I've been thinking a lot about this current spate of injuries, and not just about what it's done to the team. From a statistical point of view, it's absolutely preposterous -- six starters, an ace, and the top set-up reliever. If this were the Royals or the Tigers, there wouldn't be much of a drop-off between midlevel starters and their replacements, but look at this list:
Gary Sanchez, Greg Bird, Didi Gregorius, Miguel Andújar, Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Hicks, Luís Severino, Dellin Betances. If I were inclined to make myself ill, I'd look up the combined salary and All-Star appearances, but even without checking I know both numbers would be larger than most current lineups around the league could boast.

As Michael Kay is fond of saying, no one will ever feel sorry for the New York Yankees, but this is ridiculous.

Let's get it on!

Hoping the Yankees complete the Daily Double, following up Spurs crazy "victory" over Man City earlier.

Not a great start there, JA ...

So Happ gives up the first inning homer.

Voit starting to heat up.

We need to bury these Bean Eaters. Given their record, one more win would go a long way.

Jaysus Fucking Christ. Fucking Happless.

Knew that was a NYS special when it left the bat.

Ugh.

this fan is not Happy with Happ. not gonna win with a HR per inning.

[7] Cheapie? Just tuning in. Happ’s rocking a 9.00+ ERA..

Yanks haven't won a home series yet, and at this rate that won't change tonight.

Just got back from dinner. This isn’t good.

Happ escape.

Uh, get Happ the fuck out of there.

Bean town can play sloppy too.

[9] maybe 2 rows deep?

Clint!

SYNDROME!

Fraizah!

Modammit

Dang!

Did My Little Pony get pulled from the game? Love mocking him but sorry to see him go if that's the end..

Life is good for A-Rod. Man, I wonder what it's like to....J-Lo.

[21] Lay the hate on Jazz. That dude is unlikeable.

[22] He was just in the YES both, in case you have another feed.

I ... don't have anything against Alex; I think he caught a lot of undeserved shit when he was a Yankee (a lot of deserved shit as well), but I just don't get the "A-Rod, great analyst" hype that seems to surround him when he's in the booth. I had to mute the ESPN broadcast when he came into the booth, though, to be fair, I mostly had to mute the broadcast when he *wasn't* in the booth ...

[25] Thought he was good in the studio with the other guys. Game play-by-play so different..
[23] He was fun to hate, but wasn't Schilling/Varitek/Big Papi level hateable.

[25] He's a little too polished. Like a PR person. Although he really could, he doesn't dig deep on hitting and pitching like Cone and Paulie, but maybe that's what they want on ESPN.

AAAAAAAARGH. I can't take the ESPN feed anymore ... when you swing at a strike, by fucking definition ... YOU AREN'T CHASING!!!

Switching to YES.

I’ve got the ESPN feed. They are awful. Eduardo isn’t that bad, but the other guy, ugh.

I am surprised Happ got this far. Not totally horrible, actually.

[28][29] Which broadcasters?

Sox radio guys here, they are OK, nothing too objectionable.

Voit is not adroit in the field.

Luke Voit ... 1st baseman like substance.

Uh-oh. Tommy Tightpants.

[29] Their "discussion" on "striking out the side" and "batting around" made me want to do this https://youtu.be/GWmGrR9a818?t=351 to myself ...

[31] No Ma and Pa? You're gonna miss Sterling when he's gone.

Tommy K ... with the K!

[35] Wow. Glad I don't watch that show.

[31] Don’t know the other guy’s name, but I think he was on last night’s MLBN broadcast. Redhead.

Military. God Bless America? Makes no sense.

Good, Evoldi is out

[36] Fuck AND No. That the Yankees have Sterling and Waldman as their radio "voices" is an insult to the franchise. Sterling never met a fly ball call he couldn't completely butcher (and his homerun calls are neck and neck with Chris Berman's for their inane, fatuous and lazy schtick) and Waldman has a voice made for flag semaphore.

I haven't listened to a Yankees radio broadcast in nearly 30 years and the Yankees have Sterling and Waldman to thank for that.

[40] It's just excruciating, isn't it? That and the insane 'security' rules make me boycott going to the Stadium, TV is fine.

[42] 同感！

STOP CALLING BALLS STRIKES BLUE, DAMMIT!

[42] Don't beat around the bush, Cult. Tell us how you feel. ;>)

[43] On top of it, that version from Kate Smith is AWFUL, brassy as a fart in church.

Rally!

[43] And if you're at the game, people get really pissed if you don't stand like a soldier during that nonsense. I always walk around, take a pee break, hit the concessions.

Gritner!

Woooooooo!

BOOM goes Gardy!!! And against that d-bag who talked shite to Gary last year. Love it!

NYS taketh away ... NYS GIVETH BACK!!!

Ah the soft underbelly of the Shit Sox bullpen.

What TERRIBLE FUCKING CALL from blue.

BRING ON THE ROBOTS.

PLEASE.

Boone. Please use our best relievers now. I will only accept the Big O and Chappy. Please. Please. Please.

LOL ... a HR in 1/30 ballparks.

Have to imagine it's Ottavino for the 8th and Chapman for the 9th (assuming things go as planned).

[57] But as Coney pointed out, it was smoked. Double or triple anywhere else.

That’s a hit?

Not liking this

Don't fuck this up.

[59] Oh, no doubt. Just being amused by the NYS turn around ...

O O

More like Ottavi-NO tonight.

Phew

I'm getting too old for this shit.

[66] What he said.

Phew. Thanks Nune5!

I'd like to buy some insurance runs, please.

That’s a one

And a two

Two

Three!

Three!

Nice win!

See y'all tomorrow!

Boo-yah1

I saw from Brett's salami on. Not too shabby.

I got a Chemical Brothers album for the Sox: Did Your Own Hole.

Nice two game sweep. Yankees have seventy kazillion players on the DL. What’s Boston’s excuse?

[79] They tend to alternate between winning and tanking every couple-few years. I guess when you have one of the largest payrolls in baseball and staring at a huge tax penalty and you've already drained your farm, you have to reload somehow. And with the impending rule changes, why not get a head start?

Ain't nobody feeling sorry for them except themselves, so...

Great comeback. Gardy goes yardy. On 0-2 no less.

I saw Frazier congratulating Brett in the dugout and Gardner kind of shrugged it off. Frazier made clear that he was after Brett's job this year, and I wonder if there is any tension.

First we need to get the walking wounded of Stanton and Hicks back on the field but it will be interesting what they do with Gardner and Frazier.

Nice to see Happ pull himself together after the 2 dingers and get his head back in the game. His between the legs pass to Voit, I thought was going to lead to more runs but he settled down.

Bullpen held it together and the Yanks had a wild celebration in the clubhouse complete with fog machine and strobe light. Go wild!

[81] That's interesting with Brett and Frazier; of course they're competing for the same job and there would be some tension in that regard, but I bet it has more to do with the moment and their status. Brett's a champ and a vet; he's been there and done that, plus he's fighting tooth and nail to hang on in the face of younger competition and criticism for not producing of late and just being there in the first place. He's a much easier target than the "new" kid, who has been producing and is the heir apparent to his roster spot. So it would probably be more like a "get outta my way kid, I'm baseballin' here" kind of thing than any real beef between them. Besides, Brett was all-in on the party afterwards and if there was any real tension between them, it definitely would have been noted there more than anywhere else.

Regarding that party, at first my reaction upon reading about it was "oh no, they're too loosey-goosey and unfocused; true vets would not tolerate this kind of thing at this point of the season!", but I almost immediately realized that anything to break the tension from losing so many "easy" games to inferior teams and coming up against bitter rivals who are also struggling is better than being stone-faced and tight-lipped and giving yourself an ulcer because of it; there was more than enough pressure on the team to beat the team that knocked them out of the playoffs and won the chip in their own division (and celebrated on their turf). but then that same team comes in scuffling and in last place? Damn. To lose this series would be a back-breaker in of itself. They are a fairly young bunch. Can't demand them to be stoic in the face of so much pressure after beating the odds. It had to be otherworldly to be in that clubhouse with all the fog and the disco lights; what a relief that had to be for them. Everyone needs an escape now and then. I wouldn't even mind if they had started doing pies in the face again at that point; that would have definitely loosened everyone up, even Old Man Gardy.

But hey, we'll see. It's a long season and it just got started. Think how for most teams, the tension from losing is what they have to deal with through most of their season. I doubt Boston will be cellar-dwellers for too long; not when you have Baltimore and Toronto trying to decide what they're going to be for the next few seasons. This team needs to heal up and not panic like most of the sports media wants them to do.

I'm not writing the Sox obit yet. They have a lot of talent and I think they are just pressing after perhaps starting the season as too nonchalant.

It was huge that they came back to win, because Eovaldi finally flipped the script on his season and started pitching like October 2018.

While I saw Gardner being a little cold to Frazier, it is only understandable.

“I think I gotta go out there and prove to the guys that I’m healthy and show that the guy that’s been there [in left field] for the last 10-plus years [Brett Gardner] is someone I can compete with. I want to show that I want to take his spot whenever the time comes, and all respect to Gardy in the world. I love the guy to death and I can say that with a smile on my face because I genuinely mean that. So I’m trying to make sure that the way I’m going about this goal of mine is in a respectful way to him and everyone else that’s going for it."

I can see that the Yanks might want Frazier playing everyday and enjoy Gardner's tenacious at bats and vet leadership.

Frazier belongs in the bigs and I hope that the Yanks figure out a place to play him and not trade him.

[83] Agreed with everything you said. If everything were the way it was supposed to be, Frazier would be biding his time in Triple-A waiting his turn until Gardner rode off into the sunset, then he'd probably be the heavy platoon with Stanton and backing everyone else. It just didn't happen. However, this team has talent and if it weren't for all the injuries, it probably wouldn't be an issue. I just hope that the competition, however friendly it may or may not be, doesn't become an issue that people keep poking at in hopes that it unravels and the Yanks make a dumb decision to resolve it.

Tied up!

And untied

Nice D, Judge

Timber.....goes Judge! And German with the nifty D!

Bats need to get going tonight

[81-84] That's all really interesting, guys. And yet all I can think of is 'old vets Gardy & CC'...and I am 8 years older than them..

WTF is this losing to horrible teams thing? They're going to lose the division to the Rays, I can sense it..

I wonder if Lovelady is a playa.

[91] I certainly do not approve of that policy

So, in a perfect world, Romine should not be swinging until he gets two strikes.

[92] As far as obscure relievers go, I'd sure rather be a Lovelady than a Boxburger or Spooneybarger..

It's clearly not a perfect world.

The Royals are tanking, why can’t we take advantage?

Not a good way to start the weekend for me. Ran out of coffee and the Yankees are dialing it in against one of the worst teams in baseball.

Hang over from their party last night?

I’ve got a Passover Seder tomorrow evening and Easter dinner Sunday, was hoping to watch a good game tonight.

Sigh

Blegh

[99] Cover all the bases? Cool.

Ugh! The Yanks couldn't get it going vs. Royals with cheese.

Maybe that party after the Red Sox was a little premature.

The Yanks need to consistently play with fire and urgency, these games matter.

How about we beat a shitty team tonight?

Just to change things up?

K?

For a 1st baseman, Voit makes a great DH.

And ... here comes the rain.

Good thing we are giving the most plate appearances to the guy batting .190. Speed doesn't do much good from the bench.

GGBG!

2-1

[107] Hah!

;)

Nicely done, Carsten Charles!

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh, leadoff walk.

Arrrrrrrrrrrrgh, a 2-out walk.

Tauchmann!!!

3-1!

Remember when we had Donny Baseball with his glove at 1st?

Or Tino??

Or Tesh???

Yeah, that was nice ...

Nicely done, Luis.

3-2.

MOAR RUNZ PLZ!!!

Luuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuke!

NO WALKS.

NICE TAG!

NO KATE SMITH ... YAY!!!

Evening all, just got back from Passover Seder

Well, that was pathetic.

Sloppy play.

One down.

And two

Three

Win!

Win 247 for CC, and now only 6 Ks from 3000.

Nice fielding, Tanaka

K!

Judge!

ALL RISE!

Out goes Frazier

SYNDROME!!!

Jebus Voit.

Yeesh.

Lead off triple goes to waste.

TANAKA-SAN wriggles out of a leadoff triple!

Uh oh, I could see interference

Hopefully that stands, but that fan ...

Booo!

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.

Hopefully that shitpile of a fan gets his ass thrown out as well.

Blue not having a great game today ...

Can’t take that one back!

Homer happy

#obligatoryhomer

#OBLIGATORYTANAKAHOMERUN

[145] LOL

Aw fuck no. Fuckitty fuck fuck

Dear Jebus, Judge too???

Sigh.

This year is totally cursed.

Lat or oblique on the swing.

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh.

It’s almost laughable, but I’m sure someone would get hurt that way too.

[151] dislocate a rib or something, I'm sure ...

Judge shouted F..k. Just as he got into the dugout. I think he is out for a while. Oblique is usually 6 weeks.

F..k is right!

I'm blaming the renaming of the DL to IL.

[152] I did get a hernia that way.

Go Gio Go!

Next up, double digits.

Oblique. Six weeks?

Come oh Holder

Holder sucks.

[157] Probably 4-6, yeah.

Wheeeeeeeee!

For a 9-2 win with lots of homers I’m not happy

I ... for one, welcome our new Tauchmann overlords ...

I wonder when Gleyber’s inevitable injury occurs.

I’ve read Estrada, an INF, is getting the call up. Don’t know if Judge has had the MRI yet.

“Pretty significant” strain. Ugh. Especially given how the Yankees like to undersell player injuries, it looks bad. ASG return?

I figured 4-6 weeks when it happened. Seems about right.

Our lineup:
New York Yankees
1. 2B DJ LeMahieu
2. DH Luke Voit
3. CF Brett Gardner
4. RF Clint Frazier
5. LF Mike Tauchman
6. 3B Gio Urshela
7. 1B Mike Ford
8. C Austin Romine
9. SS Tyler Wade

Yeesh.

Yay, a half inning where noone got hurt.

I'll take that

Bang Bang Safe!

Easter dinner time, see ya later

Enjoy!

I'll hold down the fort, hopefully for a Yankees win.

Paxton has been damn good so far.

MOAR runs would be nice, but probably unrealistic with this lineup.

SYNDROME!!!

5-0 Yankees!

6 innings ... 12 Ks ... no runs ... yet.

Good job, Big Maple.

Now, Tahmmy, do your fucking job.

Well done ... Tahmmy!

NOT WELL DONE, GREENEY

I’m back. WTF is going on?

Aw shit.
DFA.

DFA DFA DFA.

UN-FUCKING-REAL.

Fucking Green.

Fucking Boone.

6-5???

ARE U FUCKING KIDDING ME?????

It's a good thing there's a new GoT episode tonight, because I'm so fucking pissed right now I can barely see straight.

Nice leg of lamb dinner spoiled.

I'm sure we could get the Yankees bullpen to come over and take a giant crap on it ...

But Lettuce celebrate that hit!

Retied.

Gleyber is in a deep funk.

Forgotten what he does best.

tuned in to see Yanks up 5 zip. next thing I know, 6 to 5. glad they tied it up. but KC looks more like a team that can manufacture a run.

You were saying?

so Chapman pulls a houdini

Phew, now time for a walk off.

Of course, that assumes our lineup could hit water falling out of a boat ...

Voit voided.

GGBG!

Come on Clint, Cash this in, man.

Dammit, Syndrome, that hanging slider was for the win!

Grrrrrrrrr.

Yay! Leadoff single against Britton.

Wheeeeeee!

Only this team could injury a reliever on a successful pickoff play.

Thanks. Of Jeez, not another injury.

Phew ... Britton seems ok.

Let's walk this fucker off, m'kay?

No pressure in your 1st MLB at bat rook!

Come on Thairo

nice start kid.Romine !!!!! Gatorade shower time!

Good job, kid. Scooter approves

Romine! Lettuce appreciate this.

Lettuce celebrate a walk off (and forget about the blown 5 run lead)!

See y'all in Los Angeles of Anaheim!

4 hours until GoT!!!

Redemption.

This bullpen though . . .

So Green is cooked, right? Dellin will be out for most of the season, I bet. Suddenly the bullpen is looking more like Clark Kent than Superman.

Great that the Yanks pulled out the W in the end, but it belonged to Paxton. It is sad that his amazing start was almost lost in the shuffle.

I'm conflicted with the Sox sweeping the Rays. On the one hand, the Yanks picked up a few games on the Rays but I also loved seeing the Sox looking quite lost.

Yanks got to keep up the great work with their patchwork team. The Angels are just Trout and a bunch of suckos, so these games are winnable.

As a NY transplant in LA, I was hoping to catch a game live, but it is not in the cards. I am also wondering if I will be able to stay up late enough to watch these games to conclusion. I love the 4pm start times when the Yanks are playing home games. (I can fast forward thru commercial breaks and watch the games in a little over an hour. (Watching live is quite an investment these days).

Knock the Angels d..ks in the dirt!

Greg, never a good time for the sox to win. we can catch the Rays, but I still focus on the sawks.

Gio Gonzales opted out. Eovaldi to miss a couple of months with surgery. So I bet thebSawx pick him up.

Yuck, west coast games. I can’t stay up for them.

RBJ: I heard Gio was eying the Mets.

Gary: I was just looking for the silver lining in their winning. I would love for the Sox to be a doormat all season.

Yanks vs. Batman tonight.

Luuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuke!

1-0

Damn Trout

How do you have a higher batting average than on-base percentage?

Happy anniversary to Gleybar

nice inning for Happ

Love free baseball in the afternoon here, just better hope Boone gets around to using Chapman in this one..

They take the lead! But is Frazier hurt...??

Hey Jazz, when this game started it was the Heisei Era, when it's over it will be Reiwa. ;>)

It all goes well, Trout won't get up again.

Kyle is not Gary. But I guess he didn't really have a chance.

Chapman had to make it interesting. [sigh]

[221] Haha, Reiwa could be done too now that Chapman blew it

Damn Chapman! The umps zone is whack!

I hope Frazier’s ankle holds up for a few more innings.If Chappie could have ended the game, Frazier could be icing it.

They need to win after all this crap or this will sting.

I picked a bad day to give up procrastinating.

Looks like I will finally have to head to the office, or I'll have to shower again before the game's over.

Who's pitching next? Estrada?

Gio with another potential game winner.

Come on pen and nail this down!

Holder has been sitting for 20 min and now they are marching him out for the 14th? I don’t know Boonie.

[230] I know Boonie. He's a shit-ass manager, but hes a GREAT COMMUNICATOR.

Hell yeah!

Put it in the win column.

Put it on the board, YES!!! (hat tip to the Hawk!)

Trout is going yard on German.

Trout is OUT!

[235] German is looking good! Will be amazing if the current MASH unit Yankees can run through this west coast trip.

Damn straight, Mr OK JT. Keep winning whilst getting guys healthy.

Ford drives his Chevy to the levy ... 4-0.

Atta boy, kid!

Ford with a fat Mattingly swing. Lol...

Gah.

C'mon German.

No ... seriously ... c'mon German.

WTF???

Could have been worse.

Angles radio guys are hysterical. 'Well, Pujols is among the slower runners on the team..' ISn't he the slowest player in the game, by super far?

Did you guys hear what the Sterling HR call for Ford was? They mentioned it on YES, but I was distracted by work.

Something about Ford Tough....?

[245] He should be able to beat Bird in a race.

[245] For the last 4 years?

Yes.

But for 2019 alone?

Come on down, Brian McCann!

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/sprint_speed_leaderboard

By a whole .1 ft/s!

LOL.

Pooholes is soooooo fucking slow.

SHOUT OUT TO ROSCOE'S!

6 complete for ze German.

MOAR runz.

GGBG!!!

Really enjoying the radio broadcasts from all the other teams, lot of local flavor in the ads (churches and BBQ in Texas, beaches and car repairs in California).

Did Trout just misplay a ball?

Nicely done, Gleyber.

Did Trout just misplay a ball?

No, ball just kept tailing away; legit hit.

[248,249] Jazz Jr asked me about Pujols, why he was a sure HOF when he's 'not good now'. Showed him the stats page at BRef, 'Oh!'

A PH here seem a bit much.

[256] He *was* fucking amazing ... but, now?

He's just ... not.

I believe his picture is next to the phrase "sunk cost" in the dictionary ...

Well, that was fucking dumb.

Seriously.

[259] Yes, always annoying when people lump in the A-Rod and Cano deals with Pujols. They were/are still very good players late in the deals.

I think PooHoles has ... what? 2? 3 more years on his deal?

Yeesh.

Oh, joy ... Romine.

Run scores ... Romine still sucks.

[253] [255] Whenever Trout is involved in a play that does not work out well for his team, it's always the fault of somebody or something else. Ball, bat, ump, teammate, weather. I'm not even kidding.

[264] But not to Flaherty, a fellow no-stick catcher. ;>)

Green is coming in?! You gotta be fucking kidding me. If he doesn't fuck up this game I will eat my Yankees hat.

[267] Law of averages would say he can't STILL stink, so..

Shit, he got an out. Send it to Ripley's.

Luke..whodathunkit?

Every time they show that "unbelievable" Jeter shovel play I can't help thinking that Giambi was actually safe.

Luke Voit plays the game "the right way." ;>)

I think a real cycle should include the BB. If you're gonna make a silly accomplishment thing, might as well include all the top on-base plays.

Green is not long for this team..

JAYsus! Get him the fuck out.

Players have to execute, but how do you leave in Green after those last three batters? Bad Boonie, bad!

Well, I won't be eating wool today.

Aaron Boone is not good at managing.

Just caught up. Boone dumbfounds me sometimes. One more out...

Well damn. Green is either going to the IL or AAA . Boone has to be a complete idiot not to make that call at this point; there's something going on that can't be fixed in this bullpen even in so-called low leverage situations. I read RAB's analysis on Green and even though his peripherals say he's generally okay, he's obviously not. There has to be an intervention before this breaks this bench team's spirit.

Yes!

A win is a win! See youse all tomorrow!

Morning all. Best Team in Baseball, the shit Sox just got swept in a DH by the lowly Tigers, who were supposed to be bad at baseball this year. Too soon to panic, but it gets late early.

Yay Kraken is back and Chad Green can only torch Rail Riders games.

Phillies released James Pazos, who was a minor league out-of-options AAA lefty traded for um, Zach Littell (who was traded with Deitrich Enns for ugh, Jaime Garcia). Pazos was sort of a throw-in with Juan Nicasio when Seattle traded Juan Segura to Philly for J.P. Crawford and Carlos Santana and Rob Thomas (well, they might as well have for all the trading they were doing).

He was Chad Green-bad for Philly who decided to cut him loose instead of work him out in AAA, but why wouldn't the Yanks give him another try; especially since they have the need and was probably the best talent in the sequence of trades they made that involved him. Pick him up and let him work it out in the minors while potentially filling a definite need doesn't sound all that bad, does it?

[284] Not seeing any news on Frazier, is he in the lineup tonight?
Loving these West Coast games, but we need a new game thread/post!

Still Wade in LF. No news on Clint.

And yeah grab the lefty, work him out in extended ST. You can never have enough pitching.

From RAB:

Clint Frazier (ankle) went for an MRI today and the Yankees are waiting for the results. His ankle is still swollen and black and blue …

Blech.

Who isn't going down injured at this point?

Luke's eyes!

Well, that avoids the inevitable Sanchez GiDP ...

Gary is back! Hope the rust wears off quickly..

[291] Yo cult! I'm all in on Cobra Kai, ready to binge Season 2 next week during the Japanese spring holidays.

Maybe Cashman sent Green down just to make extra sure that Boone couldn't use him in a game again.

[294] Pretty certain that was the case. Boone was hedging on keeping him regardless, which was flatly astonishing and embarrassing to read.

That's not good.

[295] Ha. I was actually kind of joking, but the way you put it, it really makes sense.

How will the Yankees waste this opportunity ...

Luuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuke!

That was shiite ... but it will do!

Following on my phone, fielder's choice? tie game regardless!