The losing streak ends with a gift from Dellin and the absence of Gary

 The quirkiest debate in yesterday's gifted victory from the Mets came moments before the bearded Dellin Betances - (in our hearts, still a clean-shaven Yankee!) - practically fired a fastball into the Hudson River, letting Clint Frazier score the winning run. 

As Yankee backup catcher Eric Kratz solemnly marched to the plate, the vaunted YES team of Michael Kay, David Cone and Paul O'Neill pondered whether the Yankees should pinch hit for him... and bring in Gary Sanchez. 

Kay seemed particularly adamant that Sanchez - the official starting catcher of the New York Yankees - should get a shot. After all, the 2020 season seemed to be balancing on a pebble, and Sanchez was the undisputed better hitter, right? Why not use the better hitter? Neither Cone nor O'Neill disagreed, though both seemed strangely muted.

I believe they were hearing fans across the vast Yankiverse collectively shrieking at their TVs: NO, NO, NO, NOOOOO SANCHEZ!

You can't predict baseball, Suzyn, but here's one, anyway: Had the Yankees pinch-hit Sanchez, he would have fanned for the 38th time this season, leaving Frazier to likely die on third. Maybe we would have won later. Maybe not. But Sanchez ranks 14th in the AL for strikeouts, despite coming to the plate far fewer times than any of the leaders. The Yankees needed a ball put into play, and Sanchez was the least likely hitter on this team to do so. 

Thus, the most important at bat of the season thus far was relegated to the 40-year-old Kratz, who was signed off the scrap heap last month.

Across the Yankiverse, and maybe in the dark pits of the Yankee brain trust, I believe a decision has been quietly made on our future catcher. And it's not Gary Sanchez.

For three years now, the Yankees have sought to solve Sanchez's fielding issues. It hasn't worked. He remains a stone-handed obelisk. At times, they discussed moving him to 1B, keeping his bat in the order. Now, with his a strike zone that spans two area codes, that's no longer an option.

This winter, J.T. Realmuto, baseball's best catcher, will become a free agent. The Phillies - currently treading water at .500 - are not expected to re-sign him. (There is even a rumor that they'll trade him tomorrow, though it's probably crapola.) For the last several years, the Yankees have selected catchers with their first round draft picks. They remain in the lower minors, and this will have been a lost year for their development. 

This weekend, Cooperstown Cashman spake the obvious: Sanchez remains "our best option on both sides of the ball, and we look forward to him finding his groove sooner than later, because we need it."

The words of a terrified man.

Before I kick Sanchez harder, a few thoughts: He seems a fine teammate. I've seen him on the mound with his arm around a rattled pitcher, and the world stands still. And he was never going to meet the expectations raised by his incredible rookie season. He's played with injuries, which at times made him look like he wasn't hustling. I get it. And like Cashman, I want him to turn it around. 

But I remember years ago, when the Yankees obtained John Mayberry, the former slugger, in the gruesome twilight of his career. He couldn't hit, and as the season went down the drain, I began rooting for him to strikeout, so the team could move on. If Mayberry homered, it re-set the clock on his demise, and he'd get another 100 at-bats. It was like having a good day in hospice: You'd celebrate, but why kid yourself?  

I'm starting to get that feeling about Sanchez. And we won yesterday by keeping him on the bench.