1. Before the start of the season when I planned a path to the Yankees exceeding their projected win total of 90.5, I planned for them to lose two of three to the Dodgers in July, and that expectation was met. After blowing a late lead on Friday, the Yankees were blown out in the first game of Sunday’s doubleheader and then blew another late lead in the series finale before winning for just the second time at home in their last 11 games in the Bronx.
2. With my wife being a Dodgers fan, we let our 5- and 4-year-old sons stay up to watch the Sunday night game. Confused by our rivalrous marriage, our 4-year-old was confused by who the good guys were and who the bad guys were after watching my wife celebrate Cam Schlittler’s short outing earlier in the day. Normally, it’s easy for him to understand to root against the team that isn’t the Yankees, but with my wife celebrating each Yankees failure throughout the day, he wasn’t sure what was going on.
“Do we like that guy?” he asked me every time a new face was shown on the TV.
“Yes, we like him,” I answered when he asked about Ben Rice.
“Do we like that guy” he asked when Cody Bellinger appeared.
“Yes, we like him,” I said.
“Do we like that guy?” he asked with Anthony Volpe at the plate.
“We like that he’s a Yankee, but we don’t like what he represents,” I replied. “You see, he represents everything that is wrong with the team during this disappointing era in the history of the franchise.”
He didn’t respond.
“Do we like that guy?” he asked with Aaron Boone shown blowing bubbles in the dugout.
“No, we don’t like him,” I said. “He’s in charge of the Yankees during the game, but he’s bad at his job and makes them lose.”
“That’s not good,” my son replied.
“No, it’s not,” I said.
3. Losing to the Dodgers is something the Aaron Boone Yankees are good at. They lost two of three to them this past weekend. They lost two of three to them last year. They lost two of three to them during the 2024 regular season then four of five to them in the World Series. The Yankees are 4-10 against the Dodgers since the start of 2024 and two of those wins came when the Dodgers went with bullpen games: Game 4 of the 2024 World Series and Sunday night. The Dodgers figured they would save their real starter for Monday against the Phillies and still came within an eighth-inning Jazz Chisholm solo home run on Sunday of nearly pulling off a sweep of the Yankees.
4. The Swoon is still alive. Those three late-game comebacks against the Nationals before the All-Star break were a mirage. The Yankees scored five runs at home against the Dodgers. The first was produced by an outfield error and passed ball. The second was a solo home run. The third was the result of a sun-aided “double” and a bloop single. The fourth came with a two-out double and single, and the fifth was another solo home run. If the ball doesn’t go over the wall with runners on, the Yankees are unlikely to win unless the opposing defense gifts them runs.
5. The sun-aided “double” came off the bat of Chisholm when Andy Pages couldn’t find it in Sunday afternoon’s high sky. Pages took cover to avoid being struck by it rather than catch it. The Yankees were trailing by seven runs at the time and Chisholm had done nothing to deserve being on second base, but there he was celebrating back toward his teammates in the dugout as if he had just hit a 110-mph double off the base of the wall in a close game. Chisholm ended up coming through in the nightcap with a go-ahead solo home run to give the Yankees a 2-1 lead in the eighth inning.
6. “I feel like we match up against any team in the league,” Chisholm obnoxiously said after the game.
The Yankees eked by the Dodgers in a game the Dodgers were OK giving away when they moved their starter to Monday and elected to go with a bullpen game, and yet, Chisholm was ready to stick out his chest after the win despite the series loss. He was the one who called the Royals “lucky” after their ALDS Game 2 win in 2024. He was the one who said last season the Yankees were going to go to the World Series after they beat the Reds in Cincinnati on June 25 for just their fourth win in 14 games at the time. Give Chisholm an inch and he’ll take a mile with his mouth.
“I feel like we beat ourselves a lot,” Chisholm said. “I feel like that stuff, we’re going to clean up as it goes.”
The “stuff” the team has been doing for nine years under Boone? Yeah, I’m sure it will miraculously be cleaned up over the remaining 63 games.
At least Chisholm said one truthful thing on Sunday when he said, “I’ve sucked all season.”
7. You always know when Boone realizes the team is in deep shit because he starts to manage in a way he would never otherwise manage. Bringing David Bednar in with two on and one out in the eighth inning was Boone showing his hand and admitting things aren’t as great as his postgame press conferences make them out to be. How many times has Boone said this year’s Swoon isn’t what it is or that it’s just been a bad series (like he said in Boston) or a few bad games. Well, after the Sunday afternoon loss, Boone used “weeks” twice to describe the Yankees’ futility and then he brought in his closer into a non-save situation in the eighth inning. Boone told everyone things aren’t what he wants you to believe they are and then he went out and proved it with his managing. His words in the afternoon and his usage of Bednar at night may not seem like a big deal, but if you have been listening to this in-over-his-head manager speak and have been watching him manage for nearly nine seasons, you know it was a huge deal.
8. I guess Anthony Volpe’s bloop RBI single over the outstretched reach of a glove in a seven-run game in the first game of the doubleheader was enough for him to get the start in the night game. The RBI was Volpe’s first since June 19. Yesterday was July 19. Yes, it took him a month to get an RBI despite playing in 22 games during that time. His best friend Austin Wells must be proud. Volpe rewarded his manager’s faith in him by going hitless in the second game and by taking a sword swing to strike out on a 3-2 pitch with the bases loaded. Volpe’s .663 OPS is now identical to his 2025 OPS and in line with his career .662 OPS. He’s been given 2,050 plate appearances, but don’t worry, any game now he’s going to get going! “He’s fucking elite,” is what Boone told Meredith Marakovits last season.
9. I’m glad the Dodgers series is over. The Yankees are fortunate they won’t see the Dodgers again in the regular season. The Yankees are really fortunate they play in the American League and not the National League. The Yankees have the second-best record in the AL and are 5 1/2 games up on a playoff spot. They wouldn’t be leading any NL division, would have the fifth-best record in the NL and would barely be hanging on to a wild-card berth at the moment. Given where things were in the division a little over three weeks ago, the Yankees should be more worried about the Red Sox than the Rays. The Rays may have the division lead, but that is down to two games in the loss column. The Yankees’ once 15-game lead over the Red Sox in the loss column is down to four after the Red Sox ripped off 13 straight wins.
10. Next up is a three-game series with the Pirates, who are a lot like the Nationals. Great offense, awful bullpen. The Yankees will miss Paul Skenes in the series, so there is no reason they shouldn’t come out of it with a series win at home. Then again, after losing nine of 11 at home and with a pathetic offense that relies on Rice the way it did Aaron Judge and with both Ryan Weathers and Will Warren expected to pitch in the series, there are a lot of reasons why they may not come out of these next three days with a series win at home.
Last modified: Jul 20, 2026
