You cannot predict baseball, Suzyn, but this streak cannot last forever

This is when you hate the off-day. We don't need no stinkin' R&R, no time off for Netflix or Putin hookers. We need fresh meat to toss on the grill. We need a team to humble, a closer to pee on, a Francona or Showalter to humiliate. We need to keep the party going.

Last year, a four-run deficit was death. Down in the eighth? Roll the credits and electrify the Jack Curry robot-animatron. This year, hold the curtain. I think it's the rookies, each with something to prove. The old vets try - don't get me wrong - but they've shoveled too much coal to still believe in Santa. The kids have yet to experience a long slog through August. They think Curry is actually alive.

Still.. 15 out of 16 is surreal, a cartoon stat from another multiverse. It cannot last forever. We hope it continues through the Boston series. Two out of three would tie us for first, with Oakland and the Angels visiting. You can't predict baseball, Melania, but this we know. Corrections are coming... for better or worse. For example:  

Brett Gardner won't hit .203. Last year, he finished at .264. This being a contract year, you'd expect improvements (but that's not true blue Gardy's way; he plays for his team, not his next contract.) He delivered a big hit yesterday. He's due. A streaking Gardner would ignite the offense. It's a wonder we've done so well without him.

Giancarlo Stanton should heat up. Don't know what to think here, except that Terry Francona did the Yankees a favor yesterday by intentionally walking him in the ninth. He almost surely would have struck out, because that's all we see from him. He looks over-matched, nothing like a reigning MVP. Still... that's just it. He shouldn't be a .220 hitter - not yet, anyway. We saw Giambi, Teixiera and A-Rod wither into the low .200s, but they were in their 30s. Stanton can't be this bad, can he?

Miguel Andujar and Gleyber Torres will come to earth. The league will write a book on them, and they'll have to adjust to it. Andujar is already seeing this. Both look like great talents, above Yank rookies of the past. Still, we cannot fully assess them until they survive their first slumps. And they will come.

Dellin Betances remains a house of cards. If a lead-off batter reaches base, pull him. He cannot hold a runner, and the sky falls in. Yesterday, Coney had just finished suggesting that Betances looked sharp enough to pitch three innings - a thinly veiled implication that a no-hitter was within reach, and then... ka-boom. Jeez, this guy scares me. Can he be saved?

Aaron Hicks still gives enough to tantalize. His huge double in the ninth raised his average to .240. With Gardy in the tank, and Ellsbury out until July, we have nobody else to play CF. Hicks represents the the Yankee offense's fifth gear. If he could hit, say, .280 with power, we could win 110.

Gary Sanchez keeps blowing pitches. Yesterday, the Indians' fourth run - what seemed the kill stroke - bounced off his mitt. On replay, Coney flatly declared: "He has to catch that ball!" If this continues, the Yankees must do something. Already, Sonny Gray has appropriated Austin Romine. Would CC follow suit? Sanchez is the best power hitting catcher in baseball (though a .200 average isn't cutting it, either.) He's got a rifle arm. But something's wrong here. Let's hope it's not a mental thing. 

Fifteen out of sixteen. Damn. Why aren't we playing tonight?