Mayday

Today is May 1, also known as May Day. May Day is a European festival of ancient origins marking the beginning of Summer, due to it being around halfway between the Vernal Equinox (these days, usually on March 21) and the Summer Solstice (usually on June 21). Traditions often include gathering wildflowers and green branches, weaving floral garlands, crowning a May Queen (and sometimes also a May King), and setting up a Maypole, around which people dance.

In 1889, May 1 was chosen as the date for International Workers' Day by the Second International, to commemorate the Haymarket Affair in Chicago and the struggle for an 8-hour working day. As a result, International Workers' Day is also called "May Day," but the two are otherwise unrelated.

"Mayday" is also an emergency procedure word, used as a distress signal in voice-procedure radio communications. It is used to signal a life-threatening emergency, primarily by aviators and mariners, but in some countries local organizations such as firefighters, police forces, and transportation organizations also use the term. Convention requires the word be repeated three times in a row during the initial emergency declaration ("Mayday mayday mayday"), to prevent it being mistaken for some similar-sounding phrase under noisy conditions, and to distinguish an actual mayday call from a message about a mayday call.

Should the Yankees be issuing a distress signal on this May Day? Because, while they are still above .500, at 15-14, they are in last place in the American League Eastern Division, they are not hitting, they are going through their annual injury crisis, and they are coming off their worst game of the season.

Nestor Cortés started for the Yankees against the Texas Rangers, in the finale of a 4-game series at Globe Life Field in Arlington. He got out of the 1st inning. Maybe he shouldn't have. Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you. After getting a flyout, he allowed walk, walk, single, grand slam home run. "Nasty Nestor" gave up 2 more home runs in the 5th, got replaced by Albert Abreu, and he also gave up a home run in that inning. Abreu walked 4 batters in the 6th. When that inning was over, it was 14-1.

The Yankees, again, didn't hit. Neither of their runs came on a hit: Their 1st run, in the 3rd inning, came on a groundout. Their 2nd run, in the 9th, came on a bases-loaded walk. Aaron Hicks got 2 hits, raising his batting average to .159. Isiah Kiner-Falefa got 2 hits, raising his to .200. Other than that, the Yankees got just 4 hits.

Rangers 15, Yankees 2. WP: Martín Pérez (4-1). No save. LP: Cortés (3-2).

The Yankees and the Boston Red Sox are now both 15-14, 8 games behind the Division-leading Tampa Bay Rays. An optimist would say they've gotten through their usual bad start and their usual injury crisis reasonably well. A realist would say, "What the hell is wrong with you, optimist?"

The team batting average is .226. This is the team that Brian Cashman has built.

The Yankees return home, to begin a series with the Cleveland Guardians. Domingo Germán starts against Cal Quantrill.