I have a confession to make.

I don't care all that much about any of these individual records or milestones. The 62nd home run, the 248th strikeout ... I was listening to the Yankees game when Willy Adames broke the Brewers' single-season home run record ... for a shortstop. Baseball immortality. The fan who caught the ball should hold on to it and sell it at a later date for $20.

All impressive accomplishments in their own right, I just don't personally get all jazzed up about tracking the moment when it happens, stopping the game, saving the ball, etc.

 

This article is more of an indictment of what Sports Illustrated has become, dragged down by its own earnestness, unable to adjust to the modern world of sports reporting.

A bunch of SI writers explaining to me their opinions regarding the single-season home run record.

As if their opinion counts more than anyone else's.

As if their opinion counts more than Roger Maris Jr.'s opinion.

 

MLB doesn't need to do anything, actually. 

If people want to ignore the PED records of Bonds and the other two, they may do so.

Nothing is impossible ...

 ... but I can't see how the Yankees can win in the playoffs without a legit closer.

It looks like a normal pitcher throwing normal pitches in a normal way.

Blame the ump.

Thirty-one home runs allowed this season, and they're all bad luck or somebody else's fault.

It requires reading between the lines, but it seems obvious that his teammates don't really have his back.

Joey Gallo Update: Still Not Good at Playing Baseball at a Professional Level

Since joining the Dodgers, Gallo has hit six home runs in 96 at-bats. That isn't horrible. It's more or less the same thing he did with the Yankees.

Is it worth 45 strikeouts, a .177 batting average, a .295 on-base percentage, bad fielding, and bad baserunning?

No.

No, it isn't. 

Call it the Quadruple Crown.

Judge is .001 away from the league lead in batting average.

He leads he league in home runs, runs batted in, and runs scored.

While Stanton is still waiting to get his timing back ...

Rizzo gets three hits in his first three at-bats.

Stanton hits a lot of home runs. He has been struggling to get his timing for the past five seasons.

Box Score

 I thought I was misreading. DeGrom gets 13 strikeouts in five innings.

It is still a team game.

Judge had a hit and a walk. A tiny-sample-size .333 batting average and .500 on-base percentage.

Odd that the headline is that "Judge was shut down," as if he's literally going to hit a homer-per-game.

You know who was shut down?

Giancarlo Stanton.

The four-strikeout "golden sombrero" for the second game in a row.

Batting literally 100 points lower than Aaron Judge, .312 vs. .212.

"There are no more turns. This is the final stretch and the Yankees are limping towards the finish line, literally. The Bombers have pinned their hopes on getting players like Anthony Rizzo, DJ LeMahieu and Luis Severino back and turning back into the dominating team they were in the first half of the season."

I'm not sure anyone expects them to start playing .700 ball again, but last night was a reminder that this team is not very good.

Also ... don't forget about Benintendi!

What happened to Montas?

Fifteen walks and five HBP in forty innings since joining the Yankees. To go along with a 1-3 record and 6.35 ERA.

Clutch

I can find his batting average with RISP. It's .372.

I can also find his batting average with two outs and RISP. It's .410.

How many have put the Yankees ahead or tied the game? A lot.

What is the Yankees' record with he hits a home run compared to when he does not? Somebody certainly has done the research and I'm sure the difference is stark.

Today's starting lineup.

Andujar in LF, Hicks on the bench.

Why were the Yankees so hesitant to do this in April, May, June, July, August, and the first week of September? 

Embarrassing performance vs. Rays in series opener.

Then you double-check and realize this clip is from three weeks ago.

Cashman and Boone get the loss they asked for.

Hicks should never play another game for the Yankees. But I have said that multiple times this season after multiple "nightmare" performances.

At some point, Boone's positivity becomes delusional and contradictory to what you saw with your own eyes. 

A great jump on the ball that he dropped. By the way, Hicks hadn't had a good jump on a ball for five years and the "cannon arm" reputation is built on a YouTube clip from twelve years ago.

Stanton had an impressive 12-pitch strikeout. A truly impressive feat during his current 5-for-45 slide.

Gleyber got his occasional home run, but I'm more impressed with the four balls he hit to the warning track this week.

Hicks, of course, is also one of the prime examples of Cashman stubbornness. The size of the contract is not a huge deal by today's standards. Hicks never lived up to it, but there was no particular need to rush him out the door 

Now he's a shell of a major league player. The idea that he's going to turn it around is absurd at this point. He's a symbol of Cashman's self-destructive tendency to throw good money after bad.

I'm going to guess eight years, $350 million, not the Yankees.

Judge's decision to reject Cashman's offer results in an extra $140 million.

One factor in rejecting the Yankees is that Judge is not convinced that Cashman can build a winning team around him.

In the unlikely event that the Yankees win the World Series this year, I retract these predictions. 

In that case, Judge signs with the Yankees and is named Captain and signs an immediate lucrative endorsement deal with Gateway Kia, the discount Kia giant.

Judge has stolen 15 bases in 17 attempts.

If voters want to stubbornly give the MVP to Ohtani, I don't think anyone will really care too much, but the closer you look, the more astonishing Judge's season has been. 

Willie Randolph isn't walking through that door.

Of course it's ridiculous to put Gleyber in the leadoff spot. His on-base percentage is .289. His baserunning, while described by some as "aggressive," is actually just baffling and idiotic.

It's conceivable that Boone is hoping to spur Gleyber to take a different approach at the plate and squelch the HR-or-nothing tendency that has ruined him. But Gleyber should have learned that three or four years ago.

Besides, where else are you going to bat Gleyber? 

Who else is going to bat leadoff?

LeMahieu, of course, but not lately.

The problem with LeMahieu is probably his foot injury ... or it may just be an extended slump ... but the reasons why don't matter too much with one month left in the pennant race.

If I was making the lineup, I'd probably put Judge 3rd and Stanton 4th and hope for the best.

But if the non-Judge batters are going to combine for zero hits, the lineup configuration doesn't really matter.

The starting lineup for the biggest game of the year.

 Gleyber benched, Hicks in left field.

Judge has 51 HR and is batting .363 with RISP.

I actually don't care one bit if he isn't a vocal leader.

In a game in which he made two fielding errors and struck out twice, Donaldson was jawing with the opposing team's pitcher. One thing I know about leadership in MLB: .220 hitters can't be leaders.

LeMahieu is batting .189 with RISP this season.

Hicks has a .303 slugging percentage for the year.

The long-awaited return of Stanton has resulted in 3-for-31 and about 100 runners left on base.

Everyone already knows what the rest of the weekend will look like. 

The Yankees won't get shut out three times in the Tampa sweep ... three shutouts in a row isn't likely ... they'll manage five or six runs over the next couple of games.

Torres will hit an opposite field home run and we will once again be reminded that he is at his best when he gets behind the ball and goes to the opposite field.

Stanton will hit a home run and it will mean he's getting his timing back.

Donaldson will get an RBI single and it will be the hit that finally gets him going. It will also be the only hit the Yankees have with RISP this weekend. One-for-the-weekend with RISP.

Boone will say that he was encouraged by the "traffic" and good at-bats because the Yankees hit a few balls that died at the warning track. The sweep is disappointing but they're trying hard and will have to pick it up.

Showdown with the Rays

Like most Yankee fans, I think the Boone-era Yankees have a tendency to back down.

So the once-inconceivable descent into the wild card round seems like a strong possibility at this point.

That felt like a playoff preview as the Rays close in.

Five games on the loss side.

The same old weird story with Cole. A delayed start to the inning; an error by the shortstop; followed by an ill-timed "one bad pitch," which somehow wasn't his fault.

In a 3-2 loss, the offense deserves most of the blame, and that blame is spread around.

But Cole gets derailed by the littlest things all the time.

Also, I'd like to point out that nothing magical happens when the calendar flips to September. The Yankees haven't put August "behind them" just because the calendar says so. 

It's September and Mantle and Maris are walking through the door.