In record time, nostalgia turned to nausea.
The 2009 World Series Yankees were honored in an Old-Timers’ Day ceremony on an afternoon filled with emotion and remembrances. Then a real game began, and less than an hour later boos rained down on the 2024 version.
Will Warren balked twice — and the pitches he did deliver generally did not go well — in a 9-2 smacking by the woeful Rockies in front of 40,438 on Saturday in The Bronx, where the Yankees honored legends then played too much like Little Leaguers.
The sloppy Yankees (76-54) fell for just a ninth time in their past 27 games and could not seize any motivation from the pregame ceremony that paid tribute to Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Mariano Rivera and the last pinstriped club to win a championship.
New York Yankees Will Warren throws a pitch reacts as he walks back to the dugout after ending the second inning against the Colorado Rockies at Yankee Stadium, Saturday, Aug. 24, 2024, in Bronx, NY.Corey Sipkin for the NY POST
Motivation surely was not the problem for Warren, a rookie who has made one decent start and three rough ones to begin his MLB career.
“A bit of a roller-coaster,” Warren said in summing up his four starts. “I’ve just got to find a way to be consistent. Obviously it comes down to just minimizing [damage]. Just got to be better.”
The righty lasted just three innings in which he allowed six runs (five earned) on seven hits, a walk, a pair of balks and, for good measure, a catcher’s interference charged to Austin Wells.
Warren never looked quite comfortable during an outing his ERA rose to 9.68. Filling in for a rotation that is absent Luis Gil and Clarke Schmidt, Warren was tagged for at least one run in each of his frames.
The stuff was obvious — six of his nine outs came from strikeouts, and he has punched out at least five in each of his four starts — but so were the growing pains.
“You see the arsenal that’s capable of getting it,” manager Aaron Boone said of Warren, who allowed hard contact but also was not helped defensively. “But at times he was getting ahead [then threw] some non-competitive ones that allowed them back into the count.
New York Yankees Will Warren throws a pitch in the second inning against the Colorado Rockies at Yankee Stadium, Saturday, Aug. 24, 2024, in Bronx, NY.Corey Sipkin for the NY POST
“And then a mistake that hurts him.”
The hole was dug in the first, when Ryan McMahon’s single scored Ezequiel Tovar — who would have been out if Wells could have handled a throw home from Alex Verdugo.
A walk, double and sacrifice fly scored another Rockies run in the second, but the game spiraled in the third.
After Tovar hammered a leadoff double to left, Warren slipped during his motion for a balk that moved the base runner to third. Brenton Doyle followed with an RBI single but only had a short stay at first base: Warren, who in his minor league career has been charged with three balks over 353 ²/₃ innings, flinched for a second balk in the inning.
Aaron Judge #99 of the New York Yankees reacts after he lines out during the third inning against the Colorado Rockies.Corey Sipkin for the NY POST
“It happens,” Warren said of the balks, and his luck got no better from there.
With two outs, Michael Toglia’s swing made contact with Wells’ glove, putting two on. Former Yankees prospect Jake Cave — dealt to the Twins in 2018 for a young prospect named Luis Gil — blooped an RBI single before Nolan Jones’ two-run double led to a crowd that had just welcomed a past champion to ridicule the current Yankees.
“I like his makeup on the mound, I like his presence out there,” Boone said of Warren, who could get at least one more start as Schmidt works his way back. “He’s not afraid. He’s got confidence. But he’s taking his lumps a little bit here.”
The bullpen faltered, too. Mark Leiter Jr. served up a fifth-inning homer to Toglia before Cave drilled a two-run shot in the seventh against Michael Tonkin.
Mark Leiter Jr. #38 of the New York Yankees is pulled from the game in the fifth inning against the Colorado Rockies at Yankee Stadium, Saturday, Aug. 24, 2024, in Bronx, NY.Corey Sipkin for the NY POST
Alex Verdugo #24 of the New York Yankees is greeted by his teammates in the dugout after he scores on his solo home run in the fourth inning against the Colorado Rockies.Corey Sipkin for the NY POST
And the offense was silent after the fourth inning, making rookie Bradley Blalock (5 ¹/₃ innings of two-run ball) and the Colorado bullpen look like prime CC Sabathia (who received an especially loud greeting earlier).
