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.

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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.

Yanks Jazz It Up Against Nomad Athletics

The Yankees played a home series this weekend, against the team currently known as simply "The Athletics" -- formerly Philadelphia, Kansas City and Oakland, and, they hope, soon to be Las Vegas.

Friday night was a "hole in the rotation" game, but Will Warren filled it well, pitching 5 shutout innings. The bullpen allowed just 1 hit and no walks the rest of the way. The Yankees only got 4 hits themselves, but 1 was a home run by Jazz Chisholm, 1 an RBI single by Cody Bellinger, and 1 an RBI single by DJ LeMahieu, and they won, 3-0.

But, on Saturday, they got handcuffed by former Yankee JP Sears, getting only 2 hits off him and 1 off reliever Jack Perkins. Clarke Schmidt, who pitched 7 no-hit innings in his last start, was not good, allowing 4 runs in 6 innings. The A's won, 7-0.

The Yanks made the A's pay dearly for that yesterday. Chisholm homered in the 2nd inning. The Yankees scored 4 runs in the 3rd, including a bases-clearing triple by Chisholm. Aaron Judge, who explained his drop from batting .400 to .356 with a bad back, hit home runs in the 4th and the 7th. Bellinger hit a home run in the 5th. And, just as it was a former Yankee who shut them down the day before, so, too, was this onslaught against a former Yankee: Luis Severino.

That kind of onslaught deserved some good pitching. Marcus Stroman came off the Injured List, and allowed just 1 run over 5 innings. JT Brubaker was awful in the 6th, but the rest of the bullpen pitched shutout ball, and the Yankees won, 12-5.

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We are now past the numerical halfway point of the season. The Yankees are 48-35, on a pace to finish 94-68. They lead the American League Eastern Division by a game and a half over the Tampa Bay Rays, 3 over the Toronto Blue Jays, 8 over the Boston Red Sox, and 12 over the Baltimore Orioles.

On to Toronto for 4 against the Jays. Then, 3 in Flushing, including a 4th of July "day game after a night game," against The Other Team.

Not Quite the Sack of Sacramento

The pink gloves are for Mother's Day,

to raise money for breast cancer research.

With the formerly Philadelphia, Kansas City and Oakland Athletics waiting for their Las Vegas stadium to open, the Yankees made their 1st visit to the A's stopgap home, Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento, California.

In 3 games, the Yankees scored 29 runs. That should have meant a sweep. It wasn't.

On Friday night, Will Warren pitched his best game as a Yankee so far: 7 1/3rd innings, 1 run, 4 hits, 1 walk, 7 strikeouts. He did his job. The hitters did theirs, especially Jasson Domínguez, who became the youngest Yankee ever to hit 3 home runs in a game. He had 7 RBIs on the night. Paul Goldschmidt also hit a home run, and the Yankees won, 10-2.

Carlos Rodón did his part on Saturday afternoon, going, 6 innings, allowing 4 runs on 8 hits, but no walks, striking out 10. Aaron Judge hit 2 home runs, and Oswald Peraza hit one. The Yankees led 6-4 going into the 7th inning stretch. That should have been enough.

It wasn't. Fernando Cruz had nothing, allowing 3 runs in the 7th. Between them, Ian Hamilton and Tyler Matzek allowed 4 in the 8th. The A's won, 11-7.

With Sunday being another "hole in the rotation" day, the Yankees needed Ryan Yarbrough to fill that hole. He did, going 5 innings, allowing 2 runs on 6 hits and a walk. Judge went 4-for-5 with 2 RBIs. We're almost one-quarter of the way through the season, and he's batting .409. Goldschmidt went 3-for-5 with 2 RBIs. And Ben Rice hit a grand slam. This time, the bullpen held the A's off, and the Yankees won, 12-2.

It wasn't quite a Sack of Sacramento, but 2 out of 3 on the road is always worth taking.

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The Yankees are 23-17, on a pace for a record of 93-69. They lead the American League Eastern Division by 2 games over the Boston Red Sox, 3 over the Toronto Blue Jays, 5 over the Tampa Bay Rans, and 7 1/2 over the Baltimore Orioles.

It's way too soon to list the Magic Number to clinch the Division.

Tonight, the Yankees continue their Pacific Coast roadtrip, against the Seattle Mariners.