The Yankees sure are streaky this year.

"You know who nobody wants to play in the first round of the playoffs? The Yankees, with or without Sonny Gray."

The White Sox would sign up right now for that matchup.


"This year’s Yankees now have as much bullpen as the Indians did when they made it all the way to Game 7 of the World Series last year, and you may have noticed they have more stick."

All the way to Game 7!


"It seems these Yankees are hardly ever out of a game. By now it’s clear there is some magic to them, especially when they’re down, even when they go more than a month of baseball without winning a single series."

A lot of clutchiness for a team that is 11-19 in one-run games.
 

"The Yankees come from behind. A lot. The Yankees tie games in the ninth inning or later or win them. They get down 9-1 to the Orioles in April and come back and ring up 14 runs of their own and win the game. They are down to the Cubs at Wrigley in the 9th and Brett Gardner hits a home run and they come back again and beat the Cubs this time. They are down to the Red Sox at Fenway after Chris Sale has pitched like as much of an ace as there is in baseball, but then Matt Holliday hits one off Craig Kimbrel in the 9th and the Yankees finally win in 16.

Clint Frazier hits a walk-off home run to win a game against the Brewers three weeks ago. The Yankees are down 5-3 to the Rays on Thursday night at Yankee Stadium and get it to 5-4 in the bottom of the 8th and then Gary Sanchez sneaks a ball through a shift and they tie it with two outs in the bottom of the 9th and then Gardner goes deep again and they win again."

Great wins. They've also lost a lot of games they "shoulda won."


"We talk all the time about starting pitching. Guess what?"

I give up. What?


"After Sale, you tell me which starting pitcher scares you for the Boston Red Sox? Rick Porcello? Take a look at his record. He’s 4-14 and has pitched like a scrub this season."

Oh. I thought you were going to say, "Chicken Butt."


"Do the Yankees need another starter? You bet."

You bet!


"After 21-9 they went 27-36, you bet."

You better, you better, you bet.


"The rest of the division had six weeks to put them away. Didn’t. Or couldn’t. Look out for the Yankees the rest of the way."

Sounds like a jinx, but I can't slag on a team that's in first place and on a winning streak.

Also, the Yankees are currently one half game up on Boston. After reading this article, you'd think they were 15 games up and playing .700 ball for the season.


After praising the Yankees on their roller coaster trip through the 2017 season, I'd just like to highlight a gratuitous, out-of-nowhere slag of Lucas Duda:
 
"Two things on Lucas Duda:

One, he was a terrific pickup for Tampa Bay.

Two?

So far, anyway, I’m not missing him nearly as much as I thought I would."

 Maybe I'm missing an anti-Duda subtext ... or a joke?

"So far" is, like, three whole games.

But what's up with the unnecessary rip on Lucas Duda, of all people?