From Here On Out, It's Strictly Meat and Potatoes

With a very tough schedule coming up this week, the Yankees needed to win as many of last week's games as they could: 3 at home against the Washington Nationals, 4 away to the Chicago White Sox, both of them struggling teams. They swept the Nats series. So far, so good. Counting the win in the finale of the awful series against the Boston Red Sox, that was 4 straight wins.

Will Warren started for the Yankees on Thursday night. In the bottom of the 2nd inning, Anthony Volpe made an error, which led to a grand slam by Miguel Vargas. But that would be the only runs the Yankees would allow: His other 4 innings were solid, and the bullpen was perfect over the last 4 innings: Fernando Cruz, Luke Weaver, Devin Williams and Mark Leiter Jr. each went 1-2-3 for an inning.

Cody Bellinger hit his 26th home run of the season. So did Jazz Chisholm. Trent Grisham already had 26 home runs, and hit his 27th. Yankees 10, White Sox 4. So, 5 in a row.

Carlos Rodón started on Friday night, and was terrific, allowing 1 run in 6 innings. Tim Hill faltered in the 8th, but it didn't matter, because the Yankees unloaded the lumber again. Grisham hit his 28th homer, and the much-maligned Volpe hit his 19th. Yankees 10, White Sox 2. So, 6 in a row.

The Saturday night game would be tougher, as the Yankees seemed to have used up most of their runs for the series.

Cam Schlittler started, and he was fantastic: 6 innings, 1 run, 4 hits, 1 walk, and 8 strikeouts. Aaron Judge hit his 42nd homer, and Aaron Wells hit his 19th. Devin Williams blew the save in the 7th, damaging his reputation as a reliever who's great in any inning except the 9th. Weaver was fine in the 8th, and David Bednar also was in the 9th and the 10th.

Have I ever mentioned that I hate the ghost runner rule? It didn't help the Yankees in the top of the 10th, as Ryan McMahon's grounder led to Wells being tagged out at home plate. In the top of the 11th, a Bellinger single, and doubles by Chisholm and Volpe brought 3 runs home. Camilo Doval allowed a run in the bottom of the 11th, but just the 1, giving him the save and Bednar the win. Yankees 5, White Sox 3. That's 7 in a row. And they closed to within 2 games of the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League Eastern Division. What had seemed lost for good was now back within reach.

If Saturday night didn't show that the Yankees needed to reload the runs, Sunday afternoon sure did. The Yankees only got 6 hits. Judge had 3 of them, including his 43rd home run of the season, the 358th of his career. It tied Yogi Berra for 5th on the Yankees' all-time list. Joe DiMaggio is 4th with 361. In between them, Johnny Mize, who ended his career with the Yankees after several years with the St. Louis Cardinals and the New York Giants, had 359.

But a solid start by Luis Gil was wasted, and Tim Hill gave up a home run to Lenyn Sosa in the bottom of the 8th. The Yankees lost, 3-2.

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So, after taking 6 out of 7 last week, here is where the Yankees stand on September 1, Labor Day:

* The Yankees are 76-61, on a pace to go 90-72. That's usually enough to make the Playoffs, but not enough to win the Division.

* They are 3 games behind Toronto in the AL East. The Jays lost today, while the Yankees were idle, taking a half-game off the deficit.

* If the current standings hold to the end of the season, they will have the 4th seed in the AL Playoffs, and have home-field advantage over Boston.

They have tonight off. Here's the remaining schedule, 25 games:

* September 2, 3 and 4: Away to the Houston Astros, again a possible Playoff opponent.

* September 5, 6 and 7: Home to the Toronto Blue Jays, the team they're chasing for the Division, and, obviously, also a possible Playoff opponent.

* September 9, 10 and 11: Home to the Detroit Tigers, leaders in the AL Central Division, and, obviously, also a possible Playoff opponent.

* September 12, 13 and 14: Away to the Boston Red Sox. As already said, a possible Playoff opponent.

So the next 12 games, and especially the next 6, look to be very tough. It eases up from there:

* September 15, 16 and 17: Away to the Minnesota Twins.

* September 18, 19, 20 and 21: Away to the Baltimore Orioles.

* September 22, a well-earned day off. Then, a final homestand, and perhaps home-field advantage will help:

* September 23, 24 and 25: Home to the Chicago White Sox.

* September 26, 27 and 28: Home to the Orioles.

Since September has arrived, the Yankees have made their first September callups. Not surprisingly, they are a 3rd catcher, J.C. Escarra; and a relief pitcher, Ryan Yarbrough.

As for the injuries: We already knew that Gerrit Cole would not pitch at all this season, and that Clarke Schmidt was out for the season. Both had Tommy John surgery, and while Cole is on schedule to return for next year's Opening Day, Schmidt will probably be out until at least next year's All-Star Break.

Now, we know that Jonathan Loáisiga will be as well. He was a good reliever from 2018 to 2023, but injuries have left him unavailable, and ineffective when he was available. Oswaldo Cabrera might return this season, but it doesn't look likely.

For the most part, this is the healthiest the Yankees have been all year, and it couldn't come at a better time. Because, as the late, great college football announcer Keith Jackson would have said, The social portion of the schedule is over, and, from here on out, it's strictly meat and potatoes.