Raymond Berry, 1933-2026

Jerry Rice is now generally regarded as the greatest receiver in football history. Before he started racking up records, there were 2 serious contenders for that title: Don Hutson of the 1930s and '40s Green Bay Packers, and Raymond Berry.

Raymond Emmett Berry Jr. was born on February 27, 1933 in Corpus Christi, Texas, and grew up outside Dallas in Paris, Texas. Raymond Sr. was the head football coach at Paris High School, and yet Raymond Jr. did not start until he was a senior. (Gene Stallings, who coached Alabama to the 1992 National Championship, also graduated from Paris High.)

Raymond Jr. went to junior college for a year, and then transferred to Southern Methodist University in Dallas. In 3 seasons, he caught just 33 passes. There was no indication that he would become an all-time legend. But then, it was a different game then: The NFL was just beginning to have great quarterbacks, such as Otto Graham of the Cleveland Browns, Norm Van Brocklin of the Los Angeles Rams, Bobby Layne of the Detroit Lions, and Y.A. Tittle of the San Francisco 49ers. The college game wasn't full of star quarterbacks. As Berry later said, "I didn't catch many passes, because not many were thrown."

The Baltimore Colts drafted him in the 20th round of the 1954 NFL Draft. At the time, the Draft was held at the end of the season in the same calendar year, not before it. So his rookie year was 1955. With George Shaw as the regular quarterback, Berry only caught 13 passes. The next year, the Colts signed Johnny Unitas, and he and Berry replaced Graham and Dante Lavelli, or perhaps Van Brocklin and Tom Fears, as the greatest passer-receiver combination in football.

In 1957, Berry led the NFL with 800 receiving yards. In 1958, he led with 56 catches and 9 touchdowns. In 1959, he led with 66 catches, 959 yards, 80 yards per game, and 14 touchdowns. In 1960, he led with 74 catches, 1,298 yards, and 108 yards per game. In 1961, he led with a career-high 75 catches. From 1957 to 1960, Unitas set a record with 47 consecutive games with a touchdown pass, many of them to Berry. (The record stood until 2012, broken by Drew Brees.)

In 1958, with 6 future members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame -- Unitas, Berry, running back Lenny Moore, guard Jim Parker, defensive tackle Art Donovan and defensive end Gino Marchetti, 7 counting head coach Wilbur "Weeb" Ewbank -- the Colts reached the NFL Championship Game, and beat the New York Giants in overtime, 23-17 at Yankee Stadium. It became known as "The Greatest Game Ever Played." Berry caught 12 passes for 178 yards and a touchdown.

In 1959, the Colts and Giants met in the NFL Championship Game again, this time at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, as the title game then alternated between the home fields of the East Division Champions and the West Division Champions. (The Colts were placed in the West simply because there weren't yet enough NFL teams in the Western U.S.) Again, the Colts won, 31-16, though Berry only caught 5 passes for 68 yards.

For the rest of his career, Berry, like the Colts overall, remained good but not at championship level. He retired after the 1967 season with 631 receptions and 9,275 receiving yards, both then NFL career records. He was not a part of the Colt teams that lost Super Bowl III and won Super Bowl V.

*

He went into coaching. It made sense that he went back to North Texas, becoming the wide receivers coach for the Dallas Cowboys in the 1968 and 1969 seasons. He then held the same job at the University of Arkansas in 1970, 1971 and 1972; with the Detroit Lions in 1973, 1974 and 1975; the Cleveland Browns in 1976 and 1977; and the New England Patriots starting in 1978.

In 1984, Patriots owner Billy Sullivan named Berry the Pats' head coach. In 1985, he coached them to their 1st AFC Championship, becoming the 1st NFL team ever to win 3 road Playoff games in a season: They beat the New York Jets at the Meadowlands, the Los Angeles Raiders at the L.A. Coliseum, and the Miami Dolphins at the Orange Bowl. He got the Patriots to their 1st Super Bowl, and he never had to cheat. But they got clobbered by the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XX. 

He remained with the Patriots through the 1989 season. He served as quarterbacks coach for the Detroit Lions in 1991, and for the Denver Broncos in 1992.

He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1973. He was named to the NFL's 50th, 75th and 100th Anniversary Teams, in 1969, 1994 and 2019, respectively; and its 1950s All-Decade Team. The Colts retired his Number 82, and the Baltimore Ravens (as part of their recognition of Colts greatest from their Baltimore years) and the Patriots elected him to their team Halls of Fame. In 1999, The Sporting News named its 100 Greatest Football Players, and Berry was ranked 40th. In 2010, the NFL Network named its 100 Greatest Players, and he actually rose to 36th.

Raymond Berry died in Murfreesboro, Tennessee on May 25, 1939, at the age of 93. e is survived by his wife of 65 years, Sally, and 3 children and 9 grandchildren. 

 

With his death, there are now only 2 surviving players from the 1958 NFL Champion Baltimore Colts: Hall of Fame running back Lenny Moore and running back Jack Call. There are 2 surviving players from the 1959 NFL Champion Baltimore Colts: Moore and tight end Dave Sherer.

There are 3 surviving players from the 1958 NFL Championship Game: Moore, Call, and Giants defensive end Roosevelt "Rosey" Grier. And Moore is the last surviving player from the NFL's 1950s All-Decade Team.

Yankees Enter June With Good Record, But Not In Good Shape

The Yankees played a weekend series away to the Athletics, in their temporary home of Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento, California. On Friday night, Carlos Rodón had easily his best start since coming off the Injured List, going 6 innings, allowing 1 run on 4 hits and 2 walks, striking out 3.

In contrast, former Yankee Luis Severino was taken out after giving up 4 runs in 1 inning, including a 3-run home run by Paul Goldschmidt. It was his 378th career home run.

A Ben Rice single brought another run home in the 2nd, a Ryan McMahon homer another in the 3rd, an Aaron Judge groundout another in the 4th, and a Rice homer another in the 7th. The A's got a consolation run in the 9th. Yankees 8, A's 2.

Ryan Weathers started on Saturday, and struck out 10, but he faltered in the 7th inning. The Yankees only got 6 hits, 2 of them by McMahon. A comeback in the top of the 9th fell a little short, and the A's won, 6-4.

Yesterday, counting all innings but the 3rd, the Yankees trailed 8-0, and only had 1 baserunner, a walk that was erased on a double play. The A's faced the minimum 24 batters.

About that 3rd inning: It lasted 43 minutes, the Yankees sent 18 men to the plate, they faced 75 pitches, and they scored 13 runs, 1 off the team single-inning record set in 1920. The inning began with the A's leading, 3-0. Here's the litany:

* Anthony Volpe led off against starting pitcher Jacob Lopez. He singled to center. He stole 2nd.

* Max Schuemann drew a walk

* Austin Wells also drew a walk, loading the bases with nobody out. Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you.

* Goldschmidt grounded to 1st, but, because the infield was in, the defense was botched, and Lops was unable to cover 1st base. Goldschmidt reached safely, Wells and Schuemann oved up, and Volpe scored. 3-1.

* Rice doubled to right, scoring Schuemann and Wells. 3-3.

* Judge dropped a looper into short center field, which 3 players all seemed to not want to catch, and didn't. Goldschmidt scored. 4-3.

* Cody Bellinger singled. This loaded the bases. There was still nobody out.

* A's manager Mark Kotsay took Jacob Lopez out, and brought in Michael Kelly. Yankee broadcaster Michael Kay announced it on the YES Network, and, with his Bronx accent and fast talking, it sounded like he was announcing his own name.

* José Caballero drew a walk, forcing Rice home. 5-3.

* Trent Grisham singled Judge and Bellinger home. 7-3.

* Volpe came up for the 2nd time, as the Yankees had batted around the order. Caballero stole 2nd. Volpe singled him home. 8-3.

* Schuemann came up. Volpe stole 2nd. Schuemann doubled Grisham and Volpe home. 10-3. Ten runs, and no outs. At this point, on YES, David Cone asked, "Where's Phil Rizzuto when you need him?" In other words, it was time to say, "Holy cow, these Yankees are unbelievable!"

* Wells drew a walk.

* Finally, the A's got an out, when Kelly fanned Goldschmidt.

* Rice made him pay for that, nearly hitting one out, off the wall, driving Schuemann and Wells home, and sliding into 3rd with a triple. 12-3.

* Judge struck out. The biggest hitter in the game today, and in the biggest inning any team has had all season, he had just a looper that should have been caught but wasn't, and a srikeout.

* Bellinger singled Rice home. 13-3.

* Kotsay had seen enough of Kelly. He brought Jack Perkins in.

* Perkins finally ended the inning by getting Grisham to fly out.

Ten runs on 11 hits and 4 walks. Amazingly, no errors. Equally amazingly, no home runs.

It was more than enough for Will Warren, who went 6 innings, allowing 3 runs, none of them earned. The bullpen was a bit shaky, though: Tim Hill allowed 4 runs in the 7th, Fernando Cruz 1 in the 8th, and David Bednar got into trouble in the 9th, but got out of it with no runs. Yankees 13, A's 8. The Yankees got 2 out of 3 on the series. Counting the previous sweep in Kansas City, it was 5 out of 6 on the roadtrip.

*

So here we are, on June 1, 36 percent of the way through the season, more than one-third. The Yankees are 36-23, for a .610 winning percentage, on a pace to go 99-63. Sounds great.

Except they're a game and a half behind the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League Eastern Division, 3 games back in, Cliché Alert, the all-important loss column. The Toronto Blue Jays are 9 games back, the Baltimore Orioles 10, and the Boston Red Sox 12. If the current standings hold to the end of the season, the Yankees will have the 4th seed in the AL Playoffs.

The Good News: They've basically done this despite missing 3/5ths of their starting rotation for most of the season, with Rodón, Gerrit Cole and Clarke Schmidt all being out until about 2 weeks ago, and now 2/5ths of it, with Max Fried having joined Schmidt on the Injured list; despite not having a real closer, as David Bednar hasn't been great, and nobody else looks ready to step into the role; and despite several key guys basically not hitting. Judge and Rice each have 17 home runs. Rice is leading the AL in RBIs, slugging percentage and OPS.

Good OPS+'s, keeping in mind that 100 is exactly average: Rice, 192; Schuemann, 176 (but that's in only 24 plate appearances); Judge, 153; Bellinger, 140; Goldschmidt, 137; Rosario, 133; Volpe, 121; Giancarlo Stanton, 102.

Among the starters: Cam Schlittler is 7-2, Warren is 7-1, Fried is 4-3, and, in just 2 games, Cole is 1-0. ERAs: Cole 0.00, Schlittler leads the AL pitchers with enough innings to qualify with 1.50, Fried 3.21, Warren 3.22, Rodón 3.32, Weathers 3.52. WHIPs: Cole, 0.771; Schlittler leads the AL qualifiers, with 0.847; Fried 1.005; Weathers 1.141; Warren 1.197; Rodón 1.316.

Good ERAs among the relievers: Brent Headrick, 2.00; Fernando Cruz, 2.19. Good WHIPs among the relievers: Camilo Doval, 1.031; Ryan Yarbrough, 1.119; Tim Hill, 1.209; Cruz, 1.297.

The Bad News: As I said, Fried and Schmidt are currently injured. Stanton and Jasson Domínguez are also injured. As I said, there is no "shutdown closer." And, as I said, some guys still aren't hitting. Bad OPS+'s: Highly-touted rookie Spencer Jones, 23 (but that's in only 27 plate appearances); J.C. Escarra, 46; Randal Grichuk, 49; Wells, 62; Domínguez, 72; McMahon, 73; Jazz Chisholm, 96; Grisham, 98; Caballero, 98. And, despite his other figures being as solid as ever, Judge is still batting just .248.

Bad records for starters: Weathers is 2-3, Rodón is 1-2, Luis Gil is 1-2. Bad for a closer: Bednar is 1-3. Bad ERAs among the relievers: Paul Blackburn, 3.33; Yarbrough, 3.66; Tim Hill, 4.03; Bednar, 4.50; Jake Bird, 5.00; Doval, 5.06. Bad WHIPs among the relievers: Gil, 1.345; Headrick, 1.370; Blackburn, 1.438; Bednar, 1.583; Bird, 1.846. All other Yankee pitchers have 13 innings pitched or fewer.

Rosario is out on Paternity Leave, as he's about to become a father. Presumably, of the players who are currently unavailable, he will come back first. Domínguez could begin his minor-league rehab assignment next week, which suggests he will be back in the 2nd half of June.

Stanton "has begun running outside," according to team management. Fried "played catch" last Monday. Based on those statements, I'm not expecting Stanton or Fried back before the All-Star Break. No statement on Gil has been made for a while, so he will likely be out that long as well. Schmidt might take even longer, until August.

The Yankees have tonight off, and begin a home series with the Cleveland Guardians tomorrow night.

June 1, 1946: Assault Wins the Triple Crown

June 1, 1946, 80 years ago: We tend to think of horse racing as a sport with grace, rather than a contact sport full of violence. Yet, on this day, a horse named Assault won the Triple Crown.

Assault was foaled at King Ranch in south Texas, a son of 1936 Kentucky Derby and Preakness States winner Bold Venture. His maternal grandfather was Equipoise, the 1932 and 1933 Horse of the Year despite not winning any of the Triple Crown races. And he was a great-grandson of a sister of Man o' War, making him a cousin of both War Admiral and Seabiscuit.

Perhaps the true "assault" was the amount of injuries inflicted on him as a foal. He stepped on what was believed to have been a surveyor's stake, driving it through his front right hoof. The hoof was permanently deformed, and the colt developed a limp to accommodate the odd shape of his foot. However, the "Club-footed Comet," as he was later dubbed, showed no signs of abnormality when he was at a full gallop. Throughout his career, Assault also overcame kidney, splint bone, fetlock, knee and bleeding problems.

Trained by Max Hirsch, and ridden by Warren Mehrtens, he won only 2 races as a 2-year-old. One of them was a genuine rarity, a four-horse photo finish, in the perhaps aptly-named Flash Stakes at Saratoga Race Course in Upstate New York.

As a 3-year-old, he won the Wood Memorial, one of the major prep races for the Kentucky Derby, at Aqueduct Racetrack in New York's Queens, but ran badly in the Derby Trial Stakes, and was not considered a favorite for the 1946 Kentucky Derby, run on May 4.

Yet he ran "the Run for the Roses" in 2 minutes, 6 and 3/5ths seconds, and tied what was then the race record by winning by 8 lengths. The Preakness was run a week later, on May 11. With a furlong (1/8th of a mile) to go, he led by 4 lengths, but he tired, and ended up winning by only a neck over Lord Boswell.

At a mile and a half, the longest major stakes race in America, the Belmont Stakes is known as "The True Test of Champions." Although it had happened only once to that point -- Pensive finished 2nd in 1944 -- no fewer than 19 horses have won the Derby and the Preakness, but come up short in the Belmont between then and 2014. (From 1932 to 2026, 3 other Triple Crown potentials did not run in the Belmont due to injury concerns.)

So it was thought by racing experts that Assault would not hold up in the long distance at Belmont Park, just outside New York City in Elmont, Long Island, and Lord Boswell was the betting favorite for the Stakes on June 1.

The experts were wrong: Almost the exact opposite of what they expected happened. Assault stumbled out of the gate, and trailed almost the whole way. But it was the other 6 horses in the race that got tired, and Assault made a run with 200 yards to go, and won by 3 lengths, in 2:30 and 4/5ths. Natchez finished 2nd, and Lord Boswell faded to 5th. Assault had won the Triple Crown.

Injuries and illness troubled Assault for the rest of the year. Hirsch replaced Mehrtens with Eddie Arcaro, and he rode Assault to victory in both the Pimlico Special back in Baltimore and the Westchester Stakes at Belmont. He won 5 out out his 7 races as a 4-year-old, and, unusual for a major thoroughbred, was raced until he was 7.

Assault failed at stud, and lived until 1971. Jockey Warren Mehrtens lived until 1997. 

June 1, 1926: Marilyn and Andy

June 1, 1926, 100 years ago: Norma Jeane Mortenson is born in Los Angeles. We knew her as Marilyn Monroe. Then again, we really didn't know her at all.

Some women have tried to copy her -- and some were hired with the intent to copy her. Jayne Mansfield. Mamie Van Doren. Sheree North. Anita Ekberg. None pulled it off. Anna Nicole Smith came closer than most, with hair bleaching, the name change, the troubled marriages, and, sadly, the too-soon death.

To paraphrase Elton John: I would've liked to have known her, but I wasn't born yet. Her candle may have burned out, but the world never will forget.

On the exact same day: Andy Samuel Griffith (not "Andrew") is born in Mount Airy, North Carolina, just south of the Virginia State Line. Mount Airy became the basis for the fictional town of Mayberry on The Andy Griffith Show.

One of the statues commissioned by the nostalgia network TV Land is in Mount Airy, showing Griffith as the show's Sheriff Andy Taylor, and Ron Howard, then billed as "Ronny Howard," as his son, Opie, walking toward "the ol' fishin' hole."

While Andy and Marilyn were both acting at the same time, there is no record of them ever having met. There is, however, a record of Andy meeting Marilyn's ex-husband, baseball legend Joe DiMaggio. They crossed paths at a celebrity golf tournament in the 1970s or early 1980s, where DiMaggio playfully complimented Griffith on his acting.

It would have been nice to turn on the TV in 1986, and see a 60-year-old Marilyn playing an innocent woman defended by Ben on Matlock -- or even to have her be the actual killer, and have Ben expose her as such.

Alas, Marilyn died on August 4, 1962, at the age of 36, at her home in Los Angeles, 18 miles west of her birthplace, from a barbiturate overdose that may or may not have been accidental. For 20 years after her death, DiMaggio left flowers at her grave 3 times a week, until he found out that people were stealing them and selling them.

Andy died on July 3, 2012, at 86, at his home -- in Manteo, North Carolina, in the Outer Banks, 325 miles east of Mount Airy, and a short drive from where the Wright Brothers first flew.

May 31, 1976: The Bicentennial Cup

Left to right: Bobby Moore, Gerry Francis, Pelé

May 31, 1976, 50 years ago: The Bicentennial Cup concludes. Set up as one of the celebrations of the 200th Anniversary of American independence, it was not a good showcase for American soccer.

England and Italy were invited after they failed to qualify for Euro 76. Also invited was Brazil. The 4th team would be "Team America," made up of players in the North American Soccer League. That meant American players, who simply were not up to the task; and foreign players, who were mostly too old to play at a world class level anymore, such as Brazil's Pelé of the New York Cosmos and England's Bobby Moore of the San Antonio Thunder.

On May 23, Team America played Italy at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington. The crowd was decent: 33,445. The result was rather indecent: Italy won, 4-0. Fabio Capello scored in the 15th minute, and the U.S. was never really in it. A midfielder for Turin club Juventus, Capello would later win Serie A (Italian league) titles with A.C. Milan, A.S. Roma and Juventus; and La Liga titles with Real Madrid; total league titles, 9. He also led Milan to the UEFA Champions League title in 1994.

Also on May 23, Brazil beat England, 1-0 before 32,495 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Carlos Roberto de Oliveira, a forward for Rio de Janeiro club Vasco da Gama, known as "Roberto Dinamite," won the game with a goal in the 89th minute.

On May 28, England beat Italy, 3-2 at Yankee Stadium; and Team America lost to Brazil, 2-0 at the new Kingdome in Seattle. Only 20,245 paid to get into the big gray toadstool in Seattle's Lower Downtown. For England vs. Italy in The Bronx, the attendance was 40,650. I would have expected more, given how many Italians live in and around New York City. But the vast majority of Italian-Americans are descended from people who left Italy before the country embraced soccer. For Italian New Yorkers of the 1970s, their sports were baseball, football and boxing.

At any rate, Francesco Graziani of the other Turin club, Torino F.C., scored 2 goals within 5 minutes early in the 1st half. But Mick Channon of Hampshire team Southampton scored 2 within 7 minutes early in the 2nd half, and Phil Thompson of Liverpool scored between those Channon goals.

On May 31, England beat Team America, 3-1 before 16,239 at John F. Kennedy Stadium, leaving over 87,000 empty seats at the big South Philadelphia horseshoe. Kevin Keegan of Liverpool scored twice within 6 minutes in the 1st half, and Trevor Francis of Birmingham City scored early in the 2nd half. Stuart Scullion, a Scottish winger playing for the Tampa Bay Rowdies, got a consolation goal for Team America in the 87th minute.

Later, 36,096 went into the Yale Bowl in New Haven, Connecticut, to see a copy of the 1970 World Cup Final: Brazil beat Italy, 4-1. Capello scored in the 2nd minute, but Gil (Gilberto Alves) of Rio club Fluminense, who had scored 2 against Team America, did it again against Italy.

Arsenal Is For Anybody

Notice the Yankee caps.

Today, Arsenal Football Club took a 1-0 lead over Paris Saint-Germain after 6 minutes of the UEFA Champions League Final in Budapest, Hungary, and couldn't hold it. All the money that PSG got from their owners, the oil-rich slavedriving royal family of the Middle Eastern nation of Qatar, and the assistance from referee Daniel Siebert, and the game ended 1-1 after extra time. PSG then won on penalty kicks, 4-3.

At the end, I felt like I did when the Yankees lost Game 7 of the 2001 World Series: Drained, too tired to feel anything more than disappointed. It took longer for the steroid use of the opposition to be revealed in that case. In this case, as with Arsenal's defeat to FC Barcelona in the CL Final 20 years earlier, the dirty play and the favoring thereof was obvious while the game was in progress.

It was the biggest game in Arsenal's history, and they lost it -- through little fault of their own, but they did lose it.

And I, for one, have never been prouder to be an Arsenal fan.

It is true that, as late as the morning of March 22, Arsenal were still eligible for all 4 trophies for which they were eligible. That day, they lost the League Cup Final to Manchester City. On April 4, they lost to Southampton in the Quarterfinal of the FA Cup. On April 19, they lost to Manchester City, which took their Premier League destiny out of their hands. They were still in the Semifinal of the Champions League, but it was looking like they would go 0-for-4 in trophies.

But they beat Atlético Madrid in the CL Semifinal, and advanced to the Final to play PSG, the defending Champions, who had eliminated Arsenal in the previous season's Semifinal. And Man City faltered, losing League games. Arsenal won their last 5 Premier League games. On May 19, Man City lost to Bournemouth, meaning they could no longer finish ahead of Arsenal. Arsenal were the Premier League Champions, for the 1st time in 22 years. It was their 1st trophy in 6 years, since the 2020 FA Cup.

Upon the final whistle of City's defeat, thousands of people descended upon the Emirates Stadium in North London. Wherever Arsenal fans gather, they gathered: In Manhattan, in Montreal, in Mombassa, in Mumbai, in Melbourne. All of England's "big clubs" have fans from all over the world, but most of them don't celebrate diversity like Arsenal do. Even the new Mayor, Zohran Mamdani, is an Arsenal fan, and has seen games at one of the Arsenal bars in Brooklyn. (But he's also a Mets fan, so take his Gooner status with a grain of salt.)

Today, I saw the match in the space that used to be the home of the NYC Arsenal Supporters, on East 14th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues in Manhattan's East Village, before it began filling up and became a victim of its own success, leading to O'Hanlon's, a block away on 14th between 1st and 2nd, becoming the new headquarters. From 2011 to 2019, this space was known as the Blind Pig, named for an alternate term for a speakeasy, one of the secret bars that sprang up all over America during Prohibition, 1920 to 1933.

In 2019 -- before COVID -- the Blind Pig had to close, due to a rent increase. Coyote Ugly, the bar made famous in the 2000 film of the same title, moved around the corner from 2nd Avenue into the former Blind Pig space. Obviously, the decor is different, but the space is still recognizable. As with both the Blind Pig and Coyote Ugly's former location, the bartenders are still, as the English would say, "fit as fook." And they were willing to take in spillover customers who couldn't get into O'Hanlon's.

When it was over, the consensus was that we were disappointed in the result, and angry at the officials, but the Premier League title was no consolation prize, it was still something to celebrate. (Indeed, Arsenal will have its trophy parade in London tomorrow.)

As with my fellow fans of the Yankees and the New Jersey Devils, I have "found my people." And the hope for more trophies over the next few years, under manager Mikel Arteta, is strong.

We are The Arsenal: We are for anybody willing to join us, and we fear nobody.

Yankees Sweep Royals

Let's see, which analogy should I use for the series the Yankees just swept?

* The Yankees barbecued Kansas City.

* The Yankees crowned the Royals.

* The last time Royals got embarrassed this much, King Charles III stripped his brother Andrew of all his titles and privileges.

Anyway...

The Yankees played the Royals in Kansas City, at Kauffman Stadium, formerly known as Royals Stadium, site of 4 American League Championship Series between the teams when I was a kid, with the Yankees winning in 1976, '77 and '78, and the Royals winning in 1980. Since then, despite a close call in 1985, the teams have only met in the postseason once, with the Yankees winning in the 2024 AL Division Series.

On Monday night, Will Warren started, and allowed just 2 runs over 6 innings. But he didn't get the win, because it was tied 2-2 when he left. Cody Bellinger hit a home run. And in the bottom of the 8th, Bobby Witt Jr., the other guy contending with Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani for the title of "best player in baseball," hit a home run off Jake Bird, to make it 3-2 Royals.

I have yet to have a reasonable explanation for why Bird is pitching in the major leagues.

And when Bellinger grounded out to lead off the top of the 9th, it looked like this game was lost. But Paul Goldschmidt singled. Max Schuemann was sent in to pinch-run for him. Jazz Chisholm doubled, but even Schuemann wasn't fast enough to score on the play, and held at 3rd base. But the much-maligned Anthony Volpe singled both runs home. He was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double, but both runs had scored and were counted.

Tim Hill had been the last Yankee pitcher, so when David Bednar got the save, Hill was named the winning pitcher, even though he only faced 2 batters. Yankees 4, Royals 3.

*

Cam Schlittler took the mound on Tuesday night, and was brilliant. He went 6 innings, allowing only 1 run on 4 hits, no walks (I love saying that about a Yankee pitcher), and 6 strikeouts.

Unlike Warren, he got support, so there was absolutely no reason to leave him in longer than that. The Yankees scored 4 runs in the 1st inning, 1 in the 2nd, 4 in the 3rd, none in the 4th, and 1 in the 5th. That linescore, 41401? It's not in use as a ZIP Code, but if it were, it would be in Morgan County in very Appalachian eastern Kentucky -- the kind of place that says it hates its Republican Senators, but always seems to re-elect them.

The Royals' starting pitcher was Bailey Falter, and he did indeed falter, allowing 7 runs over 2 1/3rd innings. For the 1st time in their 124-season history, all 9 Yankee starting batters got at least 2 hits. The Yankees got 2 homers from Amed Rosario, and 1 each from Bellinger, Volpe, Chisholm and Trent Grisham. Rosario went 4-for-6 with 4 RBIs, Grisham went 3-for-7 with 2 RBIs, and Bellinger went 2-for-5 with 3 RBIs.

Ryan Yarbrough pitched shutout ball for the last 3 innings, getting in some good work, albeit with no pressure whatsoever. Yankees 15, Royals 1.

*

On Wednesday night, Gerrit Cole made his injury-delayed 2nd start of the season. He went 6 2/3rds innings, throwing 79 pitches, 59 of them for strikes. He allowed 4 hits and no walks, and struck out 10. Clearly, he's ready.

Goldschmidt led off the top of the 4th with a single, followed by a triple by Ben Rice and a sacrifice fly by Judge. The Yankees broke it open in the 7th, with 3 singles and a walk, 1 of them with the bases loaded, extending their lead to 5-0. A Grisham walk and a Ryan McMahon home run in the 8th extended the lead. Fernando Cruz and Camilo Doval completed the 4-hit shutout. Yankees 7, Royals 0.

Three games, three wins, aggregate score of 26-4.

*

We are now more than one-third of the way through the regular season. The Yankees are 34-22, on a pace to go 98-64. However, we're a game and a half behind the Toronto Blue Jays in the AL Eastern division, 3 games back in the all-important loss column. At this point, no other team in the Division is close.

If the Yankees can just do well until Giancarlo Stanton comes back from injury, the attack will be fine. 

Title 28 will look more possible. At last check, he was cleared to start running, Jasson Domínguez may start taking live batting practice next week, Clarke Schmidt is throwing bullpen sessions, and Max Fried is "playing catch."

They continue their roadtrip tonight, in West Sacramento against the Athletics. A recent report shows that their Las Vegas ballpark is coming along well, and should open on time in April 2028.