Summer is Here and Giancarlo Stanton is Back on the Injured List

It was not a good week for the Yankees playing supreme competition as they lost two of three to the Orioles and then two of three to the Braves. In the process, baseball’s ultimate China doll, Giancarlo Stanton went down yet again and will be out at least a month, maybe more. However, the Astros pulled off a shocking weekend sweep of Baltimore so the Yankees remain in first place by 1.5 games which, I guess, is the silver lining for this homestand. Lets get to it.

The calendar officially moved to summer last week, so you know what that means. Many of us get to kick back, relax, and take some vacation time.

And as this pertains to the Yankees, yes, it means Giancarlo Stanton has officially begun his annual summer vacation. Of course, unlike us, Stanton is supposed to be working during the summer months, but he rarely does because for a guy who is a chiseled professional athlete, he’s about as durable as a house of cards in a tornado.

It just melts my mind trying to understand how Stanton can pull a hamstring, as he did Saturday night, while jogging around third base. If you saw it, you know I’m not exaggerating here. He was literally jogging, like he always does on the base paths, and somehow his hamstring tugged and now he’s on the injured list for God knows how long.

Stanton missed six weeks last year with a left hamstring strain and in the shortened 2020 season he was out just over a month with the same injury. Now 34 years old, the time frame for his recovery isn’t suddenly going to lessen, so he’s going to be out at least a month and very likely more.

“My feelings don’t really matter in this time, it’s gonna be about four weeks and I gotta do what I can to get there,” Stanton told reporters Sunday after the Yankees lost 3-1 to the Braves, their third straight series loss and fourth in the last five after they lost only two series in the first two-plus months of the season.

Death, taxes, and the summer solstice when Stanton hits the IL. It’s just ridiculous to me, and once again, he lets the Yankees down because he cannot be relied on to be in the lineup and stay there.

He was actually having a shockingly nice season after circling the toilet drain the past two years and looking completely shot. And while he still made us scream with his inability to stop swinging at pitches three feet out of the strike zone, he was also destroying mistakes by pitchers. Now he’s taking his 18 homers, 45 RBI, .795 OPS and, what is to me the most surprisingly pleasant statistic, his .292 average and .946 OPS with runners in scoring position, to the IL.

When he got hurt last year, no one cared because he was so bad. But given the way he has performed this year, it’s a big loss for the Yankees because now, you have to figure this means Aaron Judge will be used primarily as the DH, and Trent Grisham - who has a knack for hitting an occasional home run when he isn’t making an out nine out of the other 10 at bats - will play center field. And then if they want to give Juan Soto a DH day, that probably would mean Jahmai Jones, another useless hitter, would play right field.

That’s a significant blow to the offense, and you have to give props to Brian Cashman who pissed off Stanton in the offseason when he said it was inevitable that the slugger would get hurt during the season. He took some blowback for that comment from Stanton’s camp, but we all knew he was going to be right and that it was going to happen, and now it has.

June 21: Braves 8, Yankees 1

The Lead: Sad Night for Carlos Rodon

That was quite a shot the Apple cameras caught of Gleyber Torres consoling a teary-eyed Carlos Rodon in the dugout after the Braves had beaten him to a pulp, scoring eight runs on 11 hits and two walks inside four innings in what was one of the worst pitching performances you’ll see.

I don’t think Rodon was crying because he was loudly booed off the field, but much more because of the way he pitched. He was awful, staggeringly awful and he knew it, and it was all too reminiscent of several of his starts in 2023 which was, by all measure, the worst year of his career.

Two pitches into the game it was 2-0 and it was pretty clear that it was only going to get worse for Rodon who, after such a promising start this season, has looked like absolute dogshit in his last two appearances. Between this and his start against Boston last weekend, he has allowed 12 earned runs on 18 hits and five walks in just 8.2 innings and his ERA has leaped from 2.93 to 3.86.

“They came out swinging,” Rodón said. “They did some damage on some fastballs. They attacked me at my strengths and they executed their swings. I’ve got to tip my cap to them. Obviously, not the way I wanted it to go, but I’ve just got to turn the page on that one. That was rough.”

Game notes and observations:

➤ Coupled with the fiasco against Baltimore Thursday, this was about as horrible a two-game stretch as one could imagine. Across the two games, the Yankees at one point allowed at least one run in nine consecutive innings and in 12 out of 13. That’s almost unfathomable. For proof, the nine straight innings being scored on tied the franchise futility record which was set in 1940. In these last two games the Yankees were outscored 25-6 and out-hit 33-9, and they committed four errors compared to none by the opponent.

➤ Jarred Kelenic lined Rodon’s first pitch for a single, Ozzie Albies hit his second offering to left for a home run, and after two outs, Austin Riley took him deep to right for a 3-0 lead. We didn’t know it then, but this game was already long over. Before Rodon exited, he gave up three hits and a run in the second inning; an RBI double to Ramon Laureano in the third; a two-run homer to Matt Olson in the fourth, and one final run when Jones, playing left field, misplayed a ball in the corner hit by Sean Murphy that allowed Riley to score from first.

➤ With the bullpen taxed after the Orioles series, the Yankees were in huge trouble but freshly recalled Yoendrys Gomez bailed them out in a big way as he ate 4.2 innings. It was just a shame that his scoreless work didn’t mean a thing to the result of the game, but at least the bullpen was able to get a break.

➤ Speaking of the bullpen, Victor Gonzalez was DFA’d. That was interesting because of the two left-handers they acquired from the Dodgers in the offseason, he’s been much better than Caleb Ferguson but hey, what do I know? With Gomez coming up, the Yankees sent inconsistent Ron Marinaccio back to Triple-A, and to replace Gonzalez they brought up Phil Bickford who got the last two outs in this game.

➤ There’s really nothing to say about the offense. Torres and Alex Verdugo both sat out with minor injuries so Jones and Oswaldo Cabrera started against Chris Sale. Jones actually did the only damage with a triple, after which he scored on the patented RBI grounder by DJ LeMahieu which is pretty much all he’s good for now. However, the caveat is that Jones’ triple should have been a flyout, but left fielder Adam Duvall completely misread it as a gusty wind played tricks with it.

June 22: Yankees 8, Braves 3

The Lead: A Much-Needed Victory

It wasn’t like it was time to hit the panic button as the Yankees stared at a three-game losing streak, but the way they were embarrassed in the last two of those losses was alarming which is why even Boone admitted this was a game the Yankees needed to win.

“It was a good bounce-back victory,’’ Boone said. “It’s been a little bit of a tough week for us. Not that it’s ever easy, because it’s not, but sometimes a little reminder of getting your lunch handed to you or getting punched in the mouth helps you in the long haul keep that edge, keep that sharpness. It allows you to dig into how a team attacks you, maybe, and how to button those things up.”

The Yankees certainly took their medicine from Friday night and came out a healed bunch, at least on Saturday. Marcus Stroman was terrific against a very good Atlanta lineup, and the offense woke up with the kind of consistent effort I love as they scored runs in five of the eight innings they batted.

Game notes and observations:

➤ Stroman has been riding a rollercoaster lately. He gave up one earned run to the Giants on May 31, then five to the Twins, none to the Royals and four to the Red Sox. So given that pattern he was due for a good one and he delivered. He went into the seventh inning having allowed only a first-inning home run to Marcell Ozuna before he made a mistake and served up a two-run homer to Travis D’Arnaud that ended his night. “I felt pretty in control from the start,” Stroman said. “Even after the homer, I felt pretty settled. I knew I didn’t make the pitch I wanted to, so I wasn’t necessarily mad about it, but I felt pretty settled all night. Felt calm.”

➤ With Stroman going deep, on the heels of Gomez doing what he did Friday, that allowed the revamped Yankees bullpen to reset. Michael Tonkin, Luke Weaver and Bickford combined to get the final seven outs without incident.

➤ Bickford already looks more useful than Marinaccio, but it’s too early to judge. He has 152 MLB appearances with the Brewers, Dodgers and Mets, and this year at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre he had a 2.93 ERA and was averaging 11.4 strikeouts per nine innings in his 22 games. Wouldn’t it be nice if he works out and can fill one of the many holes in the bullpen?

➤ When Ozuna homered in the first, I rolled my eyes thinking, “Here we go again.” The Yankees were trailing again, and they hadn’t had a lead since the end of Tuesday night’s victory over Baltimore. But Judge came through in the bottom of the first when he followed a Soto walk with a two-run homer off Charlie Morton, his 28th. It felt big, and it was. “A huge momentum shifter,” Stroman called it.

➤ Judge sort of killed a threat in the third when the Yankees loaded the bases with no outs, but at least his double play grounder allowed a run to score. Then came the fateful fourth when Stanton hit a rocket off the center field wall for a double, then got hurt leisurely trotting home on Torres’ double that made it 4-1. Shaking my head just thinking about it.

➤ The sixth the Yankees put the game away with three runs off Morton and Aaron Bummer in the sixth. With two outs, Ben Rice and Austin Wells were on base via walks when Cabrera drove a single to right-center. Rice scored easily but Wells, who was running on the 3-2 pitch, was able to score from first which was pretty impressive for a catcher. Anthony Volpe doubled and Soto and Judge walked to force in another run. Lastly in the seventh. Grisham homered off ancient Jesse Chavez for the final run.

June 23: Braves 3, Yankees 1

The Lead: Rough End to a Rough Week

Blah. What a dud of a finale as the Yankees offense was overmatched by ace Max Fried for six innings and then three relievers at the end and lost another series. Fried and Sale dominated this lineup in their two victorious starts.

There isn’t a whole lot to say about this game. Nestor Cortes pitched pretty well, but the offense did nothing as the only extra-base hit was Anthony Volpe’s RBI double in the sixth.

The most interesting part of the day came before first pitch when the Yankees announced they acquired first baseman/third baseman JD Davis from the A’s for minor league infielder Jordan Groshans who was probably going nowhere in the Yankees system.

The righty-swinging Davis will most likely be used in a first base platoon with lefty Rice, and that might mean LeMahieu and Cabrera enter into a platoon at third base. That’s my read on this, at least. And quite frankly, the less we see of LeMahieu the better, even if it means more of Cabrera. He’s no great shakes either, but he’s better than LeMahieu right now.

With this loss, the Yankees are now 7-9 in their last five series and as a team they are slashing just .228/.310/.389 with an OPS of .699, and their strikeout percentage is 22.6% and their walk rate is 9.8% which, yeah, none of that is good. Even more troubling has been the pitching, a collective 4.85 ERA and terrible 1.490 WHIP as the rotation has had some stumbles and the bullpen has been mostly unreliable and at times just lousy. It’s a full blown June swoon.

Game notes and observations:

➤ Cortes probably deserved a better fate. He pitched seven solid innings against a dangerous lineup, and what really sucked is the inning where the game was decided - the fifth when Atlanta scored twice to go up 3-0 - he got burned by the bottom of the order which scares no one. With one out, No. 8 hitter Laureano, who was a pain in the ass all weekend, singled, and Orlando Arcia doubled to left. Back to the top of the order and Kelenic - who had already homered in the third - delivered a run with a sac fly and Albies singled on an 0-2 pitch for the other run and that proved to be more than enough. “I thought Nestor was really good,” Boone said. “That was about as good of stuff as Nestor’s had.”

➤ A rare double play grounder by Volpe killed a chance in the third, and then a baserunning blunder by Volpe spoiled another opportunity in the sixth. Grisham led off with a single and scored on Volpe’s long double to left-center. But Soto hit a grounder up the middle on the shortstop side of the bag, Volpe ran on contact and Arcia threw him out at third. That really hurt because Judge singled and Volpe might have been able to score if he was still on second. Then, Verdugo hit into yet another soul-crushing double play which the Yankees have certainly patented this season and they never came close to threatening again.

➤ Verdugo has been awful lately. Ever since his big night in his return to Fenway on June 14 he has gone 2-for-26 with zero RBI. Since June 7, the start of that Boston series, Torres is now 8-for-51. And since returning to action May 28, LeMahieu is 12-for-65, does not have an extra-base hit and his OPS is a putrid .465. There are currently 149 players with enough plate appearances to qualify for MLB leaderboards and the lowest OPS is .566 by Toronto’s George Springer. LeMahieu is a full 100 points worse than that.

The Yankees get Monday off, then head across town Tuesday and Wednesday for the first two games of this year’s Subway Series at Citi Field against the Mets. My son Holden and I will be going to the second game, my first visit to that park, and outside of the fact that the weather forecast is calling for temperatures in the low 90s with a chance of rain, I’m looking forward to it because I’ve heard great things about it. Hopefully the Yankees make it a worthwhile visit.

The 37-39 Mets were left for dead at 22-33 on May 29, having just been embarrassed in a three-game sweep at home at the hands of the Dodgers. There were calls to blow up the team and write off the season, but since then they’ve gone 15-6 and have jumped back into the NL wild-card race as they are within one game of the last spot.

JD Martinez has made a big difference in their lineup and has 32 RBI in the 50 games he has played, while Francisco Lindor, after a terrible start when he was hitting just .190 on May 18 has been on a heater and is batting .313 with a .373 on-base and .920 OPS since.

In addition to JD Davis joining the Yankees just in time to play against the Mets, the team he played for from 2019-22, the other big storyline will be the Mets losing star closer Edwin Diaz to a suspension after he was caught with a foreign substance on his hands Sunday night before he entered to close out the Mets’ victory over the Cubs.

On the surface, the pitching matchups would certainly seem to favor the Yankees, but let’s look a little deeper. This is just Gerrit Cole’s second outing and he’ll be on a pitch limit, maybe 75-80 meaning the bullpen will need to be on point. And Luis Gil is coming off a horrendous showing against the Orioles and we’ll have to see where his confidence is. Also, both Mets starters are lefties and the Yankees have had a terrible struggle against lefties lately.

Tuesday at 7:10 on YES and SNY (Mets network) it’s Cole (4.50 ERA) against David Peterson (3.97); and Wednesday at 7:10 on Amazon Prime and SNY which is a nice alternative if you don’t have Prime) it’s Gil (2.77) against Sean Manaea (4.16).