“It’s sometimes a couple of steps forward and a couple steps back, right?” Gardner said on Sunday before the Yankees’ 7-0 road loss to the Phillies that left them with 13 losses in 18 games and a 33-32.
All this losing has the Yankees fourth in the American League East and a season-high nine games behind the first-place Tampa Bay Rays heading into Tuesday night’s game in Buffalo against the Toronto Blue Jays.
“We’ve been inconsistent in the way we’ve played obviously,” Gardner said. “There’s times when we’ll go on a run. We’ll play really good baseball. Then there’s times when we wish we could play good baseball on a consistent basis.”
There have been a lot of those wishing times of late with the Yankees losers of three straight, seven of nine and 13 of 18.
“The season, except for the All-Star break for a couple of days, doesn’t have a way of slowing down for anybody,” Gardner said. “So it’s up to us just to continue to put in the work and find ways to try and be more consistent, not just at the plate but in the field and on the mound. And in our work, too. We’re trying to be more consistent with our routine and be more prepared. Something we talk about quite often is trying to be as prepared as possible.”
All the while, the Yankees have scored three or fewer runs in more than half their games, they run themselves into more outs than anyone, the injury list always is loaded with players, the rotation needs one or two more quality starters and the season soon will be half over.
“Up to this point we have not played as consistently as we would like, but I still love the group of guys that we have and I think we’re capable more than we’ve shown up to this point,” Gardner said.
Gardner believes the talent on this year’s team is as good as it was on clubs that he’s been on that won divisions and advanced in the playoffs.
The biggest difference?
“Consistency,” Gardner said. “Listen, it’s obviously a long season. I know we say that all the time and I don’t like making excuses, for sure. I know it’s the middle of June already, but it’s not always how a team starts. It’s how a team finishes.”
Gardner is right, but it won’t matter if the Yankees finish strong if they’re out of the playoff chase by August.
“Obviously we’ve got quite a bit of season left and we do still have a little time left to figure that out, but every day that passes is a wasted opportunity,” Gardner said.
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June 15, 2021 at 05:26PM
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Brett Gardner can’t make sense of Yankees’ woes: ‘Every day that passes is a wasted opportunity’ - NJ.com
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