You can almost smell his, uh . . . like, uhm - you know . . .
wheels spinning
Sunday, July 5, 2026
It's Not Working.
Joining him was the Yanks' latest "great new arm of the future," Carlos Lagrange, who the Bombers should have put in their bullpen to start the season, so they could have at least got a decent half-year out of what is certain to be yet another, sad career of rehab stints, imagings, and promising comeback outings, down in the far-flung outposts of the Yankees' crumbling empire.
At 33, Carlos Rodon has never thrown 200 innings in a season. And yet, he joins Max Fried, who has also never thrown 200 innings in a season, on the DL.
Carlos the Younger, who is 23, has never thrown more than the 120 he reached last season. Didn't help.
Gerrit Cole has thrown over 200 innings in a season. He is just coming back from his second, extended DL stint. If "coming back" is what he's doing.
But the fact is that doesn't happen with your New York Yankees.
The young guys get hurt, the older guys get hurt. They are coddled, they are instructed, they take all kinds of pills to give 'em all kinds of thrills learn all kinds of things about all kinds of pitches...
And they still get hurt.
Look, I'm NOT for rushing along young pitchers, or overworking guys. The past really was full of young guys who were overworked and blew out their arms, never to be heard from again.
But this—whatever this is—for the Yankees or the majors, isn't working.
We keep hearing about the tremendous velocity that guys attain today...although at our ill-fated outing to the Stadium, we saw Yankees and Reds pitchers alike throwing all sorts of 80-something junk. (I think one pitch was even at 79 mph, though that might've been the position player we ended up using.)
Reserved and rested and reconstituted as these guys are...none of them can complete nine innings. Almost none of them can throw six innings—something else that's destroying our game. It's sure as hell destroying the Yankees. Every year it's the same thing: the kids don't come up, and the older guys go down.
We keep being told this is scientific. We keep being told this is better. It's not science, and it's not better.
The other day on SNY, the estimable John Harper was advising the Yankees to do whatever it took to get Tarik Skubal from the Tigers. Harper's reasoning was that, "With the American League the way it is, the Yankees are practically slotted in to make the World Series."
Sadly, even with the American League the way it is, they are not. I don't think they will make the playoffs, much less the Fall Classic.
And I doubt that they could even assemble a package of players that would bring them Skubal. And I doubt that Skubal would get through even the rest of the season with this franchise...without ending up on the DL.
What the Yankees need to do—what MLB needs to do—is figure out what they're doing wrong, so they can fix it.
Crazy idea, I know.
The Yankees are collapsing in real time, saved only by the pathetic American League, and why should we pretend to be surprised?
What an inconsequential mess.
What a waste of time.
Why are we devoting time to this spiritless Yankee franchise, this spineless company, this blood-sucking family-owned business?
What is the point?
After four months of play, the American League is a shambles, and only two teams - the Angels and Royals - are effectively done for the year.
If the season ended today, any AL team over .500 would get to play in October. A week from the All-Star break, the wretched Redsocks - mired in their most disappointing season of this millennium - are just five games down in the wild card race. Five.
As the Yankees flounder, are you starting to feel - well - abused?
The Yankees sport baseball's third highest payroll ($339 million) after the Dodgers ($420 million) and Mets ($374 million). They spend three times as much as the Tampa Rays ($111 million). If they were a governmental agency, they would be indicted for fraud.
So, why are we assigning so much energy, so much angst, to a team that can't even field an MLB worthy defense?
It's simple: They cannot fail. The AL is gerrymandered, rigged with tomato cans. It doesn't matter what the Yankees do this week, or next. They are positioning themselves for October. They'll get Judge back in August. They'll get Giancarlo back - oh, fuck a duck, who cares? Soon, we'll hear breathless updates on Clarke Schmidt, and then comes the trade deadline, when they once again sacrifice their farm system for short team gains.
We're doing it again.
The Yankees aren't collapsing. They are just doing what they always do.
Saturday, July 4, 2026
HAPPY 96TH BIRTHDAY, GEORGE ! (game thread)
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And when the sun comes up, I'll be on topYou'll be right down there lookin' upAnd I might wave, come up hereBut I don't see you wavin' now
Too many teardrops
For one heart to be crying
Too many teardrops
For one heart to be crying
You're gonna cry 96 tears
You're gonna cry 96 tears
You're gonna cry, cry-cry-cry, now
You're gonna cry, cry-cry-cry
Uh, like . . . you know
Cry 96 tears
Thank you, 'Sota. (Springsteen should write you a song) and 10 other ponderings for those who were not invited to Taylor and Travis' wedding.)
In the meantime, 10 meanderings...
1. To win in baseball, it's not rocket science. You supplement a strong farm system with a few star free agents. The Dodgers do it quite well. But the 2026 Yankees have neither.
2. Someday - maybe next year - the Mets will rise. We can smirk about their record - fourth most losses in MLB. But they are building the farm, and they are spending the money. One of these days, we will feel the whoosh of them passing us, as NY's favored baseball team. (If you look at tabloid covers, they are already ahead of us, but that won't last through September.)
3. It's taken half the season, but Jose Caballero has apparently won the SS position, (I'll believe this when he plays an entire series.) Congrats to all who are still suffering from Volpe Derangement Syndrome.
4. Cooperstown Cashman has four weeks to find what he can get for Anthony Volpe. Right now, not much. A bullpen lug nut, maybe?
5. The Yankees are yet to see the ballyhooed rotation with Gerrrit Cole, Carlos Rodon and Max Fried pitching at the same time. It's possible that they never will. This should blare sirens about mortgaging the farm for Tarik Skubal. When you obtain an ace pitcher, you're paying for every pitch he's ever thrown.
6. Still bumming over the loss of Carlos Lagrange, the star of spring training. He's out with a strained shoulder, and he probably won't return until - gulp - spring training. Damn. The Yankees had one breakout pitcher last spring, and they will probably get nothing from him in 2026. I realize that young pitchers are always fragile, but the Yankees pitching gurus blew this one, horribly. They had one job: Get this kid - and his 102 mph fastball - to the majors. They botched it.
7. After last night's game, Spencer Jones was dispatched to Scranton. That's strike two for his Yankee career. Unless somebody gets hurt - always a possibility - he's done with this organization. Gone at the trade deadline.
8. Jones is just another reminder that Yank fans - thirsty for news about the farm system - should never raise their hopes about Yankee prospects. They are simply a commodity to be traded.
9. The seven-game losing streak made it a given that Cashman will remake this roster on or about July 31. Last year brought two disasters - (Bird and Doval) - two successes - (Bednar and Cabby) - and a no decision (McMahon.) I don't know how anyone can look at last year's trades and find great optimism for this team.
10. One of these days, the Twins will stop rescuing the Yankees from themselves.
Happy fucking fourth.
Friday, July 3, 2026
It's a heat wave, and the Yankees are a hot mess. Ten overly boiled truths.
Ten truths to free our tortured skulls.
1. No matter what happens, Aaron Boone will never be fired. Ever. He will outlast us, our children, and our children's children. He will speak at your funeral. Do not gaze deeply into those demonic eyes. He will manage the Yankees forever.
2. Thus, do not fall into the soul-sapping trap of calling for Boone's dismissal. It won't happen. He cannot be removed. Same with Trump and his offspring. They're not leaving. Ever. None of them. Kash Patel? Taylor Swift? Vana White? The cast of Yellowstone? Here, forever.
3. That's because our world is run by inhuman, immortal demon alien vampires who cannot be killed. If you get in their way, you will be sued or disappeared to a desert prison colony. If you get in Boone's way, you must deal with his secret hell-spawn acolyte, Anthony Volpe.
4. Jazz Chisholm is a robot. He was designed to be a 50-50 player, but his software became degraded, and now, he suffers from weekly chip malfunctions. He needs to be restored to factory settings, but the Yankees fear losing their investment in the lollypops.
5. Hal Steinbrenner is alive and being held captive in a remote stretch of Area 54. If we had our shit together, we would mount a courageous military operation to free him and restore him to the Yankee helm. But frankly, nobody wants that.
6. This week, the Yankees finally destroyed pitching prospect Carlos Lagrange. In spring training, Lagrange was throwing 102 mph fastballs, so they sent him to Scranton, where he could throw out his arm. There are good reasons to go slowly on young pitchers, but opposing teams do it often, rather than horde Camilo Dovals and Jake Birds, and they have now beaten the Yankees seven straight times.
7. The sportswriters now calling for a trade deadline Yankee makeover are, in fact, automated online flesh bots, reincarnated from gum-swabs of Peter Gammons, whose disembodied brain is currently running a traffic light on Martha's Vineyard.
8. Jack Curry is a hologram transmission from a planet millions of miles from here. His hair gel is the receiver.
9. The black paint on Jose Caballero's face never comes off. I do not know what that means.
10. Few losing streaks survive 9th inning meltdowns by the likes of Aroldis Chapman and Kenley Janson. But the miracle plummeting '26 Yankees did just that. Was there ever a darker omen of the looming Yankeegeddon?
Beware. And don't stare into Boone's eyes.
Thursday, July 2, 2026
This is all the fault of the New York Knicks.
It's the Knicks who did it. The incredible, amazing, jaw-dropping, unbelievable, gobsmacking, miraculous run of your New York Knickerbockers is what is leaving Yankees fans in such a funk about this season.
The Knicks! Of all people. Yet another taxpayer-subsidized, New York ball club run by a certifiable nepo troll...whose front office, coach, and never-say-die players nevertheless somehow got it together to win it all, and set the city's hearts (and the odd school bus) aflame.
How else to account for why it is that Yankees fans are sooooo disgruntled over their team going a mere, record-setting 12 straight games without scoring more than 4 more runs (and 14 games without getting as many as 10 hits)?
Why, won't they understand that this team is still right in the midst of the wild-card hunt?
The reason has to be...the Knicks.
I kid, I kid, of course.
BUUUUUTTTT...you can absolutely expect to hear this argument made, in one form or another, by someone in the Yankees front office, or at least the YES broadcasting booth (same thing). Especially if the crowds continue to diminish.
(The Yanks still lead the AL in attendance, but the last two games each saw fewer than 40,000 fans, even with the Skubal-Schlittler "duel." What, people don't want to pay through the nose so they can come out in 100-degree heat and watch teams full of mediocrities flail futilely at the ball? Slackers!)
If the US soccer team somehow makes a run (it won't), you can expect to hear this rational applied to them, too:
"People were distracted by this whole, marvelous, ne'er to be repeated spring and summer of special events. It won't last."
Except, that it will.
This Yankees team is the oldest in the American League. It's not rebuilding, it's breaking down. And there are no viable replacements in sight for even its worst players: Wells, McMahon, Volpe, Jazz.
There has never been much relief pitching this season, and now the starting pitching is falling apart in a hurry. The team can't hit, but insists on sticking to techniques that have been shown to fail for years now. Running, fielding? That's SO pre-Sabremetrics.
The general manager won't fire the manager, and the owner won't fire the general manager, and all we New Yorkers keep doing is ladling money over the owner.
The Yanks aren't merely bad, and rapidly getting worse. They are unwatchably, historically bad, and there is no incentive to change the system that is making them so
Rrrrr...those Knicks!
The Yankees are falling apart, and their greatest supporter is losing her mind.
The singularity. The apocalypse. The culmination of all terrors.
Suzyn Waldman went speechless.
The Yankees' soccer mom took a long and piercing glimpse into the bottomless pit that is her team, and she saw a rigged system, without hope for the failing human condition. The world is going to hell, and the Yankees are leading the way.
It came in the 9th, after Jazz Chisholm - a recent lightning rod for fan anger - dramatically found a chance for redemption. One run down, Jazz singled, stole second, then stole third, and then scored on a wild pitch that clearly resulted from Tiger closer Kenely Jansen's frustration.
This was it, the moment these Yankees had been waiting for! Anthony Volpe was coming up, with Spencer Jones to follow. Two lifetime Yanks, in need of a breakout. You could feel it in Suzyn's voice.
Anthony Volpe legged out an infield single. Surely, he'd be running. Suzyn's voice rose an octave. This was their moment.
Volpe broke with the pitch. He was... out? Nooooo. The Yankees called for a video challenge. There, on the Jumbotron, it clearly showed Volpe beating the throw. Suzyn was delirious. This call was going to be overturned. Everyone saw it. Justice would be restored.
Then the replay showed Volpe over-sliding the base by a half-inch, the glove still upon him. Out. The call would not be overturned.
"This call goes against the spirit of the rule," Suzyn declared.
If a runner beats the throw, he should be safe. The rule-makers didn't expect every half-second to be analyzed on a 60-foot Jumbotron. "It runs against the spirit of the rule."
The rules are wrong. The country is wrong. Everything is wrong. And Suzyn has seen enough.
Seven straight losses - all to tomato cans, which is what the Yankees have become.
Honestly, what else is there to say? In his postgame gobbledegook, Boone said:
“There’s no way of sugarcoating it. We’re capable of way more, obviously. You’re gonna have stretches where it’s tough, where you’re missing some guys. This was a really difficult week."
No. This has been a really difficult season. Boston had collapsed. The Yankees seemed on the cusp of running away from a weak American League. And now, they look cooked.
Soon, Ryan McMahon and Trent Grisham will return. The way the Yankees are spinning this, you'd think it was Mantle and Maris. McMahon is hitting .210, and Grisham is at .232. Their returns are supposed to spark hope?
Nope. I'm with Suzyn. The spirit of baseball is being violated. And if she's losing her shit, at least she's fighting.
Wednesday, July 1, 2026
Should anybody be surprised that this year's team - a replica of last year's team - is falling apart... like last year's team?
Ugly? Yeah. Butt ugly. But but BUTT... don't act surprised. We knew this was coming. The Yankees recreated last year's team, a sad disappointment, and thought we wouldn't notice. This is what happens when you run the same slate of candidates, or when your nightly lineup is reruns. This is what happens when you pretend the cancer went away, and everything is fine. Things are turning ugly in the Bronx. Yep. Here we go again.
Heading into the July 4th weekend, the Yankees are collapsing on every level.
As they were doing last year, and the year before, and the year before...
Ah, but next year, the skein should break! Next year, we might be sitting at home, watching pro Cornhole, waiting for Taylor's baby, and staring into a future that never again lets the Yankees use their big stage advantage, (while, of course, the Dodgers subvert the rules.)
Lately, the owners are running TV ads on a campaign called "Level the Playing Field." It calls for a massive payroll cap - which would kill the players union and which foretells a dark future for Yank fans. On Dec. 1 the owners will declare a lockout, and everything will stop. A 2027 work stoppage looms and - frankly - it might save us from another year of disappointments.
Listen: I hate to be a Chicken Little, but this aint your normal six-game losing streak. (Seven, after today?) This is a fulcrum point. This is karma, kismet, entropy, magical thinking, the rule of random numbers... this is deja vu, all over again. This is Chicken Littles coming home to roost. As America falters, bigly, so shall the Yankees. We are the nation's shadow, its reflection off the reflection pool. When everything else blows up, why would we not expect the Yankees to follow suit?
Three games behind Tampa, and you can feel the Yankees readjusting their goal, preparing to chase the Wild Card, MLB's version of a T-Ball participation trophy. Their lineup is dead, aside from daily controversies that have become de facto, whispery blame sessions.
Every night, some new distraction pops up.
Ben Rice's batting average has plummeted to .268. He's trying to hit a six-run grand slam on every at bat. It won't work. It never does. He has no protection. The only question is how low will he fall?
Jazz Chisholm has become a lame-duck 2B. He's officially having a lousy season, and - if he's still a Yankee after the trade deadline, he certainly will be gone after October. For a guy who wears his emotions on his sleeve, it's hard to imagine that his play won't be affected.
Austin Wells has become the univerally acknowledged worst hitter in baseball. It's almost a given that Cooperstown Cashman will chase a catcher at the July 31 trade deadline. God knows what we'll give up. But all across baseball, you see ex-Yankee catchers outperforming Wells, the one we kept.
As Anthony Volpe and Jose Caballero compete for SS, it's become increasingly clear that neither can handle the position for a championship team. In other words, we have no SS. (At Scranton, George Lombard Jr. is nursing an injury. Last night, the Railriders played Jonathan Ornelas, a 26-year-old journeyman. He went 1-for-3. Bring him up!)
Giancarlo Stanton is gone. Forgetaboutm. When Aaron Judge finally returns, probably in August, he will need to DH. That leaves no place for Stanton and/or maybe Ben Rice.
Gerrit Cole has not returned. What we're seeing is a hologram. Cam Schlittler is faltering. The bullpen is down to Bednar and table scraps. (The other night, for Scranton, Carlos Lagrange got bombed.)
And don't get me started on Spencer Jones' strikeouts.
Things are getting ugly in the Bronx. It's gonna get worse.
Tuesday, June 30, 2026
Game Thread – The End of Swoon – '26
He manages Badly
Boy does he ever, Frankly
Don't you hate his Ways
Now tell me what you Say
Let's kick him out the Door
One of these things is not like the other...
Can you guess who it is??
That's right...it's TJ Rumfield, upper left!
Rummy, aka, "The Man Who Might Have Won the 2024 World Series For Us," is headed for the All-Star Game in his first major-league season. He's currently hitting . 294 with an .860 OPS for Colorado, including 12 home runs and 31 extra-base hits.
(And no, it's not just the elevation. Rummy is actually hitting for a higher average and more extra-bas hits OUTSIDE of Colorado.)
He's also an excellent defender, though of course that's something your New York Yankees don't care about.
Why is Rummy unlike the others?
Because the Yankees actually GOT something for him!
That was, to be sure, merely Angel Chivilli, yet another of those dynamic young arms that we're always being told that Brian Cashman is stockpiling for us.
To be sure, Angel has thus far proven to be as elusive as a real angel. Or maybe the Scarlet Pimpernel:
Zey seek him here
Zey seek him there
Ze Yankee fans seek him everywhere
Is he in Scranton
Is he DL?
Zat damned elusive Angel...
But hey, prospect or not, Railriding or injury-listed, at least this Angel is a corporeal human being. It is at least conceivable that someday, somehow, he might contribute something to your New York Yankees.
Not so much with the others.
Luke Weaver, upper middle, is now on a 23-inning, 21-appearance streak without allowing a run. He has a 2.06 ERA. Yanks let him sign with their crosstown rival as a free agent.
Clay Holmes, upper right, was 4-4, 2.39 this year, before being injured by...a Yankee (Spencer Jones's greatest contribution as a Yank?).
Holmes sure did run out of arm after chalking up 74 saves for us. But the Mets managed to convert him to a starter. He was 12-8, 3.53 last year, and he'll back, it is to be hoped.
Yanks let him sign with their crosstown rival as a free agent.
Luis Torrens, bottom right, the Mets' back-up catcher, has been pressed into service for much of this year and last, due to Francisco Alvarez's injuries. He's hitting a mere .214 on the season...but that's still nearly 60 points above what Yankee starter Austin Wells is doing.
What's more, Torrens can field his position. He led the NL by throwing out 46.8 percent of baserunners last year, and is at over 40 percent this year. He is, in other words, what Well is not: a good-field, no-hit catcher. Beats a no-do-nothing-noodnik, every time.
How did they get him? Let's hear it, with vigor:
Yanks let him sign with their crosstown rival as a free agent.
As for Devin Williams, bottom left...I have to admit, I could not wait for him to be gone. But you know, it seems evident that there were many teams willing to risk a player or two on him.
I guess we'll never know for sure, though, because...yes:
Yanks let him sign with their crosstown rival as a free agent.
Who may well palm him off on another contender soon. For, you know, actual players.
Indifference
Watching the Yankees this year feels different.
It doesn't seem to matter if they win or lose.
Better if they win but, as we all know how the story ends, spending any time watching them during their annual "Road to the Wild Card" crap fest seems pointless.
The Knicks Championship reminded all of us how it feels to root for a winner. It's been a while.
This Yankee team is so very far from that.
My friends, the ones who I text with while watching the games, are bailing out earlier and earlier. As am I.
There is no reason to watch a shoddy team.
I wonder if YES tracks viewership during games. I suspect we are not alone in walking away.
We are learning not to care.
They are boring, even when they are inept, and they are inept.
For example, yesterday the spectacle of Dominguez inadvertently smashing Jazz in the head with a forearm delivered at top speed and knocking him out of the game, should have been huge!
Instead it was worth barely an eye roll. All I could think was, "Maybe it will fix him."
A couple of plays later Dominguez, for some reason, smacked into the right field wall with his shoulder but doubled over and grabbed his side. Why?
Didn't matter. Doesn't matter.
Want proof the city is tuning out?
They've already lost the Tabloid Race to the Knicks, and are currently behind the Mets. THE METS.
Shame on Hal. And I blame Hal 100% because he keeps Brian as the GM and Brian keeps Boone and provides him with this pathetic team and limited options. Not that Boone would know what to do with better players.
I wrote yesterday about the World Cup but the truth is, that screen saver of a sport is way better than watching the Yankees right now. At least those teams are comprised of the best their country has to offer and the players deeply care if they win.
The Yankees not so much.
They seem, I don't know, what's the word?
Oh yeah... indifferent.
Ten not-much-fun true facts about the hopeless 2026 Yankees
It was fun.
Get the gun.
We're on the run.
So, here we are. Another summer of hell. Utah is on fire. We're at war. Temps are in the 90s. And those black things bouncing along the road? They're the wheels of the Yankee bus.
Ten not-so-fun facts about the June Boone swoon.
1. The Yankees' record is 48-36, exactly as it was last year on this date.
2. In the recent Boston massacre, Ben Rice grounded out to 2B nine straight times. He is in an 0-18 slump.
3. They are the first Yankee team in history to score three or fewer runs hits in four straight games.
4. Over their last five, they allowed 14 unearned runs -most in such a span since July of 1990, a team that finished 7th under Bucky Dent and Stump Merrill. (Mel Hall, Jesse Barfield, Alvaro Espinosa...)
5. Over their last four games, the Yankees are 12 for 123 - batting a crisp .098.
6. In that stretch, they are the first team in AL history to hit below .100 and strike out more than 35 times. (They had 38.)
7. They still have a six-game lead in the Wild Card.
8. Next week, they play four in Tampa.
9. It's understood that Cooperstown Cashman will trash the farm system - as he did last year - to chase the Wild Card.
10. Without Aaron Judge, they are below .500 - 12-13 - a certified tomato can.
Bonus fact: Judge is a month away.
Monday, June 29, 2026
World Cup
Like Hoss, to get through the current swoon I am watching a lot of World Cup soccer.
I suspect our experiences are different though.
I just keep it on in the background with the sound off.
It's like a screen saver or an aquarium. The bright uniform colors just go back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.
--
Sometimes two players collide and reenact the opening of Saving Private Ryan. Men crying for their mothers after being shot. Except they weren't shot. They were bumped or stepped on.
Compare with Jalen Brunson. Brunson takes more contact on a single drive to the basket then these guys take in a whole game. Maybe in the whole tournament. He could shake off being hit by a truck.
-----
Also, why don't they know how much time is left?
When there's an "injury" turn off the clock. It's one button!!!
When there's a hydration break... turn off the clock. It's one button!!!
How hard is this?
---
I will say this... if you have to watch soccer watch it in Spanish. The announcers make everything way more exciting than it is.
Maybe I should watch the Yankees that way. Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllll... dos.
"Inmates, here are your keys. The propane tanks are down the hall, rat poison is right up in the cupboard, next to the salt. Anything else you need?"
Manager Aaron Boone, always happy to have someone else do his job for him, gladly acquiesced. Here are some thoughts on last night's "performance":
1—The Yankees, beginning their annual "June Swoon"—following this year's new, April and May swoons—have lost 7 of their last 9 games.
2—In those 9 games, they have averaged 2.6 runs a game (if you round their production upwards a tick) and just 2.3 a game (if you don't count last night's extra inning with the Manfred Man).
3—In none of those games have they managed to score as many as 5 runs. In none of those game have they managed to slap out as many as 10 hits. In fact, they have averaged only 6 hits a game.
4—In those 9 games, the Yankees have committed 12 errors—and could easily have been charged with more.
5—Jazz. Oh, Jazz. There is, of course, no actual baseball reason—old or new—why Jazz Chisholm should ever hit cleanup. During this latest slide, he is 5-30, with 1 home run and 2 RBI.
He does not hit with the sort of overwhelming power that makes modern baseball analysts insist he get that extra at-bat that batting first (sometimes) brings. He has all of 12 home runs on the year.
He is not a master of the strike zone, or someone who excels at getting on base. So far this season, he has 34 walks—and 91 strikeouts, along with a .306 OBP. During the nine-game swoon, he has walked exactly once—and struck out 10 times.
6—So far this season, Jazz has:
Declared that he will be the second, 50-50 man in baseball history.
Aired his hopes for a $300-million contract.
Taken a stand for his right to suck lollipops in the field.
Gotten our best player injured, by racing out to right in a game already hopelessly lost.
Nearly desexed himself with a borrowed bat.
Got himself ejected from the same game in which he attempted to rejuvenate the club by batting first.
Worn everyone else's pants.
And yet, here he given free rein to decide where he will hit in the lineup. Sigh.
7—It's not just how bad the Yanks have been of late. It's how bad the baseball has been, period. In last night's MLB, showcase game of the week, only 3 of the 9 runs were earned.
There was some excitement at the end...after seemingly countless innings of awful hitting. Right now, this is as bad as hitting team as I have ever seen the Yankees be—and I've seen teams that had Jake Gibbs, Jerry Kenney, and Stick Michael in the same lineup.
8—But it's not like Red Sox were tearing up the pea patch, either. These are both terribly mediocre ballteams, in a league full of mediocre teams, reflecting a hopelessly mediocre style of baseball.
We gave them two runs on yet another critical error by our third baseman of the day. They gave us four back, thanks to their right fielder, Wilyer Abreu's throwing problems ("Wil-yer throw somewhere somebody can catch it, Abreu?").
Six unearned runs out of nine. You stay classy MLB!
9—This brand of baseball has got to end. Maybe next year, they will put us out of our misery, and blow it all up with another, apocalyptic lockout/strike. Right now, that's our best hope.
For now, I am happy to report that, after last night's travesty, your New York Yankees' chances of making the playoffs actually went down! Um, all the way from 99.9 to 99.8 percent. And...their chances of winning the World Series actually INCREASED, to 21.2 percent, nearly 4 times that of the next closest AL team, the Guardians of Traffic.
Okay, then.
10—It occurs to me, most uncomfortably, that the latest schneid started with, ahem, our attendance at that game against the Reds. Could it be that...WE are the evil eye??? The jinx, the hex, the Valknut???
Heaven forbid. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some soccer to watch.
Yankees bursting with pride after beating back another no-hitter
I missed last night's postgame show.
Nope. I opted for the SNAP-OFF, the instant remedy for a lost weekend. After a particularly daunting Yankee fiasco, you should never subject yourself to Aaron Boone. In such moments, rather than facing Mr. Brightside, I recommend the SNAP-OFF.
Nope. I missed the trenchant postgame analysis from the Yankee Deep State propaganda mill, also known as YES. I can only imagine their examinations of the current situation.
1. On Friday, the Yankees were no-hit into the 6th. On Saturday, no-hit into the 5th. Last night, into the 8th. Haha. These plucky '26 Yanks have built a proud, unifying nickname: The Team That Won't Be No-Hit!
2. Jazz Chisholm went a bit crazy and got tossed after arguing a swing. The exodus moments are piling up. The 50-50 claim. The $300 million contract. The errors. The lollypop. His time as a Yankee is running out. We saw it with Gleyber. Since Joggie Cano trotted to Seattle, we cannot keep a 2B.
4. Once again, the Yankees failed in all strategic moments, showcasing weaknesses that cannot be hidden. They have baseball's worst everyday hitter, in Austin Wells. They have an outfield of infielders - Schuemann, Rosario, Caballero - and the sadly inept Spencer Jones, who has fanned 32 times in 65 at-bats. They are now in 2nd place in the AL East, two behind Tampa in the-
SNAP-OFF.
Sunday, June 28, 2026
The Sunday Night "Boone Swoon" Game Thread
what a cute, lovable, intelligent, well meaning, great smelling, and overall terrific guy !
Homage to a Legend.
Just thought I would squeeze this in before tonight's LGL (Losing Game Log):
Hear an incredible stat I heard on the Mets' broadcast the other day (because, of course, the nonentities on most of the Yankees' broadcasts now have nothing to say).
That is, that Babe Ruth STILL holds the record for the most home runs hit against 7 different times.
Pretty amazing, eh? But like most things with The Babe, it gets even better when you think about it for a moment.
Ruth played in the majors from 1914-1935. This was a period when there were only 8 teams in each league, and there was no inter-league baseball. The Babe played a mere 28 games in his one fragment of a season in the National League.
The Babe also played for the Yankees from 1920-1934, all within the "live ball era." For much of his time with the Red Sox he was a pitcher, of course, meaning that he played a grand total of 52 games against the Yanks, all of them in the deadball era.
So...the leader in home runs against 7 teams?
This means that, 91 years after his death, The Babe STILL holds the lifetime record for home runs versus every team he played any significant amount of time against.
It breaks down like this:
Detroit Tigers: 360 games, 123 home runs. (The all-time record for one man against one team, according to the Metsies' voices.)
Philadelphia Athletics: 347 games, 108 home runs.
Chicago White Sox: 354 games, 98 home runs.
St. Louis Browns: 360 games, 96 home runs.
Cleveland Indians: 361 games, 92 home runs.
Boston Red Sox: 293 games, 90 home runs.
Washington Senators: 349 games, 89 home runs.
Even in his 52 games against the Yankees, Ruth hit 12 home runs, which projected over his entire career would have put him up in this neighborhood, too.
Just thought I'd put that bright spot out there, during a season which is getting dimmer and duller by the moment.
And all I can do is quote the great John Kieran:
"Was there ever a guy like Ruth?"
Do It Now!
Yesterday, your New York Yankees lost for the sixth time in their last eight games. It was their third loss in a row to the last-place team in their division.
They scored all of one run in the game, and have now scored all of five runs in their last three games. They do not have a catcher who can play a decent game in the field and hit over .200.
They do not have a second baseman who is a mature adult.
They do not have a third baseman who can both field and hit.
Their left fielder is a shortstop.
Their shortstop has hit .349 over the past two weeks...and got his average up to .262, with 1 home run.
Their bullpen is a minefield.
Their starting pitching, the team's one asset, is collapsing faster than the Maginot Line in France.
And yet...according to baseball-reference, they have the highest chance of any team in baseball of making the postseason. And the second-highest chance of winning the World Series.
AFTER their loss yesterday, their chance of winning it all INCREASED, from 19.0 to 19.5 percent. No other team in the American League is given more than a 5.4 percent chance of doing so. Those are the Guardians of Traffic, and beyond them, nobody ranks so much as a 4.0 chance—one in twenty-five—to win it all.
Even in the National League, only the dynastic Los Angeles Dodgers, at 25.2 percent, are given a better chance of taking the Fall Classic. And...weirdly enough, the Bums are given "only" a 99.7 percent chance of making the postseason.
That's right. Whoever it is who is perverting statistics in my name thinks it more likely that your Yankees will win it all than the Dodgers will.
The Brewers who already swept the Yanks this year with ease, are given only a 99.8 percent chance of making the postseason, and a 14.9 percent chance of winning everything.
The loss in Fenway—did you ever think you see a duller Yankees-Red Sox contest?—even increased the team's Pythagorean record, somehow, from theoretically three games better than it was, to four games. Sure, makes a lot of sense.
So I say...get those bets down now.
Not large bets. Remember: gambling is stupid—but don't gamble stupid.
Just a nice, tidy, affordable little bet on what must now be the tremendous odds that the Yankees won't win the World Series, or the pennant, or the AL East—or even make the playoffs.
Because they won't.
Now is the time. Over the next few weeks, the Yankees will meet and be humiliated by both the Dodgers and the Braves, for starters. More losses of all sorts will follow, as the June Swoon kicks into Boone.
This is going to be bad. Historically, horrifically bad. Just think of how many Yankees failures this year have already lead to statements such as, "Not since 1913...1912...1908..."
This team has no hitting, no spirit, no smarts, no character, no leadership. They have scored more than 4 runs exactly once in their last 10 games.
Even more importantly: they have no pitching. The bullpen is nonexistent. The starting pitching is doddering.
If you're going to bet—and you shouldn't—bet now. There is nothing left here but the shadow of a team that was never that good to begin with.
Remember, you heard it straight from the Greek's mouth.
The Yankees have fallen from first. The next drop will be much steeper.
Be afraid. Be very afraid. Folks, this isn't Boston running out of beer. This is fucking Venezuela. Everything is crashing.
Ten thoughts about the miserable state of the Yankees.
1. We knew it would eventually happen, but this team is listless, lifeless and loveless without Aaron Judge.
2. We must play the entire month of July without him. (And maybe a few weeks of August.)
3. Neither Jasson Dominguez (.222) nor Spencer Jones (.226) has provided the spark we needed. We wanted a once-around-the-league hitting spree, a Kevin Maas or Shane Spencer arrival party. Didn't happen.
4. Max Schumann cannot save this team. We don't need a pleasant surprise. We need a ripper.
5. When Amed Rosario is batting 3rd, you're in trouble.
6. Ben Rice has hit the wall. Over the last 15 days, he's at .202. Yesterday, his DP grounder killed us. Worst part: We don't know if this is a slump or the new reality. How far will his average (now .276) fall?
7. Tornado watch sirens are officially blaring over Gerrit Cole. He looks lost and ready for the sandbags. Cole must figure out a new attack plan, or his career is basically over. over. He turns 36 in September, and if the 2027 season is canceled, it's hard to get stoked for a comeback at 38. This is it.
8. The worst period of any Yankee season - the pre-trade deadline angst, when we await Cooperstown Cashman's makeover - is upon us. Last year, Cash brought us Cabby and Bednar - positives - plus Doval, Bird and McMahon. Sweet and sour pork. From now until July 31, we're an organization of players on the way to somewhere else.
9. The farm system's top prospect, George Lombard Jr., is blocked at SS behind Anthony Volpe (.349 over the last two weeks.) That could leave Lombard in limbo (aka Scranton) or forming the base of a huge trade. It's rare for Cashman to trade the organization's best hope, but there isn't much more to deal.
10. My theory: The reflecting pool saboteur attached razors to his/her shoes, so they could effortlessly glide across the expanse, slicing open the plastic skin. Moreover, they wore a duck disguise, so police could not see them. This was the work of a master criminal, an evil-doer, an immortal supervillain well versed in the sharpening of spikes. This was, my friends, the work of Ty Cobb.
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