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.
Last modified: May 31, 2025
