Time for Yankee Fans to Get Concerned

On June 6, the Yankees were 45-19, leading the American League Eastern Division by 4 1/2 games, and looking like they might be headed for a title.

Then Juan Soto got hurt. I'm not saying he came back too soon. But since he got hurt, the Yankees are only 5-5.

The Yankees' trip to face the Kansas City Royals was very nearly a 4-game sweep. Last Monday night, Carlos Rodón was terrific for 7 innings, Alex Verdugo and Jose Trevino each got 2 hits, and the Yankees won, 4-2. On Tuesday night, Marcus Stroman pitched just well enough into the 6th, while we got home runs from Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Austin Wells (who raised his batting average to .211), and we beat the Royals, 10-1. On Wednesday night, we staked Cody Poteet to 6 runs before he even threw a pitch. He pitched decently, and he was backed by homers from Stanton, Trevino and Gleyber Torres, and we won, 11-5.

The Thursday afternoon game was a bit anticlimactic. It was a classic "day game after a night game." But there were worrying signs. Nestor Cortés pitched well for 7 innings. Soto went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Anthony Rizzo hit a home run. But it was 2-0 Royals after 7. The Yankees scored 3 runs in the 8th. But Clay Holmes is supposed to be our closer. In the bottom of the 9th, he got the 1st out. Then he allowed a hit. Then he got a forceout. Then he allowed a single and a 2-RBI double to lose the game, 4-3.

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Finally, for the 1st time in the season, the Yankees faced the Auld Enemy. The Scum. The Boston Red Sox. The Friday night game couldn't have gone much better, with former Red Sock Verdugo hitting a 2-run homer in the 1st inning. Luis Gil pitched very well for 5 innings, but, with 104 pitches under his belt, Aaron Boone panicked, and took him out. Fortunately, the bullpen allowed just 1 hit and 3 walks the rest of the way. Trevino added a homer, and the Yankees won, 8-1.

But since this is Yankees vs. Red Sox, of course, there was a Saturday game on Fox, and a Sunday game on ESPN. How often do the Yankees win those, especially at Fenway Park? Rodón had nothing on Saturday night. Soto hit a home run, Stanton went 2-for-4, and the seriously struggling DJ LeMahieu had 3 RBIs. But the Yankees fell behind 5-2 after 2 innings, and were never really in it, losing 8-4.

Last night's game should have been winnable. Judge hit one so far over the Green Monster in the 1st inning, I thought it was going to get charged with a toll on the Massachusetts Turnpike. But Stroman was awful, falling behind 4-1 after 5 innings. The Yankees pulled 2 back in the 6th, including on another home run by Trevino.

The top of the 7th was the series, and the Yankees from July 2016 onward, in a nutshell. Verdugo led off with a single. Stanton added another. Anthony Rizzo reached on an error -- then had to leave the game due to an injury. Oswaldo Cabrera pinch-ran for him. Bases loaded, nobody out, trailing by a run, at Fenway Park. This could have been an explosive inning, a message-sender.

It sent a message, all right: Never trust Gleyber Torres in a clutch situation. He ran the count to 3 balls and no strikes, then took 2 strike right down the middle, and swung at a pitch away and in the dirt for strike 3. Once again, Brian Cashman's golden boy, his "Derek Jeter," came up small when we needed him to come up big.

Trevino also struck out, and LeMahieu hit a long fly to center, but not long enough, and it was still 4-3 Boston when the inning ended. Then Boone brought Caleb Ferugson in to relieve at Fenway Park. Ferguson has been, by far, the Yankees' worst pitcher this season, so this was like giving a man with Parkinson's disease a loaded gun. He pitched to the minimum 3 batters: Walk, lineout, single. Boone then brought in Luke Weaver, who was just as bad: Single, triple, hit-by-pitch, before getting the last 2 outs. The Red Sox added 2 more in the 8th, and they won, 9-3.

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We are now 45 percent of the way through the regular season. The Yankees are 50-24, with a winning percentage of .676, the best in baseball. We lead the AL East by a game and a half over the Baltimore Orioles. Things look great -- if that's all you know.

But it is time to get concerned. The Orioles are dead even with us in the all-important loss column. We are only 1-3 against them, 1-2 against the Red Sox, just 2-2 against the awful Oakland Athletics, 2-2 against the Seattle Mariners, 3-3 against the Toronto Blue Jays; and 1-2 , at home, in an Interleague series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, a potential World Series opponent -- if we get that far. (And if they do: They just lost Mookie Betts to a broken hand on a hit-by-pitch. He'll be out for a while.)

True, we are 6-1 against the Houston Astros, but they don't seem to be in anybody's heads this season. And if they do get it together, and get into the Playoffs, can we really trust the Yankees against them?

Check out these on-base percentages. Not batting averages, on-base percentages: Wells .208, Stanton .238, Cabrera .275, Rizzo .289, Torres .298, LeMahieu .304, Verdugo .313, Trevino .317. Meanwhile, Clarke Schmidt is on the Injured List, and Rodón, Cortés and Stroman have been shaky lately.

Injury-wise, as I said, Schmidt is out, Gerrit Cole has been out all season, Jonathan Loáisiga is out for the season, and Jasson Domínguez, who had been tearing up Triple-A ball with his hitting in his injury rehab, is back on the IL.

Rizzo is day-to-day. The current rumor is that Cole could make his major league season debut this Wednesday night. Domínguez could be playing at Triple-A again in a week. Schmidt could return after the All-Star Break. So might reliever Scott Effross, which had better mean bye-bye, Ferguson -- if we don't dump him earlier.  

The Yankees have today off. Then, 3 games at home against the O's, a great chance to show that we can handle a good team -- or not. Then, 3 in a home Interleague series with the Atlanta Braves. Then, 2 away to the suddenly competent Mets. Followed by 4 in Toronto against those pesky Blue Jays.

This could be the trouble part of the season. Or the snap-out-of-it part of the season.

Meanwhile, tonight is Game 5 of the NBA Finals, and the Boston Celtics could win their record 18th title, eliminating the Dallas Mavericks. And the next night is Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals, and the Florida Panthers could win their 1st title, eliminating the Edmonton Oilers.

And in soccer, Euro 2024 is ongoing in Germany. And the U.S. hosts the Copa América, the Western Hemisphere-wide tournament for national teams, starting on Thursday night. The U.S. plays Bolivia at the Dallas Cowboys' stadium next Sunday afternoon, Panama at the Atlanta Falcons' stadium the following Thursday night, and Uruguay at the Kansas City Chiefs' Arrowhead Stadium the following Monday night. Do we have a chance to win the tournament? Yes. A good chance? No.