1. Last week I wrote Yankees Thoughts titled ‘I Like This Rendition of Carlos Rodon‘ and I still like this rendition. Rodon dominated the Guardians on Tuesday night in the Bronx in similar fashion to his ALCS Game 1 performance and the Yankees won 3-2.

Rodon joked with Jon Heyman and Joel Sherman about being 50/50 with fastballs and sliders when he first became a Yankee, and while I’m glad he’s no longer a two-pitch pitcher, it’s not a joking matter. For as bad as Rodon was in 2023 and inconsistent as he was in 2024, he’s been that great in 2025. For a guy who seemed to struggle to get through five innings the last two years, he’s averaging more than six innings per start this season and has pitched every bit like someone who signed a six-year, $162 million.

2. Rodon has been so good that I now expect him to be good when he starts, which is a dangerous place to be given his history. Maybe he has changed for good and this rendition of Rodon is the one we will get more often than not, but I still don’t trust him yet. It’s been 10 great starts and three bad starts for him this year, and it’s going to take a lot more than 10 great starts for me to believe in him. But just the fact that it’s a conversation and a possibility in the future that I could believe in him says a lot from where we were two years ago when he was blowing kisses to fans and turning his back on the pitching coach or being pulled from a start without recording an out or last year when he was out of control emotionally against the Royals in the ALDS and couldn’t keep the ball in the park against the Dodgers.

4. The defense was its usual mess in the seventh inning when the Guardians tied the game. Anthony Volpe couldn’t get to a ground ball that it’s debatable if he should have been able to get to, J.C. Escarra couldn’t get a handle on the ball to even make a throw on a stolen-base attempt, DJ LeMahieu couldn’t field a hard-hit grounder and Trent Grisham booted a ball while fielding it in center field. It’s never surprising when the Yankees’ defense fails them given everything we know about the Yankees’ defense under Aaron Boone, but it’s always frustrating.

5. After the Guardians blooped together the game-tying run in the seventh inning, the Yankees answered with back-to-back home runs from Jazz Chisholm and Volpe. Playing in his first game since April 29, Chisholm went 2-for-3 with the go-ahead home run.

“I didn’t have the best start, so starting the season over,” Chisholm said. “You don’t focus on what happened before. So yeah, this is how I wanted to start the comeback.”

Chisholm was a .181/.304/.410 hitter when he landed on the injured list. For as bad as he had been through the first month of the season — seemingly always trying to hit a home run — his first month stats looked like Barry Bonds’ compared to what Jorbit Vivas and Oswald Peraza provided in his absence. Hopefully the big home run on Tuesday doesn’t send Chisholm back chasing the long ball like his early-season success against the Brewers seemed to do for all of April.

6. Leading 3-1 in the eighth, Mark Leiter Jr. pitched around a one-out walk, and the Yankees still led 3-1 to begin the ninth. With Luke Weaver out for the next month or so, the ninth inning is once again Devin Williams, and once again Williams was a shaky shitshow as the closer.

Williams allowed a one-out double to Carlos Santana when he couldn’t put away the veteran after getting ahead 1-2. He then gave up a two-out RBI single to Daniel Schneeman to put the tying run on base. Schneeman made things even scarier when he stole second to move into scoring position as the tying run. Williams quickly got ahead of Bo Naylor 0-2, but when Naylor forced the count full, I figured nothing good was going to come from his at-bat. But on the seventh pitch to Naylor and the 30th pitch of the inning Williams ended the game with a flyout to left.

“I feel confident,” Williams said. “Santana put up a really good at-bat there and they found some holes, but I felt good overall.”

7. It’s going to be a mentally, emotionally and physically challenging next four-or-so weeks with Williams as the closer and Weaver unavailable. This next month isn’t going to be for the faint of heart. YES should have a disclaimer about the health effects of continuing to watch the game when Williams comes in. Here’s to hoping the Yankees don’t play any closer games until Weaver returns.

8. Chisholm played third base in his return and it looks like that will be the plan moving forward: Chisholm at third and LeMahieu with Peraza playing every once in a while.

“I really thought I was done at third base,” Chisholm said. “I thought I left my career over there with a good stamp, but I guess we’re back again.”

Obviously, the Yankees will look to add a second baseman or third baseman within the next two months, something they have neglected to do since the 2021 season ended.

9. Over the next two months, LeMahieu will try to prove they don’t need to go out and trade for another middle infielder. Just when you think LeMahieu may never get a hit again he goes 4-for-5 with two RBIs against the Dodgers on Sunday night and 1-for-3 with an RBI on Tuesday against the Guardians. Not only is LeMahieu picking up hits, he’s hitting the ball hard and even some of his outs have been hard, like on Tuesday when he hit a 107-mph line drive in the seventh inning. The lineout was hit harder than both home runs by Chisholm and Volpe. I want nothing more than for LeMahieu to be his old self or even resemble his old self every now and again. He’s done that these last two games.

10. Let’s see if LeMahieu can keep his turn-back-the-clock last two games going on Wednesday. It will be Clarke Schmidt against L.L. Ortiz. The Yankees got to Ortiz back on April 23 in Cleveland with four runs over 4 1/3 innings as Ortiz gave up five hits and walked five. I’ll take that kind of performance from the right-hander again.

Schmidt struggled against the Guardians in that same April series: 4 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 7 K, 2 HR. Coming off of his best start of the season with six shutout innings in Anaheim last week, I would like to think Schmidt will build off of that performance, but Schmidt is a lot like Rodon (at least up until Rodon recently) in that you don’t know what to expect from start to start. That needs to change. I want to write a Yankees Thoughts titled ‘I Like This Rendition of Clarke Schmidt’ at some point.

1. The Yankees followed up their meltdown on Friday night with the worst loss to a National League team in franchise history: an 18-2 drubbing from the Dodgers.

I actually felt good about the Yankees’ chances on Saturday, thinking they would be able to get to Landon Knack even if the Dodgers were able to get to Will Warren.

Prior to the game I wrote:

The good version of Warren needs to show up on Saturday. The version that shut down. the A’s and Mariners, stifled the Rangers and handled the Rockies after a shaky first inning. If early-season Warren or first-inning in Colorado Warren shows up against the Dodgers, things could get ugly. Warren can’t nibble and be afraid to throw strikes like he has the penchant to do at times against the Dodgers. Even without Mookie Betts, the Dodgers won’t allow Warren to settle in and figure it out if he doesn’t have it from the get-go. That’s why the offense (especially the top of the order since all that can be trusted) needs to go out and have the kind of start they had on Friday on Saturday and support him early.

Warren nibbled, fell behind hitters and got rocked. A day after Max Fried allowed the most runs any Yankees starter has allowed this season (six), Warren went and one-upped him. Warren faced 15 batters and 11 of them reached base. He gave up seven runs on six hits and four walks and needed 57 pitches to get four outs. He also added in a pitch clock violation for good measure.

2. “I talk about executing and being aggressive in the zone, and today didn’t go that way for me,” Warren said. “They took advantage of it.”

It’s frustrating that Warren goes in and out of windows when he challenges hitters and when he doesn’t. After giving up four runs and letting nine hitters come to the plate in the first, Aaron Boone kept him in face Ohtani for a second time in the first inning, this time with the bases loaded. I expected Ohtani to drive a ball deep into the late Los Angeles afternoon, but instead, Warren got two swings-and-misses and struck out Ohtani. How could the guy who couldn’t retire Andy Pages in a nine-pitch at-bat strike out Ohtani after Ohtani had already seen him in the inning and with Warren having thrown an exorbitant amount of pitches (39) before facing him. That’s what makes the Will Warren experience so maddening.

“I’m going to let it soak in,” Warren said. “It hurts. It sucks. I let the team down.”

At least Warren admitted he was awful and didn’t go the Sonny Gray route of years past and claim he had “good stuff” when he clearly didn’t. Not even Boone couldn’t concoct a positive evaluation of Warren’s dismal performance.

3. There’s not much to say about the Yankees’ offense. Trent Grisham led off the game with a four-pitch walk and then Aaron Judge was ahead in the count 2-0 before hitting into a double play. Maybe if Judge puts one in the seats there or the Yankees score in the first to give Warren a cushion the game plays out differently. But the Yankees didn’t score in the first and were down four runs when they batted for a second time and 10 runs when they batted for a third time. Judge did hit a meaningless home run down 10-0 and another one down 15-1 to pad his stats though.

4. All seven of the Yankees’ runs in the two games have come by way of the home run. The Dodgers have scored 26 runs with 14 coming from home runs. If the Dodgers didn’t hit a home run in either game they still would have won both games.

5. The offense couldn’t even score when the Dodgers had Kike Hernandez pitch the ninth inning of a 16-run game, which was more embarrassing than suffering the worst lost to an NL team in franchise history. Jasson Dominguez doubled against the position player and then Oswald Peraza and Austin Wells both grounded out and DJ LeMahieu flew out. LeMahieu had three hits in the blowout win over the Rockies last Saturday, but aside from that game, he hasn’t had a hit since two Saturdays ago against the Mets. Remove the Coors Field rout and LeMahieu is 0-for-24. He’s not hitting into bad luck or having good at-bats that would make you believe he’s about to break out. He’s having the at-bats of someone who has been 18 percent worse than league average over the last three seasons and 836 plate appearances.

6. Jorbit Vivas looks like a hitter in the batter’s box. He packs a fat lip, waggles his bat as if he’s the left-handed Gary Sheffield and takes monster cuts that would make you think he’s going to hit a 120-mph line drive somewhere. Excepts he sucks. Vivas is hitting .156/.255/.267 for a .522 OPS that puts him 51 percent worse than league average. The Dodgers traded Vivas and Victor Gonzalez to the Yankees for Trey Sweeney. Vivas is awful and the Yankees released Gonzalez during last season and now he’s pitching in Mexico. The Dodgers used Sweeney to trade for Jack Flaherty to help them win the World Series.

7. Pablo Reyes pitched the ninth inning for the Yankees and somehow had a better outing (1 IP, 3 ER) than Warren (1.1 IP, 7 ER) and Brent Headrick (0.2 IP, 3 ER). Reyes has started one game since May 4. I’m guessing he will be the one to go when Jazz Chisholm returns this week?

8. “It always feels good to beat the Yankees,” Dave Roberts said. “They’re the class of the American League right now.”

Roberts was on the right side of history against the Yankees in the 2004 ALCS and 2024 World Series. For him to call the Yankees “the class of the American League” after his team just beat the shit out of them is such a snarky, sarcastic remark. But hey, he can say whatever he wants. His team won on Friday and Saturday and is 8-2 against the Yankees over the last two seasons and he has the World Series ring to prove it. All the Yankees have are their American League champion rings, which I wouldn’t be surprised if Boone wears.

9. “It’s definitely been a tough few games here,” Cody Bellinger said. “But we haven’t lost confidence in the group of guys here.”

I’m glad Bellinger hasn’t lost confidence, but he must be the only person in the world who hasn’t. The Dodgers are without Mookie Betts, Tyler Glasnow, Blake Snell, Roki Sasaki, Blake Treinen, Brusdar Graterol, Evan Phillips, Michael Kopech and Kirby Yates and they just humiliated the Yankees in back-to-back games. The Yankees couldn’t beat the Dodgers with their ace on the mound and a three-run lead in the sixth. They suffered the worst loss to an NL team in franchise history with at worst an even matchup on the mound.

10. Now the Yankees have Ryan Yarbrough (who has been great, don’t get me wrong) going against Yoshinobu Yamamoto to salvage the series. Yamamoto allowed just two hits over seven shutout innings against the Yankees last June and then allowed one hit over 6 1/3 innings against them in Game 2 of the World Series. The Yankees have scored one run on three hits in 13 1/3 innings against Yamamoto. I’m not sure how anyone could feel good about the Yankees’ chances of winning on Sunday. If they don’t win, a road trip that started out so promising at 5-1 will end in disappointment at 5-4.

1. This time it was the sixth inning.

Seven months after the fifth-inning meltdown, which ended the Yankees’ bid to end the franchise’s 15-year championship drought, the Yankees did their best to recapture the disappointment of that night on Friday at Dodger Stadium.

This time it was the new ace.

Paying homage to Gerrit Cole’s unraveling in Game 5 of the World Series, Max Fried — the best pitcher in the league this season — fell apart in the sixth. Cole was on the mound when the five-run lead turned into a tie game last fall and Fried was on the mound on Friday as a three-run lead turned into a one-run deficit. Fried couldn’t get an out in the sixth, allowing a home run, two singles and a double before he was relieved. The six earned runs charged to Fried were the most given up by any Yankees starter this season, a season in which Will Warren had a 5.65 ERA through early May and Carlos Carrasco was allowed to make six starts.

“The guys did a great job tonight, putting up early runs,” Fried said. “I just didn’t do my job.”

Fried and the relievers who followed (Jonathan Loaisiga, Tim Hill and Yerry De los Santos) weren’t any good in turning a 5-1 lead into an 8-5 loss (the vision of Freeman doing the Dodgers dance on second base haunts my life), but they were let down by their defense the same way Cole was last fall.

2. It was a rough night for Anthony Volpe and his supporters. Those supporters consist of fans who will defend Volpe to no end against criticism, citing his exceptional defense as the reason to disregard his inconsistent offense. It seems when a game and moment are at their biggest, Volpe is at his worst in the field. A disastrous trait for the most important position within the infield. Volpe couldn’t come up with two ground balls in the sixth that would have snuffed the dodgers rally. Two balls that a “Gold Glove” defender has to come up with. Two balls that someone who provides nothing for long stretches with the bat needs to come up with.

3. Defensively, Volpe served as fuel for the Dodgers sixth-inning fire. Offensively, he served as an extinguisher for the Yankees’ rallies. With one run in and two on in the first and a chance to break the game open the game before the Dodgers could bat for the first time, Volpe hit a fly ball with a .010 expected batting average.

When he came up in the third after Paul Goldschmidt hit a leadoff home run to give the Yankees a 5-2 lead and Ben Rice had ripped a 110-mph single to right, Volpe hit into a a double play. Eight of 14 Yankees had come to the plate and reached base before Volpe’s double play and the two batters after him also reached. Four Yankees reached in the inning, but sandwiched around Volpe’s costly double play, the Yankees weren’t able to score. An 0-for-4 night with five outs made, a strikeout, three weakly hit balls, three left on and two have-to-have plays not made in the field. A golden night for the Golden Boy.

4. There is this perception that Volpe has been better in 2025 than he was in 2024. Sure, if you take the last third of 2024 and compare it to the first third of 2025, Volpe has been better. But here is Volpe through the first third of 2024 compared to the first third of 2025:

Home runs
2024: 6
2025: 6

RBIs
2024: 23
2025: 33

Walks
2024: 22
2025: 23

Strikeouts
2024: 52
2025: 59

Doubles
2024: 9
2025: 12

Stolen Bases/Attempts
2024: 11 of 14 (78.6%)
2025: 7 of 11 (63.6%)

Runs
2024: 36
2025: 27

Batting Average
2024: .285
2025: .241

On-Base Percentage
2024: .356
2025: .319

Slugging Percentage
2024: .434
2025: .433

OPS
2024: .791
2025: .752

(He has more RBIs this year because he’s always hitting fifth or sixth, and he had more runs last season because he hit at the bottom of the lineup ahead of Juan Soto and Aaron Judge.)

For all the talk about how good Volpe has been this season by many, he was much better at this time last year and still managed to finish 16 percent worse than league average for the year. If Volpe were to maintain the .752 OPS he has now for all of 2025 and stay on pace with the other numbers, yes, this season would be a success for him and a sign he has taken the next step in his development. But we’re a long way from that and all signs through two months point to him being an exceedingly streaky hitter.

5. Five runs should be more than enough to win a game started by Fried, but it wasn’t. Like the Game 5 collapse, the Yankees scored five runs in the first three innings on Saturday, however, in Game 5 they managed to score a sixth run over the final six innings. On Friday, the Yankees packed it in after the third and didn’t score again despite facing Tony Gonsolin for three more innings and the Dodgers’ bullpen for the last three.

6. Unlike the World Series, Judge actually showed up for this one, homering in his first at-bat and doubling in the seventh to put the potential tying run in scoring position before being stranded because the Dodgers’ relievers actually did their jobs. And unlike the World Series when Judge dropped a fly ball hit right at him that will forever be the lasting image of the the collapse, he made a nice diving catch early in the game, completely laying out for the ball in right field.

7. The Yankees continue to play daily with two automatic outs in the lineup with at least two of DJ LeMahieu, Oswald Peraza and Jorbit Vivas playing every game. That will change this coming week when Jazz Chisholm returns, but it still means one of those three will play every day. That trio combined for an 0-for-5 game with a walk and hit by pitch in the series opener. One of the zeros was from LeMahieu who pinch hit for Peraza in the eighth representing the tying run and hit a fly ball with an expected batting average of .030 to end the threat. With each passing day and each unproductive at-bat, LeMahieu sadly inches a little closer to no longer being a Yankee, and with only recording a hit in one game (he had three in the blowout last week at Coors Field) in the last nearly two weeks, that day will be coming soon if he doesn’t turn it around immediately.

8. I could pick apart Aaron Boone’s bullpen management, which helped the Dodgers come back, but I will give the manager the day off, considering Hill walked in the go-ahead run in the sixth (even if removing Loaisiga and/or loading the bases purposely before brining in Hill was foolish and letting the last man in the bullpen face the 2-3-4 hitters of the Dodgers in a one-run game was irresponsible). Loaisiga needs to be better. Hill needs to be better. Yerry De los Santos … well, it’s not his fault as the last or second-to-last arm in the bullpen the “lane” given to him in a one-run game was Teoscar Hernandez, Will Smith and Freddie Freeman. Luke Weaver, Devin Williams and Mark Leiter Jr. are all more than rested going into Saturday and I expect to see them if. the game is close.

9. Hopefully, the game isn’t close. Hopefully, the offense beats the crap out of Landon Knack, stakes Warren to a multi-run lead and it’s smooth sailing for the night. The Yankees could use a game like that. Their most recent games were last night’s meltdown, a 1-0 win, a 3-2 win, a 5-1 win that was a nail-biter in the ninth, a 5-4 win that was a nail-biter in the ninth, a 13-1 blowout win, a 3-2 loss, a 1-0 win, a 4-3 win and. a 5-2 win. Of. theYankees’ last 10 games, only last Saturday’s rout of the Rockies wasn’t close.

10. The good version of Warren needs to show up on Saturday. The version that shut down. the A’s and Mariners, stifled the Rangers and handled the Rockies after a shaky first inning. If early-season Warren or first-inning in Colorado Warren shows up against the Dodgers, things could get ugly. Warren can’t nibble and be afraid to throw strikes like he has the penchant to do at times against the Dodgers. Even without Mookie Betts, the Dodgers won’t allow Warren to settle in and figure it out if he doesn’t have it from the get-go. That’s why the offense (especially the top of the order since all that can be trusted) needs to go out and have the kind of start they had on Friday on Saturday and support him early.

1. If you had told me the Yankees would have two doubles, three singles and three walks in the first two innings against the Angels on Wednesday, I would have figured they put up a big, crooked number and sent everyone on the East Coast to bed early and happy. The Yankees did put eight runners on base in the first two innings against the Angels on Wednesday, but only one of them scored.

2. The Yankees put another runner on in the third, but then instead of leaving everyone on base, they just stopped putting anyone on base. Starting with one out in the third, Yusei Kikuchi retired eight straight to end his day, having allowed just the one run through five despite putting nine on and needing 93 pitches to get 15 outs. (It wasn’t as if one run allowed over five innings from Kikuchi against the Yankees was surprising as the lefty pitched well against them over the last three years with the Blue Jays.)

3. The Yankees’ lack of offense didn’t end with Kikuchi leaving the game. Thirteen straight Yankees were retired from one out in the third until two outs in the seventh and 22 of 26 were retired from the last out of the second through the end of the game. The Yankees struck out 13 times.

4. While the Yankees offense didn’t do anything, neither did the Angels thanks to the best start of the season from Clarke Schmidt: 6 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K. Similar to Kikuchi, Schmidt put two on in the first, two on in the second and one on in the fourth, but escaped each jam without damage.

With Luke Weaver, Devin Williams and Jonathan Loaisiga all unavailable, I was hoping for a big night from the offense to mitigate whatever crazy bullpen plan Aaron Boone would use to navigate the game after Schmidt. The plan ended up being Ian Hamilton for five outs, Tim Hill for one and Mark Leiter Jr. for three and the trio made the lone run from the first inning stand up in the 1-0 win.

5. In the last 20 games Yankees started have averaged nearly six innings per start with 138 strikeouts, 29 walks and a 2.25 ERA. Yankees pitching held the Angels to three runs in the series.

“We have guys with great stuff and guys who throw strikes and execute,” Schmidt said. “It’s a credit to this pitching staff.

The Yankees have won seven straight series and 16 of their last 20 games. The only loss standing between them and a 10-game winning streak is a one-run loss to the Rockies, the team that will go down as the worst in baseball history. I guess that’s baseball, Suzyn.

6. All I wanted from DJ LeMahieu was for him to be league average at the plate, but I knew even that was asking for a lot from a guy who was five percent worse than league average from 2021 through 2024. After a few good at-bats in his first couple of games back this season, LeMahieu looks every bit as bad as he did last year in 67 games. He had another 0-for-4 on Wednesday and it wasn’t an 0-for-4 with productive outs or bad luck, it was four bad at-bats. In his first at-bat, he ended the first inning by swinging at the first pitch he saw with the bases loaded, hitting a weak fly ball to center with an expected batting average of .150. He grounded out on a ball with an expected batting average of .080 in his second at0bat and struck out in both his third and fourth at-bats against hard-throwing relievers. LeMahieu is 3-for-his-last-26 and all three hits came in Saturday’s blowout at Coors Field. LeMahieu is hitless in the other seven games he has played since the second game of the Subway Series.

LeMahieu is going to continue to get to play second because it looks like the Yankees are going to have Jazz Chisholm play third when he returns. Chisholm could be back as early as next week, which will lengthen the lineup and remove one of the Yankees’ two weakest bats from the lineup.

7. Like LeMahieu, Aaron Judge also took a fastball down the middle to strike out looking in his final at-bat of the game. In that at-bat, Trent Grisham was on first and took off for second once Judge had two strikes. It was a smart move by Boone to have Grisham run because he would have either been safe and Judge would either hit with a runner in scoring or be walked, or Grisham would be thrown out and Judge would get to lead off the right with a fresh count.

Judge didn’t get to see a pitch until the fifth inning in his third plate appearance as he was intentionally walked in both the first and second innings. It was the first time a Yankee had been intentionally walked in the first since 2012.

“I didn’t really like the intentional walk there, but it’s the manager’s decision, so we’ll just go with it,” Kikuchi said.

Judge was intentionally walked again in the second inning to become the first Yankee to be intentionally walked twice in the first two innings since 1953. (Stats from Katie Sharp.)

“I don’t know what would’ve happened in that game if I wouldn’t have walked him those first two times,” Ron Washington said. “You don’t mess with that. I don’t care how he’s swinging the bat. You don’t mess with that if you don’t have to.”

8. Grisham went 2-for-5 with a double and three strikeouts. Grisham has been immune to the lineup rotation, having started the last 17 games dating back to May 8 in Sacramento. He’s started 27 of the last 28 games and continues to bat first or second in the lineup. When he bats second, Judge bats third as was the case on Wednesday, and once again Judge didn’t bat in the ninth inning because of it. Again, Judge should be batting second no matter what hand the opposing starter throws with and no matter who is in the lineup.  Unfortunately it seems like he’s going to continue to hit third as Boone has been putting Goldschmidt and a lefty ahead of him when a lefty starts and Grisham and Ben Rice ahead of him when a righty starts.

9. Rice was the odd man out of the lineup against the lefty, a night after hitting a home run off a better lefty. It’s too bad the Yankees can’t have two designated hitters. One in the actual DH spot and one that gets to hit for either LeMahieu or Oswald Peraza, while still get to play the field. Rice did pinch hit for Peraza to lead off the seventh on Wednesday and smoked a first-pitch line drive, it just happened to go right at Luis Rengifo at second base for an out. A one-pitch night for Rice and back to the bench until Friday.

10. On Friday, the Yankees will be back at Dodger Stadium where they lost Games 1 and 2 of the World Series. With all three games on national platforms this weekend, get ready for a heavy dose of replays of Freddie Freeman’s walk-off grand slam and the fifth inning meltdown.

“It’s going to be great to see how we stack up against them,” Judge said. “I think the boys in here are all excited and ready to go.”

Max Fried gets the ball on Friday and what better way to show the Dodgers this Yankees team is much different than last year’s than sending the best pitcher in baseball to the mound to begin the series.

1. For the last two seasons I have written a lot of words about Carlos Rodon, nearly all of which have been critical. Those words have been deserved. I don’t need to recite all of Rodon’s shortcomings since signing his six-year deal for which he makes roughly $800,000 per start, but every word I wrote about his lackluster first two seasons with the Yankees was earned.

2. For as bad as Rodon was in his first season and inconsistent in his second with the Yankees, he’s been that good and that consistent this year. Sure, the season is only one-third of the way through and at he could revert to his clean-shaven self, though I don’t see it. It doesn’t mean that I trust Rodon (or will ever, especially in the postseason), it’s that this version of Rodon is different, mainly because he stopped being a two-pitch pitcher.

3. “I just have a good understanding of what I want to do out there,” Rodon said. (Where was that understanding the last two years? I don’t know.)

Rodon has made 11 starts for the Yankees this season and has allowed just 42 hits in 72 2/3 innings. He’s averaging six innings per start and looks like the 2021-2022 version of himself that the Yankees were so eager to give $162 million to.

4. Rodon’s seven shutout innings on Tuesday in Anaheim were nearly for nothing. With a 3-0 lead in the eighth, Jonathan Loaisiga relieved Rodon and pitched a 1-2-3 eighth, but with Luke Weaver down after a recent heavy workload, Devin Williams served as the fill-in closer for the ninth and was every bit as shaky as he was when he was the closer.

Williams gave up a leadoff home run to Yoan Moncada to make it 3-1 and Taylor Ward followed with a single. Williams got Travis d’Arnaud to fly out to center on a ball hit 105 mph with an expected batting average of .900 before Luis Rengifo singled to center, setting up first and third with one out. Jo Adell grounded out to make it 3-2 with the tying run was still on base at first. Williams fell behind Logan O’Hoppe 3-0 and O’Hoppe swung at the 3-0 pitch and popped it up to third in foul territory to end the game.

“At the end of the day, we won,” Williams said, “and that’s all that matters.”

Yes, that’s true, but the inning did nothing to dispel the fear Williams is still broken.

5. The Yankees built their three-run lead with a Ben Rice solo home run in the fourth, an Anthony Volpe RBI single in the sixth and an Oswald Peraza solo homer in the seventh. Runs were going to be tough to come by against a left-handed starter (despite Michael Kay telling everyone still awake and watching how good the Yankees have been against left-handed pitching), especially a lefty like Tyler Anderson. The Yankees only had six hits in the game, but three of them were for extra bases and they drew five walks and caught a massive break when Matthew Lugo misplayed a ball in center.

6. Kay continues to ask the question of what’s going to happen with Rice once Giancarlo Stanton returns, and as of now, there’s no answer. Rice’s bat is worthy of playing every day, but without a position other than first base, it will be even harder than it has been to play him every day. The Yankees’ lineup conundrum continues to be that their best bats all play the same position or have no position and their worst bats are the only options at second base and third base. If Rice were a third baseman, there wouldn’t be a problem. Unfortunately, he’s not. Until Stanton is off of the injured list and available to play in a game, it’s not an issue. And given Stanton’s lengthy injury history and inability to recover without setbacks, it’s a problem not worth worrying about until he’s activated.

7. Jasson Dominguez got the night off against the lefty, but the Yankees are going to face another lefty on Wednesday in Yusei Kikuchi, who always had their numbers as a Blue Jay. Dominguez will be back in the lineup, and I think Trent Grisham will sit since Bellinger has destroyed lefties this season and just had a day off in Colorado.

8. Is this the lineup on Wednesday?

Paul Goldschmidt, 1B
Ben Rice, DH
Aaron Judge, RF
Cody Bellinger, CF
Anthony Volpe, SS
Jasson Dominguez, LF
DJ LeMahieu, 2B
Austin Wells, C
Oswald Peraza, 3B

9. Weaver pitched on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Sunday and Monday, so I think he will be unavailable again on Wednesday (and he should be). Williams may be down also (though no one is sad about that) after throwing 19 pitches on Tuesday. So the “A” arms available will likely be Loaisiga and Mark Leiter Jr. That means there will be some outs in the middle innings needed from Tim Hill, Yerry De los Santos, Brent Headrick and Ian Hamilton. And there will be outs needed in the middle innings because Clarke Schmidt is starting.

10. It would be great if Schmidt could go seven (like Rodon did) and hand the ball off to Leiter Jr. and Loaisiga the way, but Schmidt has just to get an out in the seventh inning this season. I’ll sign up for five strong innings from Schmidt, a big day from the offense and a sweep of the Angels before Thursday’s day off and the Dodgers this weekend.