"Just what you need when it's the Rubber Game of the Series and Willy is on the Mound" GameThread

 

The Yankee bullpen looks like a beleaguered crew in the dregs of August. It's only May 19.

Over his last three outings, David Bednar - the barrel-chested, scruffily bearded Yankee closer - has...

Walked four batters.

Given up five earned runs.

Surrendered six hits.

Watched his ERA balloon to 5.14.

Muttered an uncountable number of unpleasantries.

Bednar accomplished these feats against two tomato-can lineups - the Mets and O's - who are a combined 11 games below .500.

In another time, in another universe, the Yankees would gently excise Bednar from the closer role and give him a week in the Adirondacks with a sex worker and the phone number of a competent therapist. He seems to be falling apart. Over his last seven games, his ERA is 8.59. Before our eyes, Bednar has turned into Aroldis Chapman without the sweat glands.

If it were late July, Cooperstown Cashman would be working the phones like a whirling Dervish, trying to trade Spencer Jones, Anthony Volpe or the Martian for somebody, anybody, who can pitch a 9th inning. But this is not a raging, late-summer pennant race. This is May 19, a week away from Memorial Day and - already - Aaron Boone's famous Circle of Trust has shrunken to a dot. 

 Who pitches the last three innings? And who records the final three outs? That question now lingers over every Yankee lead, and every blown scoring opportunity. Last August, Cashman traded a massive chunk of the Yankees' prospect base for Bednar, Jake Bird and Camilo Doval - with only Bednar proving his mettle. In previous trade deadlines, they collected Scott Effross, Mark Leiter Jr., and the cast of Knot's Landing. The strategy of waiting for July 31 - and then hold a farm system garage sale - is no way to run a baseball club, and it won't work in 2026.

The Yankees cannot wait until August. The bullpen is shot, and the wolf is at the door.  

Bednar pitched the 9th and we still won! What are the odds?

 

Happy Monday Game Thread, Everybody! Tonight's game is gunna be . . . BOøNER-RIFFIC !

This, I believe.

 

With apologies to Ed Murrow and Steve Martin.

It is at this moment, with our boys in pinstripes at their lowest ebb, and facing their great challenge of the season, that it behooves all of us loyal Yankees fans to stand by our team. Hence, I testify to my faith in our Bronx Bombers and above all their beloved leaders, Hal Steinbrenner and Brian Cashman:

—I believe that the New York Yankees will finish the 2026 season.

—I believe that Austin Wells will pick up a sixth RBI before the year is over.

—I believe that Jazz Chisholm will indeed become a 50-50 man this season: 50 hits, and 50 pairs of pants.

—I believe that Aaron Judge will hit another home run.

—I believe that Anthony Volpe will make a fielding play that does not lose the game.

—I believe that Trent Grisham will hit over .200 on the season. After all, he has accomplished that in 4 of his previous 7 years in the big leagues.

—I believe that Jasson Dominguez will play again.

—I believe that Spencer Jones will play again.

—I believe that the Yankees will eventually determine exactly how Max Fried is injured, and if he will pitch again.

—I believe that Carlos Rodon will win an important game...in some alternate space, time, or dimension (Perhaps he already has!).

—I believe that the Yankees will once again have a closer who can tear a sheet of paper with his fastball.

—I believe that Cody Bellinger will reach 15 home runs on the season. All right, 10?

—I believe that Ryan McMahon is playing very well indeed...for an alien life form who has just taken on a human appearance.

—I believe that there is a theoretical amount of money which, if you presented it to Hal Steinbrenner, he would say, "That's too much!" Theoretically.

—I believe that if Brian Cashman were to "run back" the 2025 season 1 billion times through an AI center, that in 1 of them...the Yankees would win the pennant. And maybe the World Series.

This, I believe.

Pythagoras says: "Stop Stupid Gambling!"

You guessed it. 

After a staggeringly incompetent, awful, totally bad, rotten, 2-7 "road trip" (one that included playing 3 games in a ballpark just a borough over from their home field), your New York Yankees are STILL far and away the oddsmakers' favorite to win the World Series...at least among American League teams.

It's true: nine games of jaw-dropping, mind-blowing, sheer incompetence allowed the Los Angeles Dodgers, at 19.3 percent, to move (slightly) ahead of all major-league favorites to take the Fall Classic, as they have the last two years.

The Yankees have now fallen to a 16.0 chance to do the same, despite falling to 3-10 in one-run games. Because of course, all sorts of teams that have won just .231 percent of one-run contests have taken the Series in the past...right?

Incredibly, though, the Yanks remain almost 4 times as likely to win as the Tampa Bay Rays (4.2%), a team that now leads them by 4 games in the loss column. The highest other percentages to win it all from the AL are the Cleveland Guardians of Traffic (5.9%) and the Seattle "Dumpless" Mariners (4.1%).

Even amongst NL teams other than the Dodgers, the Milwaukee Brewers (14.3%) and the Atlanta Braves (12.0), with the best record in baseball, trail far behind the Yankees.

The bombing Bombers are also the biggest favorite to win the pennant of either league, at 32.0 percent.

Pythagoras says: "Don't be fooled by people speaking in my name! Gambling is stupid enough! Stop Stupid Gambling!"

This has been a public service announcement.

Yesterday's second-worst Yankee loss in this decade came with one upside

It's a no easy task, calculating the absolute worst Yankee losses of a season, or a decade, or a millennium. 

Yesterday's out-of-body, felony-grade defeat - surely the ugliest thus far in 2026 - does not measure up as the worst in this wretched decade.  

Nope. That dreaded distinction still belongs to what Yankeestorians call "Game Five," of the horror show 2024 World Series. It featured a 5th inning that began with Aaron Judge muffing a harmless fly ball, ascended with Anthony Volpe botching an easy throw to third, and peaked forever in our hearts with Gerrit Cole pointing to first base, rather than running there.

Nope. Game Five remains the worst Yankee loss of this decade and, frankly, of this millennium. 

And, seriously, there have been some masterpieces. A few years back, remember when closer Clay Holmes disassembled in Houston, leading to a walk-off HR by Jose Altuve? Or the Dave Roberts loss to Boston, back in the waning days of the Curse? Or the Johnny Damon grand slam off Javier Vazquez? Those were primo, bull-goose, are-you-fucking-with-me-God? losses, which we must carry for the rest of our lives.

If there is an upside to yesterday - in a sad, desperate way - it is that John Sterling didn't have to call it... or even watch. 

Nope. Add this to the pantheon of abuses by this Yankee regime against its fans. It brought a little of everything: the scrutiny of a Subway Series rubber match, the arrogance of Juan Soto, the expectations of Mets youngsters, the meltdown of another Yankee closer, and the inevitability of another season shot to hell. 

The YES men will say that the Yankees this week can rectify their course against Toronto and Tampa. Let's not kid ourselves. This is not how champions play. 

Aaannnndddd....the whitewash begins

The TV tubes had barely cooled when Volpe's ignoramus, stupid, immature botch was being whitewashed by Boone and Volpe himself. Schuemann tells the truth, but for self-preservation does not say the obvious: 

Volpe fucked up, again. Volpe was a key reason that the Yankees lost...again.

"Schuemann fielded the ball cleanly with his backhand and seemed poised to throw home, but Volpe ran into him. Both players were charging hard for the ball, which was their plan.

Schuemann might have had a chance to throw out Semien, but it would have been close.

Boone said he didn’t think even Schuemann had a chance at him. Boone and Volpe said the ball was in “no man’s land.” The manager said the Yankees played the infield in because, with one out and Luis Torrens the runner on first base, they thought it would be too difficult to double up the speedy Benge at first.

“Yeah I picked it pretty clean,” Scheumann said."

And this post mortem, correctly analyzing what happened:

https://bleedingyankeeblue.blogspot.com/

The guy got a couple of hits--amazingly and finally--then completely negated whatever value he displayed by being an unaware jerk, preventing a teammate from possibly gunning down the runner at home to give the Yanks another chance.

Naturally, Boone and Volpe were in high whitewashing mode after the game. We are obviously expected not to believe our lying eyes. Volpe is merely an innocent dove who did nothing wrong, ever, in the field or at the plate.

Yes, Bednar sucked, and Bednar has sucked a lot this year. Cashman, incompetent asshole that he is, might possibly address that problem in six weeks. If he addresses it like he addressed last year's bullpen, I don't have much hope. And that's if he addresses the problem at all, along with Doval, Bird, and the other clowns he's signed or wasted young players on in terrible trades.

But Volpe...he showed nothing the minors, was called up anyway, and still benefits from the blatant favortism of Yankee scouts and management, including Boone. As with many things to do with the Yankees, it's completely inexplicable.

Will they keep trotting out Volpe, maybe even after Caballero is recovered? I wouldn't be surprised and neither would you. This is an organization that prides itself on its incompetence, top to bottom.

Volpe fits right in.

Happy Sunday Game Thread Everybody – It should be a memorable game . . . (you'll see)

Facing a rubber game, the swooning Yankees are starting to relive last year

 
For the first quarter of 2026, the Gammonites of MLB - cheerful, dancing courtiers to America's oldest-money billionaires - stuck to their scripts and blathered praise for the 2nd place Yankees.

Night after night, "Boonies' Banterers of the Booth" have spun felony-grade ebullience about the Yankees' success, much in the manner that MAGA meatballs speak of You Know Who.

The narrative is simple: While certain other teams - (Mets, Redsocks, Orioles, Jays, Rays, et al) - remade their rosters, the Yankee brain trust doubled down on last year's team.

Ignored is that the 2025 Yankees collapsed in early June and finished second, due to an inability to beat their rivals. Today, we are watching it happen again, though a series of mind-bending losses.

Last night brought out Luke Weaver - the cerebral former Yankee closer, who the front office let go last winter. He came in with the bases loaded, nobody out, and a 2-run lead on the line. Weaver faced the ex-Met super-prospect, Amed Rosario, who never quite lived up to the hype. Rosario struck out. 

Next came Trent Grisham, whose decision to accept the Yankee qualifying offer last winter set into motion the entire stand-pat strategy. (Basically, the Yankees had no other choice.) Grisham struck out.

Then came Anthony Volpe - the prodigal son of New Jersey - in what likely will be his last week - and his last chance - as a Yankee. He hit a routine grounder to short, ending the inning and - effectively - the game.

Everything you wanted to know about the rise and fall of 2026 was wrapped up in those four players. 

Today, the Yankees trout out Elmer Rodriguez, a young pitcher who was showered with hype throughout the month of March, then sent to Scranton to tread water. 

The winner of today's game will - for now, anyway - claim to be NYC's better team. Frankly, it's not much of a title. That said, make no mistake. The Yankees are fading, and everybody can feel it. The Bards of the Booth can say whatever they want. The second quarter looks like Hell. 

Cashman is an incompetent asshole

 My hero.

Fuck Cashman. Fuck Volpe. Fuck Boone. Fuck Duval. Fuck Bird.

They all suck.

Amen.

Will Carloss Win? I'm Jones'n for a Home Run, myself (GameThread) Bonus Question: Guess whose pants Jazz Jr is wearing tonight?

 

Sgt. Elias: "You're an asshole, Boone."

 He platooned the Martian.

He platooned Rice.

He platooned Oswaldo.

He platooned Stanton.

He platooned Bellinger.

He platooned Goldie.

But no matter how bad he's hitting, he never, ever, ever platoons Volpe. And pinch hit for him, if I rememer correctly, once.

Boone is an idiot.

Platooning is largely a sham.

So is Cashman.

Jazz is one of us

From today's  NY Daily News story about Jazz Chisholms's good games playing in Trent Grisham's baggy pants and, last night, Giancarlo Stanton's:  

Stanton and Grisham are not the only members of Chisholm’s Brotherhood of the Traveling Pants, as he also wore a pair belonging to Randal Grichuk, who the Yankees designated for assignment last month after a slow start to his season. Those pants did not bring good fortune Chisholm’s way. “I think it cursed me, because I was getting hot,” Chisholm insisted. ”I got hot, I wore Grichuk’s pants, I lined out twice, and flew out at the warning track. “I said, ‘Oh, see, you just put bad juju on my short-pant game.'”

A Yankee fan's prayer for justice... and Clay Holmes.

This we know: The juju gods are assholes.

They think they're Kristi Noem - that they can torture us, toy with us, twerk us and tweak us - that they can nullify a great Yankee win with a chicken-plucked hamstring or a surgical line drive, all to remind us that heavenly outcomes can come with hellish consequences. 

Last night, the juju gods took out their frustrations on a relatively innocent bystander in the eternal NY baseball cold war, the so-called "Subway Series." A freak liner fractured the fibula of Clay Holmes, an ex-Yankee who was pitching for the Mets. He's out for "a long time." Maybe worse. At age 33, a broken leg can be a career killer. Damn. It's not fair. 

Normally, like Trump grousing from his airliner's restroom door, I will rage through the night about Yankee stars who sign with other teams. They're guilty of the worst crime known to fans: Yankee treason. 

My piercing righteousness stems from Juan Soto, who pissed upon a year of Yankees loyalty so he could bank a few extra dimes on a Mt. Everest stack of money he will not in his life imagine. In Soto's case - like that of Robbie "Joggy" Cano - he made not only a craven choice, but a flat-out bad decision, which has already begun to haunt him. I believe he will secretly regret it for the rest of his life. Good riddance.

In an alt-Yankiverse, last night's Yankee batting order should have been:

Ben Rice, 1B
Aaron Judge, RF
Juan Soto, LF
Giancarlo Stanton, DCH
Cody Bellinger, CF
Higgy C (why not?)
Jazz Chisholm, 2B
Jose Caballero, SS
Oswald Peraza, 3B (same)

Okay, I'm soaring off topic. This is about an injustice, about wrongful collateral damage, which happened last night to an undeserving soul. 

In his time with the Yankees, Holmes had been a solid closer, who always took the ball, even when he was being vastly overworked by Aaron Boone, until his arm nearly fell off. When he reached free agency - at 31, the most important contract in his family's future - he had run his course with the Yankees. The Mets offered a new life, as a starter, and Holmes had become their ace. Last night, the juju gods kicked him in the nuts.

Holmes took a shot off the bat of Spencer Jones - a newly inscribed character in the hyped-up history of the Subway Series - who before last night was known for strikeouts and being as tall as Aaron Judge. I hope Jones can launch his New York career in the next two nights. And let's hope Holmes can make it back. Guy didn't deserve this. Screw you, juju gods. 

THE PAIN ! Game Thread – 05-15-26

 

New York, New York? These little town shoes are bringing us down.

To boost interest, two years ago, the scions of professional basketball introduced a make-believe in-season tournament called The NBA Cup. 

For one ridiculously stupid week, NBA teams pretended to chase a cherished, time-honored trophy - The Cup! - and the feckless media played along. Fun Fact: The Knicks won this year's cup, though I had to look it up. It had been banished it from my mind. 

College football has "Rivalry Weekend," when teams pair up with their geographical adversaries. Arizona plays Arizona State. Georgia plays Georgia Tech, Ohio State takes on Michigan and Penn State gets - um - Rutgers? Of course, none of it will matter a month later, in the conference tourney, or come December, in the NCAA playoffs. Rivalry Weekend serves to bump up resales, and the media follows along like a leashed chihuahua. 

Which brings us to baseball, which has two fake events. The first comes in March, with the World Baseball Classic. This year, America got to watch Aaron Judge flail at pitches in the dirt, so folks in San Diego could say he's overrated. Then there is tonight, which launches MLB's version of Rivalry Weekend. 

Everybody plays their mortal enemy, even teams that have none. Baltimore plays Washington, Philly does Pittsburgh, it's Texas/Houston, Boston/Atlanta (huh?), Miami/Florida, San Francisco/Sacramento, (hah), LA/LA, and of course, the most fraudulent rivalry of all - NY/NY, the "Subway Series," baseball's version of Blake Lively vs Justin Baldoni.  

Tonight, we're supposed to watch two struggling, money-bleeding teams - one of which might be a certified tomato can - face off in a season-defining weekend.  

Yeah, right. A month from now, this weekend's heroes and/or goats will have vanished from our memories. And good riddance. 

Once again, the Yankees are chasing their Wild Card, while the Mets face the terrifying reality that Stevie Cohen has squandered more money than ICE, if it sought a detention center in Palm Beach.

Of course, we'll play along. Always do. I've followed these bullshit events for nearly 70 years, back when they played "The Mayor's Trophy Game." Honestly? I've seen worse matchups. Still, I refuse to assign extra importance to a three-game series that belongs in February. No new star will be christened tonight. No history will be made. 

New York is preparing to battle its greatest nemesis of all, bigger than Boston, bigger than LA, bigger than SUNY New Paltz. 

It's about to deal with the Indiana Pacers. the next villain, whomever it is. Now, that's something.

This is hilarious.

 

According to the odds online from baseball reference today, your New York Yankees...remain the heavy favorite to win the American League pennant, and the World Series.

Before yesterday's 7-0 blowout loss to a bad Orioles team, the Yanks were over 99 percent certain to make a playoff spot, over 35 percent certain to win the pennant...and still 20.4 percent certain to win the World Series.

That's right: after losing 4 of their previous 5 games going into yesterday, their chances of winning the Series...actually increased slightly.

The culprit, of course, is our old friend, Pythagoras, who no doubt would be chortling with rage if he saw his mathematical theorems misused like this to gull the suckers.

Most likely, had the bullpen been able to hold yesterday's debacle to the one- or two-run loss the Yankees are used to sustaining without so much as a whimper, they would be over 25-percent favorites to win the Series.

Instead, their numbers plunged. All the way to...a 98.7 certainty to make the playoffs, a 34.3 percent chance to win the pennant, and an 18.3 percent chance to win it all.

Those pennant and World Series percentages are, respectively almost three times and over three times the next highest numbers for an AL team, in this case the Wandering A's (at 13.2 and 6.0). 

This is despite the Yankees just having lost 4 of 5 games, sustained devastating injuries for which there are no replacements, and seen their bullpen, lineup, and top remaining minor-league prospect, all implode. They are now 3 games behind the Rays in the East Division loss column. 

The Rays...who are given barely one-sixth the chance the Yankees supposedly have to make the Series (3.4 percent).

Over in the NL, the Brewers—a scrappy bunch who just ran rings around our heroes—are supposed to have only a 13.9 percent chance to win it all...same as the Dodgers, who have a slightly better chance of winning the pennant.

In other words, according to these monkeyshines, the Yanks will cruise through the American League, then trounce the Bums in the Fall Classic.

Uh-huh. 

Hear me now and believe me later: the schneid came early this year, and the Yankees hopped aboard. 

Along with all of the other problems cited above, the facts are that other Bomber injuries are just waiting to be announced (looking at you, Cam Schlittler); Aaron Judge, great as he remains, is noticeably slowed and uncertain at the plate; Bellinger seems to have lost his power, and there's nothing to call up from Scranton.

They re-ran last year, all right...and the results are predictably worse, as always happens in a dynamic game that is constantly in flux, whether Hal & Pal like it or not.  This is a sloppy, spiritless, distracted ball club, reassured at every turn by management that they are doing just great, as the money keeps flowing in.

Let's face it: These Yankees are not going to win the World Series. They are not going to win the pennant. They are not going to win their division. They are not going to join the 40 percent of the league that makes the playoffs.

Don't be fooled by Greeks bearing phony mathematical theories!

Remember our motto at SSG: 

Gambling is stupid enough. Don't gamble stupid!

This has been a public service announcement.

 

Thank you, Mr. President

The same thing that is always wrong with them. They have some good players who are not managed or coached well. And they can't keep their people healthy.

[image or embed]

— Richard M. Nixon (@dicknixon.bsky.social) 7:21 PM · May 13, 2026

Can you hear the drums, Fernando?

 

How 'bout now? Can you hear them now?

How's this? Drums? Anything?

This any better?

Still? It's a Bonham solo, for Christ's sake! You have to hear them by now.

A day off lets Yankee and Met fans treasure their teams' ongoing fiascos and debate an existential question.

Yesterday, the Yankees bestowed upon their base a bountiful, bejeweled binge of Babadooks. 

For one butchered afternoon, their fans could ignore the price of gas, the shameful plot twists of HBO' Euphoria, the new name brand - "Sledgehammer!" for the Iran war the Yankees, who... 

1. Lost a game and series to Baltimore, a team four games below .500.

2. Were nearly no-hit by Kyle Bradish. (They eked out one hit.)

3. Didn't score.

4. Lost their ace, Max Fried, to an elbow issue. (Today, we'll learn the likely catastrophic extent of the problem.)

5. Returned Anthony Volpe to SS, where he botched a routine grounder.

6. Watched their bullpen give up four runs.

What a day. What a week. Forget the Thucydides Trap. Forget the super El Nino. All you need to know about world history, or climate change, is that the annual June Boone Swoon, a fixture in recent seasons, has arrived early.

This weekend, they play the wretched, underperforming Mets, who possess the fourth worst record in baseball. Last year, the two teams split their six game "Subway Series," spurring an existential debate - and I'm not referring to comparing the Yankees and Mets. The real question is this: 

Which is worse: New York baseball (Yankees/Mets) or football (Giants/Jets?)

At least the Giants and Jets can blame the NFL's payroll cap, which lets their billionaire owners poormouth, while happily bleeding their teams. The Mets and Yankees outspend all but a handful of franchises, yet they still manage to embarrass themselves, year after year. That's world class incontinence.

I'm going with the Mets/Yanks, though it might just be PTSD from yesterday. 

Subway Series? Or Subpar?

Well, that was raw. 

One hit. 

A blowout. 

A lost series. 

A fiasco.

Today, after Max Fried went out in the 3rd, the Yankees had as much chance of winning the game as Epstein did of surviving a shift change.

Next up, the Mets. 

The battle to be NYC's worst team.

Maybe YES can sign Kid Rock to play an alternative game.

05/13/26 – Hopefully MAX is sharper than he's been of late – Game Thread

Last night, Paul Goldschmidt put the Yankees on his shoulders to forestall a collapse. Were Anthony Volpe and Jazz Chisholm Jr. watching?

A few words about Paul Edward Goldschmidt, "America's First Baseman..." 

Honest. Faithful. Fiducial. Tough. Wise...

Last night, as we all know, Goldy slammed a game- opening HR, putting the haggard Yanks ahead of Baltimore and - perhaps - forestalling the looming June Boone Full-Moon swoon. 

At 38, relegated to a backup, defensive role - resulting from the ascension of Ben Rice and the latest injury to Giancarlo Stanton - Goldschmidt delivered. 

Let's hope Anthony Volpe and Jazz Chisholm were watching.

This week, the Yankees were roiled by matters of loyalty - to Volpe, after returning from an injury, and to Chisholm, after a disastrous trip to Milwaukee. 

Volpe was demoted to Scranton, where he must re-engineer his swing and save his career. Chisholm was benched and watched a ball roll through the legs of his replacement, Amed Rosario. Both players can pine over their current doldrums. Both need look no further than Goldschmidt for how a true Major League star should act. 

Goldy, who turns 39 in September, is a career .288 hitter with 376 home runs. This season, in 20 games, he's at .262 with 4 HRs.

This guy has...

Four Gold Gloves.
Seven all-star game appearances.
One MVP (2022).
Three Players of the Month.
Five Silver Sluggers.

His statistical doppelgangers include Hall of Famers Orlando Cepeda, Edgar Martinez and Fred McGriff, along with such candidates as David Ortiz, Joey Votto and Freddy Freeman.

What could make Goldy a lock. (Pun there, get it?)  A ring. An October surprise. One final big moment in the national spotlight, magnified by the passion of New York City. 

In the meantime, at least for now, he is the Yankee first baseman. And every time he saves Volpe or Chisholm from an errant throw, they should salute not just Goldschmidt, but the person he is and the way he plays.

Deep Thoughts

Not a lot of them, because really, what is there to say?

I only watched the condensed game on mlb.com. Full disclosure.

1. That terrible play by Schuemann made me wonder who the fuck was playing short. I hadn't seen the lineup beforehand. It was so bad that for a few seconds I thought Volpe was playing. Little did I know that Cab really hurt his finger and the Player Formerly Known As The Great Volpe was called up, and could well have been playing.

2. Jake Bird. OK, he's not the worst reliever ever, but how long do we continue this experiment? It was the Orioles for fuck's sake.

3. Ditto Cruella Duval. I mean, even Cashman has to see what he's got there, and it ain't good.

4. I see Jazz didn't play. So I checked out the Michael Kay link Carl so thoughtfully provided. Those stats Kay read off were even more depressing than what I've seen in the games I've watched. His defense is still a little hit and miss, too. Anybody need a used infielder? Used to be pretty good, needs work.

5. I'm still scratching the scalp over those two Bmore runs being earned off Warren. The hapless infield plays did not get scored as errors, the official scorer obviously being a home town homer. We expect this to some degree, but Christ on a bike (a Schwinn, of course), those were damn egregious. Do we need an automated system now to challenge the scorer?

6. Beldar--the best Conehead we have in the pen--did fine. I think there's hope for him as a closer. Cashman's flurry of bad trades at last year's deadline may not include him. Which makes Cashman, what, 1 for 4? He should be benched.

7. Volpe is a decided bust, I think we all agree. Which brings us to his girlfriend, at right. Ignore the picture of the tree. Volpe is standing behind it, hiding after he was sent down. He has few reasons to complain about his lot in life.

No CURE, No RELIEF, But LOTS of INACTIVE INGREDIENTS – Game Thread

HE'S BACK!

(SIDE EFFECT WILL INCLUDE)

NAUSEA

DIARRHEA

VOMITING

INCREASED BLOOD PRESSURE

ANXIETY

HEAD ACHE

CONFUSION

MOMENTARY LOSS OF MUSCULAR COORDINATION

AND . . .

Brian Cashman pushes back on "the narrative," sends "strong message on storyline."

 

News item:  "Brian Cashman Sends Strong Message on Storyline Around 2026 Yankees": https://heavy.com/sports/mlb/new-york-yankees/brian-cashman-storyline-urgency/

Ah, what a difference a week makes! Or even a day!

"Cashman pushed back on the narrative that the Yankees are playing with more urgency to win in 2026 despite their stellar 26-12 26-15 26-16 start.

"I know there's this narrative that all of a sudden we woke up and smelled the coffee," Cashman told the Sports Section Formerly Known As The New York Times's. "[That] We know it's a must-win year—that we're making roster moves that reflect that, and we've almost found a different gear. None of that is true."

It is a little known fact that Cashman is only the latest in a long line of littérateurs who have run the New York Yankees. 

Many think of the individuals who have guided the Yankees over the last century as merely baseball men who built dynasties that lasted for decades, dominated baseball as no other franchise in any other sport ever has, established a legacy of winning and class, and built a cathedral of a ballpark to house record numbers of fans.

But that doesn't mean they were not also distinguished men of letters.

It was none other than Jacob Ruppert, for instance, who first proclaimed, "The author is dead," while his general manager, Ed Barrow, defined the idea of "the unreliable narrator."

It was Barrow's successor, George Weiss, who came up with the idea of "the nonfiction novel," and Gabriel Garcia Paul who conceived of "magical realism," saying, "How else to explain George Steinbrenner and Billy Martin?"

Gene Michael, Bob Watson, and Buck Showalter were considered to be adherents of "Parnassianism," the French literary movement "that strove for exact and faultless workmanship"...which was declared literary heresy once it was thought to cut into Steinbrennerian profit margins.

As for Cashman's pushing back on the narrative:

"We are acting the same way as we did in years gone by," he insisted. "...I don't feel like there's anything different right now."

Hey, when the man's right, he's right.

 

Just a week ago today

The Yankees are on fire and they have reinforcements on the way 

By Gary Phillips, New York Daily News 

May 6, 2026  

Basking in the glow of yet another win, Jazz Chisholm Jr. eagerly relayed the vibes inside the Yankees’ clubhouse Tuesday night.

“The positivity in the clubhouse right now is just super crazy,” the second baseman said after homering in a 7-3 takedown of the Rangers. “It’s like everybody’s just on a real high horse right now, and we just want to ride it out as long as we can.”

Tuesday’s victory made the Yankees 15-2 since April 17, the best record of any team over that stretch. That span has also seen their offense lead the majors in runs, home runs, RBI, average, OBP, slugging, OPS, wRC+ and xwOBA. Their pitching staff, meanwhile, has the best ERA, WHIP and opponent batting average in baseball, as well as the second-best FIP.

The Yankees have also been a top-10 fielding team, in terms of Defensive Runs Saved, since April 17.

“It’s an incredibly talented group, and we’re playing well,” said closer David Bednar, one of four relievers who teamed up to strand each of the eight runners they inherited on Tuesday. “It’s a lot of fun. All these guys in this locker room, it’s really special, and I think you’re seeing it.”

With the Yankees clicking on all fronts — and showing some increased urgency in their decision-making after last year’s shortcomings — the team is 25-11 overall. That’s good enough for the best record in the American League and the second-best record in baseball behind the Braves.

And to think, the Bombers could get better soon...

 More at the link 

Baltimore? We couldn't beat BALTIMORE?

 Boone sucks, but I think the bullpen might have him beat.

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?