1. After getting their asses kicked by the last-place Red Sox all weekend at Fenway Park, the Yankees returned home and the ass-kicking continued with a 7-3 loss to the Tigers, a team that entered the game with a 12-28 road record. The final score wasn’t indicative of the Yankees’ latest pathetic effort, as their starter lasted 1 2/3 innings, the offense had one hit through 7 1/3 innings and the defense committed two more errors.
2. But this is what the Yankees do, baby. They love this. They eat this up. It’s a sickness. Right, Aaron Boone? The only thing sick about Monday night’s blowout at the hands of the Tigers was that people (like yours truly) watched the game.
Following Sunday’s crushing defeat to the Red Sox to cap off a four-game sweep, Boone said (after his “eat this up” and “sickness” rant), “The bottom line is we didn’t play well this weekend and we gotta do better.” In their first attempt to do better, the Yankees were down 5-0 in the second inning and 7-0 in the the fourth inning and didn’t score a run until the game was essentially over.
3. Ryan Weathers turned in his worst start of the year, unable to get through two innings. The latest failed controllable starter acquired through trade by Brian Cashman allowed seven hits and a walk in 1 2/3 innings. Maybe the next controllable starter Cashman trades for will finally be the one who works out after 28 years of misses.
4. The offense took another night off. After getting exactly three hits in each of the last three games against the Red Sox, the Yankees accomplished the feat again with just three hits on Monday. Four straight games with exactly three hits. Who says the Yankees aren’t consistent? They had one hit in the game until there was one out in the seventh inning. During the Boone era, the Yankees have set a lot of franchise records, taking down 100-plus-year-old records of humiliation, and during this June, they seemingly have done something every game the franchise hasn’t done since being called the Yankees. Over the last four games, the offense has 38 strikeouts, 12 hits and eight walks, a feat no Major League Baseball team has done since at least 1898 (thanks to Katie Sharp for the stat). It was also the first time in franchise history the Yankees had three hits or fewer in four straight games (another stat from Katie Sharp).
5. Ben Rice and Cody Bellinger have officially disappeared. Rice went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts on Monday and hasn’t had a hit since last Wednesday. He hasn’t driven a run in since Father’s Day. Bellinger went 0-for-4 with a strikeout and has two hits since Father’s Day. He hasn’t driven a run in since June 17.
6. Austin Wells got to start another game because why wouldn’t he? Despite being the worst hitter in all of baseball, Wells has been treated better than Jorge Posada was at the end of his career, when Posada posted a a .714 OPS and 90 OPS+ in his final season at age 40. Wells would do anything to have a .714 OPS and 90 OPS+ right now in his age 26 season, as he’s sitting on a .493 OPS and 39 OPS+. (Yes, he’s been 61 percent worse than league average offensively.) Wells would be a more effective offensive player at this point if he were go to the plate without a bat. But he keeps going to the plate with a bat and keeps striking out. Wells went 0-for-2 with two strikeouts on Monday and added another defensive miscue with a passed ball. Over the weekend, Boone said of Wells, “I feel like he’s moving the needle right now, believe it or not.” Wells is 1-for-13 since the weekend and 2-for-23 since coming off the injured list.
7. When things are going badly, Boone likes to talk about how “he believes in the guys in the room because of their track records.” (We are likely to hear this cliché for the first time in 2026 as early as this week.) Well, Boone’s favorite player in Anthony Volpe has found the back of his baseball card. After his “hot” start upon his undeserved call-up, Volpe’s track record has played true and his OPS is back down in the 600s at .690. It won’t be long before it’s at his career mark of .665.
8. Jose Caballero made a throwing error at third base because he’s not a third baseman and the great defender that is Bellinger dropped a fly ball in left field. If Bellinger is going to start playing Boone ball in the field, the Yankees might as well pack up the bats and balls for 2026.
9. The only thing the Yankees and YES have right now to discuss is moral victories. Michael Kay mentioned how Wells is happy as long as the pitching staff is doing well because it means he’s contributing defensively, and he’s only saying that because you could pick someone out of the right-field bleachers to bat for Wells and they would have the same chance at reaching base. Late in the game, Paul O’Neill talked about how the Yankees need to have good at-bats and take something from an at-bat into tomorrow. The Yankees have lost five straight and their AL East lead is now a three-game deficit in the loss column. How about the focus being on actual, tangible results like wins and losses, which are the only two things that matter?
10. “We are going to start playing better,” Weathers said. “We are going to win some more ballgames. Every team goes through a little rough patch.”
Does every team go through the same rough patch at the same exact time every season? The Yankees have lost five straight and nine of 12. At what point does a “little rough patch” become something more? I think we’re at that point. There is no help on the way in the immediate future. The lineup you see, the rotation they have and the bullpen they roster are what they’re going to be for weeks, if not a month or more. The Yankees that can’t hit or defend or protect leads are the Yankees for the indefinite future. And to stop this free fall, they get to face Tarik Skubal on Tuesday.
Last modified: Jul 10, 2026
