Down at the Five and Ten

In 1879, Frank W. Woolworth opened his first store, Utica, New York. He called it "The Great Five Cent Store," because everything could be sold for 5 cents. It went bust, because there weren't enough things that could be sold for that much.

Later in the year, he moved to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and opened a new store, a "Five and Ten Cent Store." Now, there were so many things that could be sold for either amount that he quickly ran out of stock. He had to open new stores, and became one of the first franchisers in American business.

Woolworth's become a huge chain, although it went out of business in 1997, by which point, selling things for no more than 10 cents was no longer possible. Similar chains propped up, rising and falling. One of these was J.J. Newberry's, which even had a store in Cooperstown, New York, next-door to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

These stores became known as "five and ten," or "five and dime" stores. (Never "nickel and dime," which suggests not just cheapness, but being no good.) People used to say, "Meet me down at the five and ten."

It was my grandmother, as Woolworth went under at the end of the 20th Century, who figured out that "dollar stores," usually smaller than five and tens, had replaced them and forced them out of business.

Why do I bring this up? Because the Yankees' record is now five and ten.

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You would think that, with Gerrit Cole starting the finale of the Yankees' weekend series with the Tampa Bay Rays, they would win. He pitched well enough to win. With the Yankee bullpen worn out due to 2 bad games, Brian Cashman and his flunky Aaron Boone let Cole throw 109 pitches. He got into the 7th inning, allowing 3 runs, 2 of them earned, on 5 hits, no walks, and 10 strikeouts. That gave him 39 strikeouts in his 1st 4 starts of the season, a Yankee record. (As if anybody cares about that.)

But all those "pitching wins championships" and "defense wins championships" people forget: You can't win unless you score. Early on, it looked like they might: Giancarlo Stanton led off the 2nd inning with a home run. That had to be a good sign, right?

As it turned out, wrong: The Yankees stranded a runner on 1st with 2 out in the 2nd; stranded runners on 1st & 2nd with 2 out in the 5th, after an RBI single by DJ LeMahieu; stranded a runner on 1st with 1 out in the 6th; stranded a runner with 2 out in the 7th; and went down 1-2-3 in the 1st, the 3rd, the 4th, the 8th and the 9th.

Rays 4, Yankees 2. WP: Ryan Yarbrough (1-2). SV: Jeffrey Springs (1). LP: Cole (2-1).

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So the Yankees' record is now 5-10. That is the worst record in the American League. Over a full 162 games, that would be 54-108, which would exceed by 5 the most losses the team has ever had in a season (1908). They are 4 1/2 games behind the hated Boston Red Sox. Only the Colorado Rockies, at 4-12, have a worse record in the entirety of Major League Baseball.

Cashman's plan to build a team capable of outscoring any team on any day is failing. The Yankees have scored 55 runs, tied with the Detroit Tigers for dead last in the AL. 

Check out these OPS+'s, keeping in mind that 100 is exactly average: Kyle Higashioka 267 (in 8 games), Aaron Judge 140, DJ LeMahieu 132, Gary Sanchez 128, Brett Gardner 105, Tyler Wade 97, Gio Urshela 92, Giancarlo Stanton 76 (and that includes yesterday's homer), Gleyber Torres 66, Clint Frazier 41, Aaron Hicks 41, Jay Bruce 38, Rougned Odor 29, Mike Tauchman -15.

Bruce retired after the game. This was his 14th season, and his 1 home run as a Yankee gave him 319 for his career, a decent total. He made 3 All-Star Games, 2 with the Cincinnati Reds and 1 with the Mets.

I was in favor of the acquisition. I figured, if Bruce has anything left, it will help; and, if he doesn't, we're no worse off than we were.

Unfortunately, he turned into another one of Cashman's overage destroyers. That's a term that was used for ships from the World War I era that President Franklin D. Roosevelt let the British have in World War II, at a point before Pearl Harbor when America couldn't yet get in, and Britain needed all the help it could get.

At least Bruce was a lefthanded hitter, with a swing designed for Yankee Stadium. Most of Cashman's power hitters have been righthanded, with swings designed for Fenway Park in Boston, Minute Maid Park in Houston, any stadium with a nice, close left field wall, preferably with a CITGO sign above it.

For Cashman, it's either overage destroyers or prospects. This led to me posting a joke on Facebook and Twitter yesterday: Did you hear about Brian Cashman's girlfriend? He traded her to a college for 4 sorority sisters, and a professor who wrote a great Ph.D. dissertation in 2012, but she hasn't published anything since.

The Yankees have today off. Tomorrow night, they begin a brief 2-game home series with the Atlanta Braves.

Let's hope they stop playing like five-and-ten products. Stop nickel-and-diming us. As Yankee Legend Yogi Berra was quoted as saying (but may not have actually said), "A nickel ain't worth a dime anymore."

(Asked to explain this, he correctly said, "Well, it ain't!")

Yankees Drop Dunedin Finale to Blue Jays

In the old days, up until 1960, when a season was 154 games long, and the Yankees spent their Spring Training in St. Petersburg, Florida, April 15 was around the time they had finished their northward trek back to New York to begin the regular season, and any games played before that weren't counted.

If only that were true this season. This time, the Yankees will be glad to get out of the Tampa Bay area, and away from the again-temporarily-relocated, permanently-pesky Toronto Blue Jays.

Yesterday afternoon, in the conclusion of a 3-game series at tiny TD Ballpark in Dunedin, on the St. Petersburg side of the Bay, the much-ballyhooed, injury-recovering Corey Kluber started. It would be unfair to say he had nothing. It would be fairer to say he pitched to extremes: His good pitches were insanely good, but there weren't nearly enough of them. He went 4 innings, allowing 3 runs on 6 hits and 2 walks, with 4 strikeouts.

Until there were 2 out in the top of the 4th, the Yankees' only runs were on a pair of solo home runs by Aaron Judge. The 2nd, leading off the 4th, was followed by a walk by Brett Gardner, a flyout by Gary Sanchez, a double by Gleyber Torres, a strikeout by Jay Bruce (who is now bearing the brunt of online Yankee Fan frustration), and an RBI single by Gio Urshela. That gave the Yankees a 4-3 lead.

Jonathan Loaisiga came out to pitch the bottom of the 5th. He got the 1st 2 outs, before Cavan Biggio, son of Hall-of-Famer Craig, got a hit to right field that Judge absolutely butchered. It went all the way to the wall, and was generously scored as a triple, but should have been a single and an error.

Biggio thought he could turn it into an inside-the-park home run. He got caught in a rundown, and Loaisiga was out of the inning after 3 batters. Had the Yankees won the game, Biggio might have been praised for his hustle, but he also might have been ripped for costing the Jays the tying run.

Loaisiga has done well in middle relief so far this season, but he was bad in the 6th inning. He allowed back-to-back singles, then hit a batter with a pitch. Bases loaded, nobody out. Bruce showed enough sense to take the next ground ball and throw it home for a forceout. But Loaisiga threw a wild pitch that allowed the tying run to score.

He got the next 2 batters out. Ordinarily, getting into a bases-loaded-nobody-out jam, and getting out of it with only 1 run allowed, is a relief, especially on the road. But that 1 run would loom large, as the Yankees went down 1-2-3 in the 7th and the 9th, and wasted a 1-out single by Judge in the 8th.

Bo Bichette, son of All-Star Dante, led off the bottom of the 9th by taking Chad Green deep. Blue Jays 5, Yankees 4. WP: Rafael Dolis (1-0). No save. LP: Green (0-2).

The Yankees are now 5-7, 4 games behind the Boston Red Sox in the AL East. That's a pace for going 67-95 over a full season.

Today is an off-day. Tomorrow, the Yankees open a series against the Tampa Bay Rays at Yankee Stadium II.

Bruce & Judge HRs Make Cole a Merry Old Soul

You know I like hitting, right? I'm a classic Yankee Fan, an old-school Bronx Bomber, a dyed-in-the-wool Pinstriper. To me, the best defense is a good offense.

Last night, every Yankee in the starting lineup got a hit, except for Clint Frazier. And, otherwise, the way he has started the season gives him a pass for that.

It looked like the Yankees might smack the Baltimore Orioles around immediately. DJ LeMahieu led off the bottom of the 1st inning with a single, Aaron Judge hit another, and Brett Gardner drew a walk. Bases loaded, nobody out, and Giancarlo Stanton, who'd hit a grand slam the night before, at bat. But Oriole starter Dean Kremer settled down, and struck out the side: Stanton, Gleyber Torres, and Frazier.

But Jay Bruce led off the 2nd with a home run, his 1st as a Yankee and his 319th overall. Then, Cliche Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. Kremer started the bottom of the 4th by walking Bruce, then Gio Urshela, then Kyle Higashioka.

Oriole manager Brandon Hyde then replaced him with Adam Plutko. LeMahieu grounded into a double play, but that got Bruce home. Then Judge singled, scoring Urshela. 3-0 Yankees.

This was more than enough backup to make Gerrit Cole a merry old soul, who was brilliant: 7 innings, no runs, 4 hits, no walks, 13 strikeouts. He was allowed to throw 97 pitches, and, in this case, that was enough.

The Yankees added runs in the 7th, on a walk but Gardner and a double by Stanton; and in the 8th, on a single by Gio, a double by Higgy, a fielder's choice by DJLM, and a 3-run homer by Judge. Chad Green pitched a perfect 8th. Lucas Luetge ran into trouble in the 9th, but got the outs we needed.

Yankees 7, Orioles 2. WP: Cole (1-0). No save. LP: Kremer (0-1).

The series concludes tonight. Jameson Taillon makes his Yankee debut, while John Means starts for the Orioles. The Yankees then have tomorrow off, and play the Tampa Bay Rays in St. Petersburg over the weekend.

This Is What Happens When You Hit

This is what happens when you are a Major League Baseball team, and you hit well enough to back up your pitchers: You win the game. If ever a team proved that pitching does not necessarily win championships, it is the 2004 to the present New York Yankees.

Corey Kluber, hyped as the Number 2 starter the Yankees desperately needed behind Gerrit Cole, made his Yankee debut, against the Toronto Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium II. He got into some trouble, and threw too many pitches too soon. Clearly, he needed another Spring Training start or two to warm up.

But he also showed a lot of character, responding to his mistakes/shortcomings well. He ended each of the 1st 3 innings with a strikeout. His changeup was so sick. (How sick was it?) Dr. Fauci couldn't come up with a treatment for it.

After giving up a leadoff home run to Marcus Semien in the top of the 5th, Aaron Boone replaced him with Jonathan Loaisiga. Given the fact that he has been a starter, Loaisiga is the ideal "long man," as long as you don't overuse him. Good thing there was a day off the day before. He was perfect in the 5th and 6th innings.

But you gotta hit for your pitchers. On Thursday afternoon, Opening Day, the Yankees didn't hit enough for Cole. This time, they hit for Kluber and Loaisiga. In the bottom of the 2nd inning, they launched a -out rally: Single by Gio Urshela, double by Clint Frazier, single by DJ LeMahieu. One-nil to the Pinstripe Boys.

The Jays tied it up in the top of the 3rd, in part due to a throwing error by catcher Gary Sanchez. After his fine performance, hitting and throwing, on Thursday, one of the few bright spots on the day, it looked like the same old Sanchez.

Instead, "El Gary" opened the bottom of the 4th with his 2nd home run in as many games. Urshela struck out, but Frazier drew a walk, and 3 straight singles by LeMahieu, Aaron Judge and Aaron Hicks made it 3-1 New York.

Cliche Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. That ended up not happening when the Yankees needed it on Thursday. But on this Saturday, it did. With the score 3-2 Yankees, Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo brought Rafael Dolis in to pitch the bottom of the 6th. As it turned out, it was Dolis he could do.

(Don't get on me about the joke on his name. The Jays' 1st 2 pitchers in this game were Ross Stripling and Tyler Chatwood. They sound like soap opera characters, the wastrel son of the show's industrialist villain and the college buddy who leads him astray, respectively.)

LeMahieu drew a walk. Judge flew to center, and Hicks struck out. Then came Giancarlo Stanton. I figured, strikeout, end of inning. Indeed, he worked a 3-0 count, then made it 3-2. Then he took ball 4. Giancarlo Stanton drew a walk. This was not a delayed April Fool's Day joke.

Then Gleyber Torres drew another walk, loading the bases. And new acquisition Jay Bruce, on his 34th birthday, singled LeMahieu and Stanton home. 5-2.

Lucas Luetge came in to pitch the top of the 7th. He arrived in the major leagues with the Seattle Mariners in 2012, and that year and the next, he was a decent reliever. Then he got hurt. He appeared in 12 games in 2014. He pitched for the Mariners on April 25, 2015. It was his only appearance that season, and he hadn't appeared in a major league game since. He had just turned 34. It was a big surprise that he made the Yankee roster at all.

Like Kluber, he needed more Spring Training. He began the inning with a single and 2 wild pitches. He got a strikeout, then a groundout that got a run home, then another groundout. It could have been a lot worse.

The Jays threatened again in the 8th, against Darren O'Day. Chad Green had to come in and get the last out. He then pitched a perfect 9th to end it.

Yankees 5, Blue Jays 3. WP: Loaisiga (1-0). SV: Green (1). LP: Ross Stripling (0-1).

Brian Cashman's strategy is simple: Outhit and outscore the opposition. In two tries so far this season, it has worked once.

The series concludes this afternoon, Easter Sunday. The talented but much-maligned Domingo German makes his 1st regular-season start since September 18, 2019; and T.J. Zeuch goes for Toronto.

As Bad As It's Looked, It Doesn't Look So Bad

So far, so good for the Yankees in the 2nd half. On Saturday afternoon, Brandon McCarthy got his 1st Yankee win, going 6 innings against the Cincinnati Reds, allowing 1 run on 6 hits and no walks. Plus 9 strikeouts. (1-0)

He was boosted by a home run by Carlos Beltran in the 2nd, an RBI single by Brett Gardner in the 3rd, a Gardner sacrifice fly in the 5th, an RBI single right after that by some guy named Derek Jeter, knocking Alfredo Simon out of the box (12-4), and a Kelly Johnson 2-RBI single and another Gardner sac fly in the 6th.

Yankees 7, Reds 1.

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And then yesterday, Hiroki Kuroda pitched with the wisdom of a 39-year-old and the arm of a 27-year-old. He pitched into the 7th inning, allowing only 1 run, unearned, 3 hits, 2 walks and 6 strikeouts.

Back-to-back singles in the 5th inning by Jeter and Jacoby Ellsbury gave Kuroda a 2-1 lead, and he got a standing ovation when he left in the 7th.

But Todd Frazier hit one out for the Reds, a rare mistake this season for Dellin Betances. The game would go to the bottom of the 9th.

The Reds had Aroldis Chapman on the mound, the possessor of 97 saves these last 2 1/2 seasons, a 0.997 career WHIP, and a fastball that can reach 102 miles per hour.

But Ellsbury led off with a single to left. Then he stole 2nd. Then one of Chapman's blazing fastballs got away from Reds catcher Breyan Pena, who's no Johnny Bench, or Ernie Lombardi, or even Joe Oliver. Man on 3rd, nobody out, and the resurgent Mark Teixeira up.

But Chapman blew Teix away with a 101-MPH heater. And Brian McCann came up, and Chapman blew a 102-MPH heater past him for strike one, and I thought, "Uh-oh, here we go again: Yankee RISPfail. We're gonna lose this one in extra innings."

But McCann hit a popup to the right side. Reds 1st baseman Frazier, 2nd baseman Skip Schumaker, and right fielder Jay Bruce all had a chance at it.

Have you ever heard "The Story of Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody"? Once upon a time, there was a job to do. Everybody thought that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it. But Nobody did it.

The ball fell between 3 Reds, allowing Ellsbury to score the winning run on a cheap play. Who did the Reds think they were, the Mets?

(UPDATE: Frazier and Bruce would later play for the Mets. And Frazier and Chapman would later play for the Yankees.)

Reason Number 57 why the Mets are a joke: I said on Twitter that the Yankees won on a "Luis Castillo Play" -- and everybody knew exactly what I meant. Heck, it was even to the same general area (if not the same exact spot) of the field.

Yankees 3, Reds 2. A sweep of the Big Red Machine. WP: David Robertson (1-2). No save. LP: Chapman (0-3).

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So here we are, with 10 weeks to go in the Major League Baseball season. Here's how things look:

The Yankees trail the Baltimore Orioles by 3 games in the American League Eastern Division. So do the Toronto Blue Jays, although the Yankees trail the O's by 3 in the loss column, while the Jays trail there by 4. The Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays are 7 1/2 back. So as bad as anyone has been, the Division race is, theoretically, still up for grabs by all 5.

The Yankees trail the Seattle Mariners by a game and a half, just 1 in the loss column, for the AL's 2nd Wild Card entry.

As bad as it's looked, it doesn't look so bad. If you'll pardon what would have been a Yogi-ism if Yogi Berra had thought of it first.

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Tonight, the Yankees begin a 4-game home series against the Texas Rangers. Like all teams representing Dallas, and all teams called Rangers wearing blue shirts (whatever the country, whatever the sport), they suck.

Manager Ron Washington has an interesting coaching staff. He's got ex-Mets Dave Magadan and Tim Bogar. He's got Bobby Jones -- but not either of the 2 Bobby Joneses who pitched for the Mets in the 2000 World Series, the greatest World Series ever. He's got Bengie Molina, the eldest of the Molina brothers. He's got former Angels All-Star Gary Pettis. And his bullpen coach? Andy Hawkins, who on July 1, 1990 pitched 8 no-hit innings for the Yankees against the Chicago White Sox in the last game the Yankees ever played in Comiskey Park -- and lost due to his own walks and 3 awful 8th-inning errors. He didn't even get credit for the no-hitter, although he got credit for the complete game.

Here are the projected pitching matchups:

Tonight, 7:05 PM: Shane Green vs. Miles Mikolas.

Tomorrow, 7:05 PM: Chase Whitley vs. Nick Martinez.

Wednesday, 7:05 PM: David Phelps vs. Yu Darvish.

Thursday, 1:05 PM: McCarthy vs. Colby Lewis.

Come on you Pinstripes!