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Yankees Thoughts: Real Test Begins After Beating Bad Teams

The schedule gets tough again, and we’ll find out if the Yankees turned their season around or just beat some bad teams.

The Yankees erased their embarrassing 11-game stretch against the Rays, Blue Jays and Braves in which they went 3-8 by beating up on the Indians, Orioles and Tigers to go 8-3. Now the schedule gets tough again, and we’ll find out if the Yankees turned their season around or just beat some bad teams.

Here are 10 thoughts on the Yankees.

1. Don’t let the weekend fool you. The Yankees swept a bad Tigers team. Not just a bad team, the worst team in baseball. The Tigers are 8-21 with a .276 winning percentage and -62 run differential. “Good” teams are supposed to beat a team like the Tigers. The Yankees are supposed to be a “good” team.

Outside of Friday’s win (10-0), it’s not like the Yankees easily handled the Tigers either. They won 6-4 on Saturday and 2-0 on Sunday. Two two-run wins, needing to use elite relievers in both games. That’s not all that encouraging given the Tigers’ lineup or their starting pitching. A win is a win and the Yankees got three of them against a team whose season is already over.

2. It’s scary to think where Gerrit Cole’s career would be without Kyle Higashioka since Higashioka is the reason for Cole’s success. That’s what everyone on YES and in the mainstream media wants fans to believe. Cole dominated the Tigers (6 IP, 4 H,0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 12 K) and lowered his ERA to 1.43 on the season. He has now faced the Blue Jays twice, Orioles, Rays, Indians and Tigers, allowing two earned runs or less in every start. He has been awesome and it hasn’t mattered who was behind the plate. Jorge Posada could be catching him and he would still be awesome. I don’t mean Posada in his playing days, I mean current 50-year-old Posada, who retired nearly a decade ago.

3. Aaron Judge returned to the lineup on Friday and hit two home runs, including a grand slam. It’s miraculous how his “lower-body stuff” and soreness from traveling disappeared! Thankfully, Judge must have experienced ideal traveling conditions on the way back to New York from Baltimore to keep him healthy and allow him to play against the Tigers all weekend. Let’s hope he sat on the couch Sunday night and all day Monday and is able to arrive at the Stadium on Tuesday without any further travel complications.

4. Why does Aaron Hicks bat left-handed? (The bigger question is why is Hicks a Yankee or why did the team give him a seven-year, $70 million extension). He’s not any good at it. Hicks is batting .250/.300/.607 as a right-handed hitter this season and .115/.236/.180 as a left-handed hitter. He has a .715 career OPS as a lefty and a .760 OPS as a righty. Maybe he just can’t switch hit anymore?

A .300 on-base percentage (which he has as a righty) isn’t good, let alone for a guy whose only skill is supposedly getting on base, but at least as a righty he hits one out every once in a while, like he did on Friday. If you’re Hicks and you’re batting .139 with a .499 OPS like he was entering Friday’s game, and you hit a home run, you can’t be staring at it and flipping your bat.

5. Rougned Odor is very bad, though for some reason he bats third and fourth in the Yankees lineup. Why? Because he bats left-handed, of course! Odor has four home runs in only 67 plate appearances and still has a .642 OPS. That’s how bad he has been. He only has six other hits as a Yankee, all singles.

Odor went 1-for 10 on the weekend, but did hit a solo home run on Friday as the 9-hitter, so that allowed him to bat third on Saturday and fourth on Sunday. Aaron Boone is such an idiot. He really is.

Odor has now batted third (1), fourth (4), fifth (1), sixth (2), seventh (3), eighth (1) and ninth (6). He shouldn’t be in the lineup ever (he shouldn’t be on the Yankees). If he must be, then he needs to bat ninth. Only ninth.

6. Jameson Taillon won a game for the first time in two years on Saturday. He still only gave the team five innings, but I think that’s all he will ever give the team at most The Yankees seem to want to keep him around 80 pitches per start (74, 84, 80, 82, 79), and with trouble he has putting away hitters with two strikes, it’s always going to take him that many pitches to get through five innings. He has now had two good starts, one OK start and two bad starts as a Yankee. He’s been about what I thought he would be.

7. Corey Kluber was great again, however, everything from the weekend needs a disclaimer because again it was against the Tigers. Kluber was OK against the Blue Jays, awful against the Rays, bad against the Blue Jays, blah against the Braves, great against the Orioles and outstanding against the Tigers. He now has a 3.03 ERA on the season thanks to his last two starts.

Were his last two starts against the Orioles and Tigers Kluber getting back to being his old self after not pitching in basically two years? Or was it two starts against two bad teams? I hope it’s the former and not the latter.

His next few starts won’t be against the hardest of offensive competition either as he is lined up to face the Nationals, Orioles and Rangers his next three starts. He will see the Blue Jays at the end of May, so we will have a better idea then if the Yankees hit it big on his one-year deal.

8. The Yankees went 8-3 in the 11-game stretch against the Indians, Orioles and Tigers. It could have been more and should have been more, but it did erase the 3-8 they went in the previous 11-game strech against the Rays, Blue Jays and Braves. They are fortunate the Rays and Blue Jays both got off to nearly as bad starts as they did.

Have the Yankees really turned their season around? I want to believe they have, it’s just to hard to trust them given how bad April was and how they only went 5-3 in their last eight games against the Indians, Orioles and Tigers.

9. The Yankees will be tested over the next 10 days with nine games against the Astros, Nationals and Rays. The Astros have had the Yankees’ number for three years straight (since they didn’t play in 2020), the Nationals have managed to stay afloat at .500 without Juan Soto and Stephen Strasburg and the Rays are 5-1 against the Yankees this season despite being 10-14 against everyone else.

The Yankees wasted April. With the Blue Jays (14-13) and Rays (15-15) both struggling, they had a chance to create early-season separation from their two competitors for the division. Instead they’re in fourth place in the East and half-game out of last.

10. The Yankees have been managed like they had built a five-game division lead in the first month of the season and they played some of the worst baseball any Yankees team has played in a long, long time, including the 2013 Yankees. That can’t continue. I don’t think it will on the playing side, though I’m sure it will on the managerial side.

They have six games against the Astros and Nationals then an off day and then three games against the Rays. The best possible version of the everyday lineup needs to play in these games. There have been enough personal days off through 28 games and look where it has gotten them.

The Yankees were given a gift to not be buried in the division and spending the next few months trying to climb out of a deficit. They’re at .500 with new life and they can’t afford to screw it up this time because the Rays and Blue Jays might not give them another chance. The Yankees have five months to be the team they were expected to be, and it begins on Tuesday.


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Yankees Thoughts: The Latest Disappointing Road Trip

The Yankees were supposed to go on the road and return home with their season back on track. Instead, they return home in last place and three games under .500.

The Yankees were supposed to go on the road and return home with their season back on track after beating up on the Indians and Orioles. Instead, they return home in last place and three games under .500.

Here are 10 thoughts on the Yankees.

1. The Yankees’ eight-game road trip was an enormous disappointment. After starting the trip 3-0 against the Indians, the Yankees lost three of the last five to finish 5-3. That’s not good enough. It’s not nearly good enough. You can’t have barely-winning road trips against the worst teams in the league if you’re going to get embarrassed every time you play the Rays and Blue Jays, like the Yankees have. With a 3-9 record against the Rays and Blue Jays, the Yankees can’t afford 5-3 road trips against the Indians and Orioles. They have to demolish those teams. They have to win six or seven or all eight games in this instance. For loser Aaron Boone, the 5-3 trip was considered a success. 

“Obviously, you go out on a road trip and have a winning record like that,” Boone said, “Certainly, that’s good.”

No, it’s not good. It’s not good when it’s April 30 and you’re in last place in the division and three games under .500. The season is 25 games in and 15 percent complete and Friday’s game against the Tigers is the last game of April, and Boone is still trying to act as though everything is fine with his team, the team that was the preseason favorite to represent the American League in the World Series.

2. “We gotta continue to play better,” Boone said, “And keep it moving.”

To “continue” to do something, you have to already be doing it. The Yankees aren’t playing better. They just lost two of four to the Orioles. Prior to that, they had to come from behind in the first three games against the Indians and blew a three-run lead in the fourth game against them. The Yankees just scored 33 runs on their eight-game trip. They scored 17 runs in four games at Camden Yards, the most hitter-friendly venue in the majors. 

This was going to be it. This 11-game stretch was going to be the 11 games to erase the previous 11 games in which the Yankees went 3-8 against the Rays, Blue Jays and Braves. Eleven games against the Indians, Orioles and Tigers were going to save the Yankees’ season. They would have the chance to beat up on the Indians, who now have the second-lowest payroll in the league by essentially admitting they don’t care to be competitive, they could continue their dominance over the Orioles at  while miraculously missing John Means in a four-game series and finally they would get to see the Tigers, who boast the majors’ worst record and run differential. By the end of play on May 2 and after a month of bad baseball, the Yankees’ season would be in a disappointing, but acceptable place. Unless, they sweep the Tigers this weekend (which is something a good team would do), they still won’t be in an acceptable place.

3. The Yankees opened their series in Baltimore by getting shut down by Matt Harvey. One hit against Harvey in five innings and no runs off him until the sixth. It was easily the lowest point of the Yankees’ season and I wrote on Tuesday I don’t think there can possibly be a lower point. I take that back. If they lose to the Tigers on Friday, it will be the new low point. John Sterling likes to say “you can’t predict baseball,” but if the Yankees can’t beat the Tigers at home with Gerrit Cole on the mound then they are even worse than I thought they are, and I think they suck. If the Yankees lose on Friday, maybe just pack up the bats and balls and we’ll see you in 2022.

4. It’s easier to name good Yankees than bad ones right now. There’ Cole, Aroldis Chapman, Darren O’Day, Chad Green, Jonathan Loaisiga, Michael King and Kyle Higashioka. That’s it. To me, Gleyber Torres has been the biggest disappointment since I don’t expect Aaron Hicks to be good, don’t expect Giancarlo Stanton to be clutch, don’t expect Rougned Odor to make contact, don’t expect Gary Sanchez to hit middle-middle fastballs, don’t expect Brett Gardner to catch up high-velocity pitches at this point in his career, don’t expect Aaron Judge to stay healthy and don’t expect the rotation after Cole to do anything.

Torres had three hits in the first game in Cleveland. He then went 7-for-23 (.259/.333/.370) the rest of the road trip. The one positive is that he has doubled in three straight games. He has five extra-base hits, all doubles, in April. He’s one game away from not homering in the entire month after hitting three home runs in the two-month 2020 season.

5. “He’s close and the power will happen, Boone said. “But at least encouraged by the way that he’s moving this last week of at-bats.”

I’m tired of hearing about things that “will happen” from Boone. The offense will hit. The starting pitching will get better. Judge will play regularly. Boone saying it’s going to happen doesn’t mean it will, and nothing he has said will happen has happened yet.

Torres hasn’t homered in 103 plate appearances this season. He has 14 home runs in his last 444 plate appearances, including the postseason. I’m not expecting him to be a 38-home run hitter like he was in 2019 since those numbers are a joke, considering Brett Gardner hit 28 with the baseball from that season, but how is Torres no longer a 20-home run hitter? With each passing day, I’m more and more worried about Torres.

6. I’m no longer worried about Sanchez. He was supposed to be the team’s everyday catcher and also catch Cole this season. He has caught Cole once and now he’s been benched with Higashioka taking over the majority of playing time.

Even though I have always liked Sanchez, I’m not defending him. He hasn’t been good. But no one has been. Yet he’s the one getting benched and being made a scapegoat for the team’s problems for the second straight season because he isn’t one of Boone’s favorites.

Hicks was supposed to be benched for two games. He was benched for seven games. Why hasn’t he had his playing time taken away? Oh, that’s right, Boone and the Yankees think he’s Bernie Williams 2.0. Why hasn’t Torres been benched? He’s only been promoted to bat third. Why hasn’t Odor been benched? He continues to play every day and force a three-time Gold Glove-winning second baseman to first base. Why hasn’t Stanton been benched when he’s going bad? Because he gets built in personal off days anyway or because he’s owed a billion dollars or because of his historic season four years ago?

Only Sanchez and Frazier (who was named the team’s starting left fielder and then benched after seven games) have experienced a reduction in playing time. In Frazier’s case, Gardner has been so bad that Frazier is now an everyday player again. Sanchez is going to need Higashioka to fall apart for Boone to turn on one of his favorites.

7. Judge’s injuries are a joke, and in turn, he’s becoming a joke. I wrote about this at length here.

8. The Yankees were 12 outs away from a win on Thursday when Boone let Jordan Montgomery face Trey Mancini to lead off the sixth inning despite Chad Green being warmed up and ready to go. In Boone’s latest attempt to steal outs with his starter, the Baseball Gods gave him another reminder of why that’s not a viable strategy as Mancini took Montgomery deep.

Boone was asked about his latest backfiring decision that cost his team a win and why he didn’t go to the dominant Green.

“Just, frankly, long, long season where you gotta lean on starters during everyday stretches,” Boone said. “You can’t just run to the best matchup in the bullpen in the middle of the game every time.”

Another nonsensical answer from the Yankees manager. He did run to Green. As soon as Mancini’s homer cleared the wall, Boone pulled Montgomery from the game. So if he was willing to go to Green in the sixth, why didn’t he start it? His response makes zero sense. Zero.

9. “I want these starters to be able to push themselves through some situations,” Boone said. “Especially on days where we have score leverage, not just running to the bullpen and to matchups all the time in the middle of games.”

“Score leverage?” You mean you have the lead. Why does he feel the need to make everything seem scientific? You had a lead, not “score leverage,” you idiot. And if you want starters to work through things, why did we see so much Nick Nelson with the bases loaded before he was sent down? No one contradicts their own actions like Boone.

10. The offense is lost, and I don’t know if it will be found. It was one thing after the season-opening series or the first two, or the first week. We’re now four weeks into the season. This isn’t a small sample size and it’s not early.

“You’re not always gonna get the big hit in the big situation,” Boone said as if the Yankees ever get the big hit in the big situation. “We gotta build on some of the positives that are starting to happen offensively.”

Nothing is happening positively offensively. Try to think of one positive. I’ll wait.

Exactly.

“We’re not all the way where I know we’re going to get to offensively,” Boone said after apparently looking into the future. Maybe he can let me know the winning numbers for Mega Millions for this week while he’s at predicting the future.

Maybe the offense will break out this weekend at home against the Tigers. Maybe the Yankees will sweep the worst team in Major League Baseball. If they don’t, don’t worry, they will just say they will break out next week instead.


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Aaron Judge Injuries Becoming a Joke

Aaron Judge has spent a lot of his 20s injured. I don’t see how Judge will be less injury-prone on the other side of 30.

Four years ago, there was no doubt Aaron Judge would be a career Yankee. Three years ago? Same thing. Two years ago? Somewhat the same thing. One year ago? Eh, possibly. Now? I don’t see how he could be.

There’s no question Judge is an elite talent, a true difference maker in the Yankees’ lineup and the most important player to the team’s offense. Judge turned 29 on Monday and he celebrated his birthday with a Yankees loss to Matt Harvey and the Orioles as the team fell four games under .500 again. Judge treated himself to an eighth-inning, rally-ending out when he inexplicably decided to run to third base and get into better scoring position with two outs, representing the game-tying run.

Judge has spent a lot of his 20s injured. He will be a free agent after his 30-year-old season and will turn 31 in the first month of whatever contract he gets following 2022. It’s hard to envision someone with his size and stature and injury history getting healthier as their career progresses. I don’t see how Judge will be less injury-prone on the other side of 30.

This week pushed me over the edge on Judge. It was bad enough he was missing time six games into the season, but this week was the breaking point with him and his unavailabilty.

Judge was pulled in the ninth inning of Tuesday’s game, and immediately, every Yankees fan assumed he was injured. When Judge was pulled from the fourth game of the season, it resulted in him missing the sixth and seventh games of the season. When he was pulled early from a game last season, it resulted in him missing more than half of the shortened season. Each time this happens, Aaron Boone says the same thing, and Tuesday was no different. 

“Yeah, he’s been pretty sore the last couple of days and I’ve been wanting to get him a day here,” Boone said. “So just wanted to get him off his feet there at the end there, probably, get him one of these next two days a full day.”

That scary Boone phrase of “just wanted to get him off his feet” has never boded well for Judge. It’s never about giving him a rest. There’s always something more. Maybe Boone is foolish is enough to think that answer would suffice the New York media and his postgame press conference would continue without a follow-up as to how and why Judge is sore.

“I think it’s more just lower body stuff from kind of the travel,” Boone said. “Eight days in a row, obviously, he’s been on the bases a lot, running around a lot.”

That was it. That was the moment I realized giving Judge a contract of anything more than three years after 2022 would be idiotic and regrettable. Even three years would likely be too long.

Traveling. TRAVELING. TRAVELINGGGGGG! Judge didn’t get hit by a pitch or slide awkwardly into a base or fall funny on a dive or crash into a wall to experience soreness. He’s sore from traveling in luxury as part of the most prestigious franchise of the major sports.

When Aaron Hicks missed nearly the first two months of the 2019 season after suffering a back injury during a 35-minute bus ride in spring training, I thought an injury that absurd was as safe as Cal Ripken’s consecutive-game streak in terms of being untouchable. But then Judge went and one-upped his teammate and fellow outfielder. The only way Judge can be topped is if a Yankee is unable to play from being too sore from sitting on the bench in the dugout. 

Half of Judge’s job is spent traveling since half of the Yankees’ schedule is played away from Yankee Stadium. The Yankees fly on chartered planes, stay in five-star hotels and Judge makes more than enough money ($10.175 million in 2021) to enjoy the highest-quality meals. It’s not like the Yankees are flying coach on Spirit Airlines, staying at Days Inns and eating fast food on the road.

What exactly is sore for Judge?

“It is non-specific right now,” Boone said.

Those nagging non-specific, travel-related soreness injuries are the worst.

“I expect Judge to be in there tomorrow,” Boone said after Thursday’s loss. “I expect him to play regularly and to play all three games into the off day.”

Holy shit! Three games in a row! I’m not even being sarcastic. Since 2017, Judge has played in 263 of the Yankees’ last 409 regular-season games. That’s 64 percent. He’s averaged missing one game of every three-game series for the last four seasons. (In 2016, when he was called up for the first time, he ended up being shut down for the season with an oblique injury.) So playing in three games in a row is a big deal. That exceeds his average over the last four seasons.

In all seriousness, let’s not get crazy here, Boone. Before Boone starts filling out the lineup card for Friday, I hope he looked at the travel itinerary for the team from Baltimore back to New York because Judge either suffered his soreness traveling from New York to Cleveland (67-minute flight) or from Cleveland to Baltimore (54-minute flight) and we don’t want that to happen again. There are important questions Boone needed to have answered before declaring Judge a starter all weekend.

Are the Yankees flying home from Baltimore (37 minutes) or taking the train (2 hours and 40 minutes)?

Whether it’s plane or train, will Judge’s pillows be fluffed properly so he doesn’t get a stiff neck?

Will a body pillow be available for him to avoid any further “lower-body stuff?”

Will his ride home from the airport or Stadium have the heat or air conditioning in the vehicle set to the exact temperature necessary to avoid further discomfort?

Here’s to hoping the postgame spread in the clubhouse was to Judge’s liking on Thursday afternoon and that his steak dinner was cooked to his liking and that he made it home from Baltimore in complete comfort.

Boone was asked what he has to say to the fans who question the health of Judge.

“I’d say we’re at the end of April here,” Boone said. “(Judge) has played a lot here already in the month of April.”

Boone, Boone, Boone. To take a line from Michael Scott, “Why are you the way that you are?”

You know what I’d say? I’d say you’re at the end of April and you have an 11-14 record. I’d say you’re tied for the last in the AL East, already five games back in the division, 1-5 against the Rays, 2-4 against the Blue Jays and just lost two games to the Orioles.

Judge hasn’t played “a lot” in April. This has been his schedule:

April 1: Played complete game
April 2: Off
April 3: Played complete game
April 4: Played complete game
April 5: Played eight innings
April 6: Played complete game
April 7: Off
April 8: Off
April 9: Off
April 10: Played complete game
April 11: Played complete game
April 12: Played complete game
April 13: Played complete game
April 14: Played complete game
April 15: Off
April 16: Played complete game
April 17: Played complete game
April 18: Played complete game
April 19: Off
April 20: Played complete game
April 21: Played complete game
April 22: Played complete game
April 23: Played complete game
April 24: Played complete game
April 25: Played complete game
April 26: Played complete game
April 27: Pulled in ninth inning
April 28: Off
April 29: Pinch hit in eighth inning

“He’s as tough as they come,” Boone said, “And does always want to play and be there.

Boone said that was a straight face. He didn’t even crack the slightest smile or blink. For a second I believed him. Then I remembered this:

In 29 days, Judge has played 19 complete games, been pulled early in two, pinch hit in one and had seven days off. In four weeks, Judge has had a week off. He has spent a quarter of the baseball season not playing baseball. This after having the previous six months off. And prior to that, he played 35 baseball games (2020 regular season and postseason) in a calendar year. Since the last out of the 2019 ALCS, Judge has played in 57 games in 18 months.

“I think he also understands more than ever that this about posting over the long haul,” Boone said on Wednesday. “This is about being able to go to the post whether it’s 140, 145 150 times. That’s what we’re eyeing.”

What Boone wanted to say was, “We want him to be healthy for October,” but not even Boone is dumb enough to say that when the team is three games under .500 and an overall disaster.

Judge has played 155 games once. His next highest is 112. So don’t act like 140 or 145 or 150 games is the norm or even a possibility when it comes to Judge. It’s not. He’s already missed four games. He would have to play in 129 of the remaining 137 games to play in 150 games this season. There’s a better chance Boone doesn’t say the word “obviously” in his next press conference than there is of Judge pulling that off.

A day later, Boone was asked if it’s fair to say Judge won’t play in the 140-150-game range, considering he’s already missed four games and simple math coupled with Judge’s injury history and Boone’s obsession with days off guarantees it.

“No, I think it’s silly to try to guess on it now,” Boone said, clearly upset with the question. “The proof will be in the pudding. When we get down to September, we can see where we’re at and we can revisit that. I expect him to be a regular for us throughout the year.”

Boone said all of that with a shit-eating grin on his face. If Boone thinks the pudding in September is going to show Judge on pace for 140-150 games played, there’s probably some hallucinogens baked into it.

“You can go ahead and speculate on what the number will be,” Boone said. “I think it’s a little silly to do that at the end of April.”

There’s no “speculating.” It’s simple math.

“Judgey always wants to play,” Boone said with a sarcastic laugh. “But I think just me kind of talking through with him and just saying I want to do one more day, my message to him was ‘I want you to be in there a ton throughout the season.’”

Judge doesn’t always want to play. If he did, Boone wouldn’t know about his soreness from traveling. If he did, he wouldn’t tell Boone about his soreness from traveling.

The Yankees are so concerned with Judge being available in September and October that they’re not worried about him playing and the team winning in April. At the team’s current rate of urgency, Judge will be healthy to play meaningless games in September and to watch the postseason in October. Then he can have another six months off his feet.


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Yankees Find New Low Point in Losing Season

The Yankees found a new low point, and this time, I don’t know that they will be able to go any lower, losing to Matt Harvey and the Orioles.

The Yankees found a new low point, and this time, I don’t know that they will be able to go any lower. The Yankees were shut down by Matt Harvey at Camden Yards to lose for the eighth time in 12 games, falling to an embarrassing 9-13 on the season.

On Monday, I wrote the three wins over the Indians were nice, but the Yankees hadn’t resolved any of their issues. They only scored 16 runs in the four-game series, trailed early in three of the four, blew a three-run lead in the only game in which they scored first and continued their sloppy defensive play. Those issues which have been on display in New York, Tampa, Dunedin and Cleveland made their way to Baltimore as well.

New series, new city, new stadium, same team. The Yankees rolled over for Harvey like they have for every starting pitcher this season as they were one-hit for five innings and didn’t score until the sixth inning. They briefly provided excitement with a bases-loaded rally in the eighth thanks to three walks from the wild Tanner Scott, but Aaron Judge ran his team out of the inning. Judge inexplicably attempted to get into better scoring position with two outs in the eighth following a Gio Urshela base hit, and his decision cost the Yankees a run at the plate and cost them their rally on the basepaths.

After the game, the media only wanted to ask Boone about getting ejected from the game for not being allowed to challenge the call on the field of whether LeMahieu scored before Judge was tagged at third. Boone believes he must have been looking at bench coach Carlos Mendoza when the umpire looked into the dugout to see if he was going to challenge.

“I must have been looking at Mendy on the phone when he made that call because it seemed so early to me,” Boone said. “It was very quick. Usually, I have a good rhythm where I look with Mendy and I’m holding them off. Apparently, he said something and when I went to turn and challenge, it was too late.”

Trailing by 2 in the eighth inning, why wouldn’t Boone automatically challenge the call. When would he have another moment of that significance to challenge again in the game?

“Obviously,” Boone said, “I’m going to challenge that at that point in the game all day long.”

If Boone was “going to challenge that at that point in the game all day long” then why didn’t he?

The eighth-inning non-challenge and ejection became the postgame story when it should have never occurred if Judge didn’t try to unnecessarily take third. The real story was the Yankees’ lack of offense yet again.

“We had some chances,” Boone said, “Obviously.”

The Yankees have 13 losses this season and Boone has used nearly an identical line in all 13 of them about “having chances.” There’s always an excuse for why the Yankees lost. It’s never the starting pitcher’s fault or the offense’s fault, and it’s certainly never Boone’s fault.

Everyone keeps saying how the Yankees will hit. Brian Cashman, Aaron Boone, the players, David Cone. They have all said the Yankees will eventually break out. But it’s now been 26 days and 22 games of saying the same thing and nothing has changed. Seriously, nothing. Not a single player has shown a sign of turning their season around.

DJ LeMahieu, who once seemed slump-proof, picked up another 0-for-3; Giancarlo Stanton did what he does best, disappearing with the game on the line in the eighth; Judge picked up just his second extra-base hit in the last nine days and celebrated his 29th birthday by ending the Yankees’ eighth-inning rally; Rougned Odor inexplicably batted fourth again and rewarded his manager’s confidence in his career, which should be over, by going 0-for-4 with a pair of strikeouts; Gio Urshela had a nice game and continues to be the Yankees’ best hitter; Gleyber Torres is now 3-for-15 since everyone thought he was snapping out of it in the series opener in Cleveland; Aaron Hicks had another strong performance, going 0-for-4 with two strikeouts to fall to .162; an 0-for-4 for Gary Sanchez who is down to .182, Clint Frazier failed to get a hit again, but did pick up two walks. That summary could be used to describe any of a number of games this season.

This was going to be it. This 11-game stretch was going to be the 11 games to erase the previous 11 games in which the Yankees went 3-8 against the Rays, Blue Jays and Braves. Eleven games against the Indians, Orioles and Tigers were going to save the Yankees’ season. They would have the chance to beat up on the Indians, who now have the second-lowest payroll in the league by essentially admitting they don’t care to be competitive, they could continue their dominance over the Orioles at  while miraculously missing John Means in a four-game series and finally they would get to see the Tigers, who boast the majors’ worst record and run differential. By the end of play on May 2 and after a month of bad baseball, the Yankees’ season would be in a disappointing, but acceptable place. I’m not so sure that’s going to happen anymore.

Something has to change with this team. Until it does, don’t expect different results from a team and a roster that has grown comfortable and accepting of losing.


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Yankees Thoughts: Nothing Changed in Cleveland

The Yankees won their first series in nearly three weeks, taking three out of four from the Indians. Yes, it was nice to see the Yankees win again, but the issues the team had when

The Yankees won their first series in nearly three weeks, taking three out of four from the Indians. Yes, it was nice to see the Yankees win again, but the issues the team had when they landed in Cleveland are still obvious as the team arrives in Baltimore.

Here are 10 thoughts on the Yankees.

1. The Yankees won the four-game series, but it could have and should been even more than that. It should have been a four-game sweep of the Indians, who have one elite hitter (Jose Ramirez) and only one other hitter who should scare you (Franmil Reyes), though I know the Yankees have always had problems with Roberto Perez (the way they do with every team’s catcher).

After winning the first three games of the series, Aaron Boone mailed in the series finale on Sunday, sitting one-third of his current everyday lineup and putting out this lineup:

Brett Gardner, CF
Giancarlo Stanton, DH
Aaron Judge, RF
Rougned Odor, 2B
Gleyber Torres, SS
Gio Urshela, 2B
Mike Ford, 1B
Gary Sanchez, C
Mike Tauchman, LF

No DJ LeMahieu, no Aaron Hicks and no Clint Frazier. If you want to give guys the day off for a day game after a night game on a Sunday getaway day, you can’t be 9-11 on the season (as the Yankees were before Sunday’s loss) after having started 6-11. That’s something great teams can do. Teams that are well above .500. The Yankees aren’t even a good team right now and they are acting like they had the kind of start and have the kind of division lead the Dodgers have. You’re 9-12. Act like it.

The A’s had a 13-game winning streak come to an end on Sunday in Baltimore and they weren’t happy about it.

“You do want to win the series, but you also want to get greedy,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “We’ve been greedy here recently. It’s about winning every game that you go out there and play.”

The A’s were 0-6 and now they’re 13-7. They had won for two straight weeks and were upset their ridiculous streak ended. The Yankees won their first series since April 5-7 and entered Sunday acting like they just had a 13-game winning streak of their own. Boone would never manage with the mentality Melvin talked about.

2. On Thursday, the Yankees trailed 3-0 after the first because of more sloppy defensive plays. It didn’t help that Boone chose to bat Gardner first, Ford fourth and sit Stanton.

Gardner led off two games this weekend. It’s 2021. Gardner is now batting .194 with a .560 OPS. Frazier hasn’t been good, but Gardner has been just as bad. Frazier is the one with the future, and he needs to play. Enough is enough with Gardner. He’s not an everyday player anymore and hasn’t been for a while now. He needs to stop being forced into the lineup nearly every day. When he does play, he can’t be hitting anywhere other than ninth. Not first, not third. Ninth.

Ford got called up upon Jay Bruce retiring. The same Bruce, who the Yankees thought Ford wasn’t better than on April 1. That didn’t stop Boone from batting Ford sixth in his first two games up and then fourth on Thursday, despite having done nothing in the majors since 2019.

As for Stanton having Thursday off, it was the 22nd day of the season and the 18th game of the season. The Yankees had already had four scheduled days off and it was the third time Stanton was being given a personal day off. He doesn’t play the field, is the Yankees’ highest-paid position player and entered the season having played 51 games since the start of 2019.

3. The Yankees came back and won on Thursday because the Indians are very, very bad. On Friday, the Yankees again went down 3-0 to the Indians in the first and had to come back to win. The Yankees have scored one run in the first inning in 21 games this season. One. O-N-E. A Judge solo home run against he Blue Jays on April 14. Of all the upsetting stats regarding the Yankees’ offense this season, that is the worst one.

The Yankees won three of four in Cleveland, but they barely look any better than they did before the series began. They scored 16 runs in the four games and had to come back in the first three games of the series before blowing a three-run lead in the fourth game.

“Our at-bats are getting better,” Boone said after his team managed only three runs and six hits in Sunday’s loss. “I feel like as far as where are right now as a club, I feel like we’re in a good spot to hopefully go out and continue to play well.”

“Right now as a club,” the Yankees are 9-12. And “to continue” to do something you have to already being doing that thing. For the Yankees “to continue to play well” they would already need to be playing well, which they’re not.

4. If you thought Torres finally broke out with his three-hit night on Thursday, he followed it up by going 3-for-13 with a walk and seven left on base; Sanchez’s first two games of the season seem like they never happened as he is now sitting in his all-too-familiar spot below the Mendoza line (.196); Judge keeps getting on base via walks, but he has one extra-base hit in the last nine days, hasn’t homered in 12 days and hasn’t hit a non-solo home run in 20 days; Stanton had a two-home run night on Friday, but has been awful overall and is still close to the last person I want up in a big spot; Frazier remains lost; Gardner is an automatic out; even with three home runs, Hicks has a .602 OPS and is batting .172/.274/.328; Odor is exactly the player the Rangers paid to go away as he will run into one every once in a while and do nothing in between the times he runs into one.

The Yankees might have a better wining percentage than they did before going to Cleveland, but the problems that got them off to a 6-11 start haven’t moved any closer to being resolved.

5. Gerrit Cole dominated on Saturday in a true pitcher’s duel against Shane Bieber. Cole has been outstanding this season and one of five bright spots on the 26-man roster, along with Kyle Higashioka, Chad Green, Darren O’Day and Aroldis Chapman. However, I have as much to do with Cole’s success as Higashioka does. Cole and Higashioka have been together against the Orioles, Blue Jays, Rays and Indians. Aside from the Blue Jays, none of those other teams can hit. If Cole is the one requesting Higashioka to catch him, then OK. It would be sad that someone of his stature needs a personal catcher, but OK. If it’s not his doing, then the first time he doesn’t pitch well, and the magic of Higashioka isn’t there, it needs to be Sanchez.

6. Boone has said in the past he and the Yankees don’t believe in players being hot. Hicks homered on Friday and Saturday and wasn’t in the lineup on Sunday. Yet Odor, who also homered on Friday and Saturday was in the lineup and batting fourth. FOURTH! So Hicks being hot couldn’t get him in the lineup on Sunday, but Odor being hot was good enough to bump him up four spots in the batting order. Boone is truly the guy at the Blackjack table that hits on 16 with the dealer showing a 7 sometimes and stays in the same exact situation other times.

Boone said Hicks was experiencing back tightness and that’s why he didn’t play on Sunday. Since it’s hard to believe anything Boone says, Hicks either wasn’t in the lineup because the Yankees don’t believe in a player being hot, or Hicks is actually hurt (again). If you recall, Hicks missed the first seven weeks of the 2019 season after injuring his back on a 35-minute bus ride in spring training, so back injuries are nothing new with him. (There isn’t an injury that would be new for Hicks.) Hicks was never going to make it through the season without some sort of ailment since he has never played single season without missing some amount of time due to injury. I’m actually surprised he made it through 20 games before we heard about something.

When asked after the game if Hicks was available to play today, Boone said, “We would have had him possibly late, yes.” So Hicks was able to come into the game, but didn’t play in the game.

7. The Yankees’ roster clearly has an issue playing through the minor aches and pains that come with a six-month baseball season. Whenever someone on the roster has a minor issue, they’re out of the lineup because of Boone’s precautions. But how does Boone know about every minor ailment? It’s because the players are making it known they are dealing with something, no matter how minor it is. So Hicks (like Judge a few weeks ago) went to Boone and let him know he couldn’t go. Remember that when you get a quote about always wanting to play.

8. The Yankees scored first on Sunday, scoring three runs in the top of the fourth inning. It took four batters in the bottom of the fourth for the lead to disappear and for the Yankees to trail.

Jameson Taillon once again didn’t make it into the fifth inning, blew a three-run lead immediately after he was given it and allowed four earned runs in four innings. How did Boone think he pitched?

“I thought he regrouped and finished strong that (fourth) inning,” Boone said. “I thought the stuff was good throughout.”

Surprise, surprise! Boone thought his starting pitcher had good stuff! A starting pitcher who allowed four earned runs in four innings, blew a 3-0 lead and gave the team no length. You know who had good stuff? Cole on Saturday. That’s good stuff. Not what Taillon produced on Sunday.

In the bottom of the fourth, Taillon went single, single, single, home run to blow the lead and put the Yankees behind 4-3. He retired the next three hitters to end the inning, which is the “regroup” Boone is talking about, but the stuff was not good throughout. No one allows a four-spot in a game with good stuff.

Taillon is a problem. Sure, he looks great at times, but so did A.J. Burnett. Like Burnett, Taillon can look unhittable one second and before you can go to the fridge and get back to your couch, he has unraveled. In four starts, Taillon has made it through five innings once and has only made it into the fifth twice. Through 17 1/3 innings, he hasn’t really walked anyone (2), but he has allowed four home runs. The Yankees have lost three of the four games he has started.

9. Taillon was out of the game after the fourth. Trailing by one run with five innings of at-bats left, the Yankees were very much in the game. That was until Boone decided to bring in Nick Nelson to hold the deficit.

There is a contingent of Yankees fans who think Hicks is Bernie Williams. There’s the contingent who want Higashioka to be the starting catcher over Sanchez, like there was the contingent who wanted Austin Romine over Sanchez. But there’s no one, and I mean no one worse than the weirdos in the contingent of Yankees fans who think Nelson is good.

Here were Nelson’s five appearances this season before Sunday:

April 1: Enters in 10th inning on Opening Day, allows the runner on second with no outs to score and the Yankees lose.

April 7: Pitches 1 1/3 scoreless innings in a loss to Baltimore.

April 9: Enters with the bases loaded, immediately gives up a two-run double and ends up allowing four earned runs in 1 2/3 innings.

April 16: Is inexplicably used an opener against the Rays and allows the first three batters of the game to reach, giving up two runs in his only inning of work.

April 21: Enters with the bases loaded and two outs and walks in a run on four pitches.

The Yankees lost all five games Nelson pitched in entering Sunday, and they lost on Sunday as well after he came in and allowed three earned runs in two innings.

Yes, Nelson has a lot of strikeouts (15) in 8 1/3 innings. He has also allowed a lot of hits (11), walks (5), baserunners (17, including a hit-by-pitch) and earned runs (9). He has a 9.72 ERA and 1.921 WHIP.

Thankfully, Nelson was sent down after the game. Of the Yankees’ 12 losses this season, he has had a huge hand in five of them. Now you know why all spring training I feared his place on the roster after the injuries to Zack Britton and Justin Wilson.

10. If you had asked me what I thought the Yankees needed to go during their recent 11-game stretch against the Rays, Blue Jays and Braves, I would have said 7-4 and would have been upset with 6-5. Well, they went 3-8, so that 6-5 would have been really nice.

The Yankees are currently in the middle of an 11-game stretch against the Indians, who they just went 3-1 against, the Orioles (four games) and the Tigers (three games). Anything less than 8-3 here would be an enormous disappointment, considering they always play well in Baltimore, they are miraculously missing John Means in a four-game series (as he pitched on Sunday), the Orioles aren’t good and the Tigers are the worst team in baseball (7-15) with the worst run differential (-37) and have lost nine of their last 10.

If the Yankees aren’t at least .500 at 14-14 at the end of play on Sunday, it’s going to be bad.


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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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