"Now we are become Death, destroyer of worlds."

 

Which is what we Yankees fans prefer, of course.

Saw a stat the other day that I could barely believe. For 16 straight games, May 12th to May 29th, Yankees starters pitched at least five innings and gave up no more than two earned runs.

This is a record. Quite a record. In fact, it's never been done before.

At least according to that unimpeachable source, the YES channel scroll, it's never happened before in the history of major-league baseball—going back to at least 1893, before which the rules of the game were considerably different.

Never done before. Not in the Deadball Era. Not in the Power Pitching Era of the 1960s, when pitchers threw bullets off a mountain top.

Sixteen straight games, every starter throws at least five innings and allows two or fewer earned runs. 

It went: 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 2, 1, 2, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 2, 1. 

The streak only ended when Carlos Rodon gave up all of 3 earned runs in 6 innings against the Angels. Had Boone pulled him a batter earlier, the streak would still be alive, at 19, after Reet Poteet gave up just 2 in 5 innings last night.

I mean...WTF?

Okay, granted: through almost all previous eras of baseball, a starter was supposed to go longer than they are today, which must have affected the ways they pitched. But still. This is ridiculous—and hey, whattaya know, it's resulted in a lot of wins.

Your New York Yankees are now 41-19. Those "Terrible Thirteen" games, most of them on the West Coast, that I thought were going to be a hidden sandbar to the Yankee Clipper of our dreams? The Yanks are 8-4 in them, with one more to go this afternoon.

Aaron Judge is hitting like the Judge of yore (2022). Juan Soto is playing like a multi-armed, fire-breathing deity of yore. The Yankees lead the American League in home runs, walks, OBP, OPS, OPS+, OPS+ or - (all right, I made that up), ERA, shutouts, saves, etc.—and are close to the lead in everything else.

I know, I know. It can't last. Not like this.

The depth is as thin as the crust of a crême brulée. The bullpen is surviving on smoke and mirrors—or maybe a smoky, mirrored crême brulée. 

Forget "The Terrible Thirteen." Waiting just ahead is "Baseball Blackjack." Twenty-one straight games against the Dodgers, Braves, Orioles, plus the sorts of teams that tend to play their series against the Yankees like their own, personal World Series: KC, Minnesota (hellbent on revenge—again), Boston, and that rapidly deflating team in Queens.

And we haven't even made it to where Brian Cashman decides to put the team "over the top" with his genius moves at the trade deadline.

Still...it's nice to dream, isn't it? A little dream of total dominance and destruction? What's so wrong with that? 

Oh, and happy Lou Gehrig Day. This is the day, 99 years ago, when The Iron Horse ("Biscuit Pant" to his teammates), started on his 2,130-game streak. 

May our pitchers' streak last as long!