Over the last 15 Octobers, we've watched it every year: pumpkin-spiced beer, political attack ads, Indigenous Peoples’ Day, leaf-peeping, apple-picking, haunted hayrides and It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.
Here's what happens: A lineup of home run hitters (that's us) runs into buzzsaw pitching (the Rays), and turns into a slasher movie of strikeouts.
It's the Great Thumpin,' Aaron Boone.
Last night, the Yankees delivered 12 Ks. Their one hit - a liner that landed inches from the foul line - was immediately erased by a ridiculous base running blunder. We watched Speedy Austin Wells become a meme. (Not that it mattered; does anyone believe Ryan McMahon was going to drive in a run?)
It sure was fun, punching down on Boston.
But we're not facing Sonny Gray anymore.
Last night, against Drew Rasmussen - "The Yankee Killer?" It's hard to all him that, because there are so many - I counted maybe five hard-hit balls. Basically, the Yankees marched up to the plate, took their savage swings, and then marched back to the water cooler.
We can tell ourselves that it was just one loss, not a catastrophe. Why bother? Nobody will believe it. All year, the Yankees barely touched Rasmussen, and he's lined up to pitch Game Five, if we get there.
Once again, we just can't hit in October, when pitching improves. Instead, we watch an endless progression of "sluggers" - from the GrandyMan to Doncha Know, from Swishalicious to Gleyber Day. And now, Spencer Jones? Beating Boston was too easy. It masked the reality of the 2026 Yankees.
Well, at least our players get to sleep in their spring training beds, as we ponder Monday night. Cam Schlittler v the Tampa staff. One mistake, and the season could effectively be over. Can he pull a Rasmussen?
Here we go again?
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I got the news that the war had begun
It was straight for the Army Hall that I run
And all of the people in my home town
Was a running up and a running down
Singing:
So long, it's been good to know you
So long, it's been good to know you
So long, it's been good to know you
There's a mighty big war that's got to be won
And we'll get back together again
That loss was mighty predictable. What was unpredictable was the Tampons would only score 1 lousy run. 1-0, the toughest score to win by. And the Tampons did it in style. A fucking one hitter. Came pretty damned close to a no-hitter. In a way, it was a no-hitter because that stupid moustachioed fool ran into an out. So nobody who got a hit ever had the chance to be driven in, if that makes any sense.
I thought the Tampons would score double digit runs. The Battlin' Bronx Bastards made a game of it. Gettin' thrown out at third base with two outs. That was it. That was the "battle". Fucking pathetic.
"It's the Great Thumpin,' Aaron Boone."
As good as it gets.
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Does anyone else think that Drew Rasmussen looks like Coach Beard? Maybe the Yankees should fly in Coach Beard's girlfriend/nemesis Jane to sit behind the plate the next time he pitches. (If we make it that far.)
So what happens today? I think the Tampons will wake up today and blow out the Yankees. "Hey wot, you bloody tart?" you say. Yeah, that's right.
I think this game could go one of three ways: (1) Cam Schlittler comes out and gets bombed from the start; (2) Cam Schlittler pitches well, but the Yankees never score and lose 1-0 or 2-1; or (3) the Yankees eek out a 1-0, 2-0, or 2-1 thriller. Wanna know which scenario I think is most likely? Yeah, most probably 12-0 or 12-1 Tampons today.
The biggest question today is, will the Battlin' Bronx Bastards score A FUCKING RUN?
In this game of percentages and probabilities, there is only one mathematical 100% sure thing, and that thing is that you have to score a run to win. Therefore, the inverse of that is, if you never score a run, there is a 100% probability that you lose. YOU DON'T SCORE, YOU WILL LOSE!!!
Don't matter how good your pitching is. If you don't score, you will lose. 100% of the time. By definition. Because there are no "ties" in baseball.
I have no confidence that the Yankees will score a run today. Not only do these guys suck, but they never hit Tampa starting pitching. And if you think they can't hit Tampa's starters, wait 'til ya see the Yankees try to hit Tampa's relievers. The Yankees always have even less of a chance of scoring a run off Tampa's relievers. So, if this game is 0-0 after 7 innings, it's SY-0-NARRA!
This is a must game for the Yankees. Not an "elimination" game, but it may as well be. Because the Yankees are not coming back to win three straight against Tampa.
If it's 12-0 Tampa after 8 innings, I think Giancarlo Stanton, formerly known as Mister Garbage Time, will come out and hit a monstrous 450 foot solo home run in the 9th. That's how they would lose 12-1.
Also, watch for more Yankee fly balls that die on the warning track, just shy of the wall. Watch for Tampa home run balls that appear to be shot out of a 155 mm howitzer. I'm tellin' ya, they're doin' somethin' dirty in that there place. If the ratio of fly balls going out is always very heavily skewed in favor of the Rays, I don't think that's coincidence or Yankee pitching sucking/Tampa pitching working. Been going on in that place for many, many years.
Yanks can't lose today. Because...they're not playing today. So there!
I’ve had zero hope for this team up until the two nights of bliss Red Sox series, I then got completely suckered back in with visions of sugar plum Rice /Cam fairies dancing in my head, could this finally be the emergence of a youth based relevant winning Yankees team,,,,, well, last night was a nut & gut punch return to reality.
Ah, that's right! A reprieve, from execution. But ditto everything on Monday!
Most of it is Boone & Cashman. They surround talented players with terrible coaches, a terrible manager. You can win with mediocre managing, mediocre coaching. But I've never seen a baseball team with this kind of terrible management win a World Series. If anyone remembers ever having seen a clown show managed team win a World Series, please chime in. Was probably before my time. I've been a fan since about 1981.
Shit, Tampa didn't hit for shit, either. Five hits, only one mattered. So we only got one. Whoop dee do.
Tomorrow we have Schlittler. So let's see how well they do. And how well we do.
I'm with Hoss. We can clear the table from here.
I was also thinking yesterday that teams like Tampa must have really great scouting before these kinds of playoff series. And you know Cashman, if he's got such lousy coaching & management, he must have lousy scouting in place too. Have to know how to stop the other team's batters & how to hit the other team's pitchers. The better the scouting report, the better your chances. If you skimp on scouting by eliminating it or by hiring lousy scouts, you'll get lousy results.
The thing about the five hits is that, they were supposed to be rusty from not playing for a week. Now that they've had a tune-up....
The Yankees' management and coaches are one of the most inferior groups in MLB. It starts with Cashman and is exacerbated by the worst manager in my lifetime (No hyperbole), Aarone BaBoone. Can you imagine Billy Martin coddling a player's ego the way BaBoone indulges Trent Grisham? Everyone with functioning eyes can see that he does not deserve to be in the outfield anymore, let alone CF. In the Yankees hierarchy, the mediocrity naturally flows down to the coaching staff. Fortunately, the talented pitching staff is beyond the reach of Matt Blake and his assistants. But hitting? That's a different kettle of fish. James Rowson, who? 3 years as the hitting coach with disastrous results. Before that, he spent 7 years as the top minor league hitting instructor, which explains why the Yankees have rarely had a homegrown, bona fide hitting star other than perhaps Ben Rice. Judge started for the team in 2017 before Rowson's tenure. His assistants, whose names escape me, are no more than analytic flunkies who don't know squat. Do you think 'Ol Georgie Boy would have put up with this incompetence? Three "coaches," but they never adapt. Wouldn't you think that after watching film of Rassmussen pitch and live observation, they could develop a successful game strategy? If so, you'd be wrong. Mostly the same outcome every game: double-digit strikeouts, a few hits. Something has to change. But with Hal running the team, nothing will. And everyone here will continue to bitch about it (myself included) until the day we die!
Wells’ gaffe was unforgivable. You can’t be a player at this level and make that kind of mistake on the basepaths. I get it, they would’ve PH Stanton anyway, and of course, of course, of course, he would’ve struck out. But Wells needs to go. We need to sign/trade for several catchers next season. But Cashman will dither and clutch his pearls until Dec 1st, when everything grinds to a halt.
+1, nothing we can do about it. Except bitch and moan. And entertain ourselves in other ways. The Emperor's Club is ka-put, but anyone know a real high class escort service? Gotta get our kicks some way!
I seriously doubt that Wells will go away until he becomes a free agent, and Cashman will allow the trade deadline in Wells' free agent year to pass without any action. Because of the "we're a playoff team, and we're going for it" bull shit. I feel sorry for the suckers who fall for that line. LOL!
Not that any sane GM would give up more than a bag of balls or a box of doughnuts for Wells. But still ... addition by subtraction!
On Stanton's strikeout, that last pitch was hard to hit. Sure. But we've seen guys who can hit who crush those 96 mph fastballs into the upper deck.
Aaron Judge crushed a pitch like that in the playoffs against the Blue Jays, for example. And earlier this year, I remember the Washington Nats leadoff hitter crushed a Cam Schlittler fastball for a home run. That was a lefty hitter, but the ball was up and in, 98 mph, maybe.
All just more evidence that Stanton doesn't have it anymore and has NO BUSINESS BEING ON THE PLAYOFF ROSTER. And the fact that they pinch hit him was folly too. Shot-in-the-dark bull shit. Fucking clown show.
The most remarkable thing to me is that Wells has hit all of two [2] triples in 4 [four] major league seasons. The play was in front of him; did he not see the ball was fielded cleanly in the corner? And then he ran through a stop sign? What catcher does that? Was he ever told to try for an extra base? Because he has elite MLB speed and should use it to put pressure on the defense? Never make the third out at third base? AREN'T CATCHERS SUPPOSED TO BE SMART WITH COMPLETE SITUATIONAL AWARENESS OF THE GAME.
Wells had an OPS+ of 71 this season. Worst hitter in MLB trying to take an extra base when he is completely incapable of such a thing.
I'd like to know who is slower: Wells or Grisham? Put the two of them in a foot race. We can use an oven timer (or an hourglass) to clock them. That would be entertaining. I'd throw in Stanton too, but his tires would blow out after ten steps.
The Yankees are a Clown Organization organization. Watching the Rays play the game the correct way, with hitters that make contact and their higher batting averages show how much better the Rays offense is better than the Yankees. How many fucked up foolish mistakes have the Yankees made in in the post season. The botched plays in the field in the World Series vs The Dodgers and the latest, an unforgiveable running mistake by Austin Smells. Ofcouse the K by Tissue Mon Stanton. If Judge played, he would be striking out early. He has missed alot of time lately and cannot help the team from the bench.
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