The Yankees' bottom third comes through, and Aaron Judge speaks from the delirium

For the last two months, whenever the bottom third of our lineup approaches, one massive subliminal message beams across the Yankiverse: 

Go to the kitchen and make a sandwich.

Nothing good will happen. You'll miss no rally, no hit, nothing. That said, don't take too long, because a 1-2-3 inning can happen quickly. The side isn't "retired." It's evicted. For two months, the Yankee bottom third has been a running gag, a pit from which nothing emerges, aside from one sound: Swish. 

Yesterday, something happened.

The bottom three went 5 for 9, with Anthony Volpe delivering a two-run, ninth inning single that reversed KC's lead and won the game. So out of touch this was this with the regular season reality, it conjured this ridiculous postgame comment from Aaron Judge, spoken from the tipsy of victory, and annotated here.

"I knew Volpe was gonna get the job done.* He was down two strikes, and you’re going against their closer.** But when he’s right and feeling healthy, man, he puts the ball in play and makes things happen.”***

* Coming to bat, Volpe was hitting .200 - five for 25. In "Late and Close" situations, he was 0-4 on the season.

**Down two strikes, Volpe was 0-for-5 on the year. He had yet to get a hit with RISPs. And facing a closer? Forget it.

*** Volpe had not been putting the ball into play. This season, he has fanned 9 out of 26 times, nearly one out of every three.

But but BUT.. He fuckinay did it. We won. The bottom third came through. 

Listen: It's still a jumbled mess. Caballero deserves to play SS. But yesterday, Volpe delivered. That's how a guy engineers a comeback and saves his career... one hit at a time. Dare we believe? Apparently, the captain does. Is it worth foregoing a sandwich? Not sure. But wouldn't it be nice to think?

Nothing Tastier than Today's Game Thread ! (05–25–26)

GET THOSE SPOONS READY !

Wild Cards and Wakeups: The Yankee human condition, Memorial Day, 2026

One third of the way into the Rizzutonic wormhole - which mysteriously links today's Max Schuemann to a long, long ago Clay Bellinger - here's where the '26 Yankees stand...

1. Sixth best record in baseball.

2. Eight Six behind Tampa in the loss column.

3. Ten losses in last 15 games.

4. Yesterday, they staved off embarrassment at home by beating Tampa for the first time this year.

5. Aaron Judge's walk-off HR hopefully ends his worst slump in this decade. (He is still tied for second in HRs, with Munetaka Murakami, at 17. (Kyle Schwarber has 20.)

6. On a daily basis, the Yanks get nothing from the bottom third of the lineup.

7.  Their bullpen is shaky; no lead is safe.

8. When Max Fried returns, they could have MLB's best starting rotation.

9. Their two main rivals - Mets and Boston - have had terrible springs. (The Mets are 9 below .500; Boston, 8 below.)

10. Ben Rice has saved us. But since hurting his wrist on May 3, he is 11 for 62 (.177). (He does have 5 HRs, though.) 

11. They have three trade chips in Spencer Jones, Jasson Dominguez and Anthony Volpe.

12. Due to the labor dispute, there will probably be no baseball in 2027.

13. Brian Cashman will probably go wild at the Aug 1. trade deadline.

14. In the end, the Dodgers will still win, anyway.

The Game Thread - Pray for More Rain ør REALLY GREAT WEATHERS !

 

Any month now, Giancarlo should return... unless he is a figment of our imagination?

On a rainy day, what essential questions do Yank fans discuss? 

1. Do humans really possess free will, or are our choices, from the first burst of consciousness to the final glimpse of life, predetermined on a cosmic scale?

2. If morality is truly universal, beyond the realms of society and religion, what is the difference between right and wrong?

3. At what point does consciousness begin, and can we trust our senses to identify it, recognizing that our perceptions either affect reality or create it?

4. Will Giancarlo Stanton ever return, or is he a construct of our dwindling, alcoholic awareness?

I'm going with Number 4: 

There is no such thing as Giancarlo Stanton. 

What we believe to be a former National League MVP, a king of exit velo, and the biggest slugger in the history of the Florida Marlins is, in fact, an illusion.

How do I know this? Well, on a strangely common regularity, the concept we know of as "Giancarlo" appears, vanishes and then reappears, launching a new cycle to test our faith. 

Every few months, we see his presence in the lineup and believe - falsely - that our heroes - the elder icon, Aaron Judge, and the newcomer, Ben Rice - are "protected." In fact, they remain naked to fastballs and sweepers, because the ghostly entity of Giancarlo cannot run 10 steps without popping a gonad, bringing disunity and disbelief to the Yankee core. 

The latest Yankee dogma claims that Stanton will soon hit off a tee, and that he might return any week now, without a minor league rehab assignment. In other words, if we wait patiently on our fannies, eventually, our lives will be validated. 

Listen, fools: Stanton is never coming back! Because Stanton does not exist! Our DH is Ben Rice, which really sucks, because he should be playing 1B, and everybody knows it.  But as long as Goldy plays a solid defense, it's Rice at DH, and don't waste your time waiting for Stanton. If he ever does return, he'll just get hurt again. For God's sake, people, open your eyes. Soylent Green is people, TJ Rumfield is hitting .289 for the Rockies, and we're still living in a make-believe world of Jake Bird, or is it Greg Bird? Dunno. But rain outs drive you crazy, eh? 

Rainout Theater – Double Feature !

Rainout Theater

Ballgame rained out. Yankees rain. Thuhhhh Yankees rain.

 To be played in late September, when everything is clinched.

Thuuuuuuuhhhh Yankees Win! (The real game.)

 

Break out the champagne—which I'm sure they did back in Hal's mysterious, executive suite/panic room, deep in the bowels of the Stadium. The Yanks just passed a major milestone.

What did you think you saw last night? Yet another in a seemingly endless string of lifeless, badly played, incredibly boring games by a Yankees team that can't hit, can't field, can't run, and can't find a relief pitcher to save our viewing lives?

Nah! 

You're not looking at the long game, the real game. The game that all of our corporate masters are playing with us right now. 

You think the Nerd Reich out in Silicon Valley really gives a damn about Iran? Suckers! No, they're working on their big projects: converting all the money to their favorite crypto currencies, sealing off their favorite islands, preparing for the coup.

All Hal & Pal want is their own little corner in their own little room of that magnificent dystopia spreading out before us. 

And thanks to us, they got it.

To them—and to that other, bizarre, two-headed minion, the RanTrost—the New York Yankees are an old-fashioned cash machine (and the brand name up top tells you what kind it is). 

Last night, the Yankees once again broke the one-million mark in attendance. 1,009,904 fans, to be exact—in just 25 games. That's over 40,000 a game, despite the wretched weather that makes our boys look like lost little schoolboys down on the field.

Over a million fans by May 22nd. 

Considering the average price of an NYY ticket (and I don't know if this is counting in luxury boxes), we're talking $106,039,920 ALREADY. 

More than one-third of their oh-so-onerous payroll covered. By the end of May.

And that's not even counting all the overpriced rat dogs, souvenirs, and parking the suckers shell out for. It's not counting broadcast rights, or souvenirs bought away from the park. Or the ads that Hal let them stick on the pinstripes. Or the ones that rotate constantly on the incredibly dangerous signs in the outfield.

(But hey, that one already paid off double. It provided another of the injuries which will help Pal pretend next year that the 2026 Yanks just got unlucky with injuries, and all we have to do is run it—) 

Oh, I know, I know. There are expenses. Unlike the rest of us here in New York, Hal and the Yankees have to pay some taxes. Which Hal doesn't let us forget.

Sure, it's kind of the equivalent of complaining about taxes when the states has built you two, magnificent homes to live in. But never mind. 

The big win here is that the struggling heirs of George Steinbrenner will be set for the next nine or ten or twenty generations.

Meanwhile, the game on the field gets worse and worse, the effort expended by our heroes is more and more diminished, and the MLB game itself gets worse and worse.

Can't wait for the labor battle that blows it all up next year.

 

Memorial Day weekend seems rather early to be chasing a wild card, but here we are

Okay, it's not the loss. In a jolly-good season, the Yanks will lose 60. The key is getting up, dusting off, plodding onward, singing the finale - "willing to march into Hell for a heaven cause!" - doing the Rudyard Kipling thing. It's never the loss. It's how they lost. And the why. It's always the how and the why... 

1. They can't hit. We love Ben Rice, but at day's end, the '26 Yankees are Aaron Judge's after-wind, and when ol' No. 99 falls into a well - and he is in a deep and scary one - Lassie can't go fetch help. It doesn't matter who's pitching, an ace or waiver pickup. Without Judge hitting, we become bowling pins. 

2. The bottom third of the batting order is dead. Last night, Austin Wells homered. Great. It would be nice to believe his next HR will come before July. But what are the odds? Ryan McMahon went hitless. Again. More and move, he lookslike one of the Yankee lost Twilighters - Lance Berkman, Vernon Wells, Josh Donaldson, et al - (i.e. Paul Goldschmidt?) - former all-stars who botch their comeback attempts in NYC.  

3. The bullpen is mimicking the Jets and Giants NFL template: We play a scoreless first half, then give up 30. Is Aaron Boone secretly using the Prevent defense? Last night, no matter how well Cole pitched, you couldn't ignore the looming 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th? No lead is safe. Ever. 

4. The defense collapsed. Jose Cabellero botched a grounder, opening the 8th. Then Tim Hill flubbed a bases-loaded comebacker that could have been a DP. You don't get mulligans against Tampa. Also, Cabellero's error might create a situation at shortstop. Cabbie deserves to play, but after last night - he also got thrown out stealing, again - we'll probably see more Anthony Volpe. Is that a good thing?  

5. The Yankees squandered Cole's great night. You know what he's thinking today: Six innings won't cut it; he's gotta go eight. That's how a 35-year-old goes back on the IL. 

Down by seven in the loss column. The "Wild Carders" are back.

Game Thread – 05–22–26 – WELCOME BACK COLE !

 

Tampa, welcome to the Bronx!

 

                            Make your reservations now!

Coney: "This is one you just wanna flush."

Last night, after the final nail was driven, David Cone - who has become such a Yankee icon that his wife could be named "Cora" - astutely addressed the team's existential condition. 

He compared the 2-0 loss to hateful Toronto - the Yanks' 9th loss in 13 games - to debris swirling in the well of a porcelain bowl. 

Shakespeare couldn't have topped it, though William S. Burroughs might have taken a swing.

For the third time in two weeks, Yank bats turned as limp as Wally Cox - scoreless for nine, four of which were pitched by a Rule 5 roster-holder. In the cold month of May, the Yankees graciously allowed their grapefruit league cousins - miserable, always angry Tampa - to take over the AL East and - worse - opened the door for Boston and Toronto to save what once loomed as lost seasons. It's another Wild Card year, and the Yankees are now equidistant - six in the loss column - to Tampa above - and Toronto/Boston below. 

This weekend, the Rays could set off a seven-alarm fire: 

1. Tonight, with Gerrit Cole returning, we have no way of knowing what's in the box of chocolates. But it's hard to imagine Cole throwing more than 80 pitches, which leaves us in that familiar 6th inning bullpen quagmire. We better score nine. 

2. As Aaron Judge keeps flailing, we keep telling ourselves, it's just a short-term slump; he'll pull out of it. And he will. Honestly. It's just a short-term slump. No need to keep chanting that it's just a short-term slump. Everybody knows it. He'll pull out. Short-term slump. Nothing more to say. Really. Short-term slump. Go away! 

3. Like the Yankees, Tampa last winter stood pat and chased no new free agents. So, why are they six games up? Well, unlike the Yankees, the Rays didn't trade away a wave of prospects last August for Jake Bird, Camilo Doval, Ryan McMahon, David Bednar, et al. 

4. Of course, Yank fans can tell themselves that - come July 31 - the front office will solve our problems by trading that next wave of youth for - um - somebody to replace Doval? 

5. Once again, the brain trust must decide on the fate of Anthony Volpe. In his recent return, he hasn't looked bad. So, back to Scranton? Stick as a utility infielder? Either way, let's hope Jose Caballero doesn't suffer a back-from-injury slump. 

6. It's scary to imagine where the Yankees would be without Ben Rice and Cam Schlittler. With the emerging flat-line failures of McMahon, Austin Wells, Jazz Chisholm and Trent Grisham, without Schlit and Rice, we'd be looking up at Boston. That's a dangerous place to be. It's a long season.

7. For the first two months of 2026, the YES team has generally celebrated Yankee management - aka their bosses - for their prudent winter strategy. This weekend, if things continue to go sideways, I wonder: Will our sporting version of Fox News start asking tougher questions? And if so, will they hone-in on Cooperstown Cashman rather than Boonie? 

The Yankees really need this series. If it turns out to be another flusher, better bring the plunger.

THIS SPACE FOR RENT

No Jones, no Martian, no Grisham. Who's going to play the outfield?

If they put Cab in the outfield, this team's management is more than pathetic. It's...whatever is worse than pathetic.

And Y-Cruz is gone already? Really? And Doval isn't just cut and thrown into the Harlem River?

Via Keefe: "Yovanny Cruz made his major-league debut and was electric. Cruz went six-up, six-down with three strikeouts against the Blue Jays’ 4-through-9 hitters. He reached triple digits several times. Is it too early to make Cruz the closer? In that one outing he showed more ability than just about every reliever on the team."

So this all means that we need Volpe and Caballero and Rosario--all three at once? What?

Oh, and because, you know, it's Wells, I can't let Wednesday's bunt fuckup go. Just as Volpe fucked up the grounder that Schuemann had already caught, ending the extra inning game.

Again, via Keefe: "...when the play unfolded, Austin Wells also tried to field the bunt and no outs were recorded. At some point Wells is going to add positive value to the team, right?"

No. Seems like a nice young man, but sadly, he is not good. Also sadly, he doesn't seem to be going anywhere anytime soon.

Da Game Thread – Woot Woot Woot for your Home Team . . . (come on Carloss – win your first game of this 2026 season)

 

The Yankee Singularity is approaching, as the first critical weekend of 2026 takes shape. Will it require a human sacrifice?

Okay, it's here... 

The Yankee Singularity. 

The point where our past, present and future collide, to dictate the 2026 season and beyond. It starts tonight, against hateful Toronto, on a Thursday, as all kegger weekends do. 

The next 72 hours will tell us everything we need to know about the 2026 roster, lineup, rotation, bullpen and... maybe... the need for regime change.

No, I've not been chewing Joe Rogan mushrooms. If the Yankees blow this weekend, on the heels of an excruciating series against the Mets, I believe Hell will break loose, from the front office all the way down to the guy who supplies Somerset Patriots with sunflower seeds. 

Of course, Cooperstown Cashman is Yankee GM for life. This, we know. But if the Yankees are once again preparing for a June Boone Swoon, anything can happen. Do you hear that high-pitched wail? The Singularity may require a human sacrifice, and Spencer Jones won't be enough. 

Remember how we said, over and over - (talking to you, Mr. Bednar) - that the month of May is too soon to drink the Yankee Draino? Well, a butcher job tonight, followed by a meltdown through Sunday, and we could be pouring shots of hemlock.

The Yankees host Toronto tonight - the Jays could save the series - and three through the weekend against division-leader Tampa. We can bring the AL East back into a competitive race. Or we could emerge on Memorial Day nine games down, and barely three games ahead of Boston, nullifying their horrible first two months. 

The Yankees can rise up and win - or turn out the lights. And it's not just wins and losses. There is even more at stake.

1. Tonight, it's Carlos Rodon's 3rd start since surgery. He botched the first two, five earned runs over eight innings. We've waited four months for Rodon. Is this it?

2. Gerrit Cole goes tomorrow night against Tampa. We shouldn't heap pressure on an opening start. But Cole means everything to a Yankee resurgence. If he craps the bed Friday, not only will the Rays taste our blood, but the Yankee bullpen will surely crash from the workload. Nobody has yet been named Saturday and Sunday starters. Yikes.

3. Jose Caballero returns Friday, presumably to play SS. In his last three starts, before breaking a finger, Caballero was 3-for-9. He still leads the Yankees with 13 SB. (He's tied for 7th, overall in MLB.) Cabbie seems to aggravate opposing pitchers,. He fidgets and fusses, and he pisses people off. We need that. 

4. When Cabbie returns, Anthony Volpe either sticks as a utility tool or boards the bus to Scranton, to join Oswaldo Cabrera in hopeless Yankee limbo. Last night, in the loss to Toronto, Volpe went 0-for-3, ending a three-game stretch where he looked like the player we once imagined (he was 5-for-13, with two SBs.)  

5. Aaron Judge is back in the Lost and Found Dept. Last night, he went 0-for-4 with a platinum sombrero - four Ks. Over his last 15 games, he's shitting .218 with 2 HRs. He'll snap out - eventually. But damn, he's 34, and - at times - he really looks awful. Nobody goes on forever. You hear that high-pitched hum? It's not Sabrina Carpenter. It's the Singularity, and something's gonna pop.

May 20, 2026 Official Game Thread - (currently in a rain delay thingy)

COME-BACKER FORCE FIELD

The Yankees cannot go on this way

Last night, to outlast hateful Toronto, the Death Barge used five pitchers and, nearly, broke out the kitchen sink.

In the 8th - with runners everywhere, sirens blaring, the Knicks getting blasted on another channel, and Brent Headrick staggering into his 2nd frame - warming in the pen was Yovanny Cruz - a 26-year-old just up from Scranton, for what would be his MLB debut. Headrick got the out, and the Knicks somehow prevailed, but not without our heart pills.

In the 9th, down to stems and seeds, with a two-run lead, the Yankees brought in Camilo Doval, a struggling former Giants closer with a 5.40 ERA and a profound inability to hold baserunners. He walked the leadoff batter. Chaos ensued. Somehow, Dotel held the line, giving up only one run, preserving the game. 

A win is a win, I guess. We should take them as they come, right? Still, night after night, the Yankees are ripping through bullpen arms like a Covid ward goes through Kleenex, using the multitudes just to survive the final three innings, and the final few weeks of May.  

Monday night, they used four pitchers. 

Sunday, in a horror show loss, seven.  

Saturday, six. 

Friday, with ace Cam Schlittler, pitching into the 7th, three. 

No lead is safe, their closer is flailing, and Aaron Boone - even without home plate calls to protest - has found new ways to get tossed. Night after night, Yank fans are watching in slow motion horror the collapse of a pitching staff, with no cavalry on the way. (Cruz, who dominated in Scranton two weeks ago, was promoted despite recent shaky outings. If he can throw just one shutout inning, he'll immediately join Boone's Circle of Trust.)  

Last night, the franchise announced welcome news: For the first time since Game 5 of the 2004 world series, with his eternal meme pointing to first base, Gerrit Cole will return Friday, against Tampa. Make no mistake: It'll be great to have him back. Cole is a team leader, almost a de facto coach. But at 35 and coming off of surgery, he will not be a workhorse. If he goes five against the Rays, Boone will probably pull him, leaving the final four innings for the Walking Dead. The Yankees' formula for success lately has been to score 9 runs. They'll probably need it against Tampa.

When you look at the Yankee bullpen, it's amazing to realize that we're prepping for Memorial Day, not Labor Day. And unless somebody emerges, soon, it could be Judgement Day. 

We cannot go on this way. The center will not hold.

That was insane

Hoofdstuk één

De Cavaliers stonden met 22 punten voor, met nog slechts 7:22 op de klok. Maar de Knickerbockers raakten zes van de negen driepunters en wonnen in de verlenging! Dit was een ongelooflijke comeback!  

Wauw! 

 

"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?