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.
Last modified: Jun 1, 2025
