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.

Soto Injury Shows Just How Precarious Yanks' Position Is

Halfway through last week's homestand, the New York Yankees were on an 8-game winning streak, and on a pace to go 114-48, the same as in the legendary season of 1998.

Then came the announcement of forearm pain for Juan Soto, and the decision to hold him out of the 2nd half of the homestand, and possibly longer.

And, as Yankee Legend Yogi Berra would have said, it was déjà vu all over again.

First, there were 3 games at Yankee Stadium against the Minnesota Twins, a team over .500, but one the Yankees usually handle. On Tuesday night, Luis Gil pitched 6 innings, allowing only 1 hit. The bullpen allowed only 1 more. Gleyber Torres and Giancarlo Stanton hit home runs, and the Yankees won, 5-1.

On Wednesday night, Carlos Rodón went 6, allowing 2 runs on 3 hits. Aaron Judge went 1-for-5 with a bases-loaded triple. He also had an RBI on a groundout, and another on a walk. Think about that: One hit, 5 RBIs. The Yankees won, 9-5, as reliever Dennis Santana was shaky.

The Thursday night game was more of a struggle. It was 7-2 Yankees after 4, including a home run by the so-far light-hitting Trent Grisham. But Marcus Stroman fell apart in the 5th inning, and the bullpen had to hold it from there: 4 relievers, 4 1/3rd innings, no runs, 4 his, 2 walks. The Yankees won, 8-5.

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But Soto had to leave the Thursday night game. Manager Aaron Boone said Soto would get the weekend series with the Los Angeles Dodgers off, except maybe for pinch-hitting duty. Suddenly, the lineup, which had usually been:

Anthony Volpe, Soto, Judge, Alex Verdugo, Stanton, Anthony Rizzo, Torres, catcher (Austin Wells or Jose Trevino), DJ LeMahieu (working his way back from injury; became Volpe, Verdugo, Judge, Stanton, Rizzo, Torres, LeMahieu Grisham, catcher.

Big difference in this much-hyped series, which was being called a possible World Series preview. And none of the games was on YES, let alone WPIX-Channel 11: Friday night, Apple+; Saturday night, Fox; Sunday night, ESPN.

On Friday, over the 1st 7 innings, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the off-season's prime acquisition from Japan, held the Yankees to a double and a walk by Judge, Torres reaching on an error, an single by Grisham, a walk by Torres. With 2 out in the 8th, and Anthony Banda on the mound, Volpe and Verdugo singled, Judge drew another walk to load the bases, and Stanton hit a long drive. But it conked out, and, instead of being a dramatic grand slam, it was just a long, inning-ending, rally-killing out.

Cody Poteet, filling in for the injured Clarke Schmidt, did his part, taking a 2-hit shutout into the 5th, while the bullpen kept the Dodgers off the board. It was 0-0 after 9 innings. A soccer game with similar performance would have been hailed as a superb game, and both teams would have walked away with a point and their heads held high.

But this was not soccer, it was baseball. And it was Rob Manfred baseball, with the ghost runner starting each extra inning on 2nd base. Neither team scored in the 10th. But Ian Hamilton gave up a walk to Freddie Freeman and a double to Teoscar Hernández in the top of the 11th. Judge singled Volpe home in the bottom of the 11th, but Stanton struck out, and Volpe popped up. Dodgers 2, Yankees.1

So the 8-game winning streak was over. We couldn't feel too bad about the loss, as it was against a very good team, and the pitching had done very well, including keeping Shohei Ohtani off base. Mookie Betts has a nagging injury, and did not play in this game. Still, there was that nagging feeling that, even if it was only one appearance as a pinch-hitter, Soto could have done something.

The Saturday game, most of the way, was more of the same. Nestor Cortés did not have good stuff. Hernández homered in the 2nd inning. Ohtani singled in the 3rd. In the bottom of that inning, Judge responded to (aside from Soto) his main contender for the title of best player in baseball with a tremendous home run. But Enrique "Kiké" Hernández (no relation to Teoscar) hit one out in the 5th. Teoscar drove in another run in the 5th.

Still, it was only 4-2 Dodgers after 7, and the thought was, if we can get something going, maybe Judge can do something -- or Soto, if he pinch-hits.

Unfortunately, Boone brought Tommy Kahnle in to pitch the 8th. Betts did play in this game. Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. Kahnle walked Betts. He got Ohtani to ground to 2nd, but Torres, he of the million-dollar bat, the two-bit glove and the five-cent head, made an error. Kahnle struck Freeman out, but walked Will Smith, baseball's premier slap hitter. (Sorry, the joke was too good not to use.) Teoscar came up again: Grand slam. 8-2.

It got no better. Dennis Santana got the 1st 2 outs in the 9th, then allowed single, walk, double, and 3 straight walks, the last with the bases loaded, before getting out of it. Judge hit a long, but meaningless, home run in the bottom of the 9th -- a tribute, perhaps, to Alex Rodriguez, part of the Fox broadcast team, along with Derek Jeter and A-Rod's fellow cheater, former Red Sox blob David Ortiz? -- and it ended 11-3 to the Los Angeles Baseball Team. (After the game, Santana was designated for assignment.)

Despite the bullpen meltdown, it was only 6-3 Dodgers over the 1st 18 innings of this series. Now, Soto's hole in the lineup looked positively cavernous. It was looking like, without him, this would be the same old Yankee team of 2004 to 2023, except for 2009: Unable to get the runs home when it really mattered.

Gil started last night, and allowed only a double (to Teoscar) and a walk over the 1st 4 innings. Oswaldo Cabrera was put back at 3rd base, and he homered to lead off the bottom of the 3rd. Later that inning, back-to-back doubles by Verdugo and Judge made it 2-0 Pinstripes.

After that, though, Gil struggled for the 1st time all season. He gave up an RBI double to Betts in the 5th and another home run to Teoscar in the 6th, and it was 3-2 L.A. But in the bottom of the 6th, Verdugo and Judge had back-to-back singles, and Grisham, batting .086 going into this game, made it 5-3 New York with a home run.

The Dodgers pulled a run back in the 8th, but Judge responded with yet another titanic home run. (He didn't quite hit it to the spot where the Titanic sank, but far enough.) Clay Holmes did his best Aroldis Chapman impression in the 9th: He got the 1st 2 outs, then allowed back-to-back singles, before getting a game-ending strikeout. Yankees 6, Dodgers 4.

The Yankees didn't need Soto in the series finale. They sure could have used him in the 1st 2 games.

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We've played 67 games. That's 41 percent of the regular season. The Yankees lead the American League Eastern Division. The Baltimore Orioles are the only team close to us, 2 1/2 games back, but only 1 in the all-important loss column. The others are all .500 or worse: The Boston Red Sox trail by 12 1/2, the Toronto Blue Jays by 13, and the Tampa Bay Rays by 14.

The Dodgers now lead the National League Western Division by 8 games. However, the only team in Major League Baseball with a better record than the Yankees is the Philadelphia Phillies, who split (and nearly swept) 2 games with the New York Mets in London this weekend.

The same concerns are there: Torres is batting .230, and can't field any position. Stanton and Rizzo are both batting .224, and both strike out too much. LeMahieu, now back from injury, is batting only .219. He turns 36 next month, and he looks finished. The catchers, Wells and Trevino, are still batting only .228 between them.

However, things are looking up on the injury front. It looks like Soto will not have to go on the Injured List. Gerrit Cole has looked good in his 2 rehab starts. And Jasson Domínguez is tearing up AAA ball in his rehab appearances, and looks ready to go. If Soto can't play, maybe "The Martian" can step in.

The Yankees begin a tough roadtrip tonight: 4 games in Kansas City against the Royals, then up to Boston for 3 against The Scum. Although the Auld Enemy aren't as strong as usual, a statement by the Yankees would be very helpful here, especially if Soto -- or Domínguez, or, dare we dream, both -- can return, added to Judge and the others, to help once again make Fenway Park a little green pinball machine.

Maybe This Is a Different Yankee Team

The Yankees continued their West Coast roadtrip, and were joined by DJ LeMahieu, coming off the Injured List to make his season debut.

They got off to a poor start on Tuesday night in Anaheim. Nestor Cortés got into the 6th inning, allowing only 2 runs, Juan Soto hit a home run, and the Yankees took a 3-2 lead over the Los Angeles Angels into the bottom of the 8th inning. But Luke Weaver wobbled, and the Angels won, 4-3.

Luis Gil started on Wednesday night, and was actually allowed to pitch 8 innings, and was brilliant. Alex Verdugo hit a home run, and the Yankees won, 2-1.

Carlos Rodón had a decent start on Thursday night, and the Yankees led 2-1 after 6, including another long home run from Aaron Judge. Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. Verdugo led off the top of the 7th with a walk. This was followed by a single from LeMahieu, and popup by Gleyber Torres, and then 3 straight walks: Jose Trevino to load the bases, Oswaldo Cabrera to force in a run, and Anthony Volpe to force in another run. Then Soto cleared the bases with a triple.

The Angels got 2 runs back in the bottom of the 7th, but the Yankees got another run in the top of the 8th, and won, 8-3.

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Judge grew up in Linden, California, in the San Joaquin Valley. Although the closest major league team was the Oakland Athletics, and the closest minor-league team was the Modesto A's, an Oakland farm team, he grew up as a fan of the San Francisco Giants. So, when he was a free agent in the 2022-23 off-season, it was believed that the Giants might outbid the Yankees for his services. They didn't.

This weekend, Judge showed the Giants what they were missing. On Friday night, Marcus Stroman pitched into the 8th inning, and he was backed by 2 homers from Judge, and the Yankees won, 6-2.

On Saturday night, Judge hit another, and so did Giancarlo Stanton. Clarke Schmidt went on the Injured List, and Gerrit Cole isn't back yet -- he's scheduled to make a rehab start for the Class AA Somerset Patriots tonight -- but Cody Poteet stepped into Schmidt's slot, and pitched 5 decent innings, and the Yankees won, 7-3.

On Sunday afternoon, Judge did not hit a home run. Soto hit 2, including the capper of a 4-run 9th inning that allowed the Yankees to come from behind to win, 7-5. Michael Tomkin got the win, in relief of an ineffective Cortés.

Overall in this series, Judge went 6-for-9 with 3 home runs, 3 walks and 6 RBIs. A batting average of .667, an on-base percentage of .750, and a slugging percentage of 1.333.

In the 1980s, the August trip to the West Coast always seemed to be a harbinger of doom for the Yankees. They always seemed to lose 7 of 9, what I, a Star Trek fan, would later retroactively refer to as as a "Borg roadtrip." This time, in San Diego, Anaheim and San Francisco, the Yankees won 7 of 9 -- and their fans seemed to outnumber the home fans. Resistance was not only not futile, it was very effective.

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So: 61 games down, 37 percent of the season, 101 games to go. The Yankees are 42-19, for a winning percentage of .689. Over a 162-game season, that would be 112-50. They are tied with the Philadelphia Phillies for the best record in baseball.

In the American League Eastern Division, they lead the Baltimore Orioles by 2 1/2 games, the Boston Red Sox by 11 1/2, the Tampa Bay Rays by 12 1/2, and the Toronto Blue Jays by 13. In the all-important loss column, they lead the O's by only 1, but the Sox by 11, and the Rays and Jays by 12 each.

The Yankees are currently on a 5-game winning streak. This follows earlier streaks this season of 7, 5, and 3 streaks of 4. They are 31-2 when scoring at least 5 runs, and 33-6 when allowing 3 or fewer. They have 7 shutouts, although none by a single pitcher. They have had 2 15-run games, and 18 of at least 7 runs, going 17-1 in those. They have been so definitive that only 1 win has been by walkoff. A slight, but noticeable, concern: They are 1-3 in extra innings, including their 1 loss when scoring at least 7.

They have done this without Gerrit Cole. They did it without Jonathan Loáisiga, except for 4 innings over 3 games. They did it, until last week, without D.J. LeMahieu. And they did it without Jasson Domínguez, who is now playing rehab games.

They have done it despite Caleb Ferguson going 0-3 with a 5.30 ERA in 24 relief appearances. They have done it despite their 2 catchers, Austin Wells and Jose Trevino, combining for a .230 batting average. They have done it despite .230 from Gleyber Torres, .231 from Giancarlo Stanton, .236 from Oswaldo Cabrera, and .240 from Anthony Rizzo.

And they have looked better fundamentally. They are swinging at fewer bad pitches. They are making fewer baserunning mistakes. They are not beating themselves defensively. This team has been spectacular, but it has also been smart. Maybe this is a different team from the last few years.

It's also worth noting that the 2 teams that have been in the Yankees' heads aren't doing too well: The Red Sox are 30-30, and the Houston Astros are 27-34. The Yankees opened the season by sweeping 4 from the Astros in Houston, and took 2 out of 3 from them at home in May. They have not yet faced the Red Sox.

And so, now, the Yankees come home, for 3 against the Minnesota Twins, and then an already much-hyped 3 against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Then, it's back on the road: 3 in Kansas City, and 4 in Boston.

It's too soon to say that Title 28 is on the way. But the Yankees have done very little to divert themselves from the path.

Yanks Stay On Top of MLB with 2 of 3 vs. Guardians

When I was a kid, the Yankees never, ever lost to the Cleveland Guardians.

Of course, when I was a kid, the Yankees never, ever beat the Cleveland Guardians, either. They were known as the Cleveland Indians from 1915 to 2021.

The Yankees and the Guardians were supposed to start a 3-game series at Progressive Field in Cleveland on Friday night, but it rained, resulting in a doubleheader on Saturday. Clarke Schmidt started the opener, and allowed 2 runs, 1 of them earned, over 5 innings and change. It was a little worrying that he walked 5 batters, along with allowing 3 hits, but he struck out 7. The bullpen kept the "Guards" off the scoreboard the rest of the way. A 2-run home run from Oswaldo Cabrera in the 6th made the difference, and the Yankees won, 3-2.

Cody Poteet, 29 years old and with 19 previous major league appearances to his credit, all with the Miami Marlins, made his Yankee debut as the starting pitcher in the nightcap. He went 6 innings, allowing 1 run on 6 hits, and no walks, striking out 4. Anthony Rizzo and Anthony Volpe each had 2 hits, and Juan Soto hit a home run, and the Yankees won, 8-2. That's 12 out of 15 to start the season.

The Sunday game didn't go so well. Nestor Cortés for the Yankees, and allowed 4 runs in 4 innings. Aaron Judge and Jose Trevino hit home runs. The Guardians took a 5-4 lead in the bottom of the 8th. A double by Volpe tied the game in the 9th, and it went to extra innings -- meaning, the damn ghost runner came into play.

At first, it helped. In the top of the 10th, Soto was the ghost runner. Judge was intentionally walked to set up a double play. Giancarlo Stanton singled, but Soto couldn't score. Bases loaded, nobody out. The Yankees could have put the game away. Rizzo singled Soto and Judge home. It was 7-5. Gleyber Torres bunted the runners over.

But Alex Verdugo grounded into a double play. To start the bottom of the 10th, Caleb Ferguson was the Yankee reliever. Ferguson had nothing: He allowed a single, and RBI groundout, a double, a game-tying fielder's choice, and a game-losing sacrifice fly. Guardians 8, Yankees 7.

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So, as things stand, the Yankees are 12-4, despite Gerrit Cole, D.J. LeMahieu and Jonathan Loáisiga being unavailable, our catchers batting a combined .157, Torres batting only .203, Judge batting only .207, Verdugo batting only .218, and no would-be closer better than Clay Holmes.

That 12-4 record is the best in Major League Baseball. They lead the American League Eastern Division by 2 1/2 games over the Baltimore Orioles, 3 over the Tampa Bay Rays, 3 1/2 over the Boston Red Sox, and 4 over the Toronto Blue Jays. Given the nature of the early season, when postponements are more common, and teams tend not to have played the same number of games, in the all-important loss column, the Yanks lead the O's by 2, the Rays by 3, and the Sox and Jays by 4 each.

The Yankees' roadtrip continues tonight, in Toronto. Luis Gil starts for the Yankees, against Chris Bassitt.