The 2020 season marks the 24th year of interleague play in MLB, in which time the Yankees have played 32 games against the franchise that is now the Washington Nationals – the most famous, or infamous from the other side, game being David Cone’s perfecto against the then-Expos on July 18, 1999.
The Yankees have played 16 of those 32 games on the road, six in Montreal between 1997-2001 when interleague play was divisionally-based, and 10 since 2006 in five trips to the city where they will begin their 2020 season: Washington, D.C.
Of course, this trip is a little different, as the universal DH means the Yankees won’t have to choose just three of their outfielders (assuming all are good to go), or, perhaps, lose Gary Sanchez’s bat because he can’t DH a day game after a night game.
The Yankees are 5-5 all-time in D.C., so there are, for sure, at least five times having a DH hit instead of a pitcher may have changed their strategy for the better – and since it won’t happen again, we can now look back with closure on those five series to see how they might’ve been different.
2006: Nationals win 2 of 3 in Yankees’ first trip to DC
The Yankees were scuffling a bit as they came to DC in June 2006, having gone 6-7 so far that month and seeing their AL East positioning flip-flop between first and second place all month. A late 7-5 win on June 16 kept them up a game in the division and 1-0 all-time against the Nats, but two straight losses the next two days dropped them a game back and
On June 17, a 9-2 lead halfway through the game turned into an 11-9 loss, and while the Yankees led, pitcher Shawn Chacon was 0-for-2 with a walk. Meanwhile, Andy Phillips, who had been the Yankees’ regular first baseman while Jason Giambi mostly DH’ed, was held out of the lineup, only to enter the game at first in an eighth-inning double switch. His offense was missed, as Giambi went 0-for-3 with a walk and hit-by-pitch, and Miguel Cairo was forced to pinch-hit for Mariano Rivera in the ninth; sure, Cairo singled, but was the second to last batter of the game.
The next day, the Yankees lost in walk-off fashion, and the story was the same: Giambi was 0-for-4, pitcher Chien-Ming Wang also went 0-for-4, and Phillips entered only for defense late in the game.
2012: Brooms in the Nation’s Capital
June 15-17, 2012 brought three straight wins in DC for the Yankees, so not much to work with here. The Yankees’ DH slot was a revolving door anyway – Eric Chavez’s 38 turns as DH led the team – and the pitchers’ collective oh-fer didn’t hurt.
In fact, it may have helped in the middle game, a 14-inning victory, as the Yankees’ flexibility allowed them to double-switch in multiple strategic spots, and it was Jayson Nix, who entered the game in left field in one of those switches to push the pitcher’s spot in the order back, who led off the 14th inning with a single to start the game-winning rally.
2015: Payback for the Sweep
The next trip to DC was a different story – the Nats won both home games in the split four-game set, and won one at Yankee Stadium to win the season series.
DC Game 1, on May 19, was a 10-inning walk-off loss, and Alex Rodriguez, the full-time DH that season, got only one at-bat after entering in a double switch and struck out. Meanwhile, the Yankees’ pitchers and pinch-hitters went 0-for-3 as well, and to add injury to insult, this was the game where Jacoby Ellsbury caught his spike in the batters’ box on a check-swing, had to leave the game, and ended up going on the DL – a loss that put Carlos Beltran in the game, but lost an extra bat for later on.
Game 2, the next day, was a 3-2 loss, and once again, A-Rod was 0-for-1 with a strikeout as a pinch-hitter. Maybe could’ve used him elsewhere, though, as pitcher Adam Warren was 0-for-3, and A-Rod’s at-bat came in the pitcher’s spot – with two on and two out, down one run, in the final at-bat of the game.
2018: Split ‘em and split ‘em
The Yankees’ last trip to DC was actually two, as the second away game of their split four-game set with DC was postponed due to rain – a cancellation that, combined with two scheduled off-days, saw them play just once in a four-day span.
That one game was a 5-3 loss on May 15, and it was a game where the team started Giancarlo Stanton in left field for one of the first times ever, and he went 1-for-4; meanwhile Brett Gardner, who sat against lefty Gio Gonzalez to get Stanton in, only got to pinch-hit, and hot-hitting Clint Frazier didn’t get in at all. Greg Bird did double as a pinch-hitter that day, but couldn’t score from second on a Gleyber Torres single that may have stalled a rally, and otherwise, the pitcher’s spot was 0-for-3 (Gardner’s out, plus a tidy 0-for-2 for Masahiro Tanaka).
Game 2 ended up coming five weeks later on June 18, and the Yankees won – and this time, maybe no DH helped? Stanton again started in left and went 4-for-5 with two RBI, and while the pitcher’s spot took a technical oh-fer, that spot did pitch in: Sonny Gray failed on a sac bunt attempt (the force was made on Austin Romine at second) but ended up scoring on Aaron Hicks’ home run, Clint Frazier (who pinch-hit for the pitcher in the seventh) was hit by a pitch and ended up scoring the final run, and Neil Walker also drew a walk as a pinch-hitter.
And that, my friends, is how you make a technical 0-for-2 look good!
Follow Lou DiPietro on Twitter: @LouDiPietroWFAN
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