Judge Stuck On 61, Bullpen Frustrating

I don't know what's more frustrating:

Waiting on Judge homers these last few days,

or the annual Autumn "pumpkin spice" saturation.

If Aaron Judge is going to make it to 62 home runs in this regular season, it won't be at home at Yankee Stadium. It'll have to be in one of these last 4 games, away to the Texas Rangers.

The Yankees concluded their home schedule with a game against the Baltimore Orioles, with rain falling on and off during the contest. Judge struck out in the 1st, 2nd and 7th innings, drew a walk in the 5th, and was left on deck as the game ended. It's important to note that he worked a full count in all 4 plate appearances. So the O's weren't really "pitching around him."

The Yankees only got 4 hits, and their only run came on a wild pitch in the 5th inning. Chi Chi Gonzalez, making his Yankee debut and pitching for his 4th team in the last 12 months, started and allowed only 1 run in 4 2/3rds inning. But, Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, and Aroldis Chapman let in 2 runs in the 7th, thanks to 3 walks.

To make matters worse, Ron Marinaccio got out of the 7th, but only got 1 out in the 8th before getting hurt. He now joins Clay Holmes and (again) Zack Britton on the Injured List. With all that, and Chapman again being unreliable, the Yankees are going to have to find somebody capable of relieving before the Playoffs start. Either that, or Brian Cashman is going to have to change his orders to Aaron Boone -- or Boone is going to have to defy orders -- and the Yankee starters are going to have to actually be allowed to pitch like men. Or the hitters will have to pound the ball every game, to give the bullpen unblowable leads.

Orioles 3, Yankees 1. WP: Logan Gillespie (1-0, and it's the 1st major league win for the rookie). SV: Dillon Tate (5). LP: Chapman (3-4).

These next 3 days, the Yankees will play 4 games against the Rangers, at Globe Life Field in Arlington, in its 3rd season as the Rangers' 3rd ballpark in 51 seasons -- of, if you count their previous tenure as the "new" Washington Senators, their 5th in 62 seasons.