The Only remaining Reason To Watch

In July, 1915, a bunch of my friends gathered around the family radio in Yonkers, New York, to listen to another Yankee game.

But this was no ordinary game. 

In the previous five games the Yankee shortstop, Roger Peckinpaugh, had made an error.  On this day he would make his 6th in 6 games, setting a New York Yankee record.  A record which stood until August 27th of 2026, when rookie shortstop George Lombard would duplicate that feat. 

Roger went on to become an all star shortstop,  until he totally wigged out in a seven game 1925 World Series ( playing, by then, for the Washington Senators ) during which he notched 8 errors.   Of interest, Roger was the American League MVP that same season.

So there is reason to watch tonight.  We may see a new Yankee record established by a rookie.  We can call it the " 8 ball game. "   Those of you who play pool will know the implications here. 

What ever happens, someone should take Lombard to a Yankee bar tonight and be a chaperone whilst he gets hammered.  I recommend Crown Royal shots, draft beers and pickled eggs.  

If Roger can become a league MVP after his ignominious achievement, so can Boy George. 

There is always hope. 

"Seventy percent of life is showing up..."

 ...But the Yankees only show up 70 percent of the time.

Last night was, yet again, Not A Good Faith Effort.

Hey, it was raining most of yesterday, and the grass was really wet, and the crowd was only some 41,000, and the Yanks are just in a pennant race and playing a team that has constantly beaten and cheated and humiliated them over the past 10 years.

You can't expect ballplayers who are making tens of millions of dollars to get up for that. Not against the great Hayden Wesneski, who entered the game with a 4.50 ERA.

Once again, the Un-Clutchedness was appalling. 

Many have written here about this Yankees team's continuing inability to hit with men in scoring position (when they hit at all). But it goes the other way, too. Four of the five Houston runs scored with two outs, just as the vast majority of opponents' runs now score with two outs against your New York Yankees. 

The Venerable Keefe established long ago what a terrible field manager Aaron Boone is. But what many have overlooked is just what an awful clubhouse manager he is, too, utterly unable to keep his teams paying attention throughout the long season.

The June Swoon, the July Die, the August Bust...call it what you will, but I have never seen teams take nothing from something the way that they do under Aaron Boone.

A little winning streak, pitching that keeps them in every game, the bats seeming to break out...

Nope.

Nothing means anything.

Back we go, with another non-effort like last night's. 

Five hits, two errors, 11 more strikeouts, 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position, two-hours-and-thirty-seven minutes and done, because who wants to risk their luxury car in a flash flood on the way back to Connecticut? 

And now the rookie's errors have become a thing, on the back page of the Post, because apparently neither Aaron Boone nor any of the aged veterans in the clubhouse have the ability or the inclination to settle the kid.

And now comes the big showdown series against the Red Sox, which means something to old folks like us, but nothing at all to this ever-more-annoying zombie team of Yankees, who seemingly can't wait for the season to be over.

Hey, it was overcast this morning, and you know what kind of a mood that puts you in, and Judge will be back soon, and who knows, maybe the playoff match-ups will be favorable...

Still have to show up, though.

Into the most critical series of the year, the Yankees stagger

Well, here we go. The moment we've dreaded since early June may finally come to pass.

The wolf is at our door.  

Sadly, the Yankees are the hamster, scampering in desperation for three brutal months. Since Aaron Judge went out with a fractured rib, our lineup has been a toothless caravan of Ks and botched RBI opportunities. 

Take last night. In the early innings, they twice failed to score a runner on second with no outs - the fundamental low bar for championship teams. The Yankees fail so regularly, so comfortably, that fans expect to fail when a runner reaches 2B. 

Where have you gone, Paul O'Neill? Is there nobody who can smash a water cooler? Have we all just gone out sailing on Lake America?

As we await Boston, and the possibility of a wipeout weekend, the state of the Yankees is cold and bleak.

Catcher: Despite the YES team's dutiful claims of hope, Austin Wells remains the worst hitting catcher in baseball, especially clueless against lefty pitching, which is the new normal. Last night, he went 0-3 with three Ks. The usual...

Infield: Our future is an unraveling ball of twine held together by George Lombardi Jr., who last night made his sixth error in six games. He's on the back cover. Beginning tonight, the spotlight will burn hotter than ever. It killed Anthony Volpe. Is it coming for Lombard?

Outfield: Aaron Judge says he will return without playing a minor league rehab game. He'll go straight to RF, where he will exercise caution on balls that would otherwise demand that he dive. What could go wrong?

Rotation: Our strong point, though the loss of Ryan Weathers might require a regular bullpen start, and Carlos Rodon is still Carlos Rodon. Generally, we can expect six innings and three runs. 

Bullpen: The loss of Francisco Cruz - elbow - really hurts. Brent Headrick is showing strain, and the once-limitless succession of young arms from Scranton is no more. Last night, we used 35-year-old Justin Topa, signed from the scrap heap barely a week ago.   

Everywhere, a meltdown, waiting to happen. 

The wolf is at the door.

º8/27/2∂ - Ass'Tros √s Yunkeez - "Oh Baby its Cole Outside"

 

 

As George Lombard Jr. approaches the maelstrom, every game is a lifetime

Five nights, five errors, including one that arguably cost a game. 

Is this really happening? 

Please, pour water onto my face. Yell into my ear. Wake me from this existential dread.

Suddenly, the Yankiverse is mumbling, grousing, fearing the worst about George Lombard Jr., piling upon him a lifetime of scrutiny, barely three months into his 21st year.

I, for one, hope that he... 

a) does not read social media
b) does not listen to talk radio
c) does not read this blog

I'd add that he needs a competent shrink, who never utters the most terrifying phrase this week in the Yankiverse.

The Yips.

Nope. Aint going there. It's too early to sound the Mandatory Evacuation alarm. But Yank fans know an iceberg when they see one, and the Brace for Impact light is  flashing. 

Lombard arrived on Aug. 4, a century ago?, rousing our most unbridled hopes since The Martian homered thrice in one game, back in May of 2025. He looked like the Second Coming of Jeet, with an extra dab of Ozzie Smith. We penciled him into Monument Park, if not Cooperstown. 

Now, suddenly, every grounder is a Stephen King novel. It's been three weeks. It feels like three lifetimes. And now comes a Twilight Zone weekend against Boston. A mistake or two could drop the Yankees behind the Redsocks with a thunder of boos that could grease a slide back to Scranton. 

Ah, Scranton. Never has the name of a fine, upstanding city conjured such images of existential torture. 

There - down there - Anthony Volpe is playing 2B, demoted from franchise SS to discarded utility lug nut. Last night, he went 1-4 with a HR, his 6th on the brief season. At SS, Oswaldo Cabrera went 1-3 - no errors. I believe Yank fans would love to see Oswaldo again - he's hitting .279 with 17 HRs - but at SS? Nah. He's stuck there for eternity.

Listen: If Lombard continues to struggle defensively, the Yankees might have to blow up their well-hyped future. Another round of Volpe? Or Max Schuemann? I don't see Ryan McMahon shifting to SS, and Amed Rosario is a lost cause. In Scranton, there is ex-prospect Marco Luciano (age 24, with 22 HRs, .297, who mostly plays 2B.) And in Somerset, a formerly hyped prospect, Roderick Arias, is having his best year. (.272, 14 HRs, age 21.) It's a long, steep drop to the next great hope, Dax Kilby, (.280 in 93 ABs at Single A.) Frankly, there's just Volpe. 

This might be the most important weekend of Lombard's career. Damn. Why don't I just heap more pressure on him, eh?

Tonight... a clean game. Okay? 

A gentle query

WHY IS TRENT GRISHAM STILL PLAYING CENTER FIELD?

Game Thread – 08•2∂•2∂ – RIP Tim Curry

 

 

The Yankee bullpen looks Booned. Ten lost observations

Last 7 days

1. For a while last night, I thought the Yankees would honor Dolly Parton by losing 9 to 5. 

2. Boone's Circle of Trust is leaking. Our mainstays - Brent Headrick and Fernando Cruz  (see chart) - desperately need a week of fine weed and Calgon Bath Oil Beads, but that won't happen, not with Boston approaching. The 6th, 7th and 8th innings now belong to Blackburn and Hill. Blare the sirens. This is Def-Con 4.

3. George Lombard Jr. remains the great Jeterian hope. But four errors in four games have raised rip tide warnings. Suddenly, when the ball gets hit his way, the Yankiverse holds its breath. The franchise cannot afford another infield apparition. If this becomes a mental thing... 

4. Like the guy in Obsession, the horror flick about Natalie Harp, I am clutching my trinket and wishing for Aaron Judge to return... NOW! But but BUT... if he's not ready, he could bring an 0-for-15 weekend. 

5. Sonny Gray is 16-3 and Boston's shot for the Cy Young. He pitches tonight against the Marlins and will probably go Sunday. God knows who will oppose him.

6. If there's anything we've come to know about Will Warren, it's that Boone always leaves him in one batter too long. 

7.  Over the last month, Ben Rice is hitting .158 with three HRs. Yes, he's a fan fave. But batting second, he's coming up in huge situations, and he's not getting it done. 

8. In Scranton, Anthony Volpe is hitting: Two for five last night, playing 2B. The Martian, meanwhile, went 0-4 with three Ks, inexplicably playing CF. And Oswaldo, at SS, 0-4 with three Ks. Come Sept 1, when the rosters expand, help is not on the way.

9. Last night for Scranton, the Railriders used five pitchers, a bullpen start, and gave up six runs. Help is not on the way.

10. I know it's not easy, but when Jazz Chisholm is on 1B, and Austin Wells is batting, there should be an immediate command to steal 2B. Wells is a human GIDP, and his DP grounder killed us last night.

Damn, I hate losing to Jose Altuve. 

Willy on the Hilly – (RIP Dolly) – 08/25/2∂

 

 

With 32 games left, the Yankees prepare for the Gauntlet

Let's face it: None of this fan crapola really matters, because the Dodgers will win, anyway. 

They've ignored the financial constraints faced by the rest of baseball, and who cares if their billionaire owner receives a stern talking-to, they'll have three rings, and we will spend the rest of our lives hearing about it. Shoot me now. 

It won't matter that they will write checks to Shohei Ohtani into the next millennium. Baseball Reference won't even show an asterisk. What they'll remember is that every winter, the Dodgers shelled out for star after star, while the Yankees counted pennies and finished second in the auctions. The Yankee brain trust achieved its one objective: 

Contend into September. 

So, here we are. Promises Kept. Mission Accomplished. The Yankees have 32 games left to catch Tampa and/or fend off Boston. Both are doable. Thirty-two games, and if we win half, we reach the postseason. Add another Wild Card flag and prepare for the crapshoot. Here's what's coming:

Three home v Houston. (Need two)
Four home v Boston. (Must win at least two)
Three in LA v Angels. (Sweep?)
Three in San Diego. (Need two.)
Three home v Colorado. (Sweep?)
Three home (so to speak) against Mets. (Just survive. One?)
Three in Minnesota. (Sweep?)
Three in Arizona. (Two)
Three home v Tampa. (Need two, if they matter)
Three home v Baltimore. (Sweep? If they matter.)

 We won't go the parenthetical 23-9. Expect a three-game losing streak, somewhere, probably around the Mets. But to miss the playoffs would require an A.I. Gene Mauch, Philadelphian collapse. With Aaron Judge returning, it's not hard to imagine the Yankees going 20-12. That would put hard heat on Tampa, who is already enduring 105-degree days in front of invisible crowds. Fifteen thousand fans meant sellouts at Steinbrenner Field. They look paltry in the Tropicana Dome.   

The Yankees play 10 against Boston, Tampa and the Mets. That's your season, folks. Get ready. For better or worse, this weekend could define the 2026 Yankees. But the Dodgers will win, anyway.

The Yankees vanquish Toronto. Finally. Ten observations.

The Yankee Death Barge now sits three below unappreciated Tampa - (average home attendance: woeful 17,128) - three above Boston. Jays and O's are afterthoughts. Ten mental musings...

1. Storm warning issued on George Lombard Jr. Three errors in three days. Not worried, yet. Let's just say, aware of the situation. Lombard has been a huge defensive presence at SS, nearly Jeter Redux. But he needs an error-free few games, or whispers will turn into a siren.

2. The best thing about beating Toronto (with Vlad Jr. barely bothering to run out a grounder): Watching them flounder against Spencer Jones. Already, he has become the guy you hold your pee for. When Jones comes up, nobody runs to the kitchen to get the cheese curds.

3. The Yankees claim Ryan Weathers might return. Too bad we cannot believe anything they say. Last month, Weathers was ticketed for the bullpen. He's had a tough setback, but he's probably back to that assessment.

4.  Jazz Chisholm finally homered yesterday. (He had become the guy who sent you to the kitchen.) But hey, 18 HRs - he could finish around 25 is not chopped liver. Chisholm's problem is the same that attacks most Yankees: Unnecessary hype. And the worst part?  He hyped himself. 

5. We have reached the point where Gerrit Cole must take over the duties as ace of the staff. Cam Schlittler has carried the rotation all season and remains our best shot for the Cy Young. But the onus is now on Cole. He's the tribal elder, the de facto captain of the staff. If Cole comes through, Cooperstown someday will be calling.

6. In Scranton yesterday: Volpe (at 2B) 0-3; The Martian 2-4 with a HR and 4 RBI; and Oswaldo Cabrera - yes, he of the CarShield commercials - at SS, 3-4 with 2 HRs. He's now hitting .292. Come on, Yankees! This guy deserves another shot. You cannot be serious about going the rest of the year with Ryan McMahon. 

7. To catch Tampa and exorcize Boston, it's very simple. All the Yankees must do is get a few hits with runners on base. Yesterday, Ben Rice came through with a huge 2-out single, ending what loomed as a huge lost opportunity. There is nothing scarier across the Yankverse right now than the Yankees with the bases loaded and nobody out. The first guy strikes out. The second guy pops up. And suddenly, the game is on the line.

8. Thus far, Luis Garcia Jr. and Heliot Ramos have fizzled. Both were hitting around .280 when the Yankees traded for them. Both are well below that number. Hopefully, they start hitting... now?

9. They say Judge is near. I'll believe it when I see him. In the meantime, I keep thinking about his return on September 11th - the haunted date - which opens a tough three-game set against the Mets, followed by four against Tampa. That's a date Judge won't want to miss.

10. Prediction: Knicks in five.

Tariff-Free Game Thread – Soriano back in the Bronx ( sorta/kinda )

 

 

For Giancarlo, the end is here, aside from the existential questions

Samuel Beckett must have been a Yank fan. Because here we are - once again, and for all of eternity - waiting for Godot Gio. And - spoiler alert: He's not coming. 

As we all know by now, Giancarlo Stanton this week tweaked his good leg, plunging himself back into the Yankee Limbo of the Lost, his hot tubbed home since April. The Yankees claim he might return in September. Ha ha. We know otherwise. 

He's toast. 

Next time we see him will be mid-February. He'll arrive in Tampa in a swirl of ink and ether. The Gammonites will assemble, and he'll toss out quotes like shelled peanuts to a murder of crows. He'll say he spent the winter working to improve his flexibility and prevent injuries. And for the 11th straight spring, they'll peck at the ground and chew. Meanwhile, we will ponder his existential questions.

1. Will Giancarlo return? 

Nope. Why drag this out? The Yankees will owe him only $15 million next year. That's clam dip money. (The Marlins will pay $10 million.) They can buy him out for 2028, and our long national Yankee nightmare will be over. 

2. Could he return elsewhere?

Maybe. He might even bat in a Grapefruit game, auditioning for the Angels, Marlins, Padres or any team that might take him in a city where he wants to play. He's earned that shot. But the Yankees do not - and will not - need a fulltime DH who is always one step away from the glue factory. They will have no place for him. (I assume he wouldn't go for the Mets or Boston, but sometimes, when longtime stars hit their twilight, things do get acrimonious.) 

3. Does Giancarlo belong in the Hall? 

Nah. I'm sorry. He comes close, sorta. But he needed one last big year - he's 44 HRs shy of 500, just 17 RBIs below 1,200. Baseball Reference publishes several graphics on chances for Cooperstown. On all of them, as you can see, Giancarlo falls short.

Moreover, his time in NYC produced nothing that matters. (Translation: No ring.) And though he had a couple nice playoff games, his .254 postseason BA doesn't leap out. 

Maybe 20 years from now, a doddering Veterans Committee votes him in. But we won't live to see it, and unless he gets heathy, Giancarlo might not, as well.  

4. Did the Yankees win the trade to bring him to NY? 

Yes. Definitely. We gave up Starlin Castro, Jorge Guzman and Jose Devers. None turned out to matter. So, yeah. We won. Whoopie.  (But all that money we spent? It tied us up for a decade. Imagine the free agents we missed.)

4. Was he a great Yankee? 

Yeah, I guesso, sorta, anways... He should get something - a plaque or maybe a vending machine - in Monument Park. They should give him a final Bobblehead Night and present him with a fully-charged grampa scooter. He can fly around the bases.

He deserves a shot on the YES team. Could he be a batting coach? They say he commands respect in the clubhouse. There might be a role for him to play, and I hope the Yankees treat him with dignity. (Unless he joins the Mets. In that case, open the Epstein files.)

Sad day, overall. But honestly, he's done, and it feels as if a big stone has been lifted. I wish him the best. He'll never swing a bat for us in a real game again. Samuel Beckett saw the future. We were always just living it out. The Giancarlo show is over. Somebody, buy me a drink.

I still say we're better with him than without him

Last year, Stanton--the man who puts the "I" in IL--played in 77 games. He hit 24 dingers with an OPS of .944.

His constant getting-over-PEDs type of injuries are annoying as hell. Basically because we could really, really, REALLY use somebody who can rack up an OPS of .944 and, on average, hit homers in a third of the games he's in. 

At the moment, as I think you've probably noticed, we can't hit and have trouble scoring runs. And to me, not scoring runs is a much bigger problem than a guy who can't run.

So I continue to say that we're better off when Stanton plays than when he doesn't. Sadly, he doesn't play very much. Of course, that's even more true of Judge. It's even true of Bellinger, if the only alternative we have is Helium. What a waste of space.

Speaking of Cody, he had the quote of the day yesterday after playing left field for six innings with Scranton.

"That was good to get those in there to feel good."

As Steve Martin once said, some people have a way with words, and some people..not have way, I guess.

The Game Shred - Weather'n the BJs - 08/22/2∂ - Bronx, NY

 

STOP THE PRESSES!

 

CALAMITY! CATASTROPHE! TROUBLE AND STRIFE!

The Ever-Injured Man is...INJURED AGAIN!

Giancarlo falls while running to rehab his injured whateveritwas. And is injured. And maybe out for the season.

Oh, the HUMIDITY! Or something like that.

Mickey Mantle, in 18 years of playing with a bone disease and an improperly repaired ACL, missed a total of 255 regular-season games. 

Giancarlo Stanton, in 9 seasons of juicing, has missed something like two or three times that many with your New York Yankees.

And...this is good news. Clears up a roster spot, AND means we don't have to listen to people talk about what a great clutch player he is anymore.

Yanks are hottest in AL East, and other brain bursts from the Saturday Leaderboards

Tampa is burning up. Gruesome, unbearable heat. Clocks melting, and not in a Salvidor Dali way. Nobody goes to ball games. (Wednesday, hosting the Blue Jays, a mere 13,000 showed up.) 

Meanwhile, the Rays are sniffing the exits. (Friday, the city signed a hostage deal to keep them in Tampa, for now. It requires the sacrifice of every family's first-born.) Worst of all - for Tampoans, anyway - the Yankees keep creeping closer, now one measly weekend series behind. 

Meanwhile, every Yank win pushes Toronto into a death spiral. Vlad Jr. - "I'd never be a Yankee/Wait, I'll join the Yankees/Check that: I'll never be a Yankee" - Guerrero will soon return. Who cares? He's hitting .263 with 7 HRs. Worst year of his career. And he'll never be a Yankee.

By this time next week, we're playing two against Boston. Biggest day of 2026. 

Meanwhile, in a shameful indictment of modern homer ball, only three qualifying American League players are batting over .300. Pathetic. 

Meanwhile, at least 10 hitters should belt more than 30 HRs

. 

The only offensive category that features multiple Yankees is Stolen Bases.

By the way, Cody Bellinger has 10. But I doubt he'll be running much, after he returns. (Spencer Jones - 7 SBs, not yet thrown out) has a better chance, unless he's in Scranton. 

Volpe homered again in Triple A. And Luis Durango - the Slapper, down at Somerset - went 2 for 3. I gotta go. Running off with my human printer.

BAD DEALS NEVER DIE ( Right, Aaron !?! ) º8/21/2∂

 

 

Tea glasses to Trebek: What we learned this week from David Cone

True confession: I love listening to David Cone, the Yankee prefect of pop culture. And nothing inspires Conean epiphanies like a three-game sweep in Baltimore. 

This week, by watching YES, we learned: 

1. As a pregame ritual while with the Mets, Coney watched Jeopardy every night. (It aired at 6 p.m.) It calmed his nerves.

2. Coney has no interest in appearing on the show - not even Sports Jeopardy - because he's no good at it. 

3. Coney once met Alex Trebek; he seemed a nice guy.

4. In a down moment, Coney asked if Michael Kay really uses his eyeglasses to stir coffee, an act of questionable hygiene that boothmate Joe Girardi recently unearthed. 

5. Kay's response was, yes, but it's tea, not coffee; he even showed the eyepiece.  

6. Coney did not comment further, though his facial expression seemed to show either bemusement or repressed horror. 

7. It's hard to imagine this being the end of Tea Gate.

8. Coney referred to dropping curveballs as "Tumbling Dice" and felt compelled to note the Rolling Stones song of that title. Kay, famously dense on the subject of classic rock, responded by joking that his oversized head - a subject of various memes - cannot store such data.

9.  Kay has been wooing broadcast partners with their favorite snacks. Last night, he surprised Coney with Peanut M&Ms. By the 8th inning, Coney had devoured them and flattened the bag. 

10. It's difficult for Kay to bring snacks for Meredith Marakovits, because she's into "health" foods. 

Damn. No space to discuss the game. I need a "human printer." 

But the picture has a mustache

Oh, man. Class A. I feel bad for the guy. And I'll always put the blame for the Freeman grand slam on Boone. Possibly his dumbest move in a decade of dumb moves.

What's really sad is that some fans will always remember that as the defining moment of his Yankees career. Me, I'll go with the sneakers that had a mustache.

I always thought he would never make another All-Star team, that it was a fluke. But I'd be happy to eat my words if he can make a big comeback.