1. With a 4-1 lead over the Astros and 12 outs to go on Wednesday night, the Yankees were on their way to a second straight win over the Astros. If they could add to their lead or hold on to it, they would win back-to-back games against one of the other Top 5 teams in the American League for the first time since they swept a doubleheader from the Blue Jays on April 27.
The Yankees never added to their lead and couldn’t hold it either.
2. Will Warren went back out to the mound for the bottom of the sixth inning and with a three-run lead he threw a first-pitch, get-me-over breaking ball and Jeremy Pena destroyed it over the left-field wall to make it a 4-2 game. Aaron Boone immediately removed Warren from the game following the home run in favor of Fernando Cruz. If Warren’s leash was a single pitch, what was he doing on the mound to begin the sixth inning? If Boone was willing to remove Warren from the game after 67 pitches and get 12 outs from the bullpen, why not just go right to the bullpen to start the sixth rather than give the top of the Astros’ order a third look at Warren? Stealing outs, that’s why. No matter the situation or the importance of the game, Boone will always try to steal an out or two or an inning from his starter. Yordan Alvarez greeted Cruz with a double and after a wild pitch and a groundout, the Yankees’ lead was down to 4-3.
3. The Yankees went down 1-2-3 in the seventh and the Astros tied the game when Luke Weaver couldn’t navigate the bottom of the order, needing 22 pitches to get through the seventh, while giving up the game-tying run.
The Yankees went down 1-2-3 again in the eighth and the Astros once again went to work, lighting up Devin Williams for four earned runs as the righty was only able to get one out. Camilo Doval relieved Williams and did his best Brooks Kriske impression, allowing two runs to score on a single, another run to score on a balk and another run to score on a wild pitch. When the eighth was over, the Yankees trailed 8-4, having allowed one run in the fifth, two in the sixth, one in the seventh and four in the eighth. It was a magnificent implosion by the entire bullpen as Cruz, Weaver, Williams and Doval combined to allowed 10 baserunners and six earned runs in four innings.
The Yankees did their best to come back in the ninth with a three-run outburst against Bryan Abreu (who they always hit), but came up a run short in an 8-7 loss. Instead of starting off this 12-game stretch against the Astros, Blue Jays Tigers and Red Sox at 2-0, they’re now 1-1. They need to go at worst 5-5 over the remaining 10 games against the four teams to have a chance at the division and to put themselves in a position to host a best-of-3 wild-card series.
It was an enormous missed opportunity for the Yankees as the Red Sox lost and a win would have moved them to two games up in the loss column on the first wild-card spot. Instead, they remain one game up there and are now again three games back in the loss column in the division (though it’s really a four-game deficit with the Blue Jays having clinched the head-to-head tiebreaker).
4. Yes, home-plate umpire Brian Walsh was atrocious, and yes, he made egregious calls, most of which screwed the Yankees, but that can’t be an excuse for the loss. Walsh didn’t force Williams to throw an 0-2 fastball to Carlos Correa, which resulted in a leadoff double in the eighth inning with the scored tied at 4. He didn’t force Williams to throw a 3-1 changeup clearly out of the zone to 9-hitter Taylor Trammell with the bases loaded and the score tied at 4 in that same inning.
I’m not upset with Williams. He sucks. He didn’t ask to be traded to the Yankees. He didn’t ask to be the closer at the start of the season. He didn’t ask to remain the closer when he started blowing games. He didn’t ask to return to being the closer when Weaver got hurt. He didn’t name himself the closer even after the team traded for David Bednar. He isn’t the one who continues to put him in high-leverage situations he’s set up to fail in. What is he supposed to do? Not play Major League Baseball and not make millions of dollars to do so?
Boone’s loyalty over the years to players he shouldn’t be loyal to is extremely odd. It doesn’t matter what his relationship is with Williams, he has no reason to use him or believe in him the way he does and whenever this season winds up ending, Williams will no longer be a Yankee. Boone owes him nothing, and yet, he treats him like he owes him everything.
“When you’re making good pitches, which I was, not getting those calls really changes the course of an at-bat,” a delusional Williams said. Does he think Walsh is responsible for the Correa double and all three walks?
“I said, ‘I had four that you missed,’ and he threw me out for it,” Williams said. “Never been ejected in my career.”
Both Boone and Williams were ejected for arguing balls and strikes. Boone has openly said he is not for an automated strike zone and believes the game should still be called by the home-plate umpire. So why then does he complain about balls and strikes more than anyone in the game? Because it’s all he has. Boone doesn’t know how to motivate his players or what to do to get the best out of them. The only move he has or thinks he he has is to argue balls and strikes and get tossed when his team is playing poorly or losing. If the entire game became automated calls, Boone would lose his only motivational tactic, which does nothing to motivate.
5. Many times last year I said Clay Holmes would be allowed to ruin the season in the postseason and he was and nearly did when he allowed a walk-off home run in Game 3 of the ALCS and almost blew a four-run lead in Game 4. The same goes for Williams. He will ruin the season if he’s allowed to in the playoffs, and from everything I have seen this season and how Boone has used and treated him, Boone will undoubtedly put Williams in a position to ruin the season.
6. The loss on Wednesday was a one-run game. The Yankees lost a one-run game to the White Sox on Sunday. They came an inch away from losing what would have been a one-run game if that ball in Chicago landed fair instead of foul on Saturday. They lost a one-run game to the Red Sox two weeks ago. There’s a reason the Yankees lose so many close games and it’s because of Boone. The closer the game, the more important he becomes as the bullpen, pinch-hit and baserunning decision maker. His bullpen management was every bit as bad as the bullpen pitched on Wednesday. Not only that, but with the game tied at 4 in the eighth and a guaranteed at-bat against a lefty available, Boone let Ben Rice hit instead of using Paul Goldschmidt. Rice weakly grounded out to first. What’s the point of having such platoon depth on the roster if the manager is incapable of utilizing it?
7. “The Astros are one team Aaron Judge does not excel against,” Michael Kay said during Wednesday’s game. No shit, Michael. That’s why the Yankees were eliminated by the Astros in 2017, 2019 and 2022. Judge went 6-for-24 with 11 strikeouts in 2017, 6-for-25 with 10 strikeouts in 2019 and 1-for-16 with four strikeouts in 2022. For all of the regular-season success the Yankees have had against the Astros, including the lengthy winning streak in Houston which ended on Wednesday, the Yankees went 4-12 against them in those three ALCS. Judge went 1-for-5 on Wednesday, while the Astros’ star slugger in Alvarez went 4-for-5 as his bat single-handedly ignited the Astros come back, tied the game and took the lead.
8. It was another stellar night for Anthony Volpe. Through the first two games of the series, Volpe botched a routine double play and is 0-for-7 with four strikeouts. His 6-for-14 series against the White Sox was enough for him to never be benched again this season even though it succeeded a 1-for-38 and preceded the now 0-for-7. I’m glad Volpe will continue to play every day because of what he did one weekend in Chicago against the worst team in the AL and the second-worst team in the majors.
9. The series and regular-season finale between the Yankees and Astros will feature Carlos Rodon against Christian Javier. No pitcher has owned the Yankees in recent years like Javier and even though he has only made 11 starts over the last two seasons due to injury, I can’t say I feel even a hint of confidence with him going on Thursday. Add in Rodon and the Crawford Boxes in left field and the near-zero confidence decreases even more.
10. Thursday’s game is immensely important. The Yankees have a game in hand on the blue Jays and two games in hand on the Red Sox. Those games in hand need to be wins. A loss puts the Yankees four back in the loss column on the Blue Jays and five overall because of the tiebreaker and essentially ends all division hope without a Yankees sweep of the Blue Jays this weekend. A loss would tie the Yankees again with the Red Sox in the loss column for the top wild-card spot and because the Red Sox hold the tiebreaker the Yankees would be back in a position to go on the road for the first best-of-3. A win on Thursday keeps them right where they are, in comeback distance of the Blue Jays with the three-game series this weekend in the Bronx and ahead of the Red Sox in the wild-card standings. Thursday is the newest most important game of the season for the Yankees.
Last modified: Sep 5, 2025
