Gary Sanchez Needs to be Benched

Think of a tomato. Now think of my face. Now think of the color of a tomato on my face and that's what you'd be looking at right now. I have been this shocked and furious a handful of times in my decades of watching New York Yankees baseball. Gary Sanchez's lack of hustle tonight is something I have never seen before in my life.

I grew up in the era of hustle aka Derek Jeter. Nobody busts their ass 24/7 more than him. Growing up, not only did I want to be like him (HS varsity shortstop, NBD), but I was terrified to not hustle and face the wrath of my dad (he was like....a slightly tiger mom when it came to my softball career). Knowing how SIMPLE it is to hustle, considering you are a PROFESSIONAL ATHLETE, and have to sprint like MAYBE three times a game, not doing that is absolutely inexcusable.

When I think of prior similar situations, the main name that comes to mind is Robinson Cano. We know he didn't always hustle down the line and there were a few instances where it cost us outs. But I have never, NEVER seen anything like I did tonight. In the first inning, Gary messed up by not hustling after the passed ball and a run scored from SECOND BASE! ON A PASSED BALL! That alone was bad enough. I thought Gary coming up in that situation was perfect. It was his chance at redemption. One would think, in all logical situations, that when you so blatantly screw up by not busting it, call me crazy, but you might try to be better in the rest of the game to make up for it. But with the bases loaded, two outs, and the tying run on third base, Gary JOGGED TO FIRST! HE JOGGED! I knew it the second he was out before they showed the replay. He's slow as a goddamn snail, but he should've beaten that out. And lo and behold, I was correct.

So what now? His ass needs to be benched. Period. I'd start Romine at least two games. A message needs to be sent. This has been an issue previously and this is the point of no return. I don't want a guy like this on my team. He's young and stupid and he can easily fix this and mature. But if he doesn't, then that's cause for a future conversation. But for now, Romine better be in the lineup tomorrow. To not hold him accountable for two MAJOR mistakes that cost us a game in a division race (which is looking more grim by the day), would be embarrassing on Boone's part.

P.S. Note that Hicks hustled his ass to second which is why we even had a chance to tie the game. That's how it's done.

P.P.S. You know that no one is a bigger advocate for bunting than I am, but having Didi bunt is another major mistake in this inning. Why would you take the bat out of Stanton's hands when he's red hot?? 4 for 4 and absolutely demolishing Tropicana as a whole. But that error will be put on the back burner because of Gary.