Bronx Bomber Ball

  After another crushing defeat in the Field of Dreams game last night, the Yankees and White Sox are off on Friday as they travel to Chicago to complete their three-game series.   Let’s use the off-day as an opportunity to check-in on the Yankees’ laundry list of injured and COVID-afflicted players.

The Yankees aren’t boring anymore! Well, maybe they still are, but not for the same reasons as they were previously.   The Yankees have been in a rut most of the season of bland, vanilla, stale – whatever you want to call it – baseball and were dealt another series of blows this weekend to start the second half, losing Jonathan Loaisiga, Wandy Peralta, Nestor Cortes, Aaron Judge, Gio Urshela and Kyle Higashioka to the COVID IL. Loaisiga is set to return later this week against Boston, however, news broke on Sunday afternoon that Darren O’Day’s hamstring injury will cost him the remainder of the season. Zack Britton returned from the IL, but Tim Locastro tore his ACL on Saturday, and his season is done.   Rougned Odor is showing some signs of life, but Luke Voit is back on the IL.  One step forward, one step back.

***Edit*** This was supposed to be a Series Preview before the Yankees got fucked up by Covid, so maybe enjoy the little bit of optimism I had before this news, if you want to, and watch my reaction to the news as it came out *s show order of edits  Photo by Alex Trautwig/MLB Photos Yankees vs Red Sox Preview 7/15-7/18 The Bombers start their second half tonight  tomorrow night, beginning a four game series with the first  place Red Sox. The Yankees (46-43) enter the second half of their schedule 8 games behind the Red Sox (55-36) for first place in the AL East and 4.5 games behind the Oakland Athletics (52-40) for the second Wild Card spot after their nightmare first half of the year. Winners of five of their last seven games entering the All Star Break, this series will be a play a huge factor in determining how they play out the rest of their season. Will they look like the confident team, who was having fun playing baseball, that we saw about to sweep the Astros this ...

  The Yankees wrapped up their nine-game homestand this weekend taking two of three from the Washington Nationals, finishing the homestand 7-2 overall.   Both of the Yankees’ wins came in walk-off fashion, following an ugly loss on Friday night in the series’ first game.  The Yankees will hit the road at 18-16, in second place in the AL East, 3.5 games back of Boston.

  In an exciting weekday series in the Bronx, Giancarlo Stanton led the Bombers to taking two out of three from the Astros. The series ended on somewhat of a sour note, as the Yankees definitely could have completed the sweep, but I’m not going to harp on the team’s first loss in a week. Chad Green had a pretty rough outing, which isn’t going to happen often. It just sucks that it was the short man Altuve who took him deep after the sh*t he got from fans all week. Before that homer, Altuve was 2-12 on the series, and heard enough “F*ck Altuve” chants from fans to make Manager Dusty Baker cry to the media about it. Fans even chanted “F*ck your birthday” yesterday for the Houston Second Baseman’s 31 st  birthday. I got to go to the game Wednesday night and it was incredible getting to go to the stadium and be a part of that for the only time Houston comes to the Bronx this season (unless they meet in the postseason).   Anyway, what hurts more than the loss itself, is the in...

  Fresh off a weekend sweep against the lowly Detroit Tigers, the Yankees welcome the Houston Astros to the Bronx in a long-awaited rematch.   This will be the first time since the 2019 ALCS that the two teams have faced off against one another, the first time since the Astros were caught cheating during their 2017 World Championship campaign, and the first time fans will be in attendance to hopefully boo the ever living shit out of them.   Following the three-game set against the Astros, the Yankees will wrap up their homestand with a weekend series against the Washington Nationals.

Photo credit: Rome Sentinel

The New York Yankees opened up their 2021 campaign this weekend in unsatisfactory fashion, dropping two of three games at home to the rival Toronto Blue Jays.   The New York offense was held to just eight runs over the three games and only Gary Sanchez was able to put the ball into the seats over the three games.   The big story in this series was the total ineptitude of the Yankees’ offense, particularly in the clutch.

  Opening Day is finally here, and boy are those words so sweet.   Major League Baseball battled through a pandemic last season which shortened the season to just 60 games and had empty stadiums throughout the regular season, but we’ve finally turned the corner in this fight against COVID-19 and MLB clubs will welcome back fans (albeit in limited capacities) starting tomorrow, April 1st.    The Yankees are locked and loaded and ready to finally achieve their decade-long goal of bringing home World Series title number 28.

Coming into this offseason, the starting rotation was at the top of Yankees fans’ minds along with a new contract for DJ LeMahieu.    After allowing JA Happ to leave in free agency and Masahiro Tanaka returning to Japan, and still awaiting the return of Luis Severino after Tommy John surgery prior to Spring Training last season, the Yankees have some new faces in the rotation, as well as a few familiar ones returning.    Welcome to the 2021 BBB Preview of the Yankees Starting Rotation.                                  Photo by Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images

It’s obvious that pitching has been an issue for the Yankees over the past few years. It’s early, but through Spring Training, this year seems a little bit different. Starting from the top, you’ve got the ace, Gerrit Cole. The 300 million dollar man. He’s going to be leaned on a lot all year. Expect big things from him every five days on the mound. He is the leader of this staff. So far this spring, through 12 innings, he’s 3-0 with a 3.55 ERA and adds in 19 strikeouts. These are numbers we’re looking for, and we can only expect more during the regular season.

Despite being one of the team’s top starting pitchers for the entirety of the 2019 season, Domingo German was not a part of the Yankees’ postseason run due to his suspension under Major League Baseball’s domestic violence policy.  German was held out of the final week of the regular season, and the entirety of the playoffs - a total of 18 games in all - before finally getting hit with an 81-game suspension this winter that will carry into June.     Photo Credit: Brad Penner/USA TODAY Sports

Heading into their final five regular season games of the 2019 season, the Yankees have wrapped up most of their business, with just a few loose ends left over.   The Yankees just concluded their final regular season homestand this past week, taking two of three from both the Angels and Blue Jays, wrapping up their first AL East crown in seven years in the process.   The final homestand saw the Yankees hit the 100-win mark for the second consecutive season, the return of Luis Severino (who dominated in his two appearances) and Giancarlo Stanton, as well as the final regular season start for future Hall of Famer Carsten Charles Sabathia.   CC was honored with an emotional ceremony on Sunday afternoon, his last ever regular season game at Yankee Stadium.

The Yankees took a trip out to the West Coast this week for two three-game sets against the Oakland Athletics and Los Angeles Dodgers. The first series in California led to an embarrassing three-game sweep of the Yankees by Oakland. However, the Bombers took the series in LA, winning two out of three against the Dodgers this Players’ Weekend.  Photo via @Yankees on Twitter

For the first time all season, the Yankees are headed to Fenway Park. This weekend’s four-game series presents an opportunity for the Yankees to put the final nail in the American League East coffin of their long-time rival. Entering play on Thursday 12 games up on the Red Sox in the division, a series win, or possibly even a split, would make it next to impossible for the Red Sox to make a run at the AL East over the season’s final two months. New York comes into the series at 66-35, which is the best record in Major League Baseball. Photo Credit: Billie Weiss/Getty Images

This week, the New York Yankees faced off against the Rays and Rockies at Yankee Stadium in the blistering summer heat. After losing the first game to Tampa, the Bombers rebounded and won five out of their next six games. Following Sunday’s game, the Yankees boast an impressive 64-34 record in 2019.  Photo Credit: @yankees via Twitter 

In the final week before the All-Star break, the Yankees split a two-game series with the New York Mets and a four-contest set with the Tampa Bay Rays. The 3-3 week puts the Yanks at 57-31 and eight games up on Tampa for first place in the American League East heading into this week’s festivities in Cleveland. Photo Credit: Scott Audette/AP Photo

The New York Yankees have reached the unofficial halfway point of the 2019 season and currently hold a 6.5 game lead over the Rays and a nine-game lead over the Red Sox. Not only are the Yanks leading the AL East, but they have the best record in the American League and trail only the Dodgers for the best record in baseball. At 57-31, The Yankees have played great baseball throughout most of the first half of this injury-riddled season, earning certain players midseason awards for their efforts… Photo Credit: Elite Sports NY

The Rivalry is back on in the Bronx, as the Red Sox come to town to take on the Yankees in a four-game set. The Bombers shut down the San Diego Padres Wednesday en route to their eighth consecutive series win, and they’ll look to ride that momentum into a very important series this weekend. While the Rays enter the day just a game out of first place in the AL East, they have a three-game set with the MLB-best Minnesota Twins on tap - it’s crucial the Yanks put away the Sox and begin to pull away from a surging Tampa team. The defending champions have not had it easy to start the year. They enter play just a game over .500, already 7.5 games back in the division race. Last month the Yankees swept a quick two-game set against the Sox - if the bats can take advantage of an unstable pitching staff (16th ranked 4.43 team ERA), they shouldn’t have an issue putting away their bitter rivals yet again. Photo Credit: FOX Game One, 7:05 PM EST, J.A. Happ (4-3, 5.09 ERA) vs. Chris Sale (...

Heading into a three-game Memorial Day Weekend series against the Kansas City Royals, the Yankees are in first place in the A.L. East.  They are two and a half games ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays.   They have won six of their last seven games.  They swept the Baltimore Orioles in a four-game set, winning the last of the four games on a run driven in by an Aaron Hicks walk.  Players, the next of which will be James Paxton, are returning from the Injured List.   Not to put too fine a point on their situation, but, they are currently a pleasure to watch.