Remember that game in the loss column the Yankees gained Sunday against Boston? It's gone. Funny how they go. It's as if the universe farts. We're now five behind hateful Tampa and three ahead of the vengeful Redsocks, holding the tie-breaker, if it matters. (And Boston just lost Will Contreras, their best hitter, to a hammy. Hail, the Immortal Hammy!)
Ten takes...
1. The world is discovering what Yank fans have known for months: Trent Grisham has deteriorated into a bad CF, a defensive liability currently mired in a 2-for-37 slump. It's been a hard year for Old Slow Foot, ever since he accepted the Yankee one-year qualifying offer of $22 million, prompting Food Stamps Hal to close his fanny pack for the rest of the winter. Last night, Grisham botched a throw home after an errant pickoff attempt, though the game was pretty much over. Right now, across the Yankiverse, he's about as popular as data centers and Flock cameras.
2. Last night, the Death Barge reverted to its One-Run-Per-Game mode. Spencer Jones homered, and that was all. It came in the fifth, when the Yankees were down 4-0, and you could argue that they needed base runners more than a solo shot, but - fuck - that's the Yankees, eh. It was Jones' 8th HR in 181 at-bats. Over a 500 at-bat season, that would mean 28 HRs. Hmm. He's hitting .238. Gallo?
3. When Aaron Judge returns, Jones will either take over in CF or board a bus to Scranton. Weird, eh? You either take the arguably most vaunted position in sports - centerfield for the New York Yankees! - or head to the mud yards of Moosic.
4. Elmer "the Glue Gun" Rodriguez got pasted last night - gave up four, didn't survive the fourth. It's been a moon since a Yankee starter effectively killed a game. The year began with high hopes for Rodriguez and Carlos LaGrange, the early sensation in Camp Tamp. Neither came through. (They claim LaGrange might still pitch this season - he's recovering from a bum shoulder - but nobody's betting on it.)
5. That means that, basically, the Yankee farm system didn't produce one pitcher of magnitude this year. (Schlittler was last year.) Not one. Brendan Beck doesn't cut it. Not one. Remember how they called their camp "The Gas Station," and how they boasted about developing young arms? Not one.
6. WTF with David Bednar pitching the 9th, in a blowout, and giving up three? I suppose he needed the work? Yikes. What a fiasco.
7. Clarke Schmidt and Ryan Weathers may soon join the bullpen. During their careers, both have been starters. What could go wrong?
8. Heading into last night, the Angels were 52-85, tied with the homeless A's for the worst record in the AL. This was the kind of game you cannot afford to lose, and the Yankees lost by nine. WTF?
9. The Boston radio announcer, Will Flemming, apologized for calling Jazz Chisholm a bush leaguer. I realize that Jazz talks too much, but nobody turns a DP more fearlessly (with his hat somehow glued to his head.) And frankly, when an old, Wonder Bread white guy from Boston attacks him, I automatically suspect race is an underlying factor. (BTW: I wonder if his pals call him "Phlegm?"
10. Gerrit Cole tonight. Must game. Knicks in five.
“ Elmer "the Glue Gun" Rodriguez got pasted “
ReplyDeleteDamn - did you ever stick the landing with that one
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DeleteAs he is wont to do.
DeleteF'ing autocorrect does not recognize the king's English.
The Bronx Bastards are probably losing two of three, maybe even gettin' swept by the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club of La La Land. Last night was so predictable. Forecast was more reliable than the tv weatherman.
ReplyDeleteRacist? Boston? Surely you can't be serious.
ReplyDeleteI am, and stop calling me Shirley.
DeleteKeefe pointed out that the Yankees do not do well in Anaheim. They didn't.
ReplyDeleteI don't read his stuff enough.
DeleteDoes that winged demon Trout hit two homers or three tonite? These putrid losses against the Halos always induce disgust, nausea, vomiting. Last night was a fucking anti-classic. The kind of game the Bronx Bastards always used to play against these guys. So we find out there's another pitcher the Bastards can't even dream of hitting. His name is Wall Urinal, or something like that.
ReplyDeleteAin't it amazing that Trent Grisham can go O for 35 or 2 for 37, whatever, but he never gets so much as benched, let alone sent to the minors. Imagine The Martian put up those numbers. JD would be gonzo....
ReplyDeleteTold ya'll the Boston beatdown was not for real. We got lucky, real lucky. Boston easily could've won 3 of 4. So the reverse of what happened. Last night removed the mirage and showed the real 2026 Yankees. Ain't so great looking into that old reflectin' glass, eh Bronx Bastards?
ReplyDeleteA Gallo comparison, Duque? Lest we forget, Joey hit a combined .159 for us over parts of two seasons. Spencer Jones looks like Willie Mays compared to Joey Gallo...
ReplyDeleteYeah, I agree!
DeleteIf the Yanks actually do send Jones down, I might jump from the upper deck of the Stadium in suicidal protest. A better move would be waiving Grisham, and bringing The Martian back up. Truly. Grish will give us nothing in the 24 games remaining in the regular season, and he will give us less than nothing against better pitching in the playoffs...
ReplyDeleteWaive Grisham? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
DeleteI know, Hammer. As The Estimable Keefe writes, Grisham was never very good, and his game has fallen off the table. He keeps playing only because "the Yankees like him internally," much as they do Volpe. Asinine!
DeleteImagine if everyone ran their business like the Yankees: "Well, under this CEO, our new products have all flopped and our stock is down 30 percent. But hey, we're paying him a lot of money, so he has to stay on to the end of his contract!"
ReplyDeleteThe great Paul Krugman had a great piece the other day about how Trump, a lifelong businessman, essentially does not understand business or economics. The same can be said for another fabulous nepo baby, our own Hal.
Yep, the only thing HAL is good for is kicking that can further down the street, towards El Banco.
DeleteFudd got knocked around last night, and the lineup slept peacefully.. can’t stand Grisham. Not sure what was going through boone’s empty head in pitching Bednar. At this point in the season, doesn’t extra rest beat staying sharp?
ReplyDeleteLet’s see if they can bounce back tonight against a lousy team, but let’s also drop any pretense about winning the division.
'Twas malpractice in the extreme to be pitching Bednar. His arm'll be falling off soon, and fucking Boone uses him in a 10-1 blowout loss? Fucking incredible, what can ya say.
DeleteWell, SUPPOSEDLY Bednar was rusty, with only 1 appearance in the last 10 games, so maybe—maybe—it was a good idea. But of course now we'll end up watching him have to go three straight days and be unavailable.
DeleteThe Yankees are kind of like Trump Media. Their stock is down 90%, but they always find plenty of suckers to invest. Or like a company that has no profits until a Trump family member invests in it and within a week a multi-billion, no-bid contract is awarded to that company by the administration.
ReplyDelete"Remember how they called their camp "The Gas Station," and how they boasted about developing young arms?"
ReplyDeleteThe Gas Station was actually a good name for them. They were the arson squad - throwing gasoline on the fire. They were the best damned arsonists I ever seen. They made the western Canadian and American wildfires look like a candlelight. "Quest for Fire"? Man, if our ancestors had had these guys....
That's pretty funny, Hammer.
DeleteFrom X:
ReplyDeleteAaron Boone tells us Ryan McMahon and John Schreiber will be activated and added to the roster as the September roster expansion moves
Tell me how any of this is good?
I don't even remember who John Schreiber is. I probably should, but I don't. I cannot remember him pitching. Was he with the Cubs originally?
DeleteMcMahon was to be expected. His 16M contract is all you need to know.
DeleteThe jackass Red Sox broadcaster needs to take it easy with the coffee. Does he not know that the game is different this year? Fucking double digit leads go "poof" in two innings. Really don't care what the score is. Jazz can steal with a twenty run lead. Or bunt for a hit. You don't like it? As The Master always said: play better!
ReplyDeleteAmen, Hammer! And if a Yankees broadcaster had said what Flemming did about the Sox, he would've been accused of committing a war crime.
DeleteRemember when their fans and employees started regularly attacking our players, back around 1999-2005? Again, if that had happened in the Bronx, we would have heard all sorts of grave intonations about it being the end of civilization.
You know, Walmart Urethra, with a 2.85 ERA, really is one of the best pitchers in the AL this year, so if the Yanks wanted to mail one in, I guess this is the one...
ReplyDelete...But as The Estimable Keefe points out, the next two pitchers the Haloes are throwing are also lights out against our boys, so this could easily turn into a sweep...
ReplyDelete...I know, I know. Four games in three days, a cross-country flight blah blah blah. Sorry, the money is just too big these days for yet another, "not a good-faith effort."
ReplyDeleteAnd what's more, this Yankees team never, ever seems to gather any momentum from a big win. They take their arch-rival, maybe—MAYBE—clinch home field against said rival for the playoffs, and SHOULD be setting their eyes on that quasi-professional team playing in Gimcrack Stadium down in Tampa...
One word : BOONE
Delete...A sure-fire tomato can after a big win? Sounds like stomping time. But no. Another non-effort, another, 'Hey, we'll get 'em in the playoffs'...when ALL the pitchers are good.
ReplyDeleteIf the old Yankees had played like this, we wouldn't have won a thing.
Hells Angels Motorcycle Club are a terrible baseball team. These guys are more than 30 games under .500, well on their way to a 100 loss season. Yet, we're talking about losing two of three to these guys, maybe even getting swept. Tells you all you need to know about the 2026 Yankees.
ReplyDelete