Well, that sucked. The Yankees had a chance to have a big weekend in Boston and it couldn’t have gone worse. The Yankees were swept by the Red Sox for the second time this season and are now 0-6 against their rival.

Here are 10 thoughts on the Yankees.

1. If you thought the Yankees getting swept by the Rays at Yankee Stadium in mid-April to fall to 5-10 was the low point of the season, it wasn’t. If you thought getting shut down by Matt Harvey at the end of April was the low point of the season, it wasn’t. If you thought getting shut down by Jordan Lyles in mid-May was the low point of the season, it wasn’t. If you thought getting swept by the Tigers at the end of May was the low point of the season, it wasn’t. If you thought losing 10 of 13 at the end of May and beginning of June was the low point of the season, it wasn’t. If you thought allowing a complete-game shutout to Ryan Yarbrough (he has pitched to a 1.56 ERA and 0.692 WHIP in three games against the Yankees and a 5.43 ERA and 1.333 WHIP against every other team) was the low point of the season, it wasn’t. If you thought getting swept by the Red Sox at the beginning of June was the low point of the season, it wasn’t. If you think going to Boston with a chance to erase the loss-column deficit in the AL East and instead get swept to increase that deficit to six games, well it is. This weekend was the lowest point of the 2021 season.

2. It’s hard to take the Yankees seriously as anything more than an average team. The preseason AL favorite, they are now 6 1/2 games back in the division and five games out of the second-wild card berth.

It’s hard to take them seriously because they can’t hit with consistency, can’t pitch with consistency, can’t field with consistency, can’t run the bases with consistency and can’t manage with consistency. Most importantly, they can’t win with consistency, now just three games over. 500.

“Inconsistency has kind of defined us so far,” Aaron Boone said after Sunday’s embarrassing 9-2 loss.

“Kind of?” “Kind of?!” “KIND OF?!” Boone likes to sugarcoat everything that comes out of his mouth, but adding a “kind of” in that sentence might be the most ridiculous bullshit he has ever said as Yankees manager. There’s no kind of. The Yankees are inconsistent. It’s why they’re in fourth place in the division after 77 games and 48 percent of the season.

“We have the people in that room to get this done,” Boone said after getting swept by the Red Sox for the second time this season. “We can’t wait and look around for a magic move to make us better.”

What exactly is “this” anyway? Simply making the postseason? Winning a wild-card berth? Hosting the wild-card game? “This” should mean winning the World Series, considering Boone took over a team that came within one game of the World Series and the team has gone backward under his leadership though I think by “this” he meant making the postseason, and simply making the postseason shouldn’t be acceptable. But when you have a loser manager who has done nothing in his career but lose, is OK with losing and has made his players believe it’s OK to lose, then doing the bare minimum becomes acceptable.

A lot of Yankees fans forgot about the movement to replace Boone as manager over the three series prior to this one because the Yankees had gone 7-2. I didn’t forget. Because even when they were beating the Blue Jays, A’s and Royals, Boone was doing everything he could to not put his players in the best possible position to succeed, and was doing everything he could to manage his team to losses.

What “magic move” could the Yankees make to make the team better other than to get a whole new team? All offseason I wrote and talked about how poorly constructed the 2021 roster was and my worst fears have come true and then some. I thought the Yankees would have issues fending off the Rays and Blue Jays in the division and at best would lose in the first round of the playoffs. Making the first round of the playoffs is now a pipe dream. The first time I said I would sign up for the Yankees settling for the second wild-card spot was back on April 14. Two-and-a-half months later and they need to jump the Blue Jays, Mariners, Indians and A’s for a postseason spot.

3. If your name isn’t DJ LeMahieu (7-for-19) or Gary Sanchez (.400 OBP), you didn’t do much this weekend. That includes Aaron Judge who went 3-for-12 with a home run, two RBIs and a walk. Judge continues to be a huge disappointment with runners on base (.961 OPS with the bases empty and .781 OPS with runners on) and in late-and-close situations (.765 OPS). It’s gotten to the point where it might be best to bat Judge leadoff, so he has at least one at-bat per game with no one on to increase his chances at hitting a home run (12 solo home runs and five multi-run home runs). Judge did hit a two-run home run in Sunday’s game when the Yankees trailed by six runs. But when he came up with the bases loaded representing the tying run in the seventh inning, he popped out to first base. The night before he had a chance to tie the game or give the Yankees the lead the bases loaded and two outs in the ninth, but he struck out against Adam Ottavino.

4. The Yankees are paying Ottavino to pitch for the Red Sox. Rather than retain Ottavino and sign Darren O’Day and Justin Wilson, the Yankees chose to trade Ottavino to the Red Sox of all teams to shed payroll to stay under the luxury-tax threshold. Staying under the threshold was more important to the Steinbrenners than winning, and because of it, the Yankees gifted the Red Sox a right-handed reliever who possesses the Yankees’ kryptonite: high-velocity fastballs and impossible breaking balls. Knowing they could face Ottavino up to 19 times in the regular season and that their expected everyday lineup would feature at least eight right-handed hitters, the Yankees still willingly made the move to save money to avoid exceeding the imaginary salary cap. Ottavino has pitched in four of the six games between the Yankees and Red Sox this season, and the Red Sox have won all four. Of course they have since they have won all six games in the series.

5. To make matters worse, Red Sox’ right-handed reliever Garrett Whitlock continues to get important outs against the Yankees. Whitlock was a Yankee, but they let him go in the Rule 5 draft and the Red Sox selected him. The Yankees thought it was more important to keep Nick Nelson and Brooks Kriske on the 40-man roster than Whitlock. In eight games this season, Nelson has pitched to a 9.75 ERA and has put 23 baserunners on in 12 innings. Kriske pitched to a 14.73 ERA last season and has an 11.25 ERA this season. Kriske’s career line: 7.2 IP, 9 H, 11 R, 11 ER, 9 BB, 11 K, 3 HR, 12.91 ERA, 2.348 WHIP.

Here is what Ottavino has done against the Yankees: 4.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 2.08 ERA, 0.924 WHIP

Here is what Whitlock has done against the Yankees: 5.1 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 0.00 ERA, 0.750 WHIP

6. Even with the left-handed Eduardo Rodriguez and his 6.07 ERA pitching for the Red Sox, the Yankees weren’t going to overcome a first-inning, four-run deficit. And they didn’t as Rodriguez turned in arguably his best start of the season (6 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 8 K, 1 HR).

“I do think we were prepared,” Boone said. “I felt like we were ready to go all weekend.”

The Yankees “were prepared” and yet they trailed 4-0 after an inning, couldn’t hit a bad left-handed starter and lost 9-2? Boone “felt the Yankees were ready to go all weekend” and they went 0-3 and scored seven runs in 27 innings at the most right-handed-hitter-friendly park in all of baseball?

Clearly, Boone can’t read his own clubhouse, and clearly, whatever message he is delivering to his team isn’t getting through. A change is long overdue. I don’t expect the Yankees to make one midseason since the Yankees under Hal Steinbrenner have become perfectly content with mediocrity. The only way the Yankees move on from Boone is after the season. So either the Yankees have a miraculous turnaround over the remaining 85 games or they continue to slog through a season that had great expectations and Boone gets fired. It’s a win-win position.

7. I despise Nathan Eovaldi. (Spoiler alert: he will be the starting pitcher on my 2021 All-Animosity Team.) He couldn’t have been a worse Yankee, pitching to a 4.45 ERA and 1.387 WHIP before eventually needing Tommy John surgery. Despite throwing 100 mph, he couldn’t strike anyone out, could never go more than five innings and every five days we had to hear the Yankees refer to him as “Nasty Nate.” Since joining the Red Sox, he has helped them win a championship and has thoroughly dominated the Yankees in a way I thought Gerrit Cole would dominate the Red Sox.

Cole had to win on Sunday. He had to. He had to go out, dominate and have one of his best starts as a Yankee. Instead, he might as well have been wearing uniform number 47, 50, 55 or 73 because there was no difference between Cole or any of the other awful Yankees starters. It was easily the worst start of Cole’s Yankees tenure and he should be embarrassed of his performance. I know all Yankees fans are.

8. “I think from the beginning his stuff wasn’t as sharp as I’m used to seeing,” Higashioka said. “As the game went on, he got a lot better.”

“His stuff wasn’t sharp?” Thanks for that insight, Higashioka! One pitch into Cole’s day and the Yankees were down 1-0 on an Enrique Hernandez home run, the same Enrique Hernandez who boasts a career .730 OPS. Eight pitches later and the Red Sox had second and third and no outs. Five pitches later, the Red Sox had a 4-0 lead after Rafael Devers hit a three-run home run and the game was over.

As for him getting “a lot better” as the game went on, who cares? The game was over after five batters. And it’s not like Cole shut down the Red Sox after the first as he allowed a home run and another two runs in the third. Cole finished the game with this line: 5 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 3 HR. An embarrassment indeed.

9. There’s nothing left to say about the unnecessary pairing of Cole and Higashioka. If Higashioka is going to get a lot of the credit when Cole is dominant (even though Higashioka has nothing to do with Cole’s success) then Higashioka should get a lot of the blame when Cole is bad (even though Higashioka has nothing to do with Cole’s failures like Sunday).

Cole has gotten lit up in three of his last eight starts and one of them was against Tampa Bay and one against Boston, the two teams the Yankees are chasing for a postseason berth. Not good. In Cole’s last four starts, Boone used Sanchez as a pinch hitter for Higashioka, so even when he’s getting a “day off,” he’s not really getting the full day off.

10. Everything the Yankees did in the nine games prior to this weekend was erased. The Yankees went from putting themselves in a position to have the division lead by the end of June to now being buried in both the division and wild-card standings and they accomplished it in 45 hours.

Between now and the All-Star break, the Yankees have 13 games against the Angels (4), Mets (3), Mariners (3) and Astros (3). They either need to win every series or the equivalent of every series, and that means going 9-4. It’s lofty and might seem unreasonable and borderline impossible given the way the team has played this season, but because of the way they have played this season, they are going to have to start achieving unreasonable and borderline impossible goals.

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The Yankees have won seven of nine and three straight series. They have cut their deficit in the AL East to three games in the loss column and have a chance to possibly erase that deficit completely with a back weekend in Boston.

Here are 10 thoughts on the Yankees.

1. I was told many times the 2016-17 version of Gary Sanchez no longer existed. That a lot of players come up and take the league by storm only to fade away and become nothing more than an average or replacement level player. That Sanchez would never return to being the player who was the face of the Yankees for the last half of 2016 and 3-hitter in 2017 and who represented their greatest lineup advantage.

I have taken a lot of criticism over the last couple years, (even from within my home) about my unwavering support for Sanchez. I defended him against the Austin Romine Fan Club and the Kyle Higashioka Fan Club. I stood by him when he .186 in 2018 and .147 in the shortened 2020 season. When he was wrongly benched by the idiot and loser that is Aaron Boone in the postseason, I was told it was the right move. When the Yankees tendered Sanchez a contract (as if there was ever any other choice), I was told it was foolish and they would regret it. Now all I can do is laugh at everyone who told me Sanchez would never be the player he once was, not even for a week.

2. Two weeks ago I wrote this:

In a perfect world, if every Yankees hitter was hitting to the best of their abilities of their career and healthy and able to play the field, this would be the optimal Yankees lineup:

1. DJ LeMahieu, 2B
2. Aaron Judge, RF
3. Giancarlo Stanton, LF
4. Gary Sanchez, C
5. Luke Voit, 1B
6. Gleyber Torres, SS
7. Miguel Andujar, DH
8. Gio Urshela, 3B
9. Aaron Hicks, CF

Over the last nearly month (since May 27), Sanchez is hitting .338/.410/.743 with six doubles, eight home runs and 18 RBIs in 83 plate appearances. Since returning to his former home in the 3-hole, he’s 6-for-15 with two doubles, three home runs and seven RBIs. In the four games he has batted third, the Yankees are 4-0, and Sanchez is single-handedly responsible for two of the wins (June 20 against Oakland and June 23 against Kansas City), and he was arguably the most important player in the other two games as well (June 19 against Oakland and June 24 against Kansas City). He’s once again the Yankees’ biggest lineup advantage since no catcher can do or is doing what he does at the plate.

I have long been mocked for being the self-proclaimed President of the Gary Sanchez Fan Club, telling the mockers that I believe the Sanchez of 2016-17 is still in there and still exists. That version of Sanchez not only exists, but is here.

3. Either Boone is so adamant about not wanting to play Sanchez with Gerrit Cole that he was willing to let Sanchez catch a day game after a night game this week, or Cole is so adamant about not wanting to throw to Sanchez. I’m beginning to think it’s the latter, and that’s a horrible look for Cole, who is clearly not who I thought he was if he needs a personal catcher as a security blanket, and it’s a bad look for the the Yankees, who will continue to play an inferior lineup when Cole starts.

It’s also because Giancarlo Stanton can’t play the field. I’m not sure who is to blame here. Is Stanton saying he doesn’t feel comfortable in the outfield or is it the Yankees not wanting him to risk injury? In case you haven’t noticed, Stanton does a fine job getting injured when only serving as the designated hitter, so it’s not like that role has kept him healthy and in the lineup DH and not have Sanchez’s bat in the lineup when Cole pitches because Cole can’t handle throwing to someone he didn’t grow up with in California. Stanton needs to play the outfield. If he gets hurt doing so, so be it.

4. After Boone managed his bullpen and his team to a blown lead and loss in the first game of the series against the Royals, he did his best to do it again in the second game of the series. With runners on first and third and two outs in the ninth and Carlos Santana up, Boone went out to the mound to hold a conference on how to pitch to Santana. Aroldis Chapman, Sanchez, Boone and the infield were in agreement on how to handle Santana and Boone returned to the dugout. Right before Chapman could throw the first pitch to Santana, Sanchez called time and stood up. I figured they were going to go through the signs again. Instead, Boone had signaled to Sanchez to intentionally walk Santana and bring up Sebastian Rivero, who was still looking for his first major league hit.

The move would force the bases loaded, and with Chapman being extra wild lately (coinciding with the crackdown on foreign substances for pitchers), there would be no margin for error. And Chapman needed that margin for error, as he walked Rivero on four pitches with the fourth pitch nearly headed for the backstop. Chapman blew the Yankees’ one-run lead and when he left the mound the Royals had the lead. Boone had betrayed his closer and catcher and his team and had gone against what they had agreed to.

5. “He wanted to pitch to Santana,” Boone said after the game. “In hindsight, and not just because it didn’t work out, I think the right move was probably to go ahead and let [Chapman] pitch to him. I just didn’t want to let [Santana] beat us in that spot or get too careful pitching around, leading to a wild pitch or something.”

How is this guy still managing the Yankees? I will say it again: Boone is the Yankees’ biggest obstacle to a championship. Not the Rays or Red Sox or Blue Jays or Astros or A’s or White Sox or the National League winner. The Yankees’ own manager is what stands in the way of their success. The Yankees’ offense is the only thing that can combat Boone because they have the ability to outscore his idiotic decisions. And they had to on Wednesday night, as Sanchez and Luke Voit won the game for the Yankees and erased all of the bad Boone had done. There’s no doubt Boone thinks his moved was the right because the Yankees came back and won, like a fool at a Blackjack table who stays with a 16 against a 7 and miraculously wins the hand.

6. “When I got back to the bench and just kind of looked out there, that’s why there was a little bit of a pause,” Boone said of his mound visit with Santan due up. “I just felt like I wanted to take our shot the other way. It was my call in the moment, and I think that led to some of the frustration. But Chappy and I absolutely talked about it, and we’re good.”

I doubt “they’re good” the way Boone says they are. Back in February, he said the clubhouse would be fine with the return of Scumbag Domingo German and within a day Zack Britton had openly said it wasn’t fine. Last October, he said he talked with Sanchez about the decision to go with Higashioka in the postseason, and then in the offseason, Sanchez said he was never told. No one should believe anything Boone ever says. So when he says he and a player have a good line of communication or have worked through whatever issue there is, don’t believe him. The simple fact he has to address means they’re not good.

7. “We’re playing for a lot. These guys care,” Boone said of his decision to go against his closer. “Sometimes you’re going to get upset. That’s part of playing the high-stakes game of Major League Baseball.”

No one is saying the Yankees don’t care. Michael Kay thinks every night he needs to ask the question, “You think these guys don’t care?” Who is saying they don’t care? Being bad and underachieving and losing like they have done for the majority of the season doesn’t mean they don’t care. But the Yankees players certainly don’t need their lead play-by-play man and manager to petition for them that they care.

8. I’m sure Michael King cares. He just isn’t any good. The Yankees are now 2-3 in games he has pitched since he became a starter or opener or whatever you want to call him. In only one of those five games did he not allow first-inning runs. This is after he was incapable of being a starter/opener last season and the Yankees’ decision to stick with him throughout the shortended season nearly cost them a postseason berth. King needs to be removed from the rotation. He can’t possibly be the team’s “best” option. I know he isn’t the best option as long as Deivi Garcia is in the organization, regardless of what he’s doing in Triple-A.

9. Having King and Jameson Taillon back-to-back in the rotation opens the door for losing streaks to start or be extended. King isn’t good and doesn’t give the team length, and the same goes for Taillon. And I say this coming off King’s best start of the season and Taillon’s as well. I’m not foolish enough to think one OK King start and one good Taillon start is enough to think one or both of them are now going to be trustworthy starting options. Thankfully, neither of them will pitch this weekend in Boston (since the Yankees will have enough problems with a lefty starting at Fenway in Jordan Montgomery and Scumbag German who gives up home runs at an unbelievable rate), but they will both pitch next week against the Angels and Mets. For now, it seems like the Yankees are fine with continuing to use both of them as starters and fine with leaving them pitching on consecutive days in the rotation, considering they have had the chance to pull them from the rotation and break them up within it and they haven’t done either.

10. This a very, very, very important weekend. At the end of play on Sunday night, the Yankees will either be tied in the loss column with the Red Sox, trailing by two games, trailing by four games or trailing by six games. Each game is incredibly important and could be the eventual difference between an ALDS spot and a wild-card spot or a wild-card spot and no postseason. Three weekends ago when the two teams met, the Yankees blew late leads in two of the three games (King lost them the other game within the first five batters). That can’t happen again.

This is the most important series of the season to date. We’ll have a good idea of who the 2021 Yankees are after it.

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