Nick Martinez (#28, 35, RHP, 15-6, 3.10) vs. Max Fried (#54, 32, LHP, 5-5, 2.80)
RAYS
DH Yandy Diaz R
1B J. Aranda L
3B J. Caminero R
LF Victor Mesa L
RF Ryan Vilade R
C Liam Hicks L
CF Jonny DeLuca R
2B R. Palacios L
SS Taylor Walls S
YANKEES
CF T. Grisham L
DH Ben Rice L
1B Luis Garcia L
LF C. Bellinger L
SS G. Lombard R
C Austin Wells L
2B A. Volpe R
RF S. Jones L
3B J. Caballero R
Is this just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic? Probably, but hey, I get the impulse to just try SOMEthing different, so I can’t knock it too much. I definitely don’t want to see Ryan McMahon again if at all possible. That dude is dead to me.
It won’t matter, of course, if Fried just chokes like he did last playoffs.
“Yankees (0-3) vs. Rays (2-0)”
Brian, best post of the year.
Now that I got my laugh, I’ll make it normal. š
Yes, very well done Brian.
As Stephen Colbert might have said, “This team is not sinking; this team is soaring! If anything they are rearranging the deck chairs on the Hindenburg.”
Now that they were AGAIN rebuffed by Cora, the Phillies hilariously might just stick with Donnie Baseball for another lame duck season. Too funny.
They should wait to see the fate of one Aaron Boone.
Congratulations to Nick Martinez on his first career perfect game.
i wouldnāt have minded keeping jazz in, he had a long at bat yesterday and has a higher ceiling than volpe.
heās also played more than 3 games at 2b as well.
what are we doing?
I agree, I wouldnāt sit Jazz against a RHP but Aaron Boone on the decision to start Anthony Volpe over Jazz Chisholm Jr.: āJust felt like it. I felt like I wanted to go with him today.ā
never going to win with this manager
I mean, it COULD happen, KC. If a bunch of players got hot at the same time.
But it would be a monumental achievement to do it DESPITE Boone.
So bizarre that I’d be rooting for Atlanta – the most drearily uncompelling and kind of dully unappealing of historic loser franchises – over the historically romantic Dodgers, but there it is.
History makes for strange bedfellows.
š¤
The Injuns on the warpath!
Big Chief Wahoo proves terrible in his wrath!
Todd Frazier says the Yankees need to fight. Hmmm?
Curry Grisham leadoff to see a lot of pitches and get on base in front of Rice. Game 2-3 ABs, 5 pitches.
The Indians/Whatevers live to fight another day.
I mean, come the fuck on, first pitch single?!
It was a ground ball.
6-5-3?
DP is good.
Swing technology can’t get here quick enough. He clearly swung, but how can an umpire tell? Added three more pitches to Fried’s pitch count.
Credible
Martinez is making me seasick
They’re going to just wear them down with these quick at bats.
Garcia continues to suck.He started out so good and thenā¦..did the Yankees ruin him?
Grisham really worked the count there.
An 8-pitch inning. This team is amazing.
Really, it’s just every part of the offense clicking on all cylinders.
But if the guyās throwing all strikes.
Then make him throw more of them. Take a few, foul off a few, and you get used to how his pitches move.
WHAT is with the announcer?
Grisham… made it look easy? Grisham misjudged it, almost missed it, caught it with his arm contorted almost in a circle, and… he made it look easy?
Bizarre.
I legit don’t care if they work this guy’s pitch count, but it’s just weird that Boone specifically said that they would and then… this.
Wait, what did Lombard just do? I don’t remember that as part of baseball.
The next guy’s batting, even though Lombard’s STILL STANDING IN THE FIELD OF PLAY!
Wells wasted a challenge on that pitch?
Why do they never tag up from first?
They should.
And they really should be stealing much more.
And why on Earth do fans boo throws to first? I never got that and I still can’t figure it out.
I don’t mind challenging that early, but it has to be clear-cut. That was clearly NOT clear-cut. Insanely bad challenge.
Hey, look, if you foul pitches off, they guy has to throw more pitches.
Who’d have guessed?
Fried’s missed by a yard or so on an oddly large number of pitches.
What a lucky team. Of course if the Yankees get 1 or 2 hits a game itās hard to complain.
That’s the thing about contact teams. As soon as the luck doesn’t go their way, they will suddenly be unable to do anything. See the Blue Jays in the World Series.
With normal luck, contact teams just groundout every at-bat. They were 12th in runs scored.
They’ll have eliminated the Yankees by that point, however.
On the other hand, facing a contact team is like looking into a mirror. Your own preparedness will reward you, your failings will come back to haunt you.
Now, which team do you think I have in mind as I write that?
Well, they had to get out in front this time, hold the other team down and score early, and they’re certainly doing no job of it at all.
Rays were so arrogant about how bad the Yankee defense is and it cost them an out.
Cabby is a perfect example of contact guys. He makes a lot of contact, but he sucks.
But when those hits are dropping in, he looks magical.
The Yankees keep getting nice foul hits. which does nothing.
at least it was a productive out
Hey, strike three looking.
How unusual.
Hope you proved your point, Grisham.
yeah i was excited when he said āand now the yanks are back to the top of the orderā and then i remembered
Ben Rice is so out of place on this team.
Not a strike, but due to Wells it couldn’t be challenged.
After he had that nice foul hit, I figured they were doomed. Thank you, Ben!
If Wells didnāt make that challenge.
I had that same thought.
Wow.
That really looked like a hit.
Weird.
The Braves are going home.
This is why I didn’t worry about Martinez’s pitch count. he’s not going to pitch long enough for it to matter.
Martinez on the ropes. Big AB Cody.
It was.
Itās nice when your filler guys do something.
Goddammit, Max.
Brilliant.
The Red Sox must be feeling better and better about themselves with each new game the Yankees play.
They were steamrolled by THIS?
So many terrible hitters on this team.
this game is taking forever i feel like iāve been watching the same stuff for about 25 innings.
could we get a lead somehow?
Spencer makes it 2-2 with a double.
SPENCER JONES!
I expected that to be caught
The announcers were so cute talking about how they could get a lead. I’m sure no baseball team has actually ever gotten a “lead.” So silly.
Crazy talk.
Maybe they meant “lead poisoning”?
they let grisham hit again, against a lefty.
what the fuck is the point of having a hot hitting right hander on the bench?
they built this team.
it reminds me of how they kept giving vertigo at bats when i was dying for grisham.
the guy doesnāt have it!
Jesus fucking christ, Max. Definitely not beating the choking accusations.
Season over.
All we have to look forward to now is the annual announcement of Cashman’s and Boone’s extensions.
Portentous.
Welp, here’s hoping Fried’s partner has a more successful delivery.
Nice.
Let’s start a pool – will Boone get another 10 years or another 20?
PHENOM! INTERFERENCE?
Def Home Run From the other angle?
Gotta be a home run.
Volpe. Called a double.
Terrible call.
Dreadful AB by Spencer.
When Jones looks bad.
He looks like Joey Gallo then.
Those fans saved Volpe from being thrown out by 5 feet at third.
Amazed you say that was a terrible call.
I couldn’t get back here, but watching the side view it was clearly NOT out of the park, but the fielder was NOT going to catch it. I was sure they’d turn the wrongly-called home run into an out, but they made it the double it was.
How can you be mad at that?
Can you imagine, boys, if they tied it, came close to going ahead 17 times but never did, and then lost in the twelfth on some inexplicable Boone pitching decision?
THAT IS STILL IN PLAY HERE!!!
What will the 2026 New York Yankees be remembered for?
Well, nothing.
But if they were to be remembered, it would be for those four wistful words:
“A called strike three.”
When Jazz looks bad.
Cabby couldn’t have done that. And thanks, Grisham, for another top-notch AB.
When Grisham looks bad.
Then Rice Ks on a terrible pitch.
So many truly terrible hitters on this team.
Caminero had a lot more time than he thought
Rays make a mistake. Yankees sure to pounce. This is the break they needed.
LOL!!!
Cue the crescendo
Do you believe in miracles?
Not so much.
Boy, they all suck a lot.
I know Stanton made for better TV but with one AB in 6 months I think Wells had a much better chance of doing something. Wells was hitting 333 in the playoffs and had an OPS of 787 in the second half. Sometimes life doesnāt imitate art.
Boone was playing to the cheap seats by using Stanton. Iād rather Rosario was on the roster.
No way Stanton should have been on the roster. Just another dumb Yankees move.
PR
Grisham for the final out of 2026. Bye, Trent.
It’s all over but the crying.
Cash three more years for Trent!! At least it wasn’t a called strike
Boone now 29-32 in the post season, 475 winning percentage.
You know I love you all but it is so hard to give two shits about this shit-ass organization
Good or bad I’m a Yankee fan. I rooted for them in the Melido Perez era and during the Core Five. I still get to watch games that count into October almost every year. Ain’t gonna quit now.
Look, there was no way this team was winning the World Series, so better to end it now, mope around tomorrow and get back to life on Friday.
2004 embarrassed by LA
2005 embarrassed by Toronto
2006 embarrassed by Tampa Bay
A foolish consistency. Hal?
Katie S Yankees in 2026 ALDS:
.130 BA
.192 OBP
.239 SLG
.431 OPS
Those stats are their lowest BA, OBP, SLG and OPS in any multi-game postseason series in franchise history
Not totally unexpected.
During 2026 regular season, 28 batters got 225+ PA batting leadoff.
Trent Grisham ranks among those batters:
.199 BA (28th)
.303 OBP (27th)
.378 SLG (25th)
.680 OPS (27th)
but they kept running him out there.
0-10 vs Tampa
Grisham made a qualifying offer at that last pitch.
āfor those of us that have been in a lot of these situationsā¦ā – Aaron Boone
Hal is a nepo baby who never learned the concept of accountability, and this is reflected in everyone working for him – many of whom are also nepo babies. Then again, George was a megalomaniacal Roy Cohn acolyte whose ignorant, incompetent meddling repeatedly screwed everything up. It’s a miracle that he got kicked out of baseball for long enough that Michael and Watson could build a good team. If only Fay Vincent had made George sell the team.
What do you guys think of us all getting together, picking the team that’s most appealing, and just shifting the blog there and never coming back?
might as well just have a book club and read about when the yankees were good. or bad but interesting.
iām so annoyed at the roster and these shitty players they brought in.
imagine olson instead of jd or harper instead of stanton. never would have lost a game. these guys are bums. grisham made 10m more than the highest paid ray.
you think the bellinger contract will look good? he sucks away from the stadium and he isnāt very good in the stadium either.
cashman just has to go
Have no fear, kc, Cashman will trade for Harper this offseason. Philly will ask for and get Jones in return, because they might actually see the value in hustling on a dropped third strike.
Another season of McMahon to go, so there’s something to look forward to.
Boone This is the Golden Age of Yankee baseball. Just give us 9 more years to prove it Be patient.
At least Judge didn’t tear his Achilles.
You don’t know that!