Are we back to the Yankee denial machine?

It starts in the fourth, when Gleyber Torres leaves after getting plunked on the elbow by an "errant pitch." (Note: This is something the Orioles threw a lot of last night; where is CC when you need him?) Following the game, the Yankee brain trust dismisses any worries about Gleyber, saying x-rays were negative. (Note: this also means they worried enough to take him for x-rays.) 

Then manager/press secretary Aaron Boone leaves a cryptic suggestion re: Tommy Kahnle.

"Something on that tomorrow..."

Oh, great. Any ideas what that could be? Class?

a) Tommy's dog has ringworm, and he stayed home to be with his buddy.

b) Tommy's been acting strangely since planting those mysterious seeds that arrived in the mail from China. Also, his new green beard fails the team ban on facial hair.

d) Tommy tweaked a gonad and will miss eight weeks.

Ah, yes... I'd almost forgotten the great Yankee policy of denying injuries until a player's first month of rehab. As trainer, the team should hire Louie Gohmert. Don't get me wrong: All sports teams lie; there are no rules against it. But in hard times, with demons in every public restroom, it sure would be nice to trust the Yankees to say what's going on - aw, but why bother? That's something we will never again know in our lives. 

Today, the safest belief is to expect Gleyber to miss a month - half the season - and that's if we're lucky. Anything less is gravy. As for Kahnle... who knows? But don't expect good news. Nope, it's not gonna be good. 

Last night, while the Yankees seemed to be clobbering Baltimore - (before J.A. Happ threw batting practice and squandered a 5-0 lead) - I channel-hopped to CNN, where Anderson Cooper was interviewing Bob Costas about sports. (For some reason, CNN has decided to make Costas their go-to analyst for the pandemic; I'm not complaining - they could do worse than dust off Syracuse University's pride of the Newhouse School, but there are scientists out there who actually study sports and pandemics.) In describing MLB's situation, Costas invoked the same phrase he used last week: "That they have to thread the needle." Costas painted a bleak picture of MLB's chances for a full season, but when asked directly about it, he offered up the "If-I-had-the-answer-to-that, I'd-go-to Vegas" chestnut. A pitch right down the middle, and he didn't swing.  

So, last night, Aaron Judge hits what would be of his greatest home runs as a Yankee, beating the O's in a game his team desperately needed because - hey, it's Baltimore! Ironically, the YES announcers - Kay, Coney and Pauly - earlier had been recalling the great Yankee HRs that were relatively forgotten in history, because of outcomes that went against us. 

Specifically, they mentioned DJ LeMahieu's HR last fall in the ninth inning against the Houston cheaters, tying the game for 10 minutes... and Alphonso Soriano's blast that seemingly beat Arizona in the 2001 World Series. Both great moments, lost in the tumult of what came later. 

I wonder if Judge's homer last night will be similarly dismissed, after the 2020 season crashes and burns. I hope not. It's only been a week, but I've already found that ball games bring my blood pressure down to earth. It's the rest of the news that does to us what we should be doing to the O's.