Things are getting worse for Yankees rookie George Lombard Jr., as he etched his name into the franchise's history books for all the wrong reasons. Lombard committed his sixth error in as many games, making him the first Yankee to do so since Chick Fewster in 1921. His current error streak is the longest since Cleveland's Mark Lewis (7) in 1992.
Expressing concern about his recent defensive struggles in the field, Yankees analyst and host for New York on Underscore Media, SNY TV, and VSiN, John Jastremski, shared his blunt take on Lombard Jr. during his latest appearance on SNY TV alongside Jon Alba and Eamon McNaney.
"It's not nothing. That's the bottom line. When you go and make six errors in six consecutive games, that's not something you just say, oh, we're brushing it under the rug. You're the shortstop for the New York Yankees, a team that's trying to go and win a World Series… Every single day, we're talking about an error at shortstop. That's a problem. And look, Alba, young players are going to go through ruts," Jastremski said.
"The problem is this is not a team playing out the string. This is not a team where you say, hey, guess what? We have six weeks, seven weeks. We'll figure it out. It'll be good for next year. You need them to be productive now. You need to nip this in the bud now. To say this is not a problem, I get Aaron Boone. I understand the sentiment. Yankee perspective as a fan, you're nervous now," he added.
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Lombard Jr.'s latest error occurred during Thursday's series finale against the Astros. In the eighth inning, with Houston leading 4-1, Yainer Diaz hit a grounder that struck Lombard's glove and ricocheted to Jose Caballero, who made a wild throw to first, allowing Christian Walker to score and extend the lead to 5-1.
The Bombers were charged with a double error on the play, as they lost the game 5-1 and, with that, the series, to go 3-3 in their ten-game homestand, with a four-game intradivisional series against the Red Sox yet to be played.
After his latest miscue in Thursday night's loss to the Astros, Lombard Jr. was asked in a postgame interview to reflect on his ongoing defensive struggles. The rookie SS has now committed seven errors in his first 20 games as a Yankee since his promotion to the big leagues at the trade deadline.
"It's something we're trying to figure out. It's not acceptable. It can't happen at this level. If you make your pitchers have to get extra outs it just makes it way harder on us, and teams are going to capitalize. So it's something that we're definitely going to have to clean up and I've got to be better tomorrow," Lombard said.
While Lombard Jr. will aim to right his wrongs and get out of his defensive slump now, no one can give him a better opportunity to turn the tide in his favor than the upcoming four-game series against the Red Sox at home, starting Friday.
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