Right now, the Yankees Bore Four are a blight upon hope

Somewhere out in the vast Pacific Ocean lurks a massive floating dead zone of plastic garbage, said to have roughly the same size and karma of New Jersey. Lately, whenever the Yanks mount a potential rally, leading to the meat of our order, I find myself picturing that massive, ongoing, human-made catastrophe.

It begins with Giancarlo Stanton - the 2017 National League MVP, two-time Silver Slugger award-winner and four-time All Star - who is now 2-21 (.095) over the last seven games, while fiddling-up nine strikeouts. A few weeks ago, he looked ready to emerge from his new-to-NYC-stress cocoon, as his average climbed to a level of near-respectable mediocrity. Then something happened. He has quietly reverted to the swing-and-miss boo magnet of April. I still believe Stanton will heat up this summer and carry this team. But crunching his career numbers at age 27 brings up these statistical doppelgangers - Juan Gonzalez, Jose Canseco, Daryl Strawberry and Prince Fielder. None will make Cooperstown, and all seemed to prematurely disappear. Maybe he will join them. New York is not Miami, and maybe Stanton will never hit like he did for the meaningless Marlins. Derek Jeter made his career by showing great baseball acumen. Maybe he knew what he was doing by jettisoning Giancarlo at the top of his game.

Our recent dead zone continues with Gary Sanchez, who is 1-20 with eight strikeouts over the last seven games. Last night, with the winning run on third in the ninth, Sanchez conjured up one of the lamest three-pitch strikeouts since - well - Canseco came off the bench in the 2000 World Series to watch three meatballs bisect the plate. Gary reached across the Hudson to flail at three curves that should have put him ahead 3-0 in the count. You can't judge a guy on one at bat. Sanchez remains one of the game's best catchers. He'll hit 30 HRs in an off-year. But that's what he might be having. 

Then there is Sir Didi, whose recent 5-25 (.200) is being YES-cheered as a positive omen. But Didi still looks like an ongoing crisis. He seems to be channeling the late incarnation of Curtis Granderson, swinging for the right field porch. His fall from grace might rival the Grandy Man's. The Yankees don't need Gregorius to hit 30 homers. They just need him to get on base. Right now, he's popping up balls that were gappers in April. Clearly, the Yankees must stick with Didi, but if he continues to regress, the once-unthinkable could happen: They might do a double-take when Manny Machado hits the July trade market.

And then there is Aaron Hicks, 2-18 over the last week. Not long ago, he seemed to be ascending with each at bat. Now, he's back to pop-ups, which the YES team dutifully says he "jeuuussssst missed." Obviously, the Yankees like Hicks' switch-hitting abilities and centerfield defense. But time is running out on the promise he showed early last year. He is becoming our Jackie Bradley Jr. 

The worst part of his meandering, shrink-wrap logjam of hopelessness? Down at Scranton, Clint Frazier is crushing pitches like never before. Since being sent to Triple A, he is 10 for 18 (.556) with two doubles, a triple and a homer - hitting .353 overall on the year. There is nothing left for Frazier to prove in Scranton. He is wasting his time, just as the Bore Four right now are wasting ours.