1. After overcoming a two-run deficit to beat the Angels on Monday, the Yankees overcame a one-run deficit to beat the Angels on Wednesday for their second walk-off win in three games. A win is a win, but the reason the Yankees were trailing in those two games (and were shut down in the other game in the series) remains a disturbing trend for the Run It Back Bombers (who no longer hit bombs).
2. Again, a win is a win, and the Yankees need as many as they can get right now and all season. Their opportunity to build a massive early-season lead in the division when they were 8-2 has been destroyed and now they need to survive the muck and cluster that is the AL East. The entire division is separated by 3 1/2 games now and they are 0-3 in the division, which is reminiscent of how they played against the division last season.
3. “It’s a grind for us right now,” Aaron Boone said. “But I felt like there were a lot of tough, winning things that happened tonight for us.”
I’m not sure what “winning things” Boone is talking about? The Yankees scored three runs in the first two innings and didn’t score again until the ninth and needed the left side of the Angels’ infield to not catch a routine pop-up to give them a chance to win. Luis Gil blew a three-run lead and the offense let the starter with the highest ERA among all starters with at least 100 innings pitched from last season go 6 2/3 innings against them. But sure, “a lot of tough, winning things” happened!
4. Amed Rosario and Jordan Romano have single-handedly kept the last nearly two weeks from catastrophe. Here are the Yankees’ last 10 games:
April 5: Blow three-run lead with Max Fried on the mound for a loss
April 7: Rosario hits two home runs to carry offense
April 8: One hit over the final eight innings in a loss
April 9: One-hit for the game in a loss
April 10: Blow early two-run lead in a loss
April 11: Blow three different leads in a loss
April 12: One-hit through first six innings in a loss
April 13: Blow three different leads, thankfully Romano blows the game
April 14: Two-hit over the first seven innings in a loss
April 15: Blow three-run lead, thankfully Romano blows the game
The only thing standing between the Yankees and an eight-game losing streak is Romano. The only things standing between them and a 10-game losing streak are Romano and Rosario. There haven’t been signs of “tough” things or “winning things” from the Yankees of late and there certainly weren’t on Wednesday.
5. The offense remains the team’s biggest problem, but then again, who could have seen this coming? Who could have imagined Trent Grisham wouldn’t replicate his one outlier season and that Jazz Chisholm playing for a contract wouldn’t crumble and that Austin Wells wouldn’t take the next step in his development and that a bunch of right-handed bench bats who are grateful to still be in the majors wouldn’t turn back the clock? No one could have imagined any of this.
6. Aside from Ben Rice’s stunning .333 batting average, Giancarlo Stanton is the next highest at .274 as he’s in a 4-for-33 slump and still sitting on one home run for the season. There are eight Yankees hitting .191 or below and seven Yankees have an OPS below .652. Chisholm used the “It’s cold” excuse for his disastrous start last week, but since they the Yankees have played indoors in Tampa and in mid-80s weather in the Bronx and he’s still not hitting.
7. The Yankees were outhit again (7-6). Since April 3, the Yankees have been outhit in nine of 11 games. They outhit the Angels on Monday and were tied in hits with the Marlins on Easter. Giancarlo Stanton went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. His OPS is down to .709 and he’s still sitting on one home run, so I guess it’s true that poor hitting is contagious. Ryan McMahon also put up another 0-for as his OPS is down to an impossible .379.
8. The bullpen combination of Tim Hill, Fernando Cruz, Brent Headrick and David Bednar threw four scoreless innings after Gil laid another egg. Gil either throws non-competitive pitches outside the strike zone for easy takes or throws the ball over the heart of the plate. He couldn’t hold a three-run lead and allowed three home runs. For a pitcher whose career has been marred by injuries and a high walk rate, it’s still amazing the Yankees didn’t move him after his 2024 Rookie of the Year campaign when they needed offense and when his stock would never be higher.
9. The only good thing about Gil starting is it means Fried starts the next game. And after watching Will Warren fail to get through four innings with a four-run lead on Monday, Ryan Weathers get blasted for back-to-back-to-back home runs in the first inning on Tuesday and Luis Gil blow a three-run lead on Wednesday, I desperately need to watch a Fried start. The Yankees desperately need a Fried start.
10. You know what I want on Thursday afternoon? I want Fried to go out and pitch seven-plus dominant innings, the offense to put up five-plus runs and a nice, clean, easy win to end this series and send Yankees fans into the weekend happy. Remember nice, clean, easy wins? The Yankees haven’t had one since the home opener back on April 3 against the Marlins. And after these last two weeks, April 3 feels like it was from a different season.
Last modified: Apr 16, 2026
