It's bad enough that reliever Devin Williams continues to turn wins into losses for the New York Yankees. His latest late-game meltdown came in the eighth inning against the San Diego Padres on Monday night, in which the righty allowed three runs on two walks and a hit while recording just two outs to turn a 3-0 lead into a 4-3 deficit. That's somehow the fourth time already this season in which he's allowed at least three runs in an outing.
But what makes it even worse is that Williams can't even seem to just own up to how bad he's been. Self-confidence is one thing; every athlete needs to believe that they're the best at what they do. But denial is another, and that seems to be squarely where the former All-Star is at right now.
His excuse of choice this time around? The mound was simply too wet. No, seriously.
“It’s one of those nights where you’re not only battling the hitter, I was battling the mound,” Williams told reporters. “So we’re all given the same set of circumstances, and I couldn’t pull through tonight.”
The weather was less than ideal in New York on Monday night, causing not one but two rain delays. But Yankees starter Carlos Rodon didn't have any problems pitching through it en route to 6.2 innings of shutout ball. In fact, Williams was the only one willing to blame the elements — and even he seems to know that no one's buying it.
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Yankees need results, not excuses, from Devin Williams
Williams said it himself: "We're all given the same set of circumstances." The weather wasn't great, but it was good enough for the Yankees to continue the game, and that means it should be good enough for someone of Williams' track record — and someone the Yankees gave up significant value to acquire this winter — to get outs.
And it's not like this was a one-off thing; Williams has had problems throwing strikes all season long. Walking the light-hitting Tyler Wade is downright inexcusable, no matter what conditions are like, and especially when you have the sort of stuff that Williams has at his disposal.
Williams can try to act as though he's taking responsibility, but if that were really true, he wouldn't have brought up the weather in the first place. He looks like a man who's lost all confidence, desperately searching for answers in order to make the boo birds stop. But shirking ownership of his failures to this point in the season isn't the way to do that; the only way out is through, and he needs to find a way to be the pitcher the Yankees thought they were getting.