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Author: Neil Keefe

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Yankees Thoughts: Why Am I a Fan of These Yankees?

The Yankees lost another series, this time to the Mariners in Seattle. They have completed the collapse of their former nine-game lead on the 1-seed in the American League and look destined for another early postseason exit.

The Yankees lost another series, this time to the Mariners in Seattle. They have completed the collapse of their former nine-game lead on the 1-seed in the American League and look destined for another early postseason exit.

Here are 10 thoughts on the Yankees.

1. The Derek Jeter documentary is depressing. Don’t get me wrong, it’s fantastic, but it’s depressing. I know I was spoiled as a Yankees fan growing up during the ’90s dynasty, thinking going to the World Series every year was normal. (It wasn’t normal). But as enjoyable as it is to look back at the career of my favorite player (an everyday part of the Yankees from when I was nine years old until I was 28 years old), it’s depressing.

It’s depressing because of what the Yankees were and what they have become. When you listen to Jeter or Bernie Williams or Jorge Posada or Mariano Rivera or Andy Pettitte or Tino Martinez or David Cone talk about their obsession with winning and doing whatever it took to win, it’s a far cry from the Yankees I root for today. This week, Aaron Hicks told The Athletic, “If I’m a guy that’s in the lineup, cool. If I’m not, it is what it is.” Hicks is in the middle of a seven-year, $70 million extension and doesn’t care if he plays or not.

2. Everything about these Yankees is the complete opposite from those Yankees. Most importantly, the Yankees are no longer owned by someone whose entire life revolved around winning every single day on the field, off the field, in the media, in trades, in free-agent signings. Even if George Steinbrenner didn’t always make the best decision, every decision he made was made because he truly believed it would help the Yankees win.

These Yankees are owned by George’s son. A son who wasn’t even supposed to run the team. The original succession plan was that George would leave the team in the hands of his son-in-law, instead of his own two sons. Why? Likely because of the result we see today. (George knew what would happen if penny-pinching Hal got a hold of his Yankees.) But George’s daughter and her husband got divorced and the team ended up where it is now: with Hal.

In the 15 years since George was last involved in the day-to-day operations, Hal has kept the payroll essentially the same as it was when he took over. Sure, in 2022, the Yankees have their highest payroll in team history around $240 million, but it’s only increased by $12 million overall in a decade. Have the Yankees’ revenues only increased by about $1.2 million per year? Have beer prices, concessions and merchandise stayed stagnant for the last 10 years?

In keeping with the status quo, Hal has continued to employ Brian Cashman as the team’s general manager, a position he has held for now 25 years, despite producing one championship in the last 21 years and one World Series appearance in the last 18.

3. Cashman too has operated with the status quo. This past offseason he had a chance to walk away from the manager he wrongfully hired. Instead, he gave him a new three-year deal with an option for a fourth year, despite producing four straight early postseason exits, culminating in a fifth place finish in the American League in a season in which the Yankees were the odds-on favorite to win the pennant.

“As a team and as an organization, we must grow, eveolve and improve,” Hal said upon announcing Boone’s next contract. “We need to get better. Period.”

Nothing says “We need to get better” like bringing back the same manager who has never won anything as a manager, just like he never won anything as a player. And nothing says “grow,” “evolve” and “improve” like bringing back the same roster. Cashman has doubled and tripled and quadrupled down on the status quo with the roster, running it back time and again with the same core and the same overall roster that hasn’t been good enough for five straight years.

On that roster the Yankees have a washed-up, 36-year-old third baseman owed $48 million who was suspended earlier this season for controversial comments. They also roster two pitchers who were suspended for violating the league’s domestic violence policy. Yes, 15 percent of the Yankees’ pitching staff has been suspended for domestic violence. When Aroldis Chapman became a Yankee after his suspension, Hal said, “Sooner or later, we forget, right? That’s the way we’re supposed to be in life.” I didn’t forget. And when Domingo German was suspended for half a season, in order to remain a Yankee, Hal said, “I have to absolutely feel comfortable that he deeply, deeply regrets and is sorry for what he did, and I absolutely have to be comfortable with the fact that he’s turned his life around.” Once Hal realized German would be starting pitching depth making around the league minimum, he was comfortable that German had turned his life around. The roster is littered with scum and fringe major leaguers, taking up roster spots because of money owed and to help with roster manipulation.

4. The Rangers so badly didn’t want to roster or play Isiah Kiner-Falefa that they gave $500 million to Corey Seager and Marcus Semien and traded Kiner-Falefa to the Twins. The Twins then turned around, knowing the Yankees’ wild infatuation with Kiner-Falefa and fleeced Cashman by having him agree to take on Donaldson’s $48 million for 2022 and 2023. After ridding themselves of Donaldson’s ridiculous salary, they gave that money to Carlos Correa, who the Yankees should have signed to the same exact deal he got with the Twins.

The Yankees didn’t sign Correa or any of the available free-agent shortstops in the best free-agent shortstop class in history. Partly because of top prospects Anthony Volpe and Oswald Peraza, and partly because of Hal’s reluctance to exceed the various luxury-tax thresholds.

“I’ve got a lot of partners and banks and bondholders and things like that, who I answer to,” Hal said after passing on all the free-agent shortstops. “We do have two incredible prospects that I am excited to give a chance to.”

The problem is those prospects are ready to be given a chance, and yet, Kiner-Falefa continues to play every day even though he has the same amount of home runs as me. After Aaron Judge and DJ LeMahieu, Kiner-Falefa has inexplicably played in the most games by any Yankee this season (101) with a .265/.311/.312 slash line.

5. A month ago, Hal Steinbrenner talked to the media and defended his decision to not sign a free-agent shortstop.

“I didn’t spend $300 million …,” Hal said. “But I think most people are pretty happy with Isiah and the job he’s done.”

Hal thinks all Yankees fans are idiots, and to his credit he’s right. He’s like the owner of a cigarette company telling its customers cigarettes are safe. Don’t worry about all the warnings and the data. If the owner says everything is good, it’s good. If he says winning a championship is his priority as he uses the luxury-tax tiers as imaginary salary caps and only allows his front office to fill needs from anywhere other than the top shelf, then who is anyone to argue. Keep investing your time and money and energy into lies and a diminished product.

Hal doesn’t care if the Yankees win the World Series. It doesn’t drive him like it drove his father. If the Yankees happen to come across a championship, like Hicks said, “Cool.” And if they don’t, like Hicks also said, “It is what it is.” Hal Steinbrenner isn’t going to lose sleep over the Yankees not winning the World Series.

6. Peraza has a 1.008 OPS at Triple-A since June 11. (Volpe has a .942 OPS at Double-A since May 28.) In seven minor-league seasons, Kiner-Falefa had a .679 OPS. (Again, he’s not a major leaguer.) When is Peraza getting the chance Hal is so “excited” to give him? Don’t be surprised if he doesn’t get it until 2023, after his service time is screwed with enough that his eventual free agency gets pushed back. Because a delayed free agency means savings, and a penny saved tomorrow is more important than a championship today for the Hal Steinbrenner Yankees.

The faction of Yankees fans who think the organization knows best and that if they don’t think Peraza is ready then he’s not ready are fools. We’re talking about the same front office that thought Clint Frazier and Miguel Andujar projected out to be too valuable to trade away for Gerrit Cole prior to the 2018 season. (Frazier was released for nothing this past winter and the only time Andujar gets called up is when seven players go on the injured list). We’re talking about the same organization that thought Eduardo Nunez was going to be the heir to Jeter at shortstop and scoffed at the idea of trading him to the Mariners for Cliff Lee with the Yankees lined up to potentially win back-to-back titles. (They ended up releasing Nunez for nothing four years later.) Sorry if I don’t think the Yankees know what they’re doing when it comes to position player evaluation and development.

7. Look around the field. Anthony Rizzo? Brought over via trade and then re-signed as a free agent. DJ LeMahieu? Signed as a free agent. Donaldson? Trade. Hicks? Trade. Giancarlo Stanton? Trade. Jose Trevino? Trade. Matt Carpenter? Free agent. Kiner-Falefa? Trade. Gleyber Torres? Trade. Andrew Benintendi? Trade. The only everyday position player the Yankees drafted and developed is Judge, who is on his way to winning AL MVP and could very well leave as a free agent.

Ten years ago this week, the Orioles called up Manny Machado at age 19 and changed his position midseason from short to third because they needed help. Two months later they were in the postseason for the first time in 15 years and took the Yankees to a winner-take-all Game 5 in the ALDS. The year after that, the Red Sox called up 20-year-old Xander Bogaerts for the final weeks of the season and had him play third base because Will Middlebrooks wasn’t cutting it with his 17 home runs and .696 OPS (numbers Kiner-Falefa could only dream of). Bogaerts helped the Red Sox win the World Series.

8. Peraza isn’t the only one unnecessarily playing at Triple-A. Ron Marinaccio was unbelievably sent down a few days ago as was Clark Schmidt because they both have options remaining. And because Albert Abreu doesn’t have options he gets to remain a Yankee.

The Yankees traded Abreu to the Rangers in the offseason. He pitched 8 2/3 innings (walking 12!) for the on-pace-for-91-losses Rangers before they said ‘Fuck this!’ and traded him to the Royals for a 21-year-old, Single-A pitcher. The on-pace-for-100-losses Royals let him pitch 4 1/3 innings (allowing 11 baserunners) for them before they also said ‘Fuck this!’ and designated him for assignment. So the Yankees gladly took him back.

Abreu could be a useful bullpen arm as a depth piece who eats innings and sees the mound in lopsided games. The problem is the Yankees have always thought of him as more. It’s as though Cashman is still trying to prove he didn’t fuck up by paying Brian McCann to play for the Astros (and help beat the Yankees in the 2017 ALCS) in exchange for Abreu. In his mind, if Abreu works out, then that double McCann hit to put the 2017 ALCS on ice won’t hurt as much.

Compounded in that issue is that Boone trusts Abreu the same way Joe Girardi trusted Luis Ayala in 2011. (If you remember Girardi used Ayala twice in the 2011 ALDS before using David Robertson once.) Abreu was in Boone’s inner circle lsat season all the way until the final weekend of the season when he lost the Yankees Game 160 of the season, which helped the one-game playoff take place at Fenway Park.

After Abreu blew Wednesday’s game in Seattle, his last four appearances have been entering a 6-6 game and allowing two runs, facing three batters and retiring one, turning a one-run deficit into a two-run deficit, and finally, allowing the go-ahead, two-run home run in the seventh to the Mariners. After King’s injury, Marinaccio became the Yankees’ second-best reliever. Since that injury the Yankees have treated Abreu as if he’s King. As for Schmidt? All he has done is excel in every role the Yankees have used him in this year: starter, long man, middle relief, extra innings. Schmidt has been an unsung hero for the 2022 Yankees.

9. There are currently four players to feel good about on the Yankees: Aaron Judge, DJ LeMahieu, Jose Trevino and Nestor Cortes. Luis Severino, Michael King and Matt Carpenter would also be on this list, but they’re all on the injured list, and Clay Holmes would be on this list if knew where his sinker was going when it left his hand for the last three weeks. Marinaccio and Schmidt would be on this list too, but they’re currently in Triple-A, wasting away and throwing meaningless pitches at a level they have already proven to be too good for.

The Yankees could have more likable players on the roster, if they weren’t always passing on top-tier talent like they did most recently at the trade deadline. The Yankees continue to pass on the most talented players in both free agency and trades. Even when they traded for Stanton after he forced his way out of Miami, they still cut payroll by about $50 million that offseason. They got within one win of the World Series and decided to cut back rather than put their foot on the gas. Since then … Justin Verlander in 2017? Can’t take on that salary. Let him go to Houston and single-handedly swing the ALCS like Lee did with the Rangers seven years prior. Manny Machado? Pass. Bryce Harper? Don’t even set up a meeting. Nolan Arenado? Can’t take on the money of the best third baseman in baseball in his prime in a straight salary dump when the organization makes more money than any other team in the league. Freddie Freeman? Eh, let’s go with Rizzo. He’s cheaper. Verlander as a free agent? Can’t give him a second year on his deal (but the Astros happily did). Luis Castillo? Nah, we’ll get Frankie Montas. Juan Soto? Benintendi will do.

The Yankees have had endless opportunities to add superstars for either money (the resource they make more of than any other team) or prospects (players who will almost certainly never match the production of the player they are being traded for and who might never even make the majors.) They have passed and keep on passing.

10. I thought about all of this early Wednesday morning as I laid in bed around 2:30 a.m. shortly after the Yankees were shut out for the second time in four days and had officially blown their former nine-game lead for the 1-seed in the American League. I laid there thinking What the fuck am I doing rooting for this team? For this manager? Run by this general manager and this owner? But 14 hours later I was ready for the series finale, having talked myself into thinking Wednesday afternoon’s game would be different. It wasn’t.

Rizzo, who had missed five straight games with back problems and who wasn’t available to pinch hit 14 hours earlier in any of the four extra innings played, was now able to start and bat third. (The Yankees would have been better off had he sat out on Wednesday as well.) Benintendi, who the Yankees traded for as a rental for two months was given the day off (even though his time as a Yankee is finite) because the left-handed Robbie Ray was starting. So the left-handed Rizzo can play against a lefty, but not the left-handed Benintendi? Is the Yankees’ new everyday left fielder going to sit in the playoffs against lefties? What if the Yankees play the Mariners and face Ray?

Leading 3-2 in the seventh inning with the tying run on first and no outs, Boone removed Nestor Cortes in favor of Marinaccio. I mean, in favor of Schmidt. I mean, in favor of Abreu since the other two are in Triple-A, so Abreu can be in the majors. Two batters later the Mariners had a 4-3 lead after Abreu gave up a two-run home run. After the game, Boone said he used Abreu in that spot because Abreu “was rested.” Good reason!

10. In the ninth, trailing 4-3, Boone used Benintendi as a pinch hitter for Andujar, who has produced two of the Yankees seven hits over the last two days. Benintendi struck out on three pitches. And because he hit for Andujar, Boone let Kiner-Falefa and Kyle Higashioka hit for themselves. The inning was over in eight pitches.

At least the game’s early start time allowed for it to end in time for dinner. I wouldn’t have to waste another night watching the Yankees limp to another loss, their 25th in their last 47 games since June 19.


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Yankees’ Worst Loss of Season

It was the worst loss of the season for the Yankees, and it won’t be topped. Tuesday’s loss had something for everyone worried about the Yankees.

I have a headache. Above my left eye, and that eye is twitching or spasming. I’m not sure which because I’m unsure of the difference. (A quick Google search tells me a twitch is a form of a spasm.)

I woke up this morning after what seemed like minutes of sleep to feed a soon-to-be four-month-old and then the soon-to-be two-year-old woke up. Before 7 a.m. I had changed a pair of diapers full of poop, listened to the “Wheels on the Bus” roughly 21 times (in a row) and had already watched the trifecta of the “Circle of Life,” “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King,” and “Hakuna Matata” about 14 times.

I’m not complaining. I chose this. I chose to stay up to watch the Yankees play in Seattle at a 10:11 p.m. start time. I chose to stay up as the game went to the 10th inning then the 11th then the 12th then the 13th. I voluntarily kept watching, doubling down on poor decision after poor decision all the way until the Mariners walked off with a 1-0 win at 2:18 a.m.

It was a choice I regretted in the moment and regret even more now as I write this with a Seattle-esque marine layer serving as brain fog. All while not being able to get Pumbaa yelling, “WHEN I WAS A YOUNG WARTHOGGG!” out of my head.

It was the worst loss of the season for the Yankees, and it won’t be topped. Yes, worse than getting walk-off walked on in Baltimore. Yes, worse than all the late blown leads to the last-place Red Sox. Yes, worse than Clay Holmes’ meltdown against the Reds. Yes, worse than all five of the losses to the Astros.

Tuesday’s loss had something for everyone worried about the Yankees.

Worried about the offense? It had yet another disappearing act from the offense. A lineup that can’t come close to hitting starting pitching they will face in October after being shut out just three games prior.

Worried about the team’s baserunning and poor Baseball IQ? It had disastrous, unfathomable baserunning decisions as the Yankees ran into out after out.

Worried about the manager? (How could you not be?) It had bad management and horrible in-game calls like the ill-attempted double steal in the 10th.

The team’s pitching, which has been the team’s least trustworthy component for weeks now was the one aspect of the team that performed well, as a gem from Gerrit Cole was wasted as were five scoreless innings of relief before the 13th.

The offense produced three hits in the game. Three hits in 13 innings. Three singles in 41 plate appearances. It was a disgraceful, non-competitive performance from an offense that seems to have at least one of those a week, if not two. And of course it was Luis Castillo who shut down the Yankees for the third time in a month and twice in a week. It had to be the pitcher the Yankees needed to get, but chose not to, once again choosing a less expensive, second-tier option.

On the bases, Aaron Judge was thrown out trying to steal in the seventh. With runners on first and second and no outs in the 10th, Aaron Boone called for a double steal with Andrew Benintendi at second and Tim LoCastro at first. Benintendi took off too early and got caught in a rundown. In the 11th, with a runner on second and no outs, Aaron Hicks hit a line drive at the second baseman. Miguel Andujar took off too early for third and was doubled off second. In the 12th, with a runner on second and no outs, Isiah Kiner-Falefa hit a ball back to the mound, Jose Trevino was too far off second and got caught in a rundown. While Trevino was in the rundown, Kiner-Falefa took off for second, so that the Yankees would have a runner in scoring position with one out once Trevino was tagged. Trevino was tagged immediately and Kiner-Falefa then got caught in a rundown of his own and ran out of the baseline for the second out on the play. After the game, Boone said, “I don’t want us to lose our aggression on the bases.” You might want to lose that aggression, Booney.

The icing on the shit cake that was Tuesday night into Wednesday morning is that the Yankees no longer hold the 1-seed in the American League. The Yankees had a nine-game lead for home-field advantage throughout the AL playoffs back on June 19 and now they are 2-seed in the AL with the Astros passing them in the standings. So in a potential ALCS between the two teams, Games 1, 2, 6 and 7 will be played in Houston, just like they were in the 2017 ALCS and the 2019 ALCS. I wonder how the 2022 ALCS will play out if the standings hold and they do meet again.

Thinking about the Yankees in the ALCS right now seems foolish. Yes, they are going to win the division. Yes, they are going to have a bye into the ALDS. Yes, they will only need to win one series to get into the ALCS. But with the team going 22-24 over the last seven-plus weeks, and playing as poorly as they have of late, I don’t know how anyone could feel good about them. Maybe Boone can hold another team meeting since the one he held at the beginning of this week has worked out so well.


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Yankees Have Finally Given Up on Aaron Hicks

The Yankees’ trades for Andrew Benintendi and Harrison Bader mean the end of Aaron Hicks as an everyday player with the team.

When Aaron Hicks said his goal was to hit 30 home runs and steal 30 bases in 2022, I couldn’t help but laugh. It was as realistic of a goal as me looking to be part of the Yankees’ rotation in 2022. Hicks had never hit 30 home runs in a season, and had never hit more than 15 outside of the 27 he hit in 2018 at a time when the baseball was juiced more than Alex Rodriguez ever was with the Rangers. (He didn’t use performance-enhancing drugs as a Yankee!) His career high in steals was 13 back when he was 25 years old, before he became a Yankee. So yeah, me slotting in as the Yankees’ No. 5 starter was about as likely as Hicks doubling his non-juiced ball career high in home runs and stealing 57 percent more bases than he ever had in a single season.

Some people might defend Hicks for shooting for the moon. It’s good to have goals! Hicks’ goal of being the first 30/30 Yankee since peak Alfonso Soriano wasn’t a goal, it was a dream. A pipe dream. He should have made a goal of not going on the injured list for an entire season as a Yankee, something he has never been able to accomplish, but while still unrealistic, it was at least something to strive for (and something he actually has achieved to date this season).

The Yankees have played 110 games, and Hicks has played in 97 of them. He has six home runs and nine steals. Earlier this week, he told The Athletic he’s “definitely going to be short” of joining the 30/30 club. (He only needs to hit 24 home runs and steal 27 bases in the team’s final 52 games.)

The problem is Hicks won’t come close to playing in all of those games. Once Giancarlo Stanton returns, and if Harrison Bader plays for the Yankees this season, Hicks will be the odd man out in the outfield. The Yankees didn’t trade for both Andrew Benintendi and Bader to not play them. Hicks will be the one on the bench, and rightfully so, after failing to take advantage of endless opportunities since becoming a Yankee and signing a seven-year extension prior to the 2019 season.

Hicks went from everyday center fielder to everyday left fielder to now looking at being an everyday bench player once the Yankees get healthy. This year he’s hitting .224/.349/.317 and that’s coming off last season when he was appointed as 3-hitter in spring training and then hit .194/.294/.333, lasting only 32 games before needing season-ending wrist surgery.

That surgery on the sheath of his wrist sapped his power (or what there ever was of his power) like it has to others that have had the same surgery. When he homered in three of four games from July 6 through July 9, the idea his power (or what he has ever had of it) was returning was a common theme among Yankees fans for those four days. But July 9 was the last time Hicks homered. A month ago. And in the 23 games he has played in over the last month, he’s hitting .171/.318/.171 (yes, slugging .171 over the last month), highlighted by an 0-for-32 streak that went for nearly two weeks. 

“I started off the season good,” Hicks told The Athletic. “I was hitting for a high average for a while. I wasn’t really hitting for much power.”

When Hicks says he “started off the season good” he means literally the start of the season and no more. He was “good” for nine games (seven starts). He hit .348/.464/.478 over the first week of the season. Then he put together back-to-back 0-for-4s and it’s been downhill since. The last time his average was above .300 was on April 20. The last time it was above .275 was on May 3. The last time it was at.250 was on May 9. It’s at .223 today with 13 extra-base hits.

Hicks’ on-base percentage has carried his OPS (he has a higher on-base percentage than slugging percentage) because while he can’t hit, he is smart enough to take walks. His approach at the plate has always been to not swing and hope the pitcher throws four balls before he throws three strikes, and it works out for him often. (I wish more Yankees would have this approach.)

“All we’re trying to do is win a championship here,” Hicks told The Athletic. “So if I’m a guy that’s in the lineup, cool. If I’m not, it is what it is.”

If I were ownership or the front office I would expect a little more fire and motivation about being in the lineup, especially from a player who is under contract for next season and the season after that and the season after that and then will be bought out for $1 million to not play baseball for the Yankees the season after that. Saying it’s “cool” if you play “but it is what it is” if you don’t doesn’t make Hicks sound like a good teammate and team-first guy, it makes him sound like a loser. Hicks talks like a guy who signed a seven-year, $70 million guaranteed contract because he is that guy. And since receiving that extension, he has played in 242 of a possible 494 regular-season games (49 percent).

I have long wanted Hicks off the Yankees, and was vehemently against the extension he was offered in 2019. (The keyword there is “offered.” The extension and the endless treatment of him as if he’s Bernie Williams 2.0 is all on the Yankees. They created this mess. What is Hicks supposed to do? Not accept $70 million to play baseball?) I have been appalled year after year in their belief he could stay healthy and be productive and be counted on to be an everyday player for the Yankees.

It seems like the Yankees finally agree. By trading for two outfielders in Benintendi and Bader they made it clear they no longer believe in Hicks being the player he told The Athletic he “knows he can be,” which is a player he has rarely ever been in his seven years with the Yankees. Hicks is only playing now because of injuries and the only way he will play regularly for the rest of the regular season and the postseason will be because of injuries.

If Hicks has a future with the Yankees as the fourth outfielder, “cool.” If his future in baseball after this season isn’t with the Yankees, well, “it is what it is.”


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Yankees Podcast: Big Win, But Bigger Loss in Seattle

The loss of Matt Carpenter overshadowed Josh Donaldson’s big night and the Yankees’ first win in a week.

The Yankees won for the first time in a week, beating the Mariners 9-4 in Seattle on Monday. But the big night from Josh Donaldson and the end of the Yankees’ five-game losing streak was dampened by the loss of Matt Carpenter who fouled a ball off his foot, which could end his season.


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My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is now available as an ebook!

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Yankees Podcast: Foreshadowing Familiar Postseason Disappointment

The Yankees blew a late lead on Friday night to the Cardinals, were shut out on Saturday and blew a three-run lead on Sunday.

The Yankees blew a late lead on Friday night to the Cardinals, were shut out on Saturday and blew a three-run lead on Sunday. They have now lost five straight and 16 of their last 25 games, having gone 21-23 since June 19. The Yankees are falling apart from a production and health standpoint, and it’s foreshadowing another disappointing end to a season.


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My book The Next Yankees Era: My Transition from the Core Four to the Baby Bombers is now available as an ebook!

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