I can make a very simple and solid argument that the Yankees are better than the Mets.

Same record, tougher division.

In this case, success is relative. The Mets are in first place while the Yankees are in third place.

Success is also judged against expectations. The 2021 Yankees are failures because they have under-performed in a big way.

The story of the 2021 Yankees has mostly already been written. It's not pretty. They aren't winning the AL East:

"You don’t make deals like the Yankees made this week for Joey Gallo and Anthony Rizzo to win a wild card in the American League. You make moves like this to win the American League East. Full stop."

Right.

As in, "I know nothing about baseball or mathematics, so anyone reading this article can stop doing so."

I'd say the Yankees made these moves as a last-gasp effort to catch the A's and the Mariners. It increases their chances of holding off the Blue Jays, who made some decent additions of their own. I no longer think the Yankees will finish the season under .500, I'll give them that much.

The Yankees might catch the Red Sox and the Rays ... nothing is impossible ... but it would require sudden surges by just about everyone on the team not named Joey Gallo and Anthony Rizzo.

 

Not sellers, that's for sure.

If these acquisitions perform down the stretch, Yankee fans will embrace them. It seems like bad news for the Yankee future of Luke Voit. It also feels a bit like ... cheating. Not tuneups to an otherwise good team, but rather a couple of tourniquets for a desperate patient in the emergency room.

Just seems like another guy who strikes out a lot to me. On a team which already has a lot of guys who strike out a lot.

Judge was similarly pulled from tonight's lineup at the last minute, and I hear reassurances all around that Judge isn't on the trading block ... are we SURE Judge isn't on the trading block?

Undoubtedly a minor move, but the headline still made me laugh.

John Sterling is fed up.

 Twitter doing the work for me ...

Non-competitive at-bats.

I mean, I guess he has occasional hot streaks. That surely doesn't mean he should bat cleanup or #2 in the batting order. 

He's a one-trick pony with just 16 home runs this season. Few of them in big spots.

From what I can tell over the past four seasons, Stanton will strike out every time  the pitcher makes three good pitches.

Pause and check the stats.

 Trevor Story is in high demand, but he also isn't that great.

There's a more succinct term for "almost winning."

"Manager Aaron Boone remained optimistic after the game.

'These guys have handled and dealt with adversity, he said. 'We’ve dealt with it in this series and bounced back. I know we’ll do it again.'"

Most fans by now have jumped on the anti-Boone bandwagon.

See, what I can't get over right now is Torres getting picked off second base in the top of the eighth. A few days earlier when he opened up a big inning with a lazy error. The evidence is very strong that a lot of these players simply don't focus.

Boston scoring the tying and go-ahead runs on productive outs while Stanton just strikes out meekly with the bases loaded in the 7th ... on three consecutive strikes after a first-pitch ball ... against 2021 Cy Young front-runner Yacksel Rios. Stanton doesn't even battle and it's unclear if he even understands what a sac fly is.

Sure, Brantly gets a pass for stupidly thinking there were two outs and getting doubled up. He's an inconsequential third-string catcher and at least seemed to understand that he made a mistake. But this lack of professionalism is evident and costly in just about every game. The Yankees lead the majors in getting thrown out on the bases and in GIDPs.

Maybe Boone is fiery and tough "behind the scenes" ... it's doubtful ... it's also not relevant. Nobody ever gets benched and nobody ever adjusts their on-field behavior.

"The Yankees won just one of the four games in the series and fell to nine games out of the AL East and remain four games out of the wild card.

The MLB trade deadline is on Friday. Whether or not the Yankees are buyers or sellers remains to be seen."

Look, I can try to sell a bellybutton lint sculpture on ebay if I want to.

 Similarly, it should be clear that the Yankees can't be sellers.

They.

Have.

Nothing.

To.

Sell.

More than "pesky."

Not sure if I'm misunderstanding Bill Madden's sense of humor when he uses the word "pesky." Or it may be the headline editor.

The Rays are the reigning AL Champs, of course. "Pesky" is the adjective the Yankees PR department used to describe the Mariners in the late '70s.

On another note, old people are funny:

"So now it’s going to be the Cleveland Guardians, named after the iconic Guardians of Traffic statue just outside their ballpark on the Hope Memorial Bridge. Easy enough to replace the 'Ind' with 'Guard' in front of 'ians' on the front of their uniforms. With such a generic, harmless new name, perhaps the Cleveland franchise, which has been the Indians since 1915, can go another 100 years without having to change nicknames again."

Yeah, I prefer nicknames that are ... harmful?

The English language has lots of words.

MLB only has 30 teams.

Unless you're trying hard to be pointlessly insensitive or harmful, there is no reason to insult anyone with a team nickname.

The discomfort some people feel because their culture is slipping away? That's proper. 

The culture shouldn't stagnate to satisfy curmudgeons who write baseball articles as if they're intoxicated.

Feel-good small ball isn't an illusion. It's a small sample size, but it isn't an illusion.

Please don't forget that prior to Wednesday's walk-off win, the Yankee pitchers walked 10 Phillies and blew a 3-run lead in the 8th. The Phillies scored three runs that inning on one hit (a single).

The Yankees aren't very good, but they also aren't very ... smart.

"The Yankees have found different ways to lose this season, but there’s been nothing as wild as Thursday night’s gut-punch loss.

Brooks Kriske threw four wild pitches and gave up two runs in the bottom of the 10th inning as the Yankees crumbled to the Red Sox, 5-4, at Fenway.

“I am still pretty 'to my stomach,' Yankees starter Jordan Montgomery said after watching the Bombers blow a two-run lead in the ninth and a one-run lead in the 10th."

The Yankees suffer the "worst loss of the season" every week or so.

Things are bad when this is considered a highlight.

It was a three-hit shutout and now the Yankees are in fourth place and nine games out.

So, yeah.

A guy who reaches on an error kind of qualifies as a highlight.

It should also be pointed out that one of the Yankees hit a loud foul ball.

Not Stanton ... he generally strikes out on three pitches.

Depleted just when they were getting ready to sweep the Red Sox.

"Friday, they began the most critical stretch of their season with a 4-0 loss to the Red Sox with a lineup you would most likely see in a spring training road game rather than a must-win, division game in July.

Instead of  Aaron Judge, Gio Urshela, Kyle Higashioka, Jonathan Loaisiga, Nestor Cortes and Wandy Peralta, who are on the COVID-19 injured list, the Yankees had Rougned Odor hitting third and Trey Amburgey playing right field and hitting eighth in his major league debut.

They have also lost Luke Voit for at least 10 days, not with COVID-19, but with a bone bruise on his surgically repaired left knee."

I'm not slagging on Kristie Ackert. This is just the reporting of pertinent facts.

But this Yankee team is gutless and mediocre and this is the second season in a row.

In general, it seems difficult for most observers to admit to the truth that is right in front of their eyes.

 

Sure, on this specific Friday, the starting lineup was comically inept, but it wasn't that much different than a typical Sunday lineup or a mid-week Getaway Day lineup.

It doesn't explain why the following Theoretical Super Stars ... LeMahieu, Stanton, Sanchez, Torres ... combined for one hit, one walk, and and six strikeouts against a lefty who's Boston's #5 starter and a bunch of no-name mop-up guys.

It doesn't explain why the Yankees are under .500 against lefty starters.

It doesn't explain the mediocrity in the 89 games they played before this game.

The Yankees are supposed to have more depth than this, for one thing. If Cashman made this team too top-heavy, and he has no mitigants for unexpected failures, then it's his fault.

But mostly, the players on the field are simply supposed to be better than this.

Now they have a COVID excuse and, based on what I've seen from this team, I think they'll jump right on it and ride it to fourth place in the AL East.

The whole narrative of the franchise needs a true do-over 1993-style.

This joyless burden of Championship expectations, while mostly PR, seems to be finally reaching critical mass. 

The Torre era is ancient history and, yeah, of course the players on those teams can serve as role models for the current Yankees, or any baseball team for that matter. But it's also a bit much to expect every AAA call up to have the leadership abilities of HOFer Derek Jeter.

Checkmate, American League!

It's an unsual statistic in a statistically unusual year for the Yankees.

 You never know, Suzyn:

• One no-hitter.
• Three triple plays.
• Two stunning losses in the where they surrendered big leads in the ninth inning.

The most telling stat? Run differential.

The Yankees are +1 after 89 games.

In other words, a .500 team through and  through.

Chapman preserved the 11-run lead.

"He struck out three, but allowed a hit and two walks to load the bases, and also threw a wild pitch to the back netting. Ultimately, though, his scoreless ninth preserved the victory."

Justin Wilson off the Injured List to save the day.

Wilson's box score from Saturday's game: 0.0 IP, 4 H, 1 BB, 5 ER.

 

June Splits

• Team record: 12 wins, 14 losses.
• Gleyber: .211 BA, .278 SLG, 1 HR, 7 RBIs.
• Chappy: 1-2, 11.42 ERA, 8.2 IP, 11 ER, 11 BB (one IBB), 2.769 WHIP.

No triple play to bail out Chapman this time.

Chapman now has 19 walks (2 intentional) in 29 innings. A WHIP of 1.3-something and an ERA that's closer to 4.00 than it is to 3.00. 

This has been building for a while, no matter what the stats said, as he has relied on his slider for several years. Relied on a pitch that's unreliable.

Sure, he can sometimes still dial it up to 100+ MPH and stare people down after a dominant three-pitch strikeout, but these memories of glory days are few and far between.

An overlooked aspect of yesterday's Worst Loss of the Season is that, aside from the first inning, the offense was up to its old tricks again and unable to cash in a whole bunch of insurance runs.

Second inning: Andujar GIDP with first and third and one out (the moment he became indoctrinated as a True Yankee).

Third inning: Voit K with second and third and one out.

Fifth inning: LeMahieu GIDP.

Sixth inning: Torres GIDP ... I'm not making this up with all the GIDPs ... with two on and one out.

Seventh inning: Wade GIDP.

Like, eight runs should be enough ... though one look at yesterday's MLB scoreboard and you can see just how effective Spider Tack really is ... and the loss is Chapman's fault.

But the approach of the Yankee offense is a disgrace, even when they score eight runs.

3-for-12 with RISP is miraculously good for this team.

Four GIDP and more bad situational hitting throughout.

I can't even blame it on a lack of effort or letting their guard down. It seems more like the first inning was a bizarre anomaly for a bad offensive team.