The Yankees finally started hitting home runs, but unfortunately, their pitching staff gave up 13 bombs to the Angels. Mike Trout turned back the clock and Los Angeles split the series, but it probably should have won all four games and the Yankees have only Angels imploding closer Jordan Romano to thank for avoiding that. Lets get to it.

Wrap your head around this: If Jordan Romano was not Los Angeles’ closer, in all likelihood the Angels - the middling, almost always shitty and underwhelming Los Angeles Angels - probably would have swept the Yankees four straight. And had they done that, the Yankees would be riding a nine-game losing streak.

However, the Yankees pulled out two ninth-inning come-from-behind wins and came out of this series in which they were thoroughly outplayed in just about every way with a split, and there should not be a single Yankees fan feeling too good about it.

The Yankees were mostly awful. Their starting pitchers stunk in all four games, and yeah, that includes Max Fried who for his second start in a row just didn’t do enough as he was charged with five runs. Fried had the longest outing of the four at 5.1 innings, and he, David Weathers, Will Warren and Luis Gil combined to give up 18 runs, 14 of which were earned. Did the bullpen pick them up? No, it was predictably problematic as their contribution was 14 runs allowed, all earned.

Over the first 15 games, the pitching was so good. The Yankees’ rotation had a 2.67 ERA and the bullpen, shaky as it has been, was somehow at 2.98, and they had allowed just three home runs. In this series, the starters had a 6.63 ERA, the relievers had a 7.41, and the Angels scored 32 runs and slugged 13 home runs.

Thirteen home runs! That’s the most the Yankees have allowed in one series at the newest version of Yankee Stadium, and five of those were hit by Mike Trout for what seemed like a combined five miles in length, and the last of the bakers dozen was a grand slam hit by Jo Adell Thursday to complete a blowout.

Trout must have thought it was 2014, or 2016 or 2019, the years he won the AL MVP award as he became the first visiting player to homer on four straight days in the Bronx. That includes original Yankee Stadium, the refurbished edition, and then this new joint that opened in 2009. The only other player to homer in four straight games in a single series against the Yankees was John Mayberry of the Royals who did at Kansas City in 1972.

He also became just the second player ever to hit five home runs in one series against the Yankees, matching George Bell of the Blue Jays in 1990.

A healthy, fully-functional Trout going nuts is something you can live with. He’s a first ballot Hall of Famer, maybe a unanimous choice when he’s eligible (then again, you know there will be some douchebag voter who will prevent that from happening, just like with Derek Jeter). So yeah, Trout going off can’t be too shocking.

But Oswald Peraza? Are you kidding me? The former Yankee, who was such an awful hitter that he couldn’t beat out Anthony Volpe to win the shortstop job even though he was a much better fielder, absolutely killed the Yankees. Now that’s tough to swallow.

Peraza couldn’t hit ground if he fell off a teeter-totter when he was with the Yankees - a .190 average and seven homers in 145 games. Yet in the three games he played in this series he made them look foolish for trading him for some Dominican teenager who will never play for the Yankees. Peraza went 5-for-10 with two home runs, a double, two walks, two stolen bases, three runs and four RBI. What world are we living in? “He looked like what we were excited about several years ago,” Aaron Boone said.

As for the offense, it showed some life, especially in the opener when it reached double figures for the first time all season. And yeah, with the weather unseasonably balmy for April, the Yankees found their long game, too, as Aaron Judge crushed four homers and the team hit nine, so that was good to see.

But again, they were two ninth-inning rallies away from getting their asses swept by a team that is meh at best, one that hasn’t been to the playoffs since 2014, and hasn’t had a winning record since 2015.

As I wrote in the last newsletter, this was considered a soft opening schedule to the season, but now the Yankees are 19 games into it and have won just 10 of the games.

“Story of the series, we just didn’t keep the ball in the ballpark,” Boone said. “That’s something we’ve done really well up until this series. They just kept coming at us. … Had a hard time managing contact against them this series. I know we’ll hit our stride and feel good about where we’re going to go, and we’re doing some of the right things, but we gotta put it together now to start winning series again and get it moving in the right way.”

➤ Well this was certainly a journey, no? Holy shit, what a whacky night as the Yankees ended their hideous five-game losing streak for one reason and one reason only: They finally slugged. This team, as it has been for more than a decade, is built for the home run. We can scream all we want about it, but the Yankees’ are a home run or bust team. When they’re hitting the ball over the wall, they usually win. When they don’t, they have big problems.

➤ What made this game crazy is that the Yankees hit five home runs - two by Aaron Judge, two by Trent Grisham and one by Jose Caballero - yet they were three outs away from what would have been a galling loss thanks to their worst pitching performance of the season. The highs and lows were epic across 3 ½ hours as the Yankees finally won a one-run game after six losses.

➤ After scoring just 13 runs during the losing streak, they erupted for 11 thanks to a season-high 14 hits. Judge’s first homer came in the first, and the second came in the sixth and that was particularly spicy as it snapped a 7-7 tie. Angels reliever Shaun Anderson came up and in on Judge in the fourth inning and eventually struck him out. He buzzed him again in the sixth and Judge was clearly pissed. He glared at Anderson after that pitch, then glared at him again two pitches later as he began his home run trot.

➤ But the biggest blows came from Grisham who, like so many Yankees is off to a horrendous start. He pinch hit for Randal Grichuk in the fifth and ripped a tie-breaking three-run blast, and then in the ninth, after a Jazz Chisholm leadoff single, he blasted a tying two-run shot off Angels closer Jordan Romano who hadn’t allowed a run in his first six appearances. The Yankees then won it as Caballero doubled, stole third and eventually scored on a wild pitch as Ryan McMahon was drawing a walk.

➤ OK, so the offense was finally entertaining. As for the pitching, man, what a mess and it almost felt like you needed a shower after the Yankees won. Will Warren was maddening again. After three hitless innings, he did what he does too often - he fell apart in spectacular fashion. Now, it didn’t help that a Caballero error on a ball hit by Mike Trout started all the trouble and in the end, all four runs that were charged to Warren were unearned. Still, he gave up an RBI double to Jorge Soler and then with two outs, the Angels went single, walk, single to get within 4-3. And so began a lousy night from the bullpen.

➤ Fernando Cruz walked his first two men which tied the game before finally getting the third out. That half inning took around 30 minutes as the Yankees threw 45 pitches. After the Grisham homer made it 7-4, Tim Hill got the first two outs in the sixth but gave up a single to Adam Frazier. Here, Boone just pissed me off. He took out Hill - who right now is the Yankees best reliever and it’s not even a debate - and brought in Jake Bird to face righty Zach Neto. He singled, and then Bird hung a meatball sweeper and Trout launched it for a three-run homer.

➤ Bird then gave up a tying run in the seventh so Boone yanked him and after the game sent him back to Triple-A and quite frankly, he can stay there for all I care. Camilo Doval was next up and after finishing the seventh, he came on for the eighth and Trout crushed a 445-foot two-run homer to put the Angels up 10-8. Doval is a major problem, and correct me if I’m wrong, but does that guy have the worst body language you’ve ever seen? He just looks like a defeated, no-confidence pitcher all the time.

➤ Paul Blackburn actually pitched a 1-2-3 eighth to keep the Yankees close before the fireworks began in the ninth. Just a nutty night at the stadium as the Yankees won for the first time this year when trailing by two or more runs starting the ninth. Last year they were 1-47 in that situation.

➤ Also, Judge and Trout became the first two players with at least three MVP awards to each hit two homers in the same game. The only other time that happened was June 21, 1956 when Stan Musial of the Cardinals and Roy Campanella of the Dodgers did it.

➤ Some days, you pay big money to go to Yankee Stadium and you get a great game like Monday. And then other days, you pay big money and you get the shit show that took place Tuesday which probably had fans ready to jump off the GW Bridge on the way home.

➤ Ryan Weathers served up back-to-back-to-back home runs in a span of five pitches to Trout, Jo Adell and Soler in the first inning, and another solo homer to Oswald Peraza - yeah, more on him later. Weathers lasted five innings, allowed five runs on five hits and two walks, and he struck out 10. What a weird pitching line that was. He had 10 strikeouts so once again, the stuff is obvious, but you can’t center cut it the way he did. Also, the Yankees have still not scored a single run when he’s been on the mound which is simply incredible.

➤ Peraza. Are you kidding me? He had the homer, two singles and a 12-pitch walk, and longtime stiff Yoan Moncada homered and had three RBI.

➤ Lefty Reid Detmers embarrassed the Yankees. He pitched into the eighth inning, one run on four hits, no walks and nine strikeouts. The Yankees were clueless against him. Looking for a nugget of happy, Grichuk finally got his first hit and scored the only run on a Rice sac fly. McMahon had a hit, too.

➤ Yerry de los Santos was called up from Triple-A to take Bird’s spot, threw 44 pitches, and was sent back down after the game. Next up on the bullpen merry-go-round, Angel Chivilli. And Paul Blackburn returned to being useless as he allowed the first four men he faced in the sixth to reach base, leading to two runs.

➤ For the second time, Romano came in and blew a victory for the Angels. Man, I wonder if they let that guy on the plane for the ride home Thursday night.

➤ Of course, it sure wasn’t his fault how the inning began when Chisholm put up another shitty at bat and popped up to short for what should have been the second out, but Peraza and Neto stared at each other and the ball fell harmlessly on the dirt. Jazz was credited with a single, one that he won’t argue with given the ugly start he’s still in.

➤ He quickly stole second and after Wells drew a walk on a full count, Boone called for a double steal so they were on the move when Caballero ripped what became a walk-off two-run double to left-center. Obviously Jazz was scoring easy, but I’ll admit, when I saw Neto take the relay and fire home, I couldn’t believe Wells was trying to score. And as that ball was getting to catcher Logan O’Hoppe, I figured Wells was dead, but credit to him for hustling and then executing a great slide to avoid the tag. He took third-base coach Luis Rojas off the hook because that risky send could have backfired.

➤ Luis Gil is a concern. He lasted just five innings and gave up four earned runs on five hits and two walks. He just doesn’t have the elite fastball that we saw in 2024, and he doesn’t have any other pitch that he can use as an out pitch. I can’t see him staying in the rotation once Carlos Rodon returns, and with his inconsistent command, that’s not ideal for the bullpen.

➤ Once Gil was out, this was the only game where the bullpen came through. Four scoreless innings from Hill, Cruz, Brent Headrick and David Bednar and that kept them alive long enough to pull it out. It felt like it would be all for naught because the Yankees looked as dead on offense as they did Tuesday and had only four hits going into the ninth inning.

➤ Fried is the ace of the staff, but this is two starts in a row where he wasn’t that. He issued a two-out walk in the first and it bit him in the ass when Peraza ripped a two-run homer. And then, handed a 3-2 lead after Judge homered in the first, and slumping Giancarlo Stanton crushed a two-run bomb in the third, Fried gave it up.

➤ He had settled in well and when he took the mound in the sixth Peraza’s homer was the only hit he’d allowed. He got the first out, but then Trout walked, Adell singled, and Peraza doubled in a run. Cruz came in and he allowed two of Fried’s runners to score thanks to two singles and a walk and just like that the Yankees were down 6-3.

➤ Rice homered in bottom of the sixth, but Trout answered with a 445-foot rocket off Chivilli and you knew right then that there wasn’t going to be a miracle comeback in this one. Ryan Yarbrough came in for mop-up duty and he gave up three hits and a walk, and all four of those men scored thanks to Adell’s grand slam.

➤ Judge and Stanton homered in the same game for the 61st time, tied for the sixth-most among MLB teammates all-time, but this was just the eighth time they’ve lost when that happened.

➤ Judge’s homer gave him four for the series, the eighth time he’s done that in his career. As for the showdown with Trout, this was just the second time in Yankees history where a Yankee and an opponent hit at least four homers each in a series. The other series happened in June 1932 when Lou Gehrig and Goose Goslin of the St. Louis Browns did it.

Not that it has helped the Yankees much, but another weak team is coming to town for the weekend as the 7-12 Royals are in for three games, riding a four-game losing streak after getting swept by the Tigers. They were up 9-7 in the ninth inning Thursday but outstanding closer Lucas Erceg got lit up for three runs, so this will be a team every bit as pissed off as the Yankees.

Before the 10-9 loss Thursday, the Royals had scored just 23 runs in their previous 10 games, seven of those being losses. Have no fear, the Yankees bullpen is here to cure all ills.

➤ C Salvador Perez: He’s still chugging, but his decline continues as he’s hitting .169 with a .545 OPS.

➤ SS Bobby Witt: How’s this for crazy. Before he scored three times Thursday, Witt had scored just one run this season, that despite 17 hits, 10 walks and eight stolen bases. It shows how poor the Royals have been at the plate.

➤ 1B: Vinnie Pasquantino: The slugger finally hit his first homer of the year Thursday, and he’s hitting just .155.

➤ OF Jac Caglianone: Somehow, in 63 plate appearances he has yet to hit a homer, though he’s hitting .273 with a .355 on-base, both of which trail only Witt on the team.

➤ RP Lucas Erceg: He is nasty, but despite an AL-best five saves, his ERA is 6.14 ERA thanks to two blow-up performances.