Have the Yankees Snapped Out of It?

In North American sports, July 1 means two things. One is Canada Day, the anniversary of Canadian independence, which means that Canada's one remaining team in Major League Baseball, the Toronto Blue Jays, not only plays an afternoon game at home, but, despite actually having "Blue" in their name, will wear red jerseys.

The other is Bobby Bonilla Day, a day when we mock the Mets for making a stupid deal with a stupid player with a smart agent. Happy such to all who celebrate.

Anyway... Both the Mets and the Blue Jays were a problem for the Yankees this week. The Yankees went out to Citi Field last Tuesday night, and their injury-induced slump continued. In his 2nd start after coming off the Injured List, Gerrit Cole allowed 6 runs in 4 innings. In other words, if 4 innings hadn't been his limit, he should have been taken out at that point, anyway. After 6 innings, they were behind 9-1, the run coming on a home run by Juan Soto. It was ugly.

They scored a run in the 7th, and then 5 in the 8th, 3 on a home run by Aaron Judge. But they couldn't get anything in the 9th inning, and lost, 9-7.

The Wednesday night game was much the same, without the comeback attempt. Luis Gil, so good for most of the season, got rocked again. Judge hit his 30th homer of the season, but the Mets won, 12-2. Take out the top of the 8th, and the Mets won on aggregate, 21-4.

So the fans of the Small Club in Flushing had their cup final, as would be said in England.

*

Maybe getting out of the City would do the Yankees some good. Or even out of the country. At first, no: They lost 9-2 to the Jays at the Rogers Centre on Thursday night. Carlos Rodón allowed 5 runs in the 1st inning, and 3 in the 2nd, including 2 home runs by George Springer, a former cheating Houston Astro nemesis.

Between them, over the last 7 1/3rd innings, Rodón and relievers Phil Bickford and Jake Cousins allowed just 1 run on 4 hits and no walks, but the damage was done. Trent Grisham hit a home run for the Yankees.

On Friday night, the Yankees turned the tables. Former Blue Jay (and former Met) Marcus Stroman allowed a run in the 1st inning, and didn't get out of the 5th. At one point, he could be seen yelling at Gleyber Torres in the dugout. Torres had come under fire, from fans and media alike, for being lazy, for not running out ground balls, and for sloppy fielding.

It must have woken him up: In the top of the 6th, he homered, and so did Soto, part of a 6-run inning. The Yankees scored 2 in the 8th, and 7 in the 9th. Their linescore over the last 5 innings was 06027. That is the ZIP Code for East Hartland, Connecticut, near Hartford. Michael Tonkin was the pitcher when the Yankees took the lead, and so he was the winning pitcher, as the Yankees won, 16-5.

Did that snap the Yankees out of their slump? Hardly: They lost the Saturday afternoon game, 9-3. Nestor Cortés didn't pitch badly, but Bickford allowed 5 runs in the 6th to throw the game away. Torres went 2-for-4, and Austin Wells hit a home run.

Over the last 10 games, the Yankees had allowed an average of 8.2 runs per game, scoring 5.1, and going 2-8. But, yesterday afternoon, they went back to the way they'd been playing most of the year, scoring 2 in the 1st, including another home run by Judge, and 2 in the 2nd. (Judge is having another Hall of Fame season, but it feels like it's being wasted.)

Cole was much better, allowed to pitch 5 full innings. Torres went 2-for-5. The Yankees won, 8-1, and gained a split of the series with the pesky Blue Jays. 

*

So we begin July, having played more than half the regular season. The Yankees are 54-32, and are officially tied with the Baltimore Orioles in the American League Eastern Division, although we trail them by 1 game in the all-important loss column, and by .003, percentage-wise, which is what really matters. The Boston Red Sox are 8 1/2 back, the Tampa Bay Rays 11, the Toronto Blue Jays 14 1/2.

From March 28 to June 14, the Yankees played at a 112-50 pace. Then, the annual injury crisis kicked in and they've played at a 65-97 pace. That can't go on.

Here's the latest on the significant players out due to injury, in descending order of believed availability:

* Giancarlo Stanton: He resumed activity on a treadmill on Thursday. He could be back right after the All-Star Break.

* Scott Effross: The pitcher is currently in minor-league rehab. It would probably be best to leave him there until returning from the All-Star Break.

* Clarke Schmidt: He has resumed throwing. He probably won't be back before August 1.

* Jasson Domínguez: He was mere days away from returning from his last injury when he was stricken with a new one. He may be available by August 1.

* Cody Poteet: Of course, the pitcher meant to take the place of the injured Schmidt gave us a little taste of talent, and then got hurt himself. He may be available by August 1.

* Ian Hamilton: The relief pitcher has been rehabbing, but not yet officially throwing. It would be a shock to see him back before August 1.

* Anthony Rizzo: He is currently expected to return in mid-August.

* Jonathan Loáisiga: He had Tommy John surgery. Hopefully, see you in 2025.

The Yankees have today off, then start a 3-game home series with the Cincinnati Reds, including a 4th of July matinee. Then the Red Sox come to The Bronx for the 1st time all season. I hope we pound them. Then comes the All-Star Break, a good time to see if they've snapped out of the slump, or not.

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.

*

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.

*

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.

Yankees Inconsistent with Lumber & Bullpen, But Hanging On

Is it me? It is the fact that I'm not trying to do a writeup after every game, and sticking to once a week, the reason the Yankees haven't gotten off to the kind of slow start they got off to these last few years?

I know what you're thinking: "Come on, Uncle Mike, the world does not revolve around you. Didn't your parents ever teach you that?"

Yes, they did. But it's not true. As far as any of us knows, the world only exists through our own perceptions. Self-preservation, and thus selfishness, is a default position. Or else Donald Trump never would have become President.

Cliché Alert: But I digress.

*

So the Yankees played 4 games at home against the Oakland Athletics, then 3 on the road against the Milwaukee Brewers. Nothing wrong with that, to me. I can remember when that was no big deal. But, since 1994, the Brewers have no longer been in the same Division as the Yankees. Since 1998, they have not even been in the same League.

At least, next season, they'll still be in the same city. It looks like the A's won't.

The Monday game -- an afternoon game, being that it was Passover -- was a great pitcher's duel. Carlos Rodón went 7 innings, allowing just 1 hit and 2 walks. For the A's, former Yankees JP Sears -- like CC Sabathia, he doesn't use periods or a space -- went 6 innings, allowing 3 hits and 1 walk. After 8 innings, the game was scoreless.

But to start the top of the 9th, Victor González allowed a single and a home run. Mason Miller struck out the side in the bottom of the 9th: Anthony Volpe, Juan Soto, and Aaron Judge. Those were the bats a Yankee Fan wants in the bottom of the 9th, but they all struck out. A's 2, Yankees 0.

And when Marcus Stroman allowed a run in the top of the 1st inning on Tuesday night, recent fears returned. But the Yankees gave him 4 runs in the bottom of the 1st, including a 2-run homer by Anthony Rizzo. Stroman gave up a pair of solo homers, but the bullpen tossed 3 2/3rds innings of hitless, 1-walk relief. Yankees 4, A's 3.

Judge gave Clarke Schmidt a 2-run homer in the 1st on Wednesday night. Rizzo and Soto added homers. Rizzo's was the 300th of his career. Schmidt wasn't great, but he was good enough. Yankees 7, A's 3.

Nestor Cortés fell victim to "onebadinningitis" on Thursday night. In his case, he allowed 3 runs in the top of the 4th. That was all the A's got, but that was all they needed: Aside from a solo homer by Jose Trevino, the Yankees wasted a bunch of opportunities, leaving 11 men on base. A's 3, Yankees 1.

*

On to Milwaukee. Luis Gil had 4 fine starts to begin the season. His 5th start, in the Friday night game, was a bad one, allowing 5 runs in 5 innings. But the Yankees hit well, too: Soto, Alex Verdugo, and Trent Grisham, who came over in the Soto trade and played center field that night, hit home runs.

The game went to extra innings, and each team scored a run in the 10th. Michael Tomkin, a newly-acquired former Met, allowed a run in the bottom of the 11th, and the Brewers won, 7-6.

The Yankees made the Brewers pay dearly for that. Twice. Rodón pitched well on Saturday, while the Yankees got homers from Judge, Rizzo, Verdugo and Giancarlo Stanton. Verdugo had 4 RBIs, and Stanton and Gleyber Torres each had 3. Yankees 15, Brewers 3.

The Yankees used 6 pitchers yesterday, starting with Stroman, who, again, did not pitch well. He was succeeded by Ron Marinaccio, making only his 6th appearance of the season. But, the way the Yankee runs came, he ended up as the winning pitcher.

The Yankees unloaded the lumber again, including 7 runs in the top of the 6th inning. Judge, Rizzo and Volpe homered. Judge's season-beginning slump seems to be over. Yankees 15, Brewers 5.

*

We are 18 percent of the way through the season -- a little over 1/6th. The Yankees are 19-10, one game ahead of the Baltimore Orioles in the American League Eastern Division, 3 ahead of the Boston Red Sox, 5 ahead of the Toronto Blue Jays, and 6 ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays. In the all-important loss column, they are tied with the O's, 3 ahead of the Sox, 5 ahead of the Jays, and 6 ahead of the Rays.

The only team in the AL with a better record is the Cleveland Guardians, 19-9. The only National League team with a better record is the Atlanta Braves, 19-7. In case anyone is interested, the Mets are 14-13, counting yesterday's extra-inning win over the St. Louis Cardinals.

When the Yankees score at least 3 runs, they are 19-3. When they don't, they are 0-7. However, that 19-3 includes a game where they scored 6 and another where they scored 7, and in each case lost in extra innings. In extra-inning games, they are 1-3. This suggests that they simply need to step up and score enough runs, but also that they still need to improve their bullpen. That kind of inconsistency, with both the lumber and the bullpen, may hurt them at some point.

This has still been accomplished without Gerrit Cole, DJ LeMahieu and Jonathan Loáisiga, all injured.

The roadtrip continues tonight, against the Baltimore Orioles. Clarke Schmidt starts against Grayson Rodriguez. Huh? Those two names don't go together!