Whiffs, walks and a wild card: Will that be Yankee baseball in 2021?

It's temping to go full Kimberly Guilfoyle over yesterday's loss. Yeah, it's just one game (for which Gerrit Cole had waited since age 9.) It's way too soon to drink the Chlorox. But there are reasons to fear the worst:

1. Toronto's bullpen looks fierce, a reincarnated version of Tampa's from last year. Young arms throwing 100 mph. (Aside from our old friend David Phelps.) In the 10th, their Frankenstein monster nearly struck us out on nine pitches. (It actually took him 10.) So much for claim that losing closer Kirby Yates meant disaster. The Jays present a lineup of rising stars, backed by an owner who is sick of finishing second. They are coming for our cars and dogs.

2. The Yankees still cannot seem to score without the HR. It's becoming a "thing." We don't advance runners. We don't adjust to overshifts. Over the winter, we learned nothing. Moreover - though it's just one game - replacing Luke Voit with Jay Bruce looks exceptionally ill-fated. Bruce brings a stone glove to 1B, adding errors to everyone, and he'll also add a shit-ton of Ks. Yesterday, he went down lunging at a ball four, almost in the dirt. Whiffs, walks and a wild card - Yankee Baseball, 2021?

3. For the sake of our collective mental health, let's NOT go mean girl ballistic over the bad days of DJ LeMahieu, Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge. Let's. Just. Not. But Gio Urshela looked overmatched, and it's its worth fearing that his recent elbow surgery could turn him into Mike Pagliarulo. Also, how long must we endure Cash/Boone's Fantasy Island notion that Aaron "Hope" Hicks - (that's "Hope" as in "I hope he improves") - should bat third? Sticking Hicks between Judge and Stanton is simply an opportunity for the pitcher to take a breather. 

4. A HR by Gary Sanchez! Good for him! Now, he cannot blame a bad season on a rotten start. Loved the rocket throw to second to catch a base-stealer. Still, I wish the minor leagues were starting this month, instead of May, so we could follow our young catching prospects. Sanchez is a free agent at the end of next season. Need I say more?

Listen: If we learned anything from last year, when everything happened in an eye-blink, it's that a regular baseball season lasts several lifetimes. Thus, as the shouter would say, THE BEST... AND WORST... IS YET... TO COMMMMMMMMME.