September 15, 2026

97 thoughts on “Yankees (74-57) vs. Astros (66-66), Wednesday, August 25, 2026, 7:05 PM EDT”

  4. They were one game away from tying their record for most games in a row without scoring in the first inning, and Rice stopped that streak!

    Amusingly, that now puts Rice only one homer behind Alvarez. It’d be funny if he screws up Alvarez’s Triple Crown chances.

  20. Cabby was 2 for 26 heading into tonight. Then you have the $22m CF who has pretty much been bad all year; a C who can’t hit a lick…even judge can’t save this team.

    1. At least his emotional challenges are safer to bystanders than Aroldis Chapman’s emotional challenges.

  41. Gary Phillips Trent Grisham entered the game with -7 DRS (3rd-worst among CF) and -6 OAA (worst among CF).

    He’s even worse than I thought. If Judge comes back who will get more PT Grisham or Spence? Who should get more PT?

    1. Today. From the previous thread.

      Yankee Calla says:
      August 26, 2026 at 4:35 pm

      Kirschner Mentioned in my story last night that Cruz was spotted leaving the clubhouse with the trainer and Boone

      •Placed RHP Fernando Cruz on the 15-day injured list with right elbow discomfort.
      •Optioned RHP Bradley Hanner to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
      •Recalled RHP Elmer Rodríguez (#71) from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
      •Signed RHP Michael Fulmer (#43) to a Major League contract and selected him to the active roster.
      •Transferred RHP Kervin Castro to the 60-day injured list.

      Michael Fulmer appeared in 3 games in 2025, and 3 this year.

  63. Our rookie star SS needs a day off.
    Our C needs the rest of the season off.
    But man Garcia can hit! If judge does come back, Rice, Judge, Belli and Garcia is a pretty decent middle of the order.

    Meanwhile ERC doesn’t get the win but great job!

    Michael Fulmer?

  67. At least is Rice is showing life again. Last 7 games he’s got a .975 OPS and a 1:1 BB:K ratio. Luis Garcia has a strong bat, not sure why the Nats traded him for not much of anything.

    Spencer Jones should play the 4th OFer spot when Judge returns. Rotate him through all OF positions as guys get days off. Grisham is sneaky bad defender these days. He makes some good plays, but doesn’t even get to a lot of balls. Watch right center, Jones is beating Grish to the spot a lot of the time or would easily and pulls off.

    1. Grisham’s inability to play corner outfield really is a liability. I’d make Jones an everyday OF, playing as much as possible in CF; and move him to a corner if Judge or Belli had a day off or a DH day. Grisham could start in CF on the days that Judge or Belli is DH or sitting, and on other days Grisham could be available as a PH.

      So this lineup would look something like:

      Rice DH
      Bellinger 7
      Judge 9
      Garcia 3
      Jones 8
      Chisholm 4
      McMahon 5
      Wells 2
      Lombard 6

      Bench: Goldschmidt, Grisham, Ramos, Caballero

      To get more DH days for Judge, I’d make Rice the BUC, particularly now that he’s finding his swing and Wells is cooling off.

      Rice 2
      Bellinger 7
      Judge DH
      Garcia 3
      Grisham 8
      Jones 9
      Chisholm 4
      McMahon 5
      Lombard 6
      Bench: Goldschmidt, Caballero, Ramos, Wells

    2. Veg: rice as BUC was an obvious move since spring training and yet they never did it. Relying on a guy who had 0.1 WAr last year as their starter and who-knows-who as the BUC. Amazingly Wells has a higher WAR than last year but he’s killing the team. Cooled off? How much cooler can he get?

  68. I don’t think they’ll use Rice at BUC. Maybe they can play Garcia at 2B with a fly ball pitcher on the mound. No matter what either Grisham or Spence will sit a lot and maybe both with Ramos in the lineup against LHPs.

    1. Ramos is lost. Should be strictly a bench bat, there to PH for Wells or McMahon, after Goldschmidt has already been used.

  69. They’re not using Rice as BUC, they don’t even want him at first it seems.

    Player A vs LHP: 33 PAs 2 HRs 6 RBI 3BB 9K .345..424/.690 1.114 OPS
    Player B vs LHP: 82 PAs 2 HRs 8 RBI 7BB 21 K .267/.329/.440 .769 OPS

    Obvs small sample size, but I don’t see a need for a 5th OF platoon bat who can’t play defense.

    1. Goldschmidt is hitting 120 over the last month. Ramos is a career 834 against LHPs, 769 this year. Have the Yankees even seen a LH starter in a while?

    3. Goldschmidt is still the best defensive 1B on the club, so it’s reasonable to keep him on the team even through the playoffs, if only/mainly to protect 9th inning leads. Jones should be playing every day and Ramos should not be playing in the field ever. Ramos could probably be an occasional DH vs LHP, but he’s not adding anything right now – Judge, even LHB’s like Rice or Garcia would likely do a better job – and really Ramos belongs in the minors right now so he can fix whatever’s wrong with his mechanics.

    4. Ramos is here to hit lefties, and then they went on a crazy stretch of playing NO lefties while Boone was intent on playing Ramos everyday against righties like an idiot. I think he’s fine as a guy who plays only against lefties, and he’ll be a more important piece next year when they let Grisham go. Cashman typically uses the trade deadline to make moves for the next couple of years (same thing with Garcia).

      I have to imagine that they’ll try Garcia at second or third next season. You just can’t have a 27-year-old DH on a team like this.

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