Top Three Reasons

According to me:

1. He got a little fat and happy.
2. The ball was de-juiced.
3. His power numbers were artificially inflated by his success vs. Baltimore,
   

I didn't think Ortiz's candidacy was generally questioned.

"But while that will be a big storyline this voting year, two more controversial newcomers make the cut: Alex Rodriguez and David Ortiz."

This is followed by a detailed description of ARod's PED problems, as well as Pettitte's.

No mention of suspicions against Ortiz.

I personally think Ortiz took PEDs and it's obvious and the voters should take that into consideration if they so choose.

But I seem to be in the minority. So I'm not sure why Ortiz's candidacy is controversial. I expect him to sail into Cooperstown.

Yankee fans are psyched to hear this news.

Attendance and viewership: The stats that really matter.

"What should be on the table, however, is how to reverse baseball’s downward trend lines in attendance, TV ratings and overall fan enthusiasm. Eventually, that Fox money will dry up, especially if viewership keeps shrinking.

...

What’s going on here, you ask? I think you know. The games are slow and boring: too many strikeouts, too many defensive shifts, too little action due to the suffocating dominance of pitching and defense. While it’s true the athletes are bigger, stronger and better-conditioned than ever, the final product is now governed by analytical efficiency, not entertainment.

We could devote an entire symposium on the pros and cons of Ivy Leaguers turning front offices into think tanks. The game’s IQ has increased exponentially. But clearly something is wrong if fewer fans are tuning in and a diminishing number of them feel like making the trek to the stadium. That’s what the players and owners should be discussing — not how to cut up the pie, but how to save the pie itself."

 

The Yankees should have acquired Jorge Soler! The guy who was batting .192 with the Royals!

"The Yankees had the same chance to improve themselves in July that the Braves did."

Each season, one team wins the World Series, and only one.

Of course the Yankees could have made better acquisitions at the trade deadline. This is puerile reverse engineering.

For that matter, the Red Sox had the same chance to improve themselves, but fell short. The Dodgers blew it by acquiring Max Scherzer instead of Jorge Soler.

 

I didn't know who this guy was until the NLCS.

There is no narrative about Buck Showalter.

"The idea that Buck Showalter is too old to relate to modern (re: young) baseball players is dumber than rocks.

All those pushing this boneheaded narrative, or buying into it, do know that Buck is just two years older than Thibodeau, right?

What really would be dumber than rocks is if the next general manager of the Mets – if they ever get around to hiring a new general manager – doesn’t call Buck."

I thought his bluntness was funny.

LeMahieu had a bad year, Gleyber isn't as good as I thought, etc.

Our strengths weren't as strong as we thought.

A continuing fascination with Buck Showalter.

At this point, one has to wonder why Lupica is such a shill for Showalter. 

Sure, in a quid pro quo world, this will ensure access to Showalter's in-demand observational gems, such as, "run prevention is as important as run production" ... but he's giving that away on the cheap:

"Once Steve Cohen — worst rookie the Mets had this season — gets through chasing the star names as he looks for his next general manager, he ought to go hire Josh Byrnes, the 51-year-old vice president of baseball operations for the Dodgers, who sure seem to know how to do it.

Then Byrnes, if he gets the gig, should hire Buck Showalter to be the next manager of the Mets."

 

Let's talk all winter about Wilmer Flores. You guys wanna talk all winter about Wilmer Flores?:

"We can talk all winter about Wilmer Flores, our old friend now with the Giants, getting a bad call to end Game 5 against the Dodgers on Thursday night.

But it’s not as if Wilmer got jobbed on a 3-2 pitch with the bases loaded.

There were two outs, guy on first, he was up against Max Scherzer, against whom he was 0-for-17 lifetime in that moment, about to become 0-for-18."

Agreed. 

But it was still an obviously bad call to end the game. A playoff game, at that.

No, it wasn't a 3-2 pitch with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning of a decisive playoff game with the home team losing by one run.

A situation that has probably occurred zero times in the history of baseball.

 

It was clearly a bad call.

He thought he went. Simple as that. It happens all the time. This was just horrible timing.

But with pro sports embracing pro gambling ... it's something to consider. Some folks are inclined to think the games are "thrown" with or without gambling.

Yes, it's true. The Yankees have to prove they can beat the Rays.

 Let's talk about Alex Rodriguez, huh?:

"Who knows, maybe they can even have the kind of moment that Alex Rodriguez had 12 years ago, when he made things right, for himself and the Yankees, after the Yankees had gone nine years at the time without winning the World Series."

The Yankees have been under-performing for a long time. The projected trajectory following the 2017 playoffs has not worked out. The Rays are better than the Yankees and so are several other teams.

 

Having said that, I can state for sure that the 2021 Yankees are better than the 2021 Mets. So the Yankees have once again won the Battle for New York:

"The Yankees were built to win now. It should have started with winning their division again, something they rarely have done since the last time they won the Series. But the chance is there for Giancarlo Stanton, one of the Yankees’ $300 million stars, to be great in October of 2021. The same chance is there for Gerrit Cole. Cole got paid $324 million in Yankee money, more than any pitcher anywhere was ever paid."

...

Ask the question again: If the Yankees aren’t built to win now, then when?"

Next year. That's when. For sure, 100%.

 

"And say this again: You don’t trade as many prospects as Brian Cashman did at the trade deadline, don’t bring in reinforcements like Anthony Rizzo and Joey Gallo just to be one of the two wild card teams in the American League. Don’t give away that much depth in your farm system, whether they were top-tier kids or not, just to make the tournament."

Yeah, they stink.

Ask the question again: What does that have to do with ARod?

Off Ottavino ... which, for some reason, just makes it more pleasurable for Yankee fans.

Mike Lupica now publishes transcripts from WFAN callers.

"But if they do fall short of the postseason, or get bounced out of it in a division round the way they did last season against the Rays, a team spending about $130 million less on baseball players than they do, then the Yankees will arrive at a crossroads when this season is over, if they haven’t arrived at one already."

The Rays have never won a World Series, so they are not successful. That's not my paradigm, that's your paradigm.

"I received an email on Friday morning from a friend who is as smart and passionate and reasonable as any Yankee fan on the planet."

Even smarter than you?

"He attended his first game as a seven-year-old at the old Stadium in 1977. So he came to the Yankees with those teams, with Reggie and Munson and Guidry and Sweet Lou. And then, after college, he got the whole show from Torre’s Yankees, the last Yankee dynasty we will ever see."

Ha ha ha. What?

Does he think that the managers should bunt more often and when's the last time you saw a hit-and-run, can you tell me that?

“'This is the most important storyline in New York sports right now — the future of the New York Yankees. Hal Steinbrenner has to determine whether he is better served by acting boldly or embracing stability. Maybe he’s afraid of change, but when you have one of the best jobs in pro sports to offer very attractive candidates, those fears really seem silly, unless Hal really doesn’t have the stomach to serve as Yankees owner. Again, all he needs to do is look north to see how being cold and cutthroat has served the Boston Red Sox. If the Red Sox thought it had grown stale with Theo Epstein only 4 years after he led them to their 2nd World Series championship, where are we with a front office that has delivered only one championship in the last 20 years?'"

Sure; nothing new here.

The Yankees stink. It's worse because they're under-achievers.

"But if they can’t, in another season when they can’t even win their division, then it will be time for the owner to actually act like one."

So fire Cashman already.

I don't even know why we're talking about the Red Sox, but fire Cashman and see what happens. 

Nothing happens ... unless the batters on the team miraculously stop hitting into double plays.

The Yankees are boring, gutless under-achievers even if they miraculously win the World Series, and they've been boring, gutless under-achievers for two full seasons now. 

The Wild Card doesn't excite the fan base, nor should it. 

The Yankee don't deserve to make the playoffs. Neither do the Red Sox or the Blue Jays.

The only Baby Bomber who isn't a bust is Aaron Judge, and at least a couple of the Baby Bombers don't even seem to care about playing baseball as a profession.

The "World Series or Bust" stuff is a red herring. Cashman is a VP of a company whose net worth has increased over 10x in 20 years.

"But if the 2021 Yankees don’t play deep into October, if they don’t get close to winning the dozen games that means they’ve won it all, then where are they, really, with the current vision of the team? Where are they with a program that never ever seems to have enough starting pitching, and has a plodding swing-and-miss offense that lacks both versatility and speed and even flair, and is joined at the hip with Giancarlo Stanton forever?"

The Rays win division titles and play deep into October without enough starting pitching and with a plodding swing-and-miss offense that lacks both versatility and speed and even flair.

The Rays have 207 HRs and 1,430 strikeouts.

The Yankees have 203 HRs and 1,362 strikeouts.

The Rays starter with the most IP is Ryan Yarborough, and it's just 144 innings ... and his ERA is 5.30.

 

So how do the Rays beat the Yankees and win so many games with such a low payroll?

We know how.

They have mostly abandoned the idea of a starting pitching rotation, and they've mostly abandoned the idea of a versatile offense (even if they have more stolen bases than I figured).

They seem to have players that are smarter and tougher than the Yankees, but that could surely be nullified in a short series.

Do you really want to replace Cashman with a bold GM who follows the Rays model?

OK then.

Trade Cole for three setup guys.

 

 

The catching situation.

"It's been a bad week for Gary Sanchez defensively.

On Thursday, although charged as wild pitches to Clay Holmes, Sanchez couldn't catch two pitches, bringing in the Orioles' tying run in the bottom of the ninth. They eventually lost, 3-2.

On Sept. 10, Joe Gallo threw a dart that had Mets' Jonathan Villar out by several feet, but Sanchez inexplicably went for a high tag that Villar got under - Villar was safe.

On Saturday Sanchez dropped a foul pop-up right behind home plate in the fifth inning. 

After the pop-up fell to the dirt, the Indians piled it on for seven runs that inning."

"In my general experience playing baseball, catchers should try to catch the pitch."

"Not to mention, tag runners at home plate."

“Yeah, that heater up and away there, you probably gotta get to,” Boone said. “It’s obviously tough in that spot where it’s rainy and it’s wet, I think that probably affected pitchers grip-wise and stuff and footing. It was a tough night in that regard. Just a tough one that we gotta get over.

“There were a couple that seemed like it slipped out for whatever reason, I’m sure the elements had something to do with that, but those are balls we gotta try and keep in front of us.”

 

"Almost losing" is also known as "winning."

The Spider Tack story is long forgotten.

The historical key to Yankee Championship teams is to have a mediocre player at second base instead of a mediocre player at shortstop.

The Yankees put a lot of faith in this guy and he has been a bust. He is still very young ... shockingly young ... but it's hard to believe he is going to turn it around.

Maybe the Yankees think they are in first place and their main goal is to stay healthy for the deep playoff run.

If you're going to bring in Andrew Heaney with the bases loaded and one out in the fifth inning, while the game is still within reach, it is difficult for a fan to emotionally commit to this team.

Loser.

Quite a contrast to the recent reminders of Jeter's flip play.

It's over for Gleyber and Sanchez. If they don't want to learn their craft, put in some effort, stay in shape ... get rid of them.

The end of the Andrew Heaney era.

Eleven home runs allowed in thirty innings ought to be enough of an indicator to never put him on the mound again.

Over time, Gleyber revealed himself to be a fraud.

I was fooled. I thought Gleyber was going to be an MVP candidate. I thought he was going to bat third in a powerful lineup for years to come.

A closer examination reveals his success at the plate in the majors is mostly based on a one-season freakish domination of the Baltimore Orioles. 

The second coming of Rob Refsnyder.

"Lackadasical play" is bad, sure. Frustrating to watch.

I can also think of plenty of productive players who were lackadasical in the field. I can think of HOF players who were lackadasical in the field.

The bottom line is that Torres only has six home runs this entire season. 

If you're going to be no-field/no-hit, you will be replaced by a light-hitting slick fielder. Those guys are easy to find.

Moving Gleyber to second base doesn't solve the problem. The Yankees don't need a second baseman who hits .250 with six home runs.

The difference between correlation and causation.

The Yankees went on a 13-game winning streak shortly after acquiring Joey Gallo. However, he has stunk the whole time.

Oh, yeah. That guy we all forgot about.

 Aaron Judge is hitting .300 with 30 HRs.

Gearing up for a pennant race at the Daily News.

Kyle Higashioka has a home run every 16.9 at-bats.

Gary Sanchez has a home run every 17.6 at-bats.

 

Sanchez is better overall, but not by much.

While Sanchez has lost considerable shine over the past couple of seasons, he is still one of the Baby Bombers.

Higashioka is an afterthought for most fans and observers.

If Higashioka can play better defense? In the playoffs? He might be preferable over Sanchez.

Tedious take.

"The comeback, this winning streak, the rise from the dead -- it's all been a pleasure to watch. Even those nail-biting ninth innings have been kind of cool, sometimes. If you told me the Yankees would win 34 of their next 45 games after that Mets loss, let alone still be in the Wild Card hunt, I would have laughed at you.

But now that they are almost a lock to make the postseason (like we expected months ago) here is a reminder that anything less than an American League pennant is unacceptable.

...

As things stood on Opening Day, you could not name one Yankee fan who would have been happy with anything short of a World Series appearance. You're not allowed to go from Opening Day American League favorite to 'it would be nice to make a run' just because you made a comeback from what once looked to be a lost season."

You're not allowed to enjoy simply enjoy the ride and enjoy being a fan of a baseball team.

If the Yankee don't make the World Series in 2021, it would be unacceptable. Which is a filler adjective devoid of meaning. I don't accept that an event happened. An undesirable event. The consequences will be ... ummm ... I'm not sure. I will blog derisively.

 

 

I mean, OK: The Yankees have to make the World Series in 2021.

If they don't make the World Series, the season will be a failure.

Which means the season will probably be a failure. 

I could have told you that one month ago or three months ago or nine months ago or ten years ago. No team ever started a season with a 51% chance of making the World Series and the rest is just boring PR.

We already know the rest of the story, anyway.

If the Yankees win the World Series in 2021, it's only one. 

It's still not as good as the Torre Yankees or the Stengel Yankees or the McCarthy Yankees and Taillon can't hold a candle to Real Champs like Pettitte and Arroyo and Herb Pennock.

I've been a Yankee fans since 1875 and, let me tell you, in the clutch, you need a guy like Herb Pennock who one time threw back-to-back-to-back no-hitters in the playoffs and never threw one ball out of the strike zone the whole time. Two-hundred innings in one weekend and he didn't complain once. Now I see Cole come out of a game after 7 2/3 innings while Lefty Gomez spins in his grave.

If the Yankees win the World Series in 2021 and it starts a streak of four Championships in a row, it's still not as impressive as what Epstein did with the Red Sox or what Tampa did with a smaller payroll. Sure, I'm happy that LeMahieu hit .350 in the playoffs, but it's not not as impressive as Tom Brady's seven Super Bowl rings.

 

I'll design a credo that make easier on fans and analysts:

• Winning is good.
• Winning is fun.
• Winning is always better than losing.
  

Rojas made a bad managerial move for sure.

 Having said that:

1. The relief pitcher can get a batter out.
2. The team can score more than two runs.
   

Is it a major league statistic if the opponent is the Orioles?

"A Maddux describes a start in which a pitcher tosses a shutout on fewer than 100 pitches. It's named after Hall of Fame pitcher -- and former Brave -- Greg Maddux. Fried joined the ranks of two other Braves pitchers who tossed shutouts on 90 or fewer pitches (since pitch counts began being tracked in 1988): Tom Glavine and Maddux himself, who did it five times and was the last Braves pitcher to do it in 90 pitchers or fewer."

It's named after career 39-game winner Mike Maddux, who once threw 100 pitches in one inning, in a childhood backyard wiffle ball game.

I think I first blogged about this in 1996.

No, wait.

I didn't have a blog in 1996.

I probably didn't have a home computer in 1996.

Spider Tack back in the headlines all of a sudden.

Voit is good.

Everything he is saying is true.

I am not sure why so many Yankee fans want to the guy to be traded.

More importantly, it's nice to be proven wrong once again:

"The Yankees have won five straight and 12 of 15 to narrowly overtake Boston for second in the AL East. New York enters Wednesday with a 68-52 record, and Boston is 69-53 -- a difference of .001 percentage points. The Yankees were 10 1/2 games behind the first-place Red Sox on July 5 but have gone 26-11 since."

 

What is happening with Clint Frazier?

60-day DL?

It almost seems as if his career is over.

Lucas Luetge is now a True Yankee.

With a four-run lead in the bottom of the ninth, Luetge walks the leadoff hitter.

It's a rule with Yankees closers.

I truly don't understand the lack of professionalism/coaching. Throw a batting practice fastball if you must. If the batter hits it 600 feet, you have a three-run lead in the bottom of the ninth.

A few batters later, and the game-winning run is at the plate.

Make them earn it, at the very least.

Not impressive.

It doesn't work this way, but perhaps Britton thinks this is an refreshing display of self-awareness and humility?:

"Britton spoke to Boone in the wake of giving up a walk-off, two-run shot by White Sox All-Star shortstop Tim Anderson in Chicago's 9-8 win over the Yankees in Thursday's "Field of Dreams" game in Iowa.

'I told him I don't deserve to be out there in the ninth inning; other guys deserve it,' Britton said Saturday before Game 2 of the Yankees-White Sox series at Guaranteed Rate Field. 'I haven't been pitching the way I should be to be out there when the team needs wins. I told [Boone] I want to pitch, whenever you need me I'll be ready, but I don't deserve to be out there in those situations.'

Subbing in as the team's closer, and put in charge of the ninth inning with Aroldis Chapman on the injured list due to left elbow inflammation, Britton has had four save opportunities and converted only one. Britton has an 8.10 ERA in those four appearances, giving up three earned runs over 3⅓ innings pitched."

...

"Britton has been dealing with command issues, which he has attached to his routine being disrupted by missing spring training to undergo left elbow surgery. The 33-year-old also hasn't completely recuperated from suffering major weight loss after contracting COVID-19 in the offseason."

"Command issues" is an understatement. Fourteen walks in sixteen innings. 

I don't think it's just his "routine being disrupted," or a physical glitch. 

He has always bean a crafty lefty working the corners and unwilling to throw a pitch down the middle of the plate. But there are times when you have to throw a strike. Like when it's the bottom of the ninth and you're up 0-2 on a #9 hitter and the next batter is Tim Anderson. I think it's a strategic and mental problem as well as a physical problem.

Then when you beg out of closing, I think it's very fair to question your nerve.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, I suppose ...

 ... but Noah Syndergaard is complaining about the travel schedule while he's on the IL ... and Albert Belle, of all people, questioned the toughness of star players who are not playing due to questionable injuries.

Ex-ballplayer plays the chalk.

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.

This reminded me of something that all Yankee fans and players needed to be reminded of.

"King said that the Yankees have been holding meetings in the clubhouse, led by veterans Brett Gardner, Aaron Judge, Gerrit Cole, Darren O’Day and Luke Voit, all of whom he described as 'very vocal.'

'We’ve been having some conversations,' King said. 'I’ve got a lot of respect for everybody in that locker room. I still have a lot of faith that we’ll get it together, but it has not clicked yet. And it’s frustrating.'"

It reminded me that Darren O'Day is on the Yankees.

I think Voit might still has some trade value.

"With Judge, the Yanks not only have a financial consideration with Gerrit Cole, DJ LeMahieu and Giancarlo Stanton all locked for big dollars for a while, but more of a structural issue. How long can the Yanks expect someone of Judge’s size to maintain athleticism and be a useful fielder? Because it is not like they can flip him to DH. For Stanton is near unmovable with his trifecta of large salary through 2027, poor health and a no-trade clause.

Judge is not the Yankees’ problem. But Gleyber Torres has lost value. Gary Sanchez has not regained enough to get much back in a trade. The Yanks missed their best window with Miguel Andujar, Clint Frazier and Luke Voit."

But we all agree that the season is slipping away.

I think the Yankees want to keep Judge because he's popular with the fans, but ... yeah.

Oh, and put Stanton in LF already. If he gets hurt, that's a real shame. The Yankees might fall into fourth place in the AL East, and that would be intolerable.

Gerrit Cole used Spider Tack and now he will stop using Spider Tack, along with everyone else. Cole will still be one of the best starting pitchers in baseball.

The Yankees faced a mediocre lefty at Fenway Park and could barely get the ball out of the infield. A mediocre lefty who, presumably, is not using Spider Tack.

The Yankees should collectively bat around .300 vs. lefties and the team should have a .700 winning percentage when they face a lefty starter.

Instead, they all strike out on three pitches whenever they get runners on base.

The Yankees shouldn't be worried about the Spider Tack crackdown. Cole will figure it out. They should celebrate by scoring six runs per game instead of four runs per game.

I am not defending the totality of Jacoby Ellsbury's contract.

I'll also point out that he stole 100 bases (all by himself) for the Yankees. In the parts of four seasons that he actually played.

As we approach the midway point of the 2021 season, the Yankees have a total of 16 stolen bases.

This is the new company line.

"'That’s a serious punch in the mouth,' Aaron Boone said. 'We’ve had a number of times this year where you can say it even though it’s only June you got your backs up against the wall. We’re in the toughest division in baseball with some really good teams that are ahead of us in the standings and we’ve got to dig ourselves out and we’ve got to be more consistent and we’ve got to keep our foot on the gas.'"

The Yankees are in fourth place in a five-team division.

Is the AL East really the toughest division in baseball?

I think the NL West is the toughest division in baseball.

In any case, it's quite irrelevant. It's the most whiny, pathetic excuse I've ever heard.

I'm going to say that Phillies fans were not "stunned" when the Phillies bullpen blew a one-run lead in the ninth.

Error, walk, infield single, walk, sac fly.

Stirring example of tight, professional baseball on display in the NL East.

How far shall our local baseball teams carry us?

Mike Lupica has nothing to say about it:

"And now we wait to see what kind of run the Mets and the Yankees will give us. Football training camps are still a month away. It is baseball that carries us now.

The question is this: How far?"

That's always the question.

Before I read the rest of the article, I can guarantee that Mike Lupica does not provide an answer.

"Maybe the Yankees are set to mash again, as baseballs spin less than they were spinning even a month ago, and balls are starting to fly out of the park again. But they didn’t get a home run at Fenway on this night. And they were all righty hitters in the ninth with the game on the line against the Red Sox righty closer, Barnes."

Maybe lots of things, I guess.

"Of course the summer is still full of possibilities. We still have Jacob deGrom, if he can stay healthy. We have Gerrit Cole, if he can figure out how to pitch without being Spider (Tack) Man, or whatever it was he was using. The hope, still, is that the best part of our baseball season is just beginning, in the baseball boroughs of Queens and the Bronx."

 

Very insightful.

"Seriously: I want anybody who watched Gerrit Cole’s last start to tell me they think he’s the same guy we saw before all the hooptedoodle about a new kind of juicing with the baseballs."

 

Everybody agrees with you.

 

Cole was using Spider Tack and it's why he was dominant over the past, say, 2 1/2 seasons. He cashed in and now the Yankees have a long-term contract with a pitcher who will be almost certainly be slightly less dominant.

It's the same old story: Cheating works and GMs who sign players to long-term contracts ought to be aware of the smoke and mirrors.

 

With the crackdown (aka "hooptedoodle," apparently), Cole's ERA will go up, and hopefully the tradeoff for the 2021 Yankees will be an extra two runs per game for their horrific offense.

The intentional walk in the ninth inning was the worst managerial strategic decision I have ever seen.

"Chapman, who did not allow an earned run in his first 18 appearances, blew his third save in his last eight opportunities. He issued a bases-loaded walk to rookie back-up catcher Sebastian Rivero, who has yet to get a major league hit, to tie the game.

After a long meeting on the mound with the infielders, Yankees manager Aaron Boone made the decision to intentionally walk Carlos Santana. It was a decision that Chapman disagreed with, Boone admitted.

 'I just made the decision. You know, frankly, when I got back to the bench,' said Boone. 'I just felt like the matchup called for it and I didn’t want to get caught in a situation of pitching around and now all of a sudden you got a wild pitch scenario and we’re tied. So I just felt it was the right move. Obviously backfired a little bit, but I just felt like it was the right thing to do in the moment.'"

 Boone does not deserve to be let off the hook by his team's bottom-of-the-ninth comeback. As for Chapman, is a fraudulent Choke Job Walk Machine.

Hoy Jun Park probably couldn't hurt.

Gleyber is an unpleasant surprise. Odor and Wade are certainly replaceable. It's also an unpleasant surprise that it has come to this.

Deck chairs on the Titanic.

Yankee fans finally got what they were asking for: A re-arranged lineup!

Explain this lineup to me vs. a right-handed pitcher.

• Sanchez batting third.
• Frazier in the lineup.
• Urshela batting sixth.

It probably doesn't matter much. This lineup can't hit good pitchers and this team can't beat playoff-caliber teams.

I'm happy that strikeout machines Judge and Stanton are at least broken up ... but if you're just going to put Sanchez between them (batting third?), then you're just making it easy for the righty strikeout pitchers that come out of the bullpen late in the game.

 

 

Intentional Ignorance

 "Baseball pitchers think they get to be the victims now on the sticky stuff?

 How does that work, exactly?

'It’s so hard to grip the ball!' Gerrit Cole said this week.

Wait, it wasn’t hard for Koufax and Gibson and Seaver and Pedro?

And I hope Tyler Glasnow comes back even better and healthier than ever after 60 days on the IL.

But if he can’t throw a baseball the way he was throwing it without putting some kind of substance on the ball, then he needs to find another way to throw it."

Well, Pedro was quite possibly on steroids, but he wasn't on the Yankees, so Mike Lupica doesn't really mind.

Aside from that, the ball has changed. It is more slippery. This article is from back in 2017, and while neither the article nor my google search qualify as in-depth, definitive research, it's better than Mike Lupica's research.

Aside from that, there's a good chance "Koufax and Gibson and Seaver and Pedro" -- nice nod to Hemingway with the lack of commas, you dork -- used substances on the ball. Some pitchers want a better grip, some want a slippier grip

All of it is a moot point anyway. MLB doesn't care about cheating and neither do the fans. The pitchers found something that works too well. The league is taking action because the games are boring.

"For Pete's sake."

Hey, guys. Time to step it up, OK?

"The Yankees (33-32) have lost seven of nine and 13 of 18. They are in fourth place, 8 1/2 games behind AL East-leading Tampa Bay, their largest deficit since September 2018."

They may not be used to losing ... but they're also not used to winning. Let's just put it that way.

"When asked if he felt there was anyone who was getting used to or accepting the team's struggles, Boone bristled when answering no.

'I know them too well and I don't think there's any getting used to freakin' losing. Hell no,' he said. 'Get the hell out of here with that.'"

He said the H.E.Double-hockey-sticks word.

That pottymouth must really be angry.

The Yankees are a disappointing .500 team.

I don't see any indication they will turn it around.

It isn't a short-term slump anymore.

Their run differential for the year is minus-four.

They are 6.5 games out of first place.

They are still in the running for a wild card, but not distinguishing themselves from, say, the Royals.

The pitching is good overall. The offense is bad, the base running is bad, the fielding is bad, the fundamentals are mostly bad ... and we've been complaining about these things for ten years.

It's hard to blame the umpire for a loss ...

... and there is certainly no guarantee that the next batter would have won the game.

But this is a big spot and this third strike call is embarrassingly awful.

I don't know what's going on the past three seasons, but it probably has a lot to do with the ball.

Chris Gittens won't save the Yankees.

"Combined, the Yankees have the second worst batting average (.176), OPS (.531), and slugging percentage (.231) at first base in all of the big leagues."

If this is second worst, I wonder which team is the worst.

I mean, sure. Give Gittens a chance over Mike Ford and Rougned Odor. I'm not expecting much.

Two words: Gary Sanchez.

MLB made such a big deal about its one millionth run, I remember it was scored by Bob Watson.

 No hype at all for two millionth run.

We need to talk about Clint.

.175 batting average.

7 runs batted in.

.115 with RISP.

.111 with two outs and RISP.

-0.9 WAR.

The batters will tell their grandkids about the time they struck out in single-A ball.

Matt Harvey and Jackie Bradley Jr. got bad in a hurry.

 5.93 ERA and .506 OPS.

I'm a fan of Ohtani and he is better than I thought he would be.

 It's fun sometimes when athletes live up to the hype.

Are you sure you're not a shortstop?

 Six-part Jeter documentary is this TV commercial on loop.

First-guessing in real time.

 I'd send Cole out for the ninth inning.

What happened to the Dodgers?

17-16 overall record?

I'll bet it's just a short-term bad stretch.

It still caught me off guard when I checked the standings.

Unsung for a reason.

League-wide batting average of .233.

2021 Yankee stats that will surprise you.

•  Giancarlo Stanton has a relatively high batting average (.269).
• On the up side, Gleyber Torres has been fielding well.
• On the down side, Torres's power has disappeared.
• His career162-game average is 31 home runs.
• Last year, in 136 at-bats, he only hit 3 home runs. This year, in 90 at-bats, he has 0 home runs.
  

The Mets catcher is also no good.

 Nobody talks about it and I just noticed it.

I remember Jason Giambi had a grace period of one at-bat.

I was thinking why did it take so long?

Don't tell grown-up fans that they're doing it wrong.

As long as they're not crossing a line - ethical, legal, safety, inappropriateness, attacking the player's family - they should do what they want to do.

I'm also quite sure they don't need a lesson in small sample size or a list of MLB players who turned it around after a slow start.

They'll cheer Lindor when he plays well, I'm sure.

Until then, they'll boo.

I'm not sure why I feel this way, but I'm surprised to see Tauchman go.

Ace Cole.

 I'm not sure if the ball is deadened, but it might be. It makes a big difference with fly ball pitchers such as Cole.

I like how deGrom is also batting .545.

That means the Mets will contend for the World Series. Clearly.

 The Yankees will contend for the World Series ... and the Mets are better than the Yankees.

K:BB Ratio.

 "After Sunday, the Yankees had a collective .642 OPS, the worst in the majors; They scored 55 runs, tied for the least in the American league with the Tigers, who have played one more game than the Yankees. Their slugging percentage (.346) was second to last in the big leagues and their 16 home runs were tied for 19th.

'They strike out too much, they are hitting too many ground balls and I think the main culprit (of their offensive problems) is they are horrible in situational hitting,' one scout said."

I'm not sure this is fixable.

I think it's possible that the Baby Bombers may have fraudulently pumped up their numbers vs. Baltimore over the past few years.

Good pitchers now have to book on these guys and, while everyone in the ballpark knows that Gleyber is getting set up for an off-the-plate off-speed pitch, he gets fooled by it anyway.

 

The prototypical players who strike out a lot ... Giambi, Dunn, Jack Clark, etc. ... they usually had power and patience. A lot of strikeouts, a lot of home runs, a lot of walks. Makes sense if you think about it.

This is the situation with the current roster:

• Frazier: 14 Ks, 4 walks.
• Stanton: 18 ks, 4 walks.
• Judge: 15 ks, 5 walks.
• Hicks: 14 ks, 4 walks.
• Even Urshela: 13 ks, 3 walks.

Small sample size? Perhaps.

Also could be a sign of a broken approach.

 

We know how this will end because we have seen this before.

Yankees bullpen gives up the lead in the top of the ninth, Bruce wins it with opposite field hit in the bottom of the ninth, endless camera shots of his parents celebrating in the stands, fans go crazy and get ready for the next phase: Monument Park and Cooperstown.

Defend Aaron Boone while you're at it.

"One of the best early-season lines about the Yankees belongs to Yogi, just because so many of them do. It was April of 1998, and the Yankees were coming off losing a heartbreaking division series to Cleveland the year before, when Joe Torre’s Yankees couldn’t defend the title they’d won in 1996. Mariano Rivera couldn’t close out Game 4 and then they lost Game 5 and went home.

Now they started ’98 by losing their first three games. I was with Yogi at a television taping, and asked if he had any advice for his friend Torre.

'Yeah,' Yogi said. 'Tell him to win some games.'"

I've bailed out of this article after one paragraph..

1998 Yankees.

1986 Mets.

Willie, Mickey, and the Duke.

Darryl, Dwight, and Mookie.

Alex Rodriguez broke up with Jennifer Lopez.

I get the gist of it, and of course it is true. 

A bad team is worse when judged against high expectations. The entertainment value and narrative of the Baby Bombers is dreadful. The gutlessness this team displays is undeniable and not an illusion.

I also already know Lupica won't show any guts. "This might happen, that might happen, the Yankees have time to turn it around."

Right.

Things will happen and even more things might happen.

If they Yankees win the AL East, Lupica told ya so. If they don't, Lupica told ya so.

The fans angrily calling WFAN show more guts when they prematurely claim the season is over. 

At least they take a stand.

Oh, and the manager undoubtedly avoids all criticism.

Why?

Just because it's Lupica Land and he decided that Boone is a good manager.

Maybe he also needs access, but that doesn't seem likely in the modern era.

Is Mike Lupica really attending postgame Zoom calls?

"He was obviously very upset, and rightfully so."

I'm a bit impressed that Boone did this before another inevitable loss to Tampa. The rule is to chew out your team the day before they face a last-place team.

Boone's team is full of gutless under-performers, who are therefore difficult to root for.

This isn't because of a 5-8 start. This is a continuation of last season. An inability to win big games, endless strikeouts, no hitting with RISP, bad fielding, bad baserunning, a dying dream for the Baby Bombers.

Four games out and in last place for a team that was hyped as the Dodgers of the East.

Fans are back!

Tip of the cap to Terry Francona

I also liked this bit:

"I can promise you we will never make a lineup out from somebody's tweet the night before."

An assortment of Mike Lupica puns to follow.

You called him out, then you changed your mind.

"After the game, Kulpa, in the pool report, acknowledged he made the wrong call, saying, 'that guy was hit by the pitch in the strike zone. I should have called him out.'"

Baby Bomber Update

Bird - Long gone.

Judge - Injured again.

Sanchez - Didn't hustle.

Gleyber - Made another bad error.

Severino - Injured.

Don't call him Frankie.