Keefe To The City Podcast

The Yankees swept the Blue Jays and they did so in a large part because of Gary Sanchez’s offense and his defense. Aaron Boone should have never made Kyle Higashioka the personal catcher for Gerrit Cole and now he has no valid reason to continue to pair the two.

The Yankees have lost three straight (again) and are back to one game over .500. They have the worst offense in the American League (Congratulations, Brian Cashman and staff!) and their manager is acting like someone who knows his days are numbered in his current position. Everything is going well!

The difference between the Yankees truly battling the Rays for the division as of now and having to focus on a wild-card berth has been their inability to sweep teams when given the opportunity. (Well, that and not being able to beat the Rays, Blue Jays or Red Sox). With a chance to go into Friday's day off off three straight wins against the really, really bad Twins, the Yankees blew a three-run lead and ended their two-game winning streak.After the recap, Eric Hubbs of the Short Porch Podcast joined me to talk about the the state of the Yankees. We talked just before the start of Thursday night's game, so the mood was more upbeat than it would have been had we talked after the game.

The Yankees won again! Two wins a row! That's called a winning streak. The Yankees beat the Twins 9-6 on Wednesday, scoring more than eight runs in a game for just the second time in 62 games this season.

The Yankees scored eight runs for the first time in more than three weeks and ended their four-game losing streak against the Twins and former Yankee Michael Pineda with an 8-4 win. It was just the fourth win for the Yankees in their last 14 games, but it did set themselves up for what they need to do this week: sweep the Twins.

The Yankees suck. They really do. After getting swept by the Red Sox at home, the Yankees have now lost 10 of their last 13 games and trail the Rays by 6 1/2 games in the division. It's time to start focusing on one of the two wild-card berths, and even earning one of those might not be possible.

The Yankees lost again. This time it was 5-2 to the Red Sox on Friday night at the Stadium. It was another lackluster performance from the Yankees' offense as they are now 8-15 against the Blue Jays, Rays and Red Sox this season. After the game Aaron Boone gave the most idiotic answer to a question of all time, defending his team which leads the league in hitting into double plays, running into outs on the bases and has the second-worst offense in the AL.

The Yankees lost again, and they lost to the Rays again. The Yankees are now 5-8 against the Rays, having been outscored 64-37. The Yankees trail the Rays by 4 1/2 games in the AL East and with the Rays playing the Rangers this weekend and the Yankees playing the Red Sox, the Yankees' season is in trouble.

The Yankees won a game! For only the second time in their last eight games, the Yankees won, beating the Rays 5-3 in 11 innings on Tuesday. Clint Frazier hit a two-run, walk-off home run and the Yankees took a game off their division deficit. There's a still a lot of work to do over the next five days.

Since Opening Day, Aaron Boone has said the Yankees' offense will hit. It's now June 1, 54 games and one-third of the season has been played, and the Yankees still haven't hit. After being given a mulligan for April because the Rays and Blue Jays also had a bad first month, the Rays are running away with the division as the third month of the season begins.

The Yankees lost two out of three to the Blue Jays, scoring seven runs total in the series. It was yet another lackluster offensive effort from the Yankees against their direct competition for the division, and the offense has shown no signs of ever breaking out and hitting the way they're expected to.

Corey Kluber pitched one inning in 2020 before needing shoulder surgery, and the Yankees gave him a one-year, $11 million contract knowing he missed nearly all of 2019 and 2020. Kluber had looked like his former Cy Young-winning self over his previous five starts, but on Tuesday, he couldn't control his pitches and left the game early with shoulder tightness. Given Kluber's recent shoulder history and the way the Yankees have diagnosed, treated and handled injuries, I don't have a good feeling about his return.After the recap of the season-opening loss, Cam Lewis of Blue Jays Nation joined me to talk about the Blue Jays, their recent six-game losing streak, getting beat up by the Rays, their need for two starting pitchers and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s breakout season.

I was worried about the Yankees seeing the White Sox over the weekend, and I shouldn’t have been. The Yankees’ starting pitching continued its dominant run and the offense did just enough to pull off the three-game sweep over the team that used to have the best record in the American League.After the recap, White Sox Dave of Barstool Sports joined me to talk about the series, why I’m wrong to think the White Sox are overrated, Carlos Rodon turning around his career, if the White Sox players are against Tony LaRussa and why I’m not a fan of Aaron Boone.

Aaron Boone is once again out of control with unnecessary rest for healthy players, and it has been proven to once again to be an unproven strategy with the injuries to Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Hicks. Given the amount of injured everyday players, Boone can't give anyone a day off this weekend against the White Sox. Not with a scheduled day off on Monday.

The Yankees overcame a three-run deficit on Tuesday to win 7-4 over the Rangers. A five-run fifth inning with four runs coming with two outs with a makeshift lineup looked a lot like 2019 when the Yankees were missing about as many everyday players as they are now.

Monday night's game was about as lopsided as a matchup as you can have: the Yankees against the Rangers and Gerrit Cole against Jordan Lyles. You would have never known which team is the one that is supposed to contend for the World Series, and which team is destined for 100 losses, or which pitcher will be in the conversation for not just Cy Young, but MVP, and which pitcher is barely hanging on to a career in the majors. The Yankees were embarrassed in the series opener in Texas.

The Yankees beat the Orioles 5-4 on Friday in Baltimore, but they nearly didn't thanks to Aaron Boone. The Yankees manager decided Gio Urshela needed the day off, even though he was able to pinch hit in the seventh inning, and hit a go-ahead, three-run home run.Aaron Hicks didn't play because of a wrist tear, Giancarlo Stanton didn't play because of quad tightness and Aroldis Chapman wasn't available because having two of the previous four days off wasn't enough for him. 

The Yankees won two out of three against the Rays at Tropicana Field, but only scored five runs in the series. The Yankees have the third-lowest amount of runs scored in the American League and the season is 37 games and 23 percent complete. When is the offense going to show up like the Yankees keep saying it will?

Gerrit Cole was dominant with eight shutout innings and 12 strikeouts and the Yankees beat the Rays 1-0 on Wednesday night at Tropicana Field. The Yankees have now won 14 of 19 and have clinched the three-game series against the Rays, but that shouldn't mean they shouldn't go all out to sweep the Rays on Thursday. It's time for the Yankees to embarrass the Rays the way the Rays have embarrassed them for the last few years.

The Yankees beat the Rays 3-1 on Tuesday night at Tropicana Field and it was an impressive win. Jordan Montgomery avoided giving up a crooked number, Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez homered and Aaron Boone actually made logical bullpen decisions. The Yankees have Gerrit Cole going in the second game of the series and have set themselves up to have a big road trip.