Bronx Bomber Ball

There is the reason for concern heading into this week of action as the Yankees begin a fresh week of baseball Tuesday in Atlanta. But, brighter skies may be ahead for the Bombers. Aaron Judge is back, let’s get that out of the way. Judge will be activated from the IL prior to Tuesday’s game against the Braves, coming at the perfect time. The Yankees are coming back this week after getting swept in a three-game series by the Rays at home, dropping them to second in the AL East, and having a weekend off after their series at Citi Field was postponed due to COVID-19. Photo Credit: Mike Stobe/Getty Images Unfortunately, Judge does not solve all the issues for the team as they still are without Giancarlo Stanton, DJ LeMahieu, and Gleyber Torres. Torres was officially placed on the IL Monday with the move retroactive to Friday after being diagnosed with a Grade 1 strains in both his left hamstring and left quadriceps. With glaring holes to still be filled, the Yanks will still have to play

I’ve had the pleasure of owning the title of Yankees Fan since age seven, when I stayed up past my bedtime to watch the 1996 World Series with my dad while my mom fell asleep on the couch.   Tino Martinez was one of my first crushes.   Hearing the name Jimmy Key still brings tears to my eyes.   Joe Torre was one of my childhood heroes.   I watched the Don Zimmer brawl in shock while rooting for him the entire time.   I remember why Curt Schilling became known as “Ole’ Ketchup Sock” (you can thank Yankees Facebook for that nickname).   And my dad and I were in attendance at Game Two of the 2009 World Series, where we reminded Pedro who his Daddy is.   In my time as a fan, I’ve certainly experienced my fair share of highs and lows with the Yankees, feeling for them, hurting with them, celebrating with them. Photo credit: Newsday

Credit: Tony Gutierrez/Associated Press That title sound familiar? That’s because it was the title of not one , but two separate ads released by Major League Baseball and featuring stars such as Mike Trout, Aaron Judge, Christian Yelich and more. These were released first during the postseason of 2018 and next during Spring Training of 2019. Now it comes up a few times every season where a team gets upset and an incident breaks out because someone is deemed to have “broken the unwritten rules of baseball” and these ads released by MLB themselves made light of that fact. The problem here is that MLB never backs it up and every season we see the same outrage from certain groups within the baseball community when one of these “rules” is broken.

Chad Green has been the Yankees’ best reliever in 2020, and it’s quite possible he has been the best late-inning option in the entire sport. The 29-year-old righty enters play on August 14th with a 0.82 ERA, 0.36 WHIP and 12.27 K/9. Green’s struggles early last season were well-documented, and he never entirely put them behind him in 2019. 18 games into this shortened season and that feels like ancient history. Photo Credit: Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post

Coming off a brutal road trip that saw them drop five of seven games to the Phillies and Rays in addition to the loss of Giancarlo Stanton to a hamstring strain, the Yankees needed a change of momentum fast as they returned home to the Bronx this week and got just that by taking both games in a quick two-game set against the Atlanta Braves. Photo Credit: Kathy Willens/AP Photo

I’m not typically a fan of small sample size theater, but it’s hard to deny how good Gio Urshela has looked through his first 16 appearances of 2020. Entering the season, there were some questions regarding how Urshela would follow up his stellar 2019 campaign. After all, prior to last year’s breakout, Urshela was a widely unknown 27-year-old with a career batting average of .225, that the Yankees acquired from the Toronto Blue Jays for $25,000 in August of 2018. He was known as a solid defensive player with little to no offensive ability. That narrative changed drastically a year ago. Photo Credit: John Minchillo/AP Photo

The Yankees come into this week ice cold and looking for a rebound.  After a week that saw them drop five of seven games on the road against the Phillies and Rays, while seeing their AL East lead shrink to just two games, the Yankees return home for the start of a nine-game homestand looking to get back on track. Game against the Braves and Red Sox are on tap this weekend. Photo Credit: Douglas DeFelice/USA TODAY Sports

The 2020 New York Yankees have officially hit their first rough patch of the season. The Yankees lost three out of four games to the Tampa Bay Rays this weekend to cut their American League East lead to just two games. The problem this weekend was largely on offense, as the Yanks only scored seven runs in their three losses (2.3 runs per game). New York has now lost five of its last seven games, and seven of eight at Tropicana Field dating back to last season. Photo Credit: Chris O'Meara/AP Photo In the series opener on Friday night, the Yankees’ bats fell silent. In one of their worst offensive performances in recent memory, New York managed just two hits and failed to score a run against six different Rays pitchers. The Yanks only real scoring chances came in the seventh and eighth innings when the team went a combined 0-4 with runners in scoring position. One of the defining moments of the game occurred in the eighth when Mike Tauchman led off the frame with a double,

That Gary really hasn’t been scary. Photo credit: NJ.com

It’s time for a do-over. Photo credit: Hamlet Hub

This weekend in the Bronx, the Yankees completed a three-game sweep of the Boston Red Sox to bring their record to 7-1 in this unprecedented short season. In game one, Suzyn Waldman serenaded an empty Yankee Stadium with the National Anthem and CC Sabathia returned to throw out the first pitch.  Jordan Montgomery and the bullpen held the Sox to just one run­–a solo shot off the bat of Michael Chavis in the third.  Home runs from Aaron Judge, Gio Urshela, and Brett Gardner propelled the Bombers past the Red Sox to a 5-1 win.  Gardy’s homer ended his hitless start to the 2020 season, where he was previously 0-for-12 with seven Ks.