Yanks Sweep the Birds In the Baltimore Bandbox

Certain people who hate the Yankees, especially Met fans, claim that Yankee Stadium II is "a little league park," where it's too easy to hit home runs. They forget that the short porch in right field gets canceled out by "Death Valley" in left and center.

If there's "a little league park" in the American League East, it's not The House That Steinbrenner Built. Nor is it Fenway Park, the little green pinball machine in Boston's Back Bay: Center and straightaway right field offset the Green Monster in left field and the right-field corner. It's Oriole Park at Camden Yards, the Baltimore bandbox.

Baseball giveth and baseball taketh away: Will the 2026 Yankees ever have their starting rotation fully healthy? Max Fried went on the Injured List on Tuesday, but Carlos Rodón came off it. He was only risked for 4 innings and 66 pitches, and he allowed 1 run.

But the bullpen was fantastic. Yerry de los Santos allowed just 1 hit in 2 innings, Brent Headrick got out outs and Fernando Cruz the 3rd in the 7th, Paul Blackburn pitched a hitless 8th, and David Bednar pitched a perfect 9th.

That performance deserved run support. Trent Grisham provided it, as he hit a home run in the 3rd, and singled 2 runs home in the 7th. Yankees 3, Orioles 1. de los Santos was credited with his 1st win as a Yankee, the 2nd win of his career.

Will Warren started on Wednesday night as if he was debuting off the IL, allowing 2 runs in 4 innings. But, again, the bullpen did the job, allowing just 1 run the rest of the way. The Yankees picked up 2 runs in the 2nd inning and got a homer from Ben Rice in the 3rd.

In the bottom of the 3rd, Pete Alonso homered for the Orioles. In the 7th, with the scored 3-3, the man the Mets let get away last off-season after becoming their all-time home run leader -- just barely surpassing the total Derek Jeter had for 10th place on the Yankees' list -- came up again, and hit a drive down the left-field line. Most observers, those in the ballpark and those watching on TV, thought it landed fair. To me, it looked like the ball scraped the foul pole, which would have made it a home run. But the umpires ruled it foul, and after a video review, they upheld the call.

Yankee-Haters online went ballistic. Met fans on Facebook were saying the umpires were fixing the game in favor of the Yankees. Which is ridiculous: Since when have the umpires favored the Yankees, rather than their opponents?

The Orioles melted down in the top of the 8th. With 1 out, Cam Sanders hit Heliot Ramos with a pitch, and walked Jazz Chisholm. Sanders struck Spencer Jones out, but then he hit José Caballero to load the bases. Oriole manager Craig Albernaz took him out, and brought in Yennier Cano (no relation to Robinson). George Lombard Jr. hit a grounder to 3rd, and Coby Mayo fielded it, but couldn't make a play at any base, and Ramos scored to make it 4-3. With Austin Wells up, Cano threw a wild pitch to score Chisholm.

That 5-3 margin made Alonso's would-be home run meaningless, and held up as the final score. Headrick, who pitched a perfect 7th, was the winning pitcher.

Gerrit Cole pitched like an ace last night: Limited by his injury rehab to 6 innings, he allowed 1 run on 4 hits and 1 walk, striking out 8. Ryan Yarbrough, not exactly having impressed me so far this season, pitched 3 perfect innings to finish the game off.

The Yankees picked up 3 runs in the 3rd, got home runs by Luis García Jr. and Jones in the 6th, and an RBI triple by Chisholm in the 8th. Yankees 6, Orioles 1.

The Yankees have 35 games left in the regular season. In the American League Eastern Division, they trail the Tampa Bay Rays by 4 games, both straight-up and in the loss column. The Boston Red Sox are 8 games behind, the Toronto Blue Jays 14, and the Orioles 15 1/2. The race is far from over.

The Yankees begin a 3-game home weekend series tonight, against those pesky Blue Jays. Come on you Pinstripes!

Yanks Sweep Nats

After salvaging the last game of a bad 4-game series against the hated Red Sox, the Yankees took on the struggling Washington Nationals at home.

On Monday night, rookie Cam Schlittler kept the nice start to his career going. He pitched 6 shutout innings, allowing 4 hits and 3 walks, striking out 8. He had thrown 96 pitches. A sensible manager would have let him in.

We will never know if Aaron Boone is a sensible manager, because Brian Cashman has ordered him to observe a pitch limit. So he brought Yerry De los Santos in to pitch the 7th inning. He pitched a perfect 7th and a scoreless 8th. Sounds good, right? Right. Under these circumstances, Boone would be expected to take him out and bring in another pitcher to pitch the 9th, right?

Well, he would be expected to, but he didn't. You see, the Yankees had a 10-0 lead. Yes, they gave a pitcher who had given them a great start a lot of offense. Ben Rice, Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Jasson Domínguez hit home runs. Domínguez and Cody Bellinger each had 3 RBIs. And De los Santos had only thrown 22 pitches. So, this time, no need to tax the bullpen any further.

De los Santos allowed a single to start the top of the 9th, but got a double play. One out to go. Then he allowed single, single, bases-loading walk, bases-loaded walk. Now, Boone had to bring in another reliever. It was Mark Leiter Jr., and he allowed a grand slam. Suddenly, it was 10-5. But Leiter got a strikeout for the final out.

De los Santos was optioned to Triple-A ball. He needs more seasoning. Hopefully, next year, he'll be ready for the major leagues. (He'll be 28 in December: He should already be ready.)

On Tuesday night, Luis Gil took the mound. He pitched 5 innings, allowed 1 run on 5 hits and 4 walks, and struck out 5. This time, Boone used 4 relievers, and they allowed no runs. He deserved run support, and Giancarlo Stanton supplied it all: A 3-run double in the 3rd inning, and a long 2-run homer in the 6th. Yankees 5, Nationals 1.

Could Max Fried keep the strong starts going yesterday afternoon, in the series finale? He could. He took a no-hitter into the 6th inning, and finished the 7th having allowed 1 tin on 4 hits and 2 walks, striking out 6.

Could the Yankees keep up the strong run support? They could. How many times did the Yankees score in the bottom of the 3rd inning?

Nine times. This included home runs by Judge, Bellinger, Rice and Ryan McMahon. Trent Grisham and Austin Wells also homered in the game. Yankees 11, NationJudge, Sweep completed, winning streak at 4.

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There are 39 games left in the regular season. The Yankees are 4 1/2 games behind those pesky Toronto Blue Jays in the American League Eastern Division -- 4 in the all-important loss column.

If the current standings hold at the end of the regular season, the Yankees will be the 5th seed in the AL side of the Playoffs, playing the despised Boston Red Sox, who would have the home-field advantage -- something we badly want to avoid.

The Yankees now head west, for 4 games in Chicago against the White Sox. Given how much the Nats were struggling, how historically bad the ChiSox have been the last 2 years, and how much more difficult the Yankees' schedule will be after that, it was imperative that they do well in this stretch of 7 games. So far, so good.

Yankees Take 2 of 3 From Twins, But It's Unsatisfying

For the Yankees, the Minnesota Twins are frequently a cure for what ails them. This time, they were a decent treatment, but not a full cure.

A series between the teams began on Monday night, at Yankee Stadium II. Will Warren started, and pitched very well into the 7th inning. Home runs were hit by Cody Bellinger, Giancarlo Stanton, Ben Rice and Jazz Chisholm. The Yankees won, 6-2.

Carlos Rodón started on Tuesday night, and it looked like it would be one of those nights. He began the game by giving up a single to Austin Martin. He walked Byron Buxton. He hit Ryan Jeffers with a pitch, to load the bases with nobody out.

But, just as quickly, he turned it around: He struck Luke Keaschall out, got Royce Lewis to ground into a force play that scored Martin, and struck Kody Clemens (Roger's son) out. Getting out of that jam with just 1 run was a relief. He was brilliant after that, allowing just 1 more baserunner, a walk, through the 7th inning.

Stanton hit his 441st career home run. Aaron Judge hit his 353rd -- or 100 more than Pete Alonso, who, the same night, became the Mets' all-time leader. Anthony Volpe also hit a home run. The Yankees won, 9-1.

But last night's game was typical of the Yankees' post-2009 failures. Rookie Cam Schlittler was fine for 5 innings: 1 run on 2 hits and 2 walks, striking out 6. He had thrown 86 pitches, hardly too many. He should have been left in the game. But  Aaron Boone -- possibly on orders from Brian Cashman -- took him out.

And Yerry De los Santos began the top of the 6th by giving up a single to Buxton, a single to Keaschall, and a double to Clemens. Having reached the 3-batter minimum, he was removed for Mark Leiter Jr. He got a couple of popups, then allowed a double to Royce Lewis, to make it 4-1 Twins.

That turned out to be the final score, because the Yankees only got 7 baserunners: A home run by Cody Bellinger; a double by Volpe; singles by Stanton, Rice and Trent Grisham; and walks by Bellinger and Ryan McMahon. They were 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position.

I can't really be upset for taking 2 out of 3 in a home series. But they should have put up more of an effort last night. As occasionally happens with the Yankees, taking 2 out of 3 ended up being unsatisfying.

With 41 games left in the regular season, the Yankees are 6 games behind the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League Eastern Division. If the current AL standings hold to the rest of the season, they will be the 6th and final seed. And you do not want to be the 6th and final seed.

The Yankees have today off, and start a roadtrip this weekend: 3 in St. Louis, then a day off, then 2 in Tampa, before coming home to face the Boston Red Scum.