1. I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe in the eighth inning of a 0-0 game with the 3-4-5 hitters of the Rangers lineup due up that Aaron Boone was going back to Devin Williams a night after he blew a one-run lead in the ninth inning. Then again, everything is believable when it comes to Boone and in-game decisions.

These were Williams’ last three appearances entering Tuesday:

Tuesday, July 29 vs. Tampa Bay: Entered with a three-run lead in the ninth. Allowed a triple and a walk and brought the tying run to the plate with no outs before eventually getting out of the inning.

Wednesday, July 30 vs. Tampa Bay: Entered with a one-run lead in the ninth. Allowed a walk and then a go-ahead, two-run home run for the blown save.

Monday, Aug. 4 at Texas: Entered with a one-run lead in the ninth. Allowed a game-tying home run for the blown save.

2. Williams has been untrustworthy since the first day he put on pinstripes on Opening Day when he nearly blew a three-run lead in the first game of the season. I don’t care about his run from early May through mid-July. Late March and April were enough to make me never trust him on the mound and when you add in his body language when things aren’t going well and the way he handles answering for blown saves — citing “just one bad pitch” when he blows a one-run lead like he did on Monday — there’s nothing to like about him. Devin, as a closer with a one-run lead, YOU CAN’T HAVE “ONE BAD PITCH!”

But there he was unable to command his fastball and throwing his changeup for easy takes on the Globe Life Field mound on Tuesday for the second time in 24 hours. And there he was ruining a game on the Globe Life Field mound for the second time in 24 hours as he allowed two runs and the Yankees lost 2-0.

3. It’s not Williams’ fault he was pitching in that spot in the game. It’s not his fault he’s still viewed as the highest-leverage reliever the team has. It’s not his fault he’s a Yankee. It’s his fault he sucks, but it’s not his fault the Yankees’ decision makers aren’t willing to accept that he sucks.

Boone could have and should have gone to either David Bednar or Mark Leiter Jr. for the eighth against the 3-4-5 hitters, but he decided to save both, likely wanting Bednar for a save situation as Boone continues to worry about a situation that may never come instead of worrying about the moment even as the Yankees continue to plummet down the standings. Boone stayed with Williams after he loaded the bases. He only went to Leiter Jr. once the Rangers had scored twice.

4. There have been a lot of stars over the years who have come to the Yankees and failed and failed miserably and Williams is the latest. It won’t surprise me when he’s somewhere else in 2026 and pitching like his pre-Yankee self and serving as the closer of the All-Star Game. It’s sad that so many great players and Hall of Fame players that have played for the Yankees under the Steinbrenners’ ownership were forced to cut their hair and shave daily, but the policy was modified for Williams of all players. One of, if not the softest player to ever come through the organization.

5. For as soft as Williams is, the offense as a collective group is much, much softer. After suffering a disastrous loss on Friday, the offense went out and got two-hit and shut out on Saturday. After suffering a disastrous loss on Monday, the offense went and got two-hit and shut out on Tuesday. This team has no fight. It’s why they didn’t have a late-game comeback for months to begin the season. When the going gets tough, the Boone Yankees get going. They always have, outside of a select few.

6. One of those few is Giancarlo Stanton who was held to one plate appearance on Tuesday because Aaron Judge returned and Judge can only DH, and because the Yankees are worried about Stanton’s health with 48 games left and a playoff berth hanging in the balance, Stanton is going to be held to one plate appearance a lot moving forward. Shockingly, the Yankees’ problems weren’t resolved with the return of Judge as Boone suggested they may be when he sternly said, “Judge tomorrow,” to the media after Monday’s game as if to foreshadow that everything would change. The Yankees were a bad team for a long time with Judge playing every day and continued to be one without him and are still one now with him again. Judge wasn’t himself for a long time before going on the injured list and still isn’t himself as he went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts. Judge did say the Yankees “have a good ball club” and Boone said he’s “confident” the team will turn it around. The same “good ball club” and the same “confidence” the two have never stopped referring to despite being 19-29 since June 13.

7. It’s always the ex-Yankee fucking the current the Yankees. It was Nathan Eovaldi throwing eight inning of one-hit ball on Tuesday. On Monday, it was former Yankees minor leaguers Josh Smith and Ezequiel Duran (two players traded for Joey Gallo) combining to go 3-for-7 with three RBIs. Over the weekend in Miami, it was Augustin Ramirez (traded for Jazz Chisholm) with the walk-off hit on Friday and two solo home runs in the Yankees’ 2-0 loss on Saturday. It’s always the ex-Yankees.

8. Eovaldi’s line looks great from Tuesday, but he didn’t do anything special. Eury Perez and the Marlins did the same thing to the Yankees on Saturday. Shutting out the Yankees isnt some great accomplishment. In June, they were shut out at Fenway Park on a Sunday and then shut out for 11 innings by the Angels the next day and then shut out by the Angels again the day after that. Eovaldi was good on Tuesday because he’s been good in nearly every start since leaving the Yankees after 2016.

9. Boone has had nearly three full seasons to pinch hit for Anthony Volpe in big spots and has always refrained. Yes, Stanton presented a better chance at a game-tying home run in the ninth inning on Tuesday and I would have made the same move, it’s just funny that Volpe is finally showing some semblance of offense and power for the first time in his career and now he’s a pinch-hit opportunity for Boone. Maybe Boone will finally start pinch hitting for Austin Wells now too.

10. Unfortunately, Carlos Rodon, who is as soft as Williams gets the ball in the series finale on Wednesday. Anyone who tells you they like Rodon, trust him, think he’s good or believe he will go out and lead the Yankees to a win on Wednesday is either a Yankees homer, full of shit, soft themself or all three. Sure, Rodon could go out and pitch well and the Yankees could end their five-game losing streak and avoid falling out of a playoff spot for the first time all season, but no one can feel confident in thinking he will. Because even if Rodon pitches well, the offense is likely to no-show. And if the offense does show, Rodon likely won’t pitch well. And if the offense does show and Rodon does pitch well, someone will make a baserunning or defensive mistake you have never seen before. And if the offense does show and Rodon is great and the Yankees play a clean game in the field and on the bases, the bullpen will blow it. And if the offense does show, Rodon is stellar, the Yankees play a clean game in the field and on the bases and the bullpen is unhittable, the Yankees just may win. And if all of those things happen it will be their first clean game and their first win since the trade deadline and in August. And if all of those things happen, the Yankees will leave Texas still in a playoff spot.

1. The Yankees led the Rangers 5-4 with one out and no one on the ninth inning on Monday night.

“And here is Joc Pederson, who has really struggled,” Ryan Ruocco said on YES as the Rangers pinch hit for Ezequiel Duran.

YES displayed a graphic with Pederson’s season stats showing a .126 batting average, two home runs, six RBIs and a .473 OPS on the season.

“Stunning,” David Cone replied. “Those numbers are absolutely stunning from Joc Pederson, who signed a two-year, $20 million deal to come over here. Hitting a-buck-twenty-six.”

Four pitches later Pederson destroyed a 2-1 changeup off Devin Williams to tie the game.

The moment Pederson’s blast landed, the Yankees lost. Yes, technically, there was still baseball to be played, but either the Yankees were going to get walked off on in the bottom of the ninth, or they were going to get walked off on in extra innings. Every Yankees fan knew the game was over. The worst extra-inning road team since the automatic runner was implemented was only going to provide one result.

2. And lose they did. After failing to score in the top of the 10th, the Yankees lost, as expected, in the bottom of the 10th.

In the top of the 10th with Jasson Dominguez as the automatic runner, Jazz Chisholm moved him over to third with a groundout. Anthony Volpe walked to set up runners on first and third with one out, but Austin Wells failed miserably (as he always does) and hit a weak grounder back to the mound to start an inning-ending double play. The Yankees 0-for in the 10th has them now at 1-for-33 (the one was a single) with no RBIs in six extra-inning road games this season. The only run they have scored in extras on the road this season was on a wild pitch.

Aaron Boone had already used Luke Weaver, Camilo Doval, David Bednar and Williams, so he went with Jake Bird for the 10th.

Bird got the hardest out of the inning — striking out Marcus Semien to prevent the automatic runner from advancing to third — and got Adolis Garcia to ground out to keep the automatic runner at second. Bird was one out away from sending the game to an 11th inning.

Boone decided to intentionally walk Wyatt Langford, choosing instead to pitch to Josh Jung. Jung went on to hit a 1-1 sinker 401 feet for a game-winning, three-run home run to drop the Yankees to 0-6 on the season in extra-inning road games and extend their losing streak to four straight.

3. Brian Cashman was praised for bringing in Bird, Bednar and Doval at the trade deadline, but we’re quickly seeing why he was able to hold on to his top prospects to acquire the three. The games Bird and Bednar have appeared in have been the biggest of their careers as Bird had only ever pitched for the Rockies and Bednar had spent the last five seasons in Pittsburgh after throwing 17 1/3 innings for the Padres to begin this career. Doval is the only one of the three to ever throw a meaningful pitch in August let alone October.

4. Max Fried had a 1.29 ERA through 11 starts and the Yankees were 10-1 in them. Fried has a 4.30 ERA over his last 12 starts and the Yankees are 5-7 in them. Fried was bad again on Monday: 5 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 7 K. Eleven baserunners in five innings isn’t going to cut it. Fried now has one quality start (July 29 against the Rays) in his last six outings going back to July 1. In those six starts he has a 5.81 ERA and the Yankees are 2-4.

5. Aaron Judge is set to return on Tuesday. “Judge tomorrow,” is what Boone told the media on Monday night in a way that makes me believe Boone thinks Judge is going to come back and solve all of the team’s problem. I hate to break it to you, but Judge only missed nine games since going on the injured list. The Yankees were a bad team with Judge. They have just continued to be a bad team without him.

6. Judge’s DH-only return means Giancarlo Stanton will be going to the bench. The Yankees are taking their best active hitter out of the lineup because they are afraid to let him play the outfield. There are 49 games left and the Yankees are closer to being out of the playoffs than they are to moving up in the current playoff picture. If Stanton gets hurt playing the outfield, so be it. His bat is too valuable to remove because Judge can’t play the outfield. Stanton has to play. What are you saving him for? The postseason that you’re not going to play in if he doesn’t play every day right now. Stanton can’t be a glorified pinch hitter and allowed only one plate appearance a night until Judge can throw again.

7. “Do you feel like this stretch is weighing on guys?” Boone was asked after the game.

“Yes,” Boone answered surprisingly.

I didn’t think Boone had it in him to admit things aren’t going well when things are obviously not going well, and that’s the first time in his eight years as manager I can recall him doing so. Boone said after Sunday’s loss that it’s “gut-check time” for his Yankees and they went to Texas, checked their gut and got punched in it again.

As I wrote after Sunday’s loss, Boone’s postgame tone completely shifted over the weekend. He sounds like someone who knows where this season is headed and with each passing day they are one loss closer to missing the postseason.

8. Despite having a somber tone in his voice, Boone did manage to throw out some of his favorite go-to lines after the loss. He gave us a “Gotta get over it” and a “We gotta win games” and a “We gotta do it better” when asked about his team’s recent play. The team he called “the best team in the league” a month ago. Boone said, “The season is getting shorter in a hurry.” I wonder if he has relayed that message to his clubhouse, especially Volpe, who has recently mentioned how the Yankees have so many games left.

9. On Friday, the offense scored 12 runs and the pitching gave up 13. On Saturday, the pitching held the Marlins to two runs and the offense was shut out. On Sunday, both the offense and defense sucked. On Monday, the offense scored five runs and the pitching gave up eight. The Yankees find a new way to lose every game, and that’s the most obvious sign of a bad team, which is what they have been for a long time now.

10. The Yankees are 19-28 since June 13. They went 13-14 in June, 12-13 in July and are 0-4 in August. They had an eight-game lead in the division at the end of May and are now 6 1/2 games back in the division (tiebreaker included). They had a 12-game lead in the loss column over the Red Sox at the end of May and now trail the Red Sox by 3 1/2 games for the first wild card (tiebreaker included). They are now tied with the Mariners record-wise, but do hold the head-to-head tiebreaker to be the second wild card. With Will Warren going against Nathan Eovaldi on Tuesday and the Mariners hosting the White Sox, I expect the Mariners to pass the Yankees by the end of play on Tuesday.

1. The Yankees blew a 6-0 lead. They blew a 9-4 lead. They blew a 12-10 lead with one out and no one on in the ninth inning and the bottom of the Marlins’ order due up. The Yankees lost a game in which they scored at least 12 runs and had at least 15 hits for the first time in 85 years (stat from Katie Sharp), falling to the Marlins 13-12.

In the Aaron Boone era, the Yankees have made sure to let any good feeling fans have about the team be short-lived. In 2018, the Yankees did their job to begin the ALDS by splitting the first two games at Fenway Park and then returned home to a raucous Stadium crowd only to suffer the most lopsided home postseason defeat in the franchise’s history. In 2019, they won Game 1 of the ALCS on the road against the Astros only to blow Game 2 and lose Games 3 and 4. They momentarily saved their season by coming back in the top of the ninth in Game 6 only to be walked off in the bottom of the ninth. In 2020, they won the first game of the ALDS and then lost three of the next four, including a Game 5 defeat in which they couldn’t hold on or add to an early lead. In 2022, they survived elimination in Games 3, 4 and 5 in the ALDS only to be humiliated in the ALCS. They re-signed Aaron Judge after 2022 and promised to add more, and that more only ended up regrettably being Carlos Rodon. In 2024, they reached the World Series and looked to be on their way to forcing a Game 6 before producing the single-worst inning in the history of the World Series. They traded for Juan Soto and then lost him to free agency after one season.

2. The 2025 Yankees have given fans little to feel good about over the last two months. The team had an eight-game lead over the Blue Jays at the end of May and now trail the Blue Jays by 4 1/2 games with the head-to-head tiebreaker included. The team had a 12-game lead over the Red Sox in the loss column and now they have a one-game lead in the loss column and are tied in wins. But a depressing June and July was supposed to be forgotten with a big August and September. The Yankees finally released DJ LeMahieu last month and did the same to Marcus Stroman on Friday. They had added an actual third baseman to play third base, revamped their bullpen and created a functional bench for the first time in years. Before the first pitch on Friday against the Marlins, I felt the best I had about the Yankees since they took a 3-2 lead over the Dodgers in the 10th inning of Game 1 of the World Series. Again, every good feeling in the Boone era is short-lived.

The bullpen was responsible for a lot of the losses over the last two months, but that was supposed to be resolved on deadline day with the addition of Jake Bird, David Bednar and Camilo Doval. You couldn’t find a Yankees fan on Thursday at 6 p.m. who wasn’t ecstatic about the Yankees adding three high-leverage relievers to replace the crap they had been trotting out for most of the summer. But like every bit of happiness the Yankees have produced since the start of 2018, it was immediately destroyed.

3. Before the deadline day duds ruined Friday’s game, Boone put the wheels in motion. Rodon was awful, needing 107 pitches to pitch 4 2/3 innings. But for as bad as Rodon was, Boone’s decision to let him keep pitching in the fifth inning when he clearly had nothing was worse. The Yankees led 6-0 when Rodon took the mound in the bottom of the fifth and he promptly allowed four runs with a little help from the mess that is Jonathan Loaisiga. Loaisiga hit a batter to load the bases and then allowed a two-run single to ding Rodon’s ERA.

Brent Headrick managed to throw a scoreless sixth to hold the Yankees’ 6-4 lead and the Yankees added three runs in the seventh to take a 9-4 lead. A five-run lead with nine outs to go with the newly-stacked bullpen? That’s about as close to a guaranteed win as you get in this sport. The deadline day acquisitions made sure to remind everyone there’s no such thing as a guarantee in this sport.

4. Bird was the first deadline day reliever to come into the game. The sweeper version of Tommy Kahnle and his changeup, Bird decided he was only going to throw sweepers and when it was evident he had no command of the pitch and had to come in the zone with a fastball, the Marlins rocked him.

Bird went sweeper, sweeper, sweeper, sinker to Agustin Ramirez and Ramirez drilled the fastball off the right-field wall. Bird did then got the recently-called-up rookie to go down swinging after four straight sweepers. Otto Lopez singled when Bird threw him three straight sweepers and Liam Hicks walked when Bird threw sweepers and a curveball out of the zone.

At that point, Bird had thrown 15 sweepers in 19 pitches and it had led to the bases being loaded. Up came Kyle Stowers — the only star in the Marlins’ lineup — and Bird remained in the game. It was obvious Bird didn’t have it, but that wasn’t going to stop Boone from trying to let him find it against the majors’ sixth-highest OPS (.949) in Stowers. Bird went away from the sweeper, thinking Stowers would be sitting on it and missed the zone with a first-pitch curve. Thinking that Stowers would now certainly be sitting on the sweeper after not throwing it on the first pitch, Bird went with a sinker and Stowers hit a grand slam off of it. Bird didn’t find “it” on the mound like Boone thought he would. The grand slam pulled the Marlins to within one run at 9-8 and then Boone decided to pull Bird after he had jumpstarted the Marlins’ comeback.

5. The next of the deadline day duds to enter the game was Bednar. The former Pirates closer quickly found out he wasn’t in Pittsburgh anymore. For the first time in his career he was pitching in a game that mattered in August and he handled it about as well as someone who had spent five years with the Pirates would. Michael Kay warned fans the Marlins broadcast team had told him about Bednar’s struggles in the Marlins’ park and three pitches into his Yankees debut, Bednar allowed a game-tying home run to Javier Sanoja. Yes, the powerful Sanoja who hit 20 home runs with a .719 OPS in 415 games in the minors and who entered Friday with one home run and a .634 OPS in 93 games in the majors homered off Bednar after homering off Rodon earlier. Tie game.

Bednar wasn’t done. He then gave up a double to Jakob Marsee in his major-league debut for the first hit of Marsee’s career. Xavier Edwards then reached on an infield single that “the fucking elite” Anthony Volpe couldn’t handle because he can’t handle anything with the smallest amount of difficulty involved and once Volpe couldn’t end the inning, you just knew the Marlins would take the lead before the inning was over. They did so on the very next pitch as Ramirez — traded last year for Jazz Chisholm — ripped an 111-mph line-drive single to left. Bednar allowed one earned run in his last 23 1/3 innings with the Pirates and then allowed two in his first five batters with the Yankees (stat from Katie Sharp). 10-9 Marlins.

Volpe made up for his inability to play shortstop in the majors by hitting a game-tying home run to lead off the eighth. Volpe flipped his bat and then made some odd gesture either to his bench or the crowd as to quiet them down before going on the slowest recorded home run jog of his career. How about we get to league average as a hitter before we act like that? Tie game again.

The game was still tied at 10 in the ninth when the Yankees built a two-out rally against the tough Anthony Bender. Ben Rice hit a pinch-hit single to right, Jose Caballero stole second after pinch running for Rice and Ryan McMahon battled back from 1-2 against Bender to single in Rice and give the Yankees an 11-10 lead. Volpe followed with a double to drive in McMahon and the Yankees had a 12-10 lead. Kay screamed on YES, “FOUR-HIT NIGHT FOR ANTHONY VOLPE,” as if Volpe had just eclipsed Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hit streak because the odds of Volpe having a four-hit game were just about as impossible as someone breaking the Yankee Clipper’s record.

Because no big moment during the Boone era goes without retaliation, anyone who thought the two ninth-inning runs would be enough to put away the Marlins must be new around here. Bird sucked and Bednar sucked just as bad, so Boone figured the final deadline acquisition in the bullpen in Camilo Doval couldn’t possibly be as bad.

6. Bird had been given a five-run lead as a soft landing spot to get his feet wet as a Yankee and couldn’t handle it. Bednar was given a one-run lead to protect against the bottom of the Marlins’ lineup and couldn’t do so. Doval was being asked to protect a two-run lead with the 7-8-9 hitters due up. Get three outs before the bottom of the Marlins’ lineup could score two runs and the Yankees would have themselves a fourth straight win and would be one game closer to the Blue Jays.

It seems unfathomable anyone hits Doval with his 100-mph cutter, but when he inexplicably doesn’t use that pitch it’s easy to see how he gets hit. Doval got the first out of the ninth on four pitches and then the immortal Sanoja singled on a line-drive right right after Doval went sinker, slider, slider against him without showing the Marlins’ 8-hitter the cutter. Doval then threw seven pitches to Marsee (again making his major-league debut) and only one was a cutter — clocked at 99.5 mph — and Marsee walked. The Marlins had the tying run on base and the winning run at the plate with the lineup turning over. Maybe now Doval would go to his best pitch? No, he wouldn’t.

Doval went slider then sinker to Xavier Edwards and Edwards singled to right. The base hit was going to score one run, but it ended up scoring two as Caballero let the ball roll under his glove. Caballero is a middle infielder by trade, but he has played 33 games in his career in the outfield, so it wasn’t his first time out there. But there’s nothing that Boone loves more than playing players out of position if he can. Cody Bellinger had to move to first after Paul Goldschmidt and Rice were removed from the game, so Caballero had to play right field because he was the only option left for Boone. Wait … what’s that? The Yankees recently traded for Austin Slater who has played 1,049 2/3 innings in right field in his career and he was available off the bench. Oh …

“I feel sad,” Caballero said, “because it’s definitely a game that we could have won.”

Yes, I would say a 6-0 lead over the Marlins constitutes as a game that could have been won. I would say a 9-4 lead over the Marlins constitutes as a game that could have been won. I would say a 12-10 lead with one out and no one on in the ninth and the 8-9 hitters due up constitutes as a game that could have been won.

7. No one could have envisioned all four deadline day acquisitions would play a major role in the Yankees suffering a loss not experienced by the franchise in more than eight decades in their very first game with the team. But my biggest worry when the Yankees made all the moves they made at the deadline was that they gave Boone so many pieces to play with that he wouldn’t know how to use them. It took one game for that fear to be realized. Boone needs eight everyday players at all eight positions, five clear starting pitchers, a pure seventh-inning pitcher, eighth-inning pitcher and closer. He needs a 12-piece puzzle with giant pieces and pictures of safari animals on them. He was supplied with a 1,000-piece puzzle of the Manhattan skyline at night.

The Yankees treated the winter and first two-thirds of the seasons as if they didn’t matter. They didn’t have a real third baseman play third base until July 26. They didn’t improve their bullpen until July 31. Brian Cashman spent $300 million on a roster that needed to add seven players to before the deadline. More than a quarter of the Yankees’ roster is different than it was a week ago because the original roster was so poorly constructed.

8. It’s not Boone’s fault Rodon sucked again, Bird couldn’t throw his sweeper for a strike, Bednar pooped his pants in the biggest game of his career, Doval was a disaster and Caballero played the ball in right like the drunkest guy on a beer league team stuck in right field where he couldn’t possibly impact the game. But it’s Boone fault that Rodon was allowed to pitch as long as he did. It’s Boone’s fault he didn’t get Bird out of the game when he clearly didn’t have it. It’s Boone’s fault Caballero was playing right field with Slater on the bench.

With Edwards on third representing the winning run, Ramirez came to the plate with one out. It would be nearly impossible to throw out the speedy Edwards if Ramirez put the ball in play on the ground and because Doval had no swing-and-miss stuff in his debut, the sensible decision would be to intentionally walk Ramirez. That would create the possibility of a double play, so that a ground ball wouldn’t necessarily end the game with Edwards on third.

I’m not sure if the thought to walk Ramirez ever entered Boone’s mind. I’m not sure he’s capable of reading the situation and thinking of such an option because he didn’t. Instead, he had Doval pitch to Ramirez, Ramirez put the ball in play on the ground and the Marlins won 13-12.

“It’s now how you draw it up,” Boone said.

Actually, if you know anything about the Boone era, it’s exactly how things get drawn up. The endless list of lowlights and miserable franchise records set during his tenure as Yankees manger is depressing.

9. “We fought,” Volpe said. “Overall, I’m proud of the fight everyone showed.”

What the fuck are you talking about? The Marlins should be proud of their fight, not the Yankees. The Yankees had a 96 percent chance to win when they led 6-0. It was 97 percent when they led 9-4. It was 95 percent when Doval got the first out of the ninth. Bird, Bednar and Doval combined to allow nine runs on nine hits in just 2 1/3 innings. I bet Ian Hamilton and Yerry De los Santos are together still floating up against a ceiling from laughter like Uncle Albert and Bert in Mary Poppins.

10. The Blue Jays lost again, so the Yankees missed an opportunity to trim the loss column deficit in the division to two. The Red Sox and Mariners both won, so the Yankees’ lead on the first wild-card spot was cut into.

WC1: Yankees (4.5 games back of Blue Jays because of tie-breaker)
WC2: Red Sox (0.5 games back of Yankees)
WC2: Mariners (1.5 games back of Yankees)
First team out: Rangers (4.5 games back of Yankees because of tie-breaker)

Friday’s loss was the kind of loss that keeps you up and makes you question why you like the Yankees. It’s also the kind of loss that makes you get up and write nearly 3,000 words about it. I don’t want to write about a game like that again. Not this season. Not ever.

1. The Yankees won a game and won it against a division opponent, beating the Rays 7-5 to improve to 12-19 in the AL East.

The Yankees won a game they had to have: a game started by Max Fried. The Yankees had been 2-4 in Fried’s last six starts and when the rest of your rotation is the untrustworthy Carlos Rodon, the inconsistent Will Warren, the inexperienced Cam Schlittler and the inept Marcus Stroman, you have to win the games Fried starts.

2. It didn’t necessarily look like the Yankees were going to win the Fried start on Tuesday. With a runner on first and no outs in the first inning, Anthony Volpe fielded a ground ball up the middle and shoveled a throw out of the reach of Jazz Chisholm at second. The Yankees may have been able to turn two on the play and erase the runner on base, but at worst they were going to get the first out of the inning. Instead, they got nothing and the Rays ended up scoring twice with two outs in the inning when the inning should have been over. Unfortunately, the errant throw wouldn’t be Volpe’s only of the game.

3. The Rays added a third run in the third inning to take a 3-0 lead and the Yankees’ odds of coming back felt insurmountable with an offense that had scored in just two of 20 innings since Aaron Judge went on the injured list. (And in one of those two innings, both runs scored on bases-loaded walks.) But Cody Bellinger (inexplicably batting fourth despite being the best active hitter in the lineup) tied the game with a three-run home run in the bottom of the third.

The Yankees scored three more runs in the fourth to take a 6-3 lead. They gave one back in the seventh, but added a seventh run in the eighth and then eked out a win in the ninth as Devin Williams was shaky and his defense was even shakier as Volpe threw away the would-be final out of the game to extend the inning and give the Rays another crack at tying or taking the lead in the ninth.

4. Volpe moved back on the ball in the ninth inning — as he now always does — and let the ball play him. Once he fielded it, he took two hops to gather himself and then put his left leg (his plant leg) exceptionally far from his body before delivering a throw in the the dirt to first. I have no idea how the player who failed to make that play and the player who now has that poor of footwork and fielding technique was able to win the Gold Glove two years ago.

“I’ve never really experienced something like this,” said Volpe. “I know what I’m capable of.”

5. Volpe did provide an RBI bloop single, managed to steal third on an errant throw and hit the longest home run of his career for one of his best offensive games of the season, but he’s still 11 percent worse than league average for the season. The battle for the worst defensive shortstop in the league continues to be between Volpe and Elly De La Cruz. The difference is you can live with the errors Cruz has made at the position because he’s hitting .282/.362/.484 with an .846 OPS, a 128 OPS+ and 29 steals.

6. There’s no current resolution for Volpe, nor do the Yankees want to have one. They want Volpe to work out and be the player they promised because they passed on the deepest shortstop free-agent class in history to cater to him. They have played him every single day since the start of 2023 and have defended him to the media in a way no player has ever been defended by the organization before. The idea Volpe is going to lose playing time to Amed Rosario is not worth thinking about because it’s never going to happen. The only way out of this mess is for George Lombard Jr. to develop into the player the Yankees thought they had in Volpe.

7. Trent Grisham went 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts. Ben Rice went 0-for-2 with two walks. Paul Goldschmidt went 1-for-4 with two strikeouts. Bellinger had the big, game-tying blast. Jazz Chisholm went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. Jasson Dominguez went 2-for-4 with a stolen base. Ryan McMahon went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. Volpe went 2-for-4 with a home run and Austin Wells went 0-for-3 with a walk. Jonathan Loaisiga threw 1 1/3 scoreless innings following Fried and Williams closed out the ninth around a triple, walk and the Volpe error.

8. The Blue Jays lost for the fourth straight game, so the Yankees — despite going 2-2 in their last four — have now picked up two games on them in the division. The Red Sox also won, but the Mariners and Rangers lost to go along with the Rays loss.

WC1: Yankees (5 games back of Blue Jays because of tie-breaker)
WC2: Red Sox (1 game back of Yankees)
WC2: Mariners (1.5 games back of Yankees)
First team out: Rangers (3.5 games back of Yankees because of tie-breaker)
Second team out: Rays (4.5 games back of Yankees)

9. It’s going to be extremely hard to win Thursday afternoon’s series finale against the Rays with Stroman starting, so the Yankees need to win Wednesday night’s game with Warren starting. Unfortunately, Warren has faced the Rays twice this season and pitched poorly in both outings. On April 17, he was pulled in the second inning in Tampa after allowing four hits and two walks and needing 53 pitches to get five outs. On may 4, he allowed seven hits and three walks over 4 2/3 innings, needing 102 pitches to get 14 outs.

10. Which version of Warren will show up on Wednesday? Will it be the one who couldn’t beat the Rays in either start this season? The one who ruins the game in the first inning? The one who has trouble getting through five innings? Or the one who can shut out a team and rack up double-digit strikeouts? I have no idea and neither do the Yankees.