Finally, a nickname for the 2016 Yankees: "THE BEACHED BOYS" (because they do the two-run-run-run, the two-run-run)

Last night's loss fosters within the Yankee Matrix a dark and deeply existential question:

Did we simply go knock-kneed in the presence of a vastly superior team? Or are we tumbling back into the crevice of our April-May malaise?

After all, once the Dodgers scored four runs, was the night's outcome in doubt? We reverted into the Bronx Beached Boys, the two-run-run, the two-run-run... Yes, there bad vibrations. Daddy took our t-bird away. Rhonda said, "Shove it." Barbara-Ann didn't answer our call.

OK, all right, I know what you're thinking... Get a grip, Duker: it's just two frickin games... smallsmallsmall sample. Win the next two, and we'll climb above the Selig Line of Death... And I get it. Trouble is, the small sample is all we have left. These aren't dog years. We're living in moon rotations, which means every day is one complete menstrual cycle around the sun. One bad week ends this race. And right now, we're two days into a bad one. Lose tonight, and we might as well be Seattle, (where Ben Gamel, - yes, that Ben Gamel - hit a 2-run homer last night.)

I'm telling you, we're going to regret giving away Ben Gamel.

Anyway, since you're here... some stupid thoughts, often referred to as "musings."

1. The other day, I heard Michael Kay refer to the Yankee battery as "Severino-Sanchez." Come on, now... who didn't think of Celerino?

2. The YES-SIRS did not ignore last night's Yankee sloppiness. Still, let's be fair to Aaron Judge. That was one tough error in right-center field. The big guy was lunging, running full bore, with Ellsbury bearing into him and the wall licking its chops. If he caught it, it would have been a highlight reel. He botched it. Tough error, though.

3. Is it me, or have Yankee batters lately been striking out on bad pitches? In the last few games, when what we've most needed was the old-fashioned Johnny Damon grinder at-bat - you know, the 12-pitch lead-off walk that absolutely kills a reliever - I've seen guys swinging at pitches in the dirt. Might be me projecting rage. Dunno. Anybody else see this? Because we really need a grinder or two.

4. We can gobble and prattle and whinny and blurk about the "Baby Bombers youth movement," but the Dodgers look two years and a half-dozen prospects ahead of us, and Boston is still waiting to unwrap the Yoan Moncada bobbleheads. We may be only a few games behind the Redsocks in the standings, but we are several years behind them in franchise development.

At last, the Yankee barge seems to have changed direction, but it's worth wondering how we became so mummified by lame long-term contracts, and why such a wealthy ownership has acted so cheap on the international market? Yes, we spent big on Tanaka, but he's been worth every penny. Whenever a Cuban star came onto the auction block, we clutched our purse and hit under the bed. We haven't won a post-season game in four years. We gotta win tonight. Wouldn't it be nice?