Deja vu, all over again? Staggering and distressed, the Yankees enter their most dangerous part of the season.

Last year, as they hit the all-star break, the Yankees self-destructed like a Cuomo. 

After leading the AL East for most of three months, they had fallen into 2nd place, and now faced a huge, three-game series in Baltimore. They won the first two - brutal battles, with bean balls and a near brawl. Then, in game three, down by two in the 9th, Ben Rice belted a dramatic 3-run HR. It was glorious. It was destiny. It would send them to the break in first, with hopes restored. This was why we became Yank fans!   

Clay Holmes came out to nail it down. 

(Note: You might want to send children out of the room, as the following report contains images that some readers will find to be troubling.) 

Holmes gave up a single, then coaxed a force out at second. 

He walked a batter, fanned one, then walked another. 

Bases loaded. Two outs.

Ryan Mountcastle hit a routine grounder to SS Anthony Volpe. Across the Yankiverse, we raised our glasses in triumph. All he needed to do was flip the ball to Gleyber Torres for the force. 

But he didn't. 

The ball bounced off Volpe's mitt. He couldn't recover. A run scored. Bases still loaded. An untimely error, the kind that still haunts Yank fans... and Volpe.

At that point, though, LF Alex Verdugo took over. He achieved what would become his signature Yankee moment: "the face plant." Cedric Mullens hit a line drive at Verdugo. He charged it, stopped, turned, froze, then made an adorable, Benny Hill-quality belly-flop into the ground. The O's circled the bases, celebrated at home plate, and nothing more would foreshadow the Yankees' end of 2025 - the disastrous World Series 5th game 5th inning. 

It was our doomsday entrance to the all-star break - and our destiny.

Well, we're almost here, a year later. And while the YES team matter-of-factly watches the slide, and while other fans see a first place team, Yankee fans have every reason to position our finger on the panic button. 

Who can dispel the notion that nothing - NOTHING - has changed?

The Yankees are falling. They've led the division all season, but the lead is down to one, and it's easy to see them hit the all-star break in 2nd. The next three weeks are a mine field:

Three against Oakland - (yeah, they're still Oakland) - a trap series if ever there was one. 

Four games against hateful Toronto, which has been closing on us for a month. 

The Subway Series, in this case, the War of the Disappointments. And Clay Holmes might throw out the opening pitch. 

Visits from Seattle, which hates us, and the Cubs, including the extremely ill-timed Billy Joel Bobblehead Night. (WTF? Are they really going to go through with that?)

There's always a danger in proclaiming how the next game is critical. Of course it is. The next game is always the most important of the season. That's how baseball works. 

But dammit, we have eyes, and we can see what's happening. This team is drifting along the same disastrous path as last year. In the end, it's the fundamental flaws that we never address... they're going to kill us once again. Deja vu, all over?