SU had a free moment and decided to check on the Yankees’ batting averages with Runners in Scoring Position (RISP). You know what I mean. For Yankee fans, you watch a game and in those rare moments these days when someone comes up with a runner at 2nd or 3rd, you think, “What are the chances of this guy getting a hit?”

SU says that this is why the team will fall short in October.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/team/stats/_/name/nyy/split/39

Clearly, there are some studs here: Judge (.356), Trevino (.356), and IKF (.326). But it’s easy to find the holes in the lineup: Torres (.188), Hicks (.171), LeMahieu (.192), Rizzo (.226) and Donaldson (.238). Not a winning formula.

They really, really miss Matt Carpenter. He covered up for Stanton’s down period in June and July. Tampa is now down 6 in the loss column. September may be interesting. There are still a lot of games to be played and while the pitching is holding steady, the offense is sinking. The Angels are basically just saying we won’t let Judge beat us. Other teams will take note.

NLCS preview this week as the Dodgers face the Mets. LA is down a few starting pitchers now. Chance for the Mets to make a statement.

Ugh. The dreaded “sometimes you just tip your cap” line came from Aaron Judge yesterday after another anemic Yankee offensive performance. Yes, you “tip your cap” in consecutive starts against Oakland A’s starters who had dreadful ERAs in both the minors and majors this year.

SU gives the Yankees credit for piecing the pitching staff together given the rash of injuries and now Chapman’s tattoo related infection on his leg (I must say that is a new one). The pitching generally keeps them in every game. But for this team, unless they hit home runs, they lose. Rizzo and Stanton are now trending into below .220 territory. LeMahieu has a toe injury and is trying to play through it but without success so far. Gleyber Torres has become an automatic out. SU has been saying for months that the Yankees are not an October team. When you face the best pitchers in the post-season, you need to be able to manufacture runs. Check out the Yankees in extra inning games. Clueless.

As stated earlier, my lower expectations have made the losses easier to take. SU was actually rooting for the no hitter yesterday (Aaron Hicks ruined that one – of course he did). The lead is still 7.5 games but 3 games in LA vs. the Angels where they never play well and then 3 in Tampa coming up. This could get interesting.

US Open starts today. The men’s bracket is a bit depleted this year with Federer (injury), Zverev (injury) and Djokovic (idiocy) out. Medvedev plays well at the Open and should win it all. You can’t count Nadal out although he has not played much of late but has an easy draw. Alcaraz may be ready to make a run. He loves the spotlight and should get his share of night matches. All eyes will be on Kyrgios but it’s hard to see him keeping it all together for 2 weeks playing in New York.

On the women’s side, it’s all about Serena. Not an SU fave (too many threats against lineswomen and umpires for my taste) but she is in the GOAT discussion and deserves a nice send-off. Coco Gauff may just be ready to break though in the next couple of weeks.

Yankee fans: do not go there. Don’t do it. Do not start hating on Frankie Montas. OK, we know that Jordan Montgomery is 3-0 with the Cardinals and has given up 1 run in his 3 starts (you have to consider that one of those wins was over the Yankees so he was facing a team of .220 hitters). And Harrison Bader is still in his walking boot; we don’t know what we have there but you do know that you need a fix in center field and Hicks is lost).

The natural inclination is to say that Montas is a flop and can’t pitch in New York. SU does not think that is the case. He does not show the Sonny Gray deer in the headlights look or say the Sonny Gray things. He wants to win, he wants to be here. Is he fully healthy? Well, you do wonder about that as he had shoulder issues as recently as July.

SU will not hate on Frankie Montas. I am taking a more positive approach to the Yankees now. I have lowered my expectations and that makes losing a bit easier to process. For example, here is how you need to do it. Runners on first and third, no outs and Josh Donaldson is up. Hope for a home run, a hit or a sac fly? No, no no. Go for the strikeout or maybe a wild pitch in there with the strike out so that the rally can continue. Just avoid the double play. You know statistically that he won’t get a hit more than once a week. At .219, why expect more?

Let’s try it out together. Bases loaded and no outs with Aaron Hicks up. Do you hope for a hit? Of course not. He hits .136 lifetime with the bases loaded. Do you want him to put the ball in play? NO! Take the strikeout and hope the next guy – LeMahieu can get it done. Again, the wild pitch is also a good outcome in there. Gleyber Torres with RISP? It will be a ground ball to shortstop as he ignores the right side of the infield being vacated. Sure, if he gets a hit, all good, but if you limit expectations, it’s a less frustrating viewing experience.

You should only put your hope in Judge, LeMahieu, Rizzo, Benintendi and Trevino. Judge won’t get anything to hit anymore so there is that.

At this point, the only way to get through the last month and a half of the season is to lower expectations. Chapman? Please. Loaisiga? Nope. So, Frankie Montas, SU says here’s to you. Please try your hardest, do your best and I will expect the 4 innings and 5 runs appearance with 95 pitches. Enjoy your stay in NY.

Did you catch the “Fire Aaron Boone” chants the other night after he brought Chapman in? Hey, not Boonie’s fault. Look at the roster. But it comes with the turf.

OK, who’s with me? Trust me: you will sleep better at night.

Yankee fans know what that headline is all about. What used to be a historic season is now a snoozefest. Games have become unwatchable. For SU, what is most frustrating is that guys come up to the plate, look at the shift and then make no adjustments. If you are Aaron Hicks, how are you not bunting down the 3rd base line every single time? He benefited by having Joey Gallo around for the fans to hate for much of the season. Well, Gallo is now gone (and hitting home runs for the Dodgers for those of you keeping score at home but that’s ok, no regrets) and the spotlight is now on Hicks.

But SU would take a different approach with Hicks. He is a switch hitter and one of the precious few left-handed hitters in the lineup. SU says put him in the middle of the order and let him feel important. Batting him 9th ahead of Judge is not working. I know Boone thinks Donaldson is one swing away from finally “locking in” but SU says he is a Dave Kingman redux and 7th is fine for him. Hicks has 3 more years on his contract (can you believe that?) and assuming that Hal will not want to eat $30 million, let’s boost his confidence. Until Bader is healthy enough (early September?), Hicks needs to play every day as this roster is not deep (at all). SU will ask the fans not to boo and to think positive thoughts.

If you listened to Stanton the other night, one did not come away with a confident feeling that he thinks he is over this Achilles strain injury. He is still worried and that is not a good sign. What it means is that he won’t run hard to first base, won’t play the outfield and will probably be afraid to really extend on his swing. SU says you cannot count on him long-term this year. The bigger need is for Carpenter to come back and then pray no foul balls off his back foot.

Andujar is failing to take advantage of chance #27 to stay in the lineup. If I was Boone, I would rethink the lineup. Put IKF at lead-off. He makes contact, always hustles, can steal a base and hits the best on the team with RISP. Boone is limited in what he can do in terms of who he plays right now. SU says a major lineup shuffle is in order just for kicks and fan entertainment. They are wasting great pitching performances from the starters every night and expecting Donaldson to do anything beyond a home run once every 2 weeks is silly. Lou Piniella and Billy Martin, back in the day, picked the lineup out of a hat when things went south. I know the analytics people would faint at that thought but hey, get the players to relax a bit.

The Rays are now down 8 in the loss column with plenty of games left vs. the Yankees this year. A collapse this season would be historic and make fans forget about the Red Sox 14-game blown lead in late July back in 1978.

Until then, feel free to keep the games on Amazon Prime and Apple TV so it’s easier to avoid watching. SU checked in on the Mets but they stopped hitting and scoring in Atlanta so I had better stop doing that. Obviously hurting the karma by tuning in.

SU is not and has never been a Serena Williams fan but she is the GOAT of women’s tennis and deserves her due as she bows out of professional tennis in the upcoming US Open. I watched her last night (not the Yankees) and she is not right physically. As we know, it’s hard to go out on your own terms and her body is clearly telling her it’s time. I am sure the USTA will do things right in a couple of weeks but hard to see her making a sustained run in Flushing.

Finally, finished the last episode of The Captain on ESPN on Derek Jeter. Definitely enjoyed the series and he was so much more forthcoming than he had been throughout his career. Maybe he can DH for the Yankees for 6 weeks?

SU knows and has heard it all:

1. “It’s the dog days of August.”
2. “Wait until Stanton returns to the lineup.”
3. “The goal is to play in October. It’s a brand new season then.”

Remember the 2000 Yankees? Lost every game down the stretch and still won the World Series. All may be true but SU has a feel for the team having watched enough games and much was papered over in the first half of the season. They won so many close games, so many morale building walk-off games and have a crazy good home record. The pitching and Judge have carried the team all year.

Now, the bullpen is leaking due to injuries and Holmes’s struggles. Cashman compounded that problem by optioning out Marinaccio for 3 weeks in order to keep Abreu who has already lost a game (as expected). Maybe they could have used him on this road trip? The starters basically remain solid enough. The problem with this year’s team is the offense. When you are so reliant on home runs, you look great when guys are cranking them out and you look terrible when they are not. See the struggles in extra innings when you have to have some situational hitting strategy.

The Yankees will go as far as their offense takes them. SU thinks the pitching is good enough. Yes, Montgomery has yet to give up a run in 2 starts since the trade for the Cardinals but if Bader can play a solid center field and hit .250, that move might pay off. Hicks is just so unproductive and the current roster has no one else to put in there. As noted before, Stanton was horrible in June and July before his injury but SU agrees that if can return and get hot, he can be a difference maker. He tends to stay hot for weeks vs. others who are hot for 2 games (see Josh Donaldson). Right now, there is no reason to ever pitch to Judge. Rizzo can get the occasional bit hit but you worry about his back now.

The Carpenter injury was HUGE. Cashman gets a lot of credit for signing him and he really produced from the left side. Gleyber is lost. Somehow they are still up 10 games in the standings but you are giving life to the Red Sox now and you know if the Yankees play Boston in October, they lose. SU cannot go through that again like last year.

The roster is what it is for the rest of the year unless you decide to give a couple of the youngsters a shot down in Scranton. SU says that Cashman has to be tempted to do just that. The next week is Tampa Bay, Toronto and the Mets – all at home.

Meanwhile, the Mets are serving notice that they are built for October. They are a scary match-up for any NL team – including the Dodgers. Both NY teams will be playing in mid-October but the guys in Flushing are certainly built to go further.

Joey Gallo hit a 3-run home run to left field last week as pointed out by long-time subscriber, B. Rosano. MLB has requested the ball for further analysis as Gallo’s swing cannot hit a ball to left field as we all know.

So, Yankee fans, SU has seen the comments on Twitter. Not pretty. Feeling confident? Lots of games to play? The floor is open.

Those diehard Yankee fans who stayed up to watch all (huh?) or at least part of last night’s game vs. Seattle, saw Matt Carpenter foul a pitch off of his back foot in his first at bat. YES announcer Cameron Maybin was right on it when he said that there are a lot of small bones in your feet and this is not a good thing. Well, sure enough, Carpenter broke a bone in his foot and may miss the rest of the season. Not clear yet.

Carpenter has given the team a huge lift from the left side of the plate for the Yankees – hits with power and RISP. This is a big loss but helps Cashman in achieving his dream of fielding a mostly right-handed lineup in a stadium that favors left-handed hitters. SU believes that they will recall Miguel Andujar for the 71st time this season to fill in for Carpenter but it’s a big, big blow to the team if Carpenter indeed misses the rest of the season. He’s hitting .293 at Scranton and he must take advantage of this chance while Stanton is out. Rizzo is still suffering from a bad back. Benintendi is showing signs of life – 2 doubles last night – so that helps from the left side. And of course Aaron Hicks is a switch hitter and makes outs from the 9-hole as needed batting left-handed. Tonight will be a good test vs. Castillo who they will face for the 3rd time this year. Will anyone make an adjustment? Bunt against the shift?

Josh Donaldson with 3 home runs last night. It is still shocking to see him get hits with RISP. Yankees have to hope he can stay hot for some stretch of games.

For you diehard Yankee fans, for the upcoming Sunday night game between the Red Sox and Yankees on ESPN, Michael Kay and A-Rod who do the alternate broadcast on ESPN2 will be joined by Derek Jeter. This is worth watching just for the awkwardness between these two former stars and former friends. Definitely worth checking it out for a few minutes.

Jacob deGrom made his mark yesterday in a masterful performance against the 2nd place Atlanta Braves. It was definitely a statement game and capped off a great weekend for the Mets taking 4 of 5 vs. the Braves. SU has been saying all season that the Mets with a healthy deGrom are a major factor in the post-season. When you can roll out deGrom and Scherzer in a short series, you put tremendous pressure on the other team. The Mets have enough offense to get to the ALCS and take on the mighty Dodgers who now have Joey Gallo (for the moment until he is DFA’d).

Meanwhile, the Yankees have lost 5 straight and are 9 – 16 in the last 25 games. Every team does through a lull each season and clearly the Yankees are lulling as we speak. The Mets now have the same record as the Yankees but are trending in a different direction. SU notes that when the Yankees won all of the close games in the first half of the season they were carried by Judge, Rizzo and Stanton. Well, Stanton is out for his annual injury (Achilles is the body part of choice in 2022) and Rizzo has back issues. Judge has been the rock and as we know, historically he is not a rock. The reality is that Judge can’t miss any time. He covers up for an amazing lack of production from half the team. Even Michael Kay has seen enough on the Yankee broadcasts as he has started to actually recite all of the “0 for” streaks that the hitters are going through (looking at you Hicks, Torres, Benintendi). What it all means is that if they don’t hit home runs, the likelihood of putting a rally together with multiple hits is very, very small. SU has run the numbers, and trust me, really small.

SU will not panic about Benintendi… yet. He needs to ease his way in and I believe he will eventually start to hit. Montas was pretty terrible yesterday but he does throw hard and truth be told, if he is not what they hoped for, then it will be a short October run. They are a half game ahead of the Astros now and for 2022, best record means a whole lot.

SU is unhappy that Marinaccio was sent down for 3 weeks as Cashman did not want to lose Albert Abreu. The bullpen has to throw a ton of innings given how limited the starters are this year in pitch count. Rolling Abreu out there over and over again is going to be a problem.

Bottom line: you are never as good as you look when you are winning, and you are never as bad as you look when you are losing. SU totally agrees with this. But… the good vibes on the Yankees for the first half of the season are gone now and the Montgomery trade will take some time to get over for some of the players. If Bader turns out to be the real deal and can put Hicks on the bench, then that can flip in September.

The next two series are interesting. 3 in Seattle and then 3 in Boston. The Red Sox are terrible but play their best against the Yankees. And then Tampa Bay and Toronto for 7 at home. Buckle up.

SU is back from my 2022 Yankee Stadium debut with 5 esteemed long-time intergalactic SU subscribers on a night that featured a 3-hour, 45 minute game (typical for the Yankees), extreme sweating in the heat and a foul ball corralled by long-time subscriber and commenter, A. Grossman. Per usual, the Yankees scored most of their runs via the home run but ultimately came up short.

The Yankees had a busy 48 hours and SU is generally fine with the moves. The one I do not understand is the trading of starter Jordan Montgomery for Harrison Bader, centerfielder, who before yesterday I had never heard of. Sounds like a speedy, defensive minded player from Bronxville who has plantar fasciitis and won’t be available until September. The Yankees are already down Severino who may return in mid-September at the earliest, and Montas, who they just acquired, has had shoulder issues as recently as July. I think I get the logic of Cashman though. He is building the roster for October where you don’t need 5 starters. He fortified the bullpen, got rid of Joey Gallo (or his new eternal name “the struggling Joey Gallo”) and appears to be ready to move on from Aaron Hicks in center field which all Yankee fans can get behind. Hicks responded well last night with 2 double plays and a 9th inning strikeout as he is in the midst of another 0 for 20 streak. Btw, how he does not bunt down the 3rd base line every single time up batting left-handed is a mystery.

When you go to a game in person, you really see the shifts and how much room on the infield is ignored by hitter after hitter. The TV broadcasts don’t show that enough. For the .200 hitters (who dominate baseball these days), you just have to wonder (looking at you Struggling Joey Gallo).

Meanwhile, the Mets did not go big yesterday. JD Martinez was the prize but the Mets thought otherwise. We know money is not the issue. On the other hand, with Scherzer and deGrom, you are really built for the post-season. If they can both stay healthy, you do not need that much more – especially with a lights out closer in Diaz. The Mets have a legitimate shot but things will need to break right offensively and medically for them to pull it off. The Yankees need to get past Houston and SU is still not seeing that. Happy to be proven wrong.

Finally, not surprised that the Yankees did not get Soto. Just too expensive long term with Judge, Stanton and Soto. The Padres, on paper, have some offense now but let’s see how that plays out.

Yankees fans will only have a few more hours to kick Joey Gallo around as the trade deadline nears. On a human level, you have to feel badly for Gallo as he is not a bad dude. What was most frustrating is his belief that being a .200 hitter is the goal when you sprinkle in some walks and the occasional home run. Interesting interview here with Randy Miller from nj.com.

https://www.nj.com/yankees/2022/08/joey-gallo-sums-up-yankees-fans-feeling-like-a-piece-of-crap-on-eve-of-new-start-q-a.html

SU thought this response pretty much summed it up for Gallo:

Q: Isiah Kiner-Falefa told me Rangers fans accepted you as a low average, big-strikeout guy who hit a lot of homers. It’s different in New York.

Gallo: Coming here, I knew it was going to be really tough. It took a while for people to understand the player I am in Texas. Early on, I was the No. 1 prospect, but I struck out a lot. I was a strange player. But Rangers fans started to understand, ‘OK, this guy strikes out, but he hits homers, he plays good defense, he’s a good person.’ Rangers fans came to understand that. Here in New York, if you don’t think get enough hits, it doesn’t matter what else you’re doing. They’re going to tear you apart. I’ve been a Three True Outcomes player my whole life. It’s not like I hit .300 my whole life. I’ve been a .200 hitter my whole life and I hit .160 here. So I knew New York was going to be a tough time and a tough place to play, especially the player that I am.

Bottom line: this was a major swing and a miss by Cashman in acquiring Gallo last year. This is a player who is proud of what he is and will not change. He will not bunt to the left side of the infield where no one is positioned to get some hits and maybe even a few cheap doubles. Someone else will take a chance with him.

Interesting fact: how many doubles do you think Giancarlo Stanton has this year? The answer is 6. This is baseball today. Swing for the fences on every swing. Amazing how a power hitter like Stanton has so few doubles. If you look at his stats, he was solid in April and May, and terrible in June and July – well below .200 for 2 months.

If the playoff started tomorrow, Boone would have LeMahieu at 3rd base, Rizzo at first and either Stanton or Carpenter in right field with the other DHing against right-handed pitchers. If a lefty was starting, perhaps Hicks is in there. Donaldson will not play and neither will Hicks in most games. Donaldson is a great fielder but a forgettable hitter. Boone is hoping that he gets hot down the stretch and he seems like a good clubhouse guy but he should be a bottom of the order hitter at best.

The Yankees have become a team that only scores via the home run (and wild pitches). You have to admit that when a hitter knocks in a run with a single, it is actually striking for this team. IKF is one of the few who does that.

Finally, regarding the comments from yesterday’s posting, SU agrees with long-time subscriber E. Mass that Cashman has done a good job – so far – navigating the trade deadline moves. He is taking care of the team’s weaknesses. SU knows that both E. Mass and A. Grossman want the Yankees to go all in on the Soto sweepstakes but there is no way that they can re-sign Judge and then pay Soto. Remember, you are paying Stanton $30 million a year until 2050 (or is it longer?) and Cole makes a pretty penny. If they traded for Soto, you are basically saying good bye to Judge. SU says you cannot do that. Overpay Judge for fewer years as he is the face of the franchise, a good corporate citizen and someone who will attract free agents to come to New York.

SU wishes Gallo well – preferably in the National League. Read the interview – kind of sad.

Well, it’s official sports fans. Cashman has pushed all of his chips into the middle of the table as this is the year to win it all. Lots of activity today:

1. Yankees acquire Frankie Montas (starter) and Lou Trevino (reliever) from the A’s for some of their top minor league starting pitchers. Ken Waldichuk is their #1 pitching prospect and JP Sears was a guy that SU really liked so far this year. They also gave up their #10 prospect, Luis Medina. and a 2nd baseman in the minors. Montas is highly regarded as his career has taken off since being with the A’s although he has had some shoulder issues recently.
2. Yankees also acquired a rookie reliever from the Cubs for another minor league pitcher

For SU, I personally like to root for the minor leaguers and see them develop over time. Now, truth be told, the Yankee pitching prospects usually get hurt or are traded so we never really see them (nor do we hear from them again on other teams). And Yankee minor leaguers are always over hyped – that is the truth. The key is Montas – can he be a top of the rotation pitcher in October? And who will he replace in the rotation? In short playoff series, that is where Boone will be (over) praised or (over) blamed. No doubt the front office will make this a group decision. If nothing else, it will make for great 2nd guessing in October.

Now, if Montas gets hurts, well not such a great move. But if he can get the Astros out, well definitely worth it. As a Yankee fan, you like the bold moves. This is the year to go for it all.

There seems to be a market for Joey Gallo. Padres, Rays mentioned as possible landing spots for him. SU would definitely avoid Tampa – you just know he will kill them in the playoffs although it is physically impossible for that swing to hit a baseball and keep it fair.

Yankee fans: good moves? Giving up too much from the minors?