From Bryan Hoch:
Aaron Judge spent most of Saturday’s game wearing a small white bandage under his right eye, the unintended result of a between-innings toss from Anthony Volpe. The Yankees were jogging off the field, a ball sailed through the air and the team’s best player never saw it coming.
Fortunately for the Yankees, Judge avoided serious injury. But the fourth-inning mishap served as a painful metaphor for how things are going amidst their ongoing slide. And fittingly for a Subway Series setting, the latest loss invited echoes of Casey Stengel’s famous lament: “Can’t anybody here play this game?”
Carlos Rodón served up a first-inning grand slam, and the Yankees spent the rest of the afternoon playing catch-up, absorbing a 12–6 loss to the Mets at Citi Field. The defeat extended the Yankees’ losing streak to six games, matching their longest skid of the season, prompting manager Aaron Boone to call this “a terrible week.”
“It’s never fun when you’re going through a stretch of six-game losses,” Rodón said. “The baseball season always seems to take a mental toll on guys, including me and every one of us. But it’s a marathon, so you keep going.”
This was more of a straightforward loss. Carlos Rodon gave up a grand slam in the first inning, that’s GOING to lead to a loss, what, 90% of the time?
This is their second six-game losing streak of just the past MONTH. That’s simply absurd.
However, at the same time, it’s hard to believe that they’re legitimately THIS bad. As bebop shared, they have scored 34 runs in this six-game losing streak. That just doesn’t make sense, ya know? This streak has MOSTLY been about the pitching being terrible, but it has also been a bit of a Murphy’s Law situation where they score 4 runs in the game they need 5 runs to win. They score 9 runs in the game they need 12 runs to win. That sort of thing.
And, well, come on, Carlos Rodon is not THIS shitty, but he’s also the EXACT sort of pitcher who sometimes slumps. When you got a bunch of starters all slumping, guess what, your bullpen is overworked, and then IT starts sucking, as well (not to mention the bullpen had problems even when it WAS rested). You get guys called up from the minors who suck. It’s a bad situation all around.
You also have the Yankees stubbornly refusing to move Jazz Chisholm back to second base. I assume they’ll EVENTUALLY make the move, but they’ll be dragged their kicking and screaming. Also, they’re apparently interested in Ryan McMahon, but that dude makes $16 million a year through the 2027 season! You can’t cry poverty, and then trade for a dude making that much money (the luxury tax hit is a little over $11 million, but still, even THAT is way more than they were willing to spend on a third baseman before the season began).
We just have to hope that Max Fried cuts this shit out and has a good game on Sunday.
I gotta say, with Dominguez and Rice playing pretty well, this team could EASILY retool next year around a Kyle Tucker signing.
1. Dominguez CF (S) (shitty centerfield, but they can live with it)
2. Tucker LF (L)
3. Judge RF (R)
4. Rice 1B (L)
5. Stanton DH (R)
6. Chisholm 2B (L)
7. Righthanded third baseman
8. Wells C (L)
9. Volpe SS (R)
That’s a pretty good, and young, lineup.
With a rotation of:
1. Cole
2. Fried
3. Rodon
4. Gil
5. Warren
I’ve long been looking forward to the 2026 Yankees more than the 2025 Yankees, and it’s looking like there is real cause for optimism there.
It’d be nice if the 2025 Yankees stopped pitching like assholes, though.
The featured image is Judge getting hit in the face by a ball thrown by Volpe between innings. Hilariously awful.
Was Dominguez’s rap that he was a guy with no power? Just not true.
Playing pretty well – if this is what they get from him, it’s still a major disappointment, right?
Also – shitty CF? He was supposed to be a problem in LF because he hadn’t been trained to do it, he was supposed to be an excellent, right? 5-tools, called the Martian because of all that crazy talent in every aspect of the game.
His first (admittedly SSS, but still) stint really looked like a Martian beating up puny earthlings.
Since the injury, that nickname seems completely out of place.
If he could up his OPS to .800, I’d be thrilled with that from a 22-year-old. I was HOPING for a .800 from him to start the season. That’s a very good OPS. Even his current .771 isn’t that disappointing.
He was called “The Martian” because he looked like an adult at 16, so he was otherworldly. But yes, his first couple of games were crazy. This more sustained level of good play is still very impressive. And, almost more importantly, he’s CHEAP. He and Rice are effectively free, giving them the payroll room to sign Tucker, who is almost as good as Juan Soto, but can handle left field.
He’s been playing like ass in left at Shea and its been costing them runs.
They aren’t going to win in 2026 unless they fire Boone. He’s a in-game managing moron, has never developed a young player but clearly has young players whose careers go down (Sanchez, Gleyber,etc), who seemingly has also has lost the clubhouse (jazz public comments), has a team with poor fundamentals, and has no answer when things go wrong.
Is he the longest tenured Yankee manager ever without a WS championship?
Never understood why they fired Girardi after 2017. Intensity is a virtue. It’s what Gary and Gleyber needed, and what Volpe still needs (among other things). Do you think this team under Girardi would lack focus, would make so many mental errors, would lose so many one run games? Do you think he wouldn’t teach them an approach to RISP and the stupid extra-innings Manfred Man? Do you think Girardi couldn’t work with a pitching staff with this raw stuff?
longest losing streak YET
So Boone sits Jazz and The Martian.
Jazz Chisholm’s shoulder needs attention as Yankees look long term
The decision to sit Jazz Chisholm wasn’t just about strategy.
According to Boone, Chisholm has been nursing “some shoulder stuff,” clearly playing through bumps and bruises.
P Goldschmidt (R) 1B
T Grisham (L) CF
A Judge (R) RF
G Stanton (R) DH
C Bellinger (L) LF
A Volpe (R) SS
D LeMahieu (R) 2B
A Wells (L) C
O Peraza (R) 3B
Fried needs to allow two or fewer runs with that lineup.
Sporting News: according to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. The team, along with the Detroit Tigers and Chicago Cubs, is interested in Ke’Bryan Hayes.
“The Yankees, along with the Detroit Tigers and Chicago Cubs, have also expressed interest in Pirates third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes,” wrote Nightengale.
Good field, not hit.