Taking 3 of 4 In Boston Can't Expunge Cashman's Reverse Midas Touch

Ordinarily, I'd be thrilled to take 3 out of 4 from the Red Sox at Fenway Park. Nothing like beating The Scum. However, with both the Yankees and the Red Sox well out of the Playoff race, the last time this rivalry had so little juice, so did Boston's hypodermic needles.

It was a weird series, too, with 2 postponements due to rain forcing 2 doubleheaders, 2 games on Tuesday and 2 on Thursday. Randy Vásquez started the Tuesday opener, but was limited to 60 pitches, so Jhony Brito ended up as the winning pitcher. The Yankees only got 5 hits, but Kyle Higashioka got 3 of them.

The key inning was the 6th: Rookie Everson Pereira led off by being hit by a pitch. It was the Red Sox, and it was Fenway, but doing this on stupid would have been stupid. Higashioka followed with a single, DJ LeMahieu with an RBI double, and after an Aaron Judge flyout, Gleyber Torres, who has been hot lately, singled home Higgy and DJLM. The Yankees won, 3-2. Carlos Rodón, disappointing as a Yankee thus far, started the Tuesday nightcap, and went the minimum 5 innings for the 4-1 win.

The 1st game on Thursday was a waste. We can't blame the pitchers, or Aaron Boone's choice thereof: Michael King allowed just 1 run in 4 2/3rds innings, and Greg Weissert just 1 in 2 1/3rd. But the Yankees only got 2 hits, so it didn't matter that Matt Bowman allowed 3 runs in the 9th to make it a 5-0 Sox win.

Clarke Schmidt started the series finale, and fell behind 2-0 in the 1st inning. It was Fenway, so it felt like the beginning of another off-to-the-races game. The Yankees did nothing to dismiss that idea in the top of the 2nd, scoring 5 runs, 4 on a grand slam by Judge.

But the Sox chipped away, and tied it against Wandy Peralta in the bottom of the 7th. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: A relief pitcher who blows a save should not be eligible to be named the winning pitcher, even if he's still the team's current pitcher when the winning run is scored.

Which is what happened. Anthony Volpe led off the 8th with a single. After Oswald Peraza flew out, Oswaldo Cabrera singled Volpe to 2nd, and LeMahieu doubled him home. In the 9th, Peraza hit a 2-run homer to give the Yankees some breathing room, and it ended 8-5.

So the Yankees go into this weekend at 74-73, 1 game above .500. With 15 games to go, the chance of finishing above .500 is pretty good. But to make the Playoffs, they will have to come close to running the table.

Meanwhile, because of his torn ulnar collateral ligament (UCL), it has been determined that rookie sensation Jasson Domínguez will be out for 9 to 10 months. In other words, it could be that we won't see him suit up again until after next season's All-Star Break.

Damn. You've heard of the Midas Touch, everything someone touches turns to gold? Well, Brian Cashman has the Reverse Midas Touch: No matter how good it starts out, everything he touches turns to shit.

Here's what the Yankees have left: 3 games away to Pittsburgh, 3 home to Toronto, 3 home to Arizona, 3 away to Toronto, and 3 away to Kansas City. At the rate the fans are getting mad, maybe playing the last week away from home is a good idea.

Yankees Fall Victim to Domestic Stupidity

The Yankees began yesterday with the awful news that, for the 3rd time, they had a pitcher who has been suspended for violating Major League Baseball's domestic violence policy.

True, Aroldis Chapman had been suspended for it before joining the team, and they have since let him go (twice), but they still acquired him (twice). Then, Domingo Germán was suspended right before the 2019 Playoffs, and he also missed the entire 2020 season, including the Playoffs.

Now, it's Jimmy Cordero. He's been suspended for 76 games, the rest of this year's regular season. He's not contesting it, meaning he accepts that he did something wrong. At least he's taking responsibility for his actions.

Brian Cashman acquired all 3 of these men. No, it's not as bad as what they've been alleged to have done. But put everything he's done together, and the question must be asked: When is he, or team owner Hal Steinbrenner, who hired him, going to take responsibility for his actions?

So it's not surprising that the Yankees lost last night, in the 3rd game of their 4-game home series with the Baltimore Orioles. Or maybe the suspension had no effect on their mindset, and it was "just one of those games."

After all, things went pretty well at first. Rookie Randy Vásquez, filling one of the injury-forced holes in the rotation, pitched 5 shutout innings, allowing 2 hits and 3 walks. The game was scoreless until the bottom of the 5th, which Josh Donaldson led off with a home run. After a DJ LeMahieu lineout, Isiah Kiner-Falefa singled. Anthony Volpe grounded into what should have been a double play. IKF was out at 2nd, but an error put Volpe on 2nd. And Kyle Higashioka singled him home. It was 2-0 Yankees.

But Aaron Boone followed ordered, and pulled Vásquez, who had only thrown 75 pitches, and put in Nick Ramirez. He had nothing. Nor did Michael King, who managed to close out the top of the 6th, but not before allowing the O's 4 runs, on a double, 2 singles (this is where King came in), a triple and a fielder's choice.

Volpe gave the Yankees some home, leading off the bottom of the 8th with a home run. But in the 9th, an Adley Rutschman double and a Ryan O'Hearn home run off Ian Hamilton put the game out of reach. Orioles 6, Yankees 3. WP: Dean Kremer (9-4). SV: Félix Bautista (23). LP: Ramirez (0-1).

And how did Cashman thank Vásquez for his nice performance last night? He was sent down to the minor leagues, so that Carlos Rodón could return from the Injured List, and make his long-awaited Yankee debut tomorrow night. Don't get me wrong: I'm all for Rodón being available. But sending Vásquez down hardly seems fair.

Maybe Boone and Cashman should be suspended, for violating a domestic stupidity policy. Alas, no such policy exists.

The series concludes tonight. Luis Severino starts against Kyle Bradish.

Yankees Gain Split of "Smoggleheader"

If you're going to split a doubleheader, it's better to lose the 1st game. You only need half an hour to come back and win. If you win the opener, but lose the nightcap, you've got another day to think about it and try again.

After losing the 1st game of a doubleheader against the Chicago White Sox, the makeup of their 1st-ever postponement due to poor air quality, the Yankees needed a win. Unfortunately, their long injury list made this another "hole in the rotation" game. The starting pitcher was rookie Randy Vásquez, who'd struggled in Triple-A ball.

Surprise: He took a shutout into the 6th inning, allowing only 2 hits and a walk. And seemed upset when he was removed after getting into a little trouble, having thrown only 86 pitches. Ron Marinaccio ended the threat, and pitched the 7th and the 8th, allowing only a walk.

Without Aaron Judge in the lineup, to make all the Yankee hitters better, they struggle. This time, there was enough. Willie Calhoun led off the 4th with a double, and Gleyber Torres, who really needed it (lately, he's been shaky with both bat and glove), hit a home run. Billy McKinney led off the 5th with a home run, his 1st as a Yankee.

Clay Holmes closed out the 2-hit shutout, and the "smoggleheader." Yankees 3, White Sox 0. WP: Vásquez (1-1), his 1st major league win. SV: Holmes (7). LP: Mike Clevinger (3-4).

Now, the Auld Enemy comes in: The Boston Red Sox. After that, we go to Flushing to play the Mets. There's going to be a bit of hostility over the next few days.

Yanks Do LiIttle to Support Vásquez Debut, Lose to Padres

The Yankees began a 3-game home Interleague series with the San Diego Padres last night. Injuries and a failure to live up to big spending have left the Padres as MLB's biggest disappointment so far this season.

Randy Vásquez, a 24-year-old Dominican righthander wearing Number 98, made his major league debut last night, as the Yankees' starting pitcher. Over the 1st 4 innings, he was adequate, allowing 2 hits, 2 walks, and a hit batsman, but no runs.

But the Yankees couldn't score, either. They didn't get a baserunner until the 4th, when they wasted singles by Anthony Rizzo and DJ LeMahieu. Joe Musgrove, who famously made the Mets look like idiots in last year's Playoffs -- not that they needed much help in that regard -- completely shut them down.

Vásquez got the 1st 2 batters out in the top of the 5th. But his control was a little off: Having previously hit Brandon Dixon with a pitch in the 4th, he now did so to Jake Cronenworth. And Juan Soto, one of the heroes of the Washington Nationals' 2019 World Series win, crushed a home run to right field. That was, pretty much, the ballgame, right there.

Vásquez then allowed a single and a walk, before Aaron Boone replaced him with Ron Marinaccio, who got out of the inning. He allowed a home run to known steroid cheat Fernando Tatís Jr. in the 6th, to make it 4-0. Homers by Soto and Tatís: This was the performance that people expected from the Padres.

A Gleyber Torres single, an Aaron Judge double, and a Rizzo groundout made it 4-1, but that was all the Yankees would get. An RBI single by former Yankee Roughned Odor added a run in the 9th.

Padres 5, Yankees 1. WP: Musgrove (2-2). No save. LP: Vásquez (0-1), who really deserved a better fate, and certainly earned another start, given the holes in the Yankee rotation.

The series continues this afternoon. Luis Severino starts against Michael Wacha.