ATLANTA — It was a move out of desperation, red meat thrown to an angry fan base.
The Yankees firing hitting coach Dillon Lawson at the All-Star break and hiring Sean Casey was like the struggling football team turning to the backup quarterback.
In most cases, that doesn’t work. It hasn’t for the Yankees.
Their offensive production has been almost identical under Casey as it was with Lawson.
In the first half, the Yankees posted a .231/.301/.410 slash line.
Since Lawson was fired, they are .232/.325/.376 entering the final game of a three-game series at Truist Park against the Braves on Wednesday night.
With slightly better on-base percentage, worse slugging and a lower OPS (.711 to .701).
They are averaging 3.9 runs per game since Casey took over, compared to 4.4 beforehand.
“At the end of the day, we just have to continue to put pressure on the starter and we have to continue to score runs,” Casey told The Post. “In this league, you got to be able to put runs across the board because the pitching is really good and we’re playing the Braves right now. This is a team that can bang. So you’ve got to be able to get guys on base and then get them in. When we get guys out there, they’re in scoring position, we have to find ways to get them in.”
Manager Aaron Boone said he has seen improvements in certain areas, particularly in the Yankees taking better at-bats and making it tougher on the opposing starting pitcher.
Consistency, however, has eluded them, as they have alternated strong performances with shaky ones.
They’re currently in a mini-funk, notching three runs over the last 21 innings. In their loss Tuesday, which dropped them to .500, the Yankees produced just a single hit against Braves right-hander Bryce Elder, who entered the contest having allowed 10 earned runs in his previous 9 ¹/₃ innings, and two relievers.
“I think we’ve had stretches where we’ve done a better job over the last weeks of having those heavy at-bats, wearing down the pitcher, which is something that has probably plagued us a little bit this year, and frankly continues to a little bit,” Boone said. “But I do feel like there have been stretches here over the last few weeks where we’ve put three or four decent games together, where we’re making it a little more difficult on the pitcher, giving ourselves some opportunities and some we’ve broken through. Still we haven’t broken through enough, but that’s also a product of where we are from an injury standpoint. Trying to get some guys healthy.”
It is all new for the 49-year-old Casey, and it’s hard to fault him for the lineup’s struggles.
He has never been a hitting coach before, even if he was an accomplished hitter, a three-time All-Star and a member of the Reds’ Hall of Fame. Despite the results, Casey said he likes the job, and it is something he could see himself doing for a long time.
“I’m really enjoying it right now,” he said. “I’ve got to reevaluate probably at the end of the year. I’m really enjoying doing what I’m doing. Just being part of the Yankees organization has been pretty incredible.”
It would clearly be even more incredible if the results were better.
Casey said he believes it will turn, because of how hard the players work and the determination he sees on a daily basis. But, this could be just one of those seasons in which things don’t click.
“I’ve played this game long enough to know sometimes you have incredible years and sometimes you have average years and sometimes you have years that you’d like to forget,” Casey said. “For us right now, it’s a matter of we have 40 games to go. We’re still in it. We just have to be able to be really good for the next 40 games and hopefully we can put ourselves in position to make the postseason.”
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