That was bad. It wasn’t as bad as losing 9-1 at home to the Marlins to fall to 8-8 on the season, but it was still bad. So much for the 2018 Yankees haven’t loss three straight games. The Yankees were swept at the Trop by the under-.500 Rays, and their four-game loss column lead in the AL East is now two.

But it wasn’t just that the Yankees were swept by a team, whose starting lineup features not a single player that would start on the Yankees. It was how they were swept in the three games. Here is a breakdown of the embarrassment that was the weekend in Tampa Bay.

FRIDAY
The Rays went with a bullpen game against the Yankees and it worked as the six pitchers they used combined to allow one run in the Yankees’ 2-1 loss. It wasn’t that the Yankees didn’t have baserunners in the game, as they had five hits and six(!) walks and were able to plate a single run. The Yankees left two on in the first, two in the second, one in the third, one in the fourth, one in the fifth, two in the seventh and one in the ninth. They went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position. In the ninth, it looked like they might produce some late-game magic when Miguel Andujar singled to lead off the inning, but Gleyber Torres flew out and Brett Gardner grounded into a game-ending double play.

CC Sabathia was in bend-but-don’t-break mode all night, as he put 11 runners on in 5 1/3 innings. He gave up the two runs though only one was earned thanks to an error by himself. It was another game in which Sabathia pitched well enough to win and didn’t as he now has four wins this season despite pitching to a 3.18 ERA.

It was a frustrating one-run loss with the Yankees leaving runners on base in nearly every inning, but it was one of those games that happens over the course of a 162-game season. Even against the Rays.

SATURDAY
Prior to this season, Wilmer Font pitched to an 11.57 ERA over seven-career innings in the majors between 2012-2017. Earlier this season, he put 19 runners on base and allowed 13 earned runs in 10 1/3 innings for the Dodgers and was traded to the A’s. Then for the A’s, he put 17 runners on base and allowed 11 earned runs in 6 2/3 innings and was traded to the Rays. Last week against the Yankees, he “started” and allowed one earned runs over 4 1/3 innings. On Saturday, he “started” against the Yankees again and shut them out over 5 2/3 innings. So Wilmer Font, the 28-year-old journeyman, has pitched to the following line in his last two appearances, both against the Yankees: 10.1 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 9 K, 1 HR, 0.87 ERA, 0.874 WHIP. There’s nothing to say.

I think I have made it clear how it’s hard to like Sonny Gray when someone so inconsistent needs to be babied as if he were an actual ace. Whether it’s whining his way to a personal catcher or talking about how “good” his stuff was on a night in which he got rocked, Gray is hard to root for. Except I have to root for him because he’s part of the Yankees rotation, and when he sucks, the Yankees lose.

Gray sucked again on Saturday. Sure, it didn’t matter if he gave up one run or four like he actually did since the offense had no answer for Font for the second time in six days, but it was frustrating to watch the guy the Yankees traded for to slot behind either Luis Severino or Masahiro Tanaka pitch poorly yet again.

Gray put the team behind right away in the first after giving up a leadoff single and one-out double. Then in the third, he gave up two more. He settled down to retire 15 straight to get Yankees fans thinking that this start might not have been so bad, but then he gave up a solo home run on an 0-2 pitch for good measure before being removed.

Here’s how wildly inconsistent Gray has been this season:

4 IP, 1 ER
6 IP, 3 ER
3 IP, 6 ER
3.1 IP, 5 ER
4.2 IP, 3 ER
6 IP, 2 ER
6 IP, 2 ER
5 IP, 5 ER
8 IP, 1 ER
3.2 IP, 5 ER
6 IP, 1 ER
8 IP, 0 ER
5 IP, 4 ER
5 IP, 2 ER
6.2 IP, 4 ER

Every time you think he might have turned the corner, there’s another bad start around that corner. Yes, he’s better on the road (3.28 ERA) than at home (7.22 ERA) though he wasn’t very good on the road on Saturday and he wasn’t good once again with his personal catcher. But I guess it didn’t matter since you can’t win if you don’t score, and the Yankees were shut out for the second time this season, and had scored one run in the first 18 innings of the series against the following pitchers: Ryne Stanek, Ryan Yarbrough, Diego Castillo, Chaz Roe, Jose Alvarado, Sergio Romo, Wilmer Font and Jonny Venters.

SUNDAY
One run and two losses in two games against the Rays. I knew the Yankees were going to win on Sunday, avoid getting swept and avoid losing three straight for the first time this season, so I wagered on the Yankees.

Domingo German immediately made me regret my decision when he allowed two runs and three extra-base hits in the first inning. But Miguel Andujar answered with a three-run home run in the second and I figured I was right with my expectations for the game. German quickly destroyed the idea of a shutdown inning with a leadoff home run to tie the game in the bottom of the second, and in the third, he gave up three more runs to put the Yankees behind 6-3.

In the fourth, the Yankees had first and second and no one out, but Aaron Hicks struck out and Andujar grounded out with the runners moving to second and third on the ground out. That brought up Neil Walker, who was inexplicably batting above Torres in the order. Walker saw five pitches in the at-bat, didn’t swing at any of them and struck out looking to end the inning.

Because Walker has the best first name in baseball, I avoided getting on him earlier in the season when he deserved any and all criticism. (He was hitting .164/.219/.194 with two doubles and four RBIs on the season on April 27.) Then he went off over the next four weeks, batting .281/.379/.456 with two home runs and 10 RBIs as the catalyst in every Yankees rally, and it looked like the guy who the Yankees paid $4 million to for the season had been a product of a late spring training arrival.

But since May 27 and the return of Greg Bird, which has kept Walker on the bench, Walker is batting .094/.171/.094 with no extra-base hits and no RBIs. No one can blame Walker for being a regular his entire career and then struggling in his new role of utility infielder, but that’s all he will be on the Yankees at this point, barring a series of injuries. He isn’t going to play over Torres or Andujar, and if Bird continues to be an automatic out, it’s more likely that Brandon Drury will get a regular shot at first base over Walker. Walker either needs to adapt to his infrequent playing time, or unfortunately, I will lose having a Neil on the Yankees.

A Brett Gardner walk and back-to-back doubles from Didi Gregorius and Giancarlo Stanton in the fourth cut the Yankees’ deficit to 6-5, and Stanton hit a leadoff home run the eighth to tie the game. And it would stayed tied until the 12th inning.

I thought things would be different with Aaron Boone as Yankees manager. I thought he would throw out the idiotic strategy of using relievers in set innings and only using your closer in a save situation. But Boone has been identical to Joe Girardi with his in-game managing, creating set innings for his relievers and using the most expensive reliever in the league to pitch to a statistic.

After using his entire bullpen aside from Aroldis Chapman and Chasen Shreve, Boone went with Shreve for the bottom of the 12th because the Yankees didn’t have a lead of three runs or less. It didn’t matter to Boone that he would need to get through the 12th for the Yankees to have a chance to ever getting the lead in the game, so he went with Shreve. The Yankees bullpen had pitched eight scoreless innings in relief of German, and all it took was one pitch from Shreve to stop that streak and end the game.

I don’t think Shreve will be a Yankee as of Monday night in Philadelphia. He now has a 5.19 ERA and 1.654 WHIP and in his last eight innings, he’s allowed 18 baserunners and nine earned runs, including four home runs. I get that someone has to be the 25th man on the roster, but there has to a better option.

I will always be thankful to Shreve for (along with Dellin Betances) keeping the 2015 season afloat while Andrew Miller was hurt. After Shreve got knocked around at the end of 2015, I never thought he would still be a Yankee nearly three years later. He had a good run, but it’s time to move on from him.

Aside from the three actual losses, the worst part of the weekend was that the Yankees will now be without Gary Sanchez for their upcoming series against the Phillies, Red Sox and Braves and likely beyond that. All the idiots who wanted Austin Romine to start over the best catcher in the world now have their wish, and they will all be regretting it by the end of the week.

The weekend in Tampa Bay wasn’t the lowest point of the season, but it was still an embarrassment.

There was just over an hour left at the 2015 trade deadline and the Yankees had to do something. Yes, the Yankees held a six-game lead in the AL East on July 31, 2015 in a season in which they weren’t expected to be competitive, but they needed to make a move to hold that lead over the final two months. Up until that point, the only player the Yankees had acquired was Dustin Ackley (and what an acquisition that turned out to be) while the Blue Jays went out and traded for seemingly everyone and anyone who was available.

I was on the Metro North from Manhattan to Connecticut to visit my parents for the weekend when the news broke that the Yankees had called up when Luis Severino. After eight starts in Double-A, he went 7-0 with a 1.91 ERA in 11 Triple-A starts to earn the call. The Yankees were finally ready to show off their future as an answer to both their need for starting pitching and the Blue Jays’ deadline trade for David Price.

In a move the Yankees never would have allowed in the previous 15 seasons, the 21-year-old Severino made his Major League debut on Aug. 5 against the Red Sox. He pitched well, going five innings and allowing one earned run on two hits and no walks with seven strikeouts, and finished the season with a 2.89 ERA over 11 starts. He was my pick to start the wild-card game against the Astros, or at least be part of the formula in the game. The only four people I wanted to touch the ball in that game after it was decided Masahiro Tanaka would start were Severino, Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller. Unfortunately, it didn’t matter as the offense couldn’t do anything against Dallas Keuchel.

Severino was given a rotation spot for 2016 and pitched himself off the team after his May 13 disaster against the White Sox (2.2 IP, 7 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 4 BB, 2 K, 1 HR). That performance dropped him to 0-6 with a 7.46 ERA in seven starts and he went to Triple-A until the end of July. When he returned, he allowed one earned run in 8 1/3 innings out of the bullpen and was given a chance to start again, but after allowing 12 earned runs and 16 baserunners in eight innings, it was back to Triple-A. When he returned as a September call-up, it was as a reliever. And once again, as a reliever, he was dominant, allowing one earned run in 15 innings.

Severino’s weird 2016 season gave way for all of the idiot Yankees fans to start to call for him to be a reliever, completely disregarding what he did in 11 starts in 2015 and only focusing on nine starts in 2016. It’s the same way those same fans are calling for Austin Romine to start over Gary Sanchez, as if 2016 and 2017 Gary Sanchez never existed, and also as if 2011-2017 Austin Romine never existed.

Thankfully, the Yankees front office is more intelligent than most fans and stuck with Severino as a starter. And thankfully, Severino reached out to his idol Pedro Martinez, so that 2016 would never happen again.

Since the start of 2017, Severino is 24-8 with a 2.68 ERA and 348 strikeouts in 292 1/3 innings. Last season, Severino gave up two earned runs or less in 20 of his 31 starts. This season he’s done the same in 12 of his 15 starts.

On Saturday, Severino nonchalantly shut out the Rays for eight innings, allowing three hits and two walks with nine strikeouts in a 4-1 win. The win improved Severino’s record to 10-2 on the season and the eight scoreless innings lowered his ERA to 2.09.

There was nothing about his start on Saturday that was surprising. I knew he was going to shut down the Rays and either shut them out or come close to it. I knew he was going to give the pitching staff length and give the bullpen a day off. Most importantly, I knew the Yankees were going to win.

Severino is a pleasure to watch. Every five days, I know the Yankees are going to win, and I know I’m going to enjoy watching the game. I’m not going to see any nibbling, 30-pitch innings or four-inning starts. For a rotation that has to worry about Masahiro Tanaka’s elbow and inconsistency (and now hamstrings too), CC Sabathia’s knee and command, Sonny Gray’s personal catcher needs and astronomical WHIP and two rookies in Domingo German and Jonathan Loaisiga, no one ever has to worry about Severino. He’s a true No. 1 starter and one of the few aces in the game in an era where five innings is considered enough.

From 2009-2012, CC Sabathia was as close to a sure-thing every five days the Yankees ever had and before his elbow injury in 2014, Masahiro Tanaka was the same. Now Severino is that sure-thing with the Yankees going 33-13 in his starts since the beginning of last season.

I’m happy the Yankees didn’t trade Luis Severino at the 2015 deadline for David Price or at any other time for any other player, and I’m happy Pedro Martinez decided to help the team he could never beat.

Back on May 4, I wrote The Yankees Are Even Better Than They Have Played. Back then, the Yankees were 22-10. Here I am today, writing once again how the Yankees are even better than they have played. Yes, the Yankees and their Major League-best 42-19 record are better than they have played.

The eight reasons why the Yankees were actually better than they had played I gave nearly six weeks ago were:

1. Giancarlo Stanton hasn’t been anywhere close to his 2017 NL MVP self.
2. Gary Sanchez was basically an automatic out for the first two weeks of the season.
3. Brett Gardner continuing to bat leadoff despite having a lower on-base percentage than Austin Romine.
4. Neil Walker getting regular playing time even though he is batting .171/.233/.195.
5. Sonny Gray being bad and not lasting more than 4 2/3 innings in four of six starts.
6. Greg Bird playing zero games so far.
7. The bullpen being untrustworthy for three weeks.
8. The injury bug running through the Yankees.

A few of those reasons are still reasons, while most of them have been fixed. But yes, a team with a .689 winning percentage that is on a 33-10 run can be better than they have been. Here’s how that’s possible.

1. Giancarlo Stanton hasn’t been anywhere close to his 2017 NL MVP self. Yes, that was a problem in the May 4 edition and it’s still a problem now. Stanton is batting .244/.322/.487 with 15 home runs and 34 RBIs. Those aren’t the numbers I expected from the reigning NL MVP through 38 percent of the season. Stanton is on pace to finish the season with 40 home runs and 90 RBIs, which is a far cry from his 59 and 132 last season. Sure, there is an adjustment period for a new player on a new team in a new league facing new pitchers, but Stanton has been a huge disappointment for the most part this season. Everyone keeps saying “wait until he gets hot”, and now hat the weather is finally going to be warm consistently and he is growing accustomed to the pitchers in the AL, maybe the hot streak we are all waiting for is coming soon. But back on May 4, I thought the his two home run game against Dallas Keuchel and the Astros was the start of a hot streak and since then he has hit .248/.328/.496 with eight home runs and 15 RBIs in 134 plate appearances. To think, this team is 42-19 without the reigning NL MVP playing anywhere near his abilities …

2. Gary Sanchez was basically an automatic out for the first two weeks of the season, or the equivalent of about one-third of the games the Yankees had played when I wrote the May 4 edition. Not much has changed for the Yankees catcher. He has had his share of big moments like his game against David Price in Boston or his walk-off against Fernando Rodney or his three-run home run that led to Ken Giles punching himself in the face. But for the most part, Sanchez has continued to be an automatic out, and it’s not just bad luck like when he lined into a double play to end Sunday night’s loss to the Mets. It’s his approach at the plate, which continues to look lazy and undisciplined as he swings at every breaking ball low and away as if he hasn’t changed anything since he was exposed in the postseason. I have a hard time believing that Sanchez, who hit .283/.353/.567 with 53 home runs and 132 RBIs in his first 177 games in the majors, is now a .190/.291/.430 hitter. The Gary Sanchez we saw in 2016 and 2017 and against Corey Kluber and the Astros bullpen and at times this year is in there. Sanchez just needs to make the adjustments to find him. To think, this team is 49-12 despite the best catcher in baseball being non-existent for more than one-third of the season …

3. The last holdover from the May 4 edition is the injury bug. Earlier in the season, injuries forced Shane Robinson and Jace Peterson to not only be Yankees, but to start games for the Yankees. It sent Aaron Hicks and CC Sabathia, Jordan Montgomery, Adam Warren, Tommy Kahnle, Luis Cessa, Brandon Drury and Billy McKinney to the disabled list, and it prevented Greg Bird from opening the season with the team and Clint Frazier from being called up before any other outfielder. (It has also supposedly kept us from watching Jacoby Ellsbury play for the 2018 Yankees, so it hasn’t all been bad.) Every team has injuries, and thankfully, the Yankees have had the depth to cover up their injuries, but that depth is growing thin. Now that Montgomery has undergone Tommy John surgery and won’t be available until the second half of next season at the earliest and Masahiro Tanaka incredibly strained both of his hamstrings running the bases to go on the disabled list, the Yankees are in desperate need of starting pitching. Domingo German went from being day-to-day on having a rotation spot to being the No. 4 starter, leaving the Yankees with limited Major League-ready starting pitching options. To think, this team is 42-19 with so many injuries …

4. In the May 4 edition, I cited Greg Bird not yet playing as a reason the Yankees were better than they had played. But now it’s not about Bird playing, it’s about the way he is being used. Actually, it’s about the lineup as a whole. Since May 4, Brett Gardner has become Brett Gardner again, hitting .333/.408/.552, so his leadoff spot I questioned back then is no longer in jeopardy. Aaron Judge should continue to bat second because he has been the best hitter on the team for the second straight season. And now here’s where things need to change. Bird hasn’t done anything to prove he should bat third. Yes, he was good as a rookie back in 2015, and he was good at the end of last season and in the postseason. But Bird did miss all of 2016, nearly all of 2017 and the first two months of 2018, and since he has returned, he has hit .191/.255/.426. Maybe he is the best hitter on the team when he’s healthy like Judge has said, but right now he isn’t and it shouldn’t matter that he bats left-handed, he shouldn’t bat third. Put Stanton third and Sanchez fourth. Let the three big bats of Judge, Stanton and Sanchez bat 3-4-5. Give those three more than a game here and there to bat consecutively in the lineup. And stop batting Gleyber Torres ninth. And certainly stop batting him ninth AND HAVING A PITCHER BAT IN FRONT OF HIM. The kid is hitting .297/.356/.559 with 11 home runs in 42 games. To think, this team is 42-19 with the lineup being poorly constructed …

5. Speaking of the lineup, how is Aaron Hicks always batting sixth, and when Gardner gets a day off, how is Hicks batting first? Let me make this clear: Aaron Hicks isn’t good. I don’t know how many times I can say that and I’m running out of ways to say it. He’s a 28-year-old career .233/.318/.378 hitter, who is treated like he’s Bernie Williams. If the Yankees don’t want to let Gardner play center regularly and have Frazier play left then OK, let Hicks be your center fielder. But treat him like the light-hitting, no-power center fielder he is. He should be the one batting ninth every game and not Torres. I can’t believe Torres and Miguel Andujar continue to bat below Hicks in the lineup. To think, this team is 42-19 with Aaron Hicks being treated like he has more than four non-inside-the-park home runs this season …

The Yankees are already the best team in baseball. What are they going to be if their best players start playing to their career numbers and their lineup starts logically getting built? I want to find out.