24 hours after their most exciting win of the season, Yanks roll a complete clunker

Wow. A rotten night, all around. No-hit for six, lose by nine, your third baseman leaves for x-rays, no gloves, no bats, no nuthin.' If it were a fight, they would have stopped it. If it were a highway exit, you wouldn't take it. If it were a plate of clams, you wouldn't touch it. If it were a fart, you wouldn't claim it. A Mulligan. A stinker. A clunker. 

One loss. An aberration, right? Not a course-change... right?

The refugee caravan continues. Every two days, the music stops and a few faces change. Last night, the newbie Jonathan Loaisiga floated in an out. He looked lost. (Hadn't been pitching well in Scranton.) The final mop-up man, journeyman Jake Barrett, was clobbered. (Today, he's a Railrider again.) IIHIIFIIc poster-child, 24-year-old junkballer Nestor Cortes Jr. has been promoted. (He recently nearly threw a no-hitter in Scranton, as reported here.) Tyler Wade - the official 2019 Yankee Rental Mule (and team leader in stolen bases) - is gone. (Yep, Scranton.)  

So, while the Bronx was stinking, what happened last night with Railriders of Muddy Moosic? Well, they used a bullpen game. Mean Chad Green started, hoping to find his way home. He didn't. Green went 2.1 innings, gave up two earned runs on three hits and a walk. (Good side: He struck out three.) Later, Stephan Tarpley pitched two scoreless innings. 

As for the hitters, all you need to know is that the first three batters were Mike Ford, Ryan McBroom and Logan Morrison. (Batting cleanup: 31-year-old catcher Ryan Lavarnway.) Wade didn't play. For whatever it's worth, Scranton beat the Indianapolis Indians 5-4. It would have been more fun to watch.

Since returning from injuries, Miguel Andujar hasn't hit a lick, and Clint Frazier has noticeably cooled. They foreshadow the eventual problems that Admiral Boone will have in welcoming back the A-team - Stanton, Hicks, Judge, Didi, et al - who, at least in the beginning, could smell-up the batting order. (In three rehab games at Single A Tampa, Hicks has yet to get a base hit.)

In the next 10 days, the Yankees play six games against arguably the best team in baseball, the Tampa Rays. (Now with the second best record in the AL, after Minnesota.) Then come more tomato cans - the Orioles, Royals and Padres - before we head to Boston. It's possible that Stanton and Hicks could be back by then, though it's hard to imagine going that long without a few more injuries. 

A clunker. A Mulligan. Win tonight, and we took three out of four from the second-place team in the AL West. Lose tonight, and we just pissed away two in a row against a team that had lost seven out of eight. An aberration or a course-change? Hmmm.