As Yanks fade, minor weaknesses expand into full-blown crises

Hey, have you seen old Vladimir Putin lately? 

Yeesh. Guy's a mess. Puffy face, like a bout with bad clams. He's old, he's withered, and he can't even host a parade. Some 350,000 Russian families have reason to loath him. The red tide of history is coming for him, and it'd be fun, if not for so much death, to watch him go down. 

I say this in a Yankee fan blog - not to get political, or righteous, but to simply acknowledge that, no matter how we try to outrun the universe, it always catches up. 

In the end, old Putin will go out as they all do - kicking and screaming, biting and wailing - even though it only hastens his fall. 

On a lesser note - baseball as metaphor, right? - the long, harsh talons of Time are coming for the Yankees. After the joy of the first seven weeks, the team and organization are settling back into the pit they've dug for 15 years, with the same inevitability that dictators - foreign or domestic - should view with fear. 

So, WTF is happening? 

The Yankees just piled - back to back and belly to belly - the two most gruesome losses of 2026. They squandered a great start by Ryan Weathers, who might soon disappear from the rotation. They blew a 2-0 lead, and they went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position. A night of hell.

You could blame the bullpen, or the hitters, or the juju gods, or Aaron Boone, or the slowly grinding gristmill of history, in which the Yankees sat on Dietrich Emms for six years in the minors, all so he could suddenly shut us down last night, without a bubble.

How often must we watch ex-Yankees come back to kill us? (Did the name Ezequiel Duran strike a familiar note in Milwaukee?) 

Here we go again.

Four straight losses. Once again, the Yankees are running hot and cold, with the same problems that have plagued the team throughout this millennium. Consider.

1. Giancarlo still can't run. Remember when he went down, April 24, nearly three weeks ago? He tweaked himself, running the bases. They said he's "day to day." What a joke. Before it happened, he'd given us reason to think that maybe - just maybe - he might have one final year in those Moby Dick thighs. Well, he doesn't. And stop waiting for him, because we know what's coming: He'll return, play a few weeks, then get hurt again. 

2. The bullpen is shot. I mean, it's done. There is no acquisition, no trade, that will fix it. If a pitcher throws a shutout inning, he immediately vaults to the front of Boonie's "Circle of Trust," which long ago shrank to a microdot. The thing is, it's gone this way for 17 years - through Joe Torre, through Joe Girardi, (and why didn't John Sterling get to manage?) - it's gone on for 17 years. It's not gonna change. 

3. The Yankees "youth movement" continues to age, and - aside from Cam Schlittler, who is throwing a lot more innings than we should be comfortable with - it pales compared to other teams. This is starting to look like Tampa's year. Baltimore is energized. And Boston will eventually wake up.  

At least old Putin is going down. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy. Fate is a bitch, eh?