The calendar has turned to June, so you know what that means. It’s entirely possible that we’ll spend the next four weeks looking back on the glory days of April and (most of) May, wondering how this team ever scored any runs, ever got any outs, ever won any games.

The June Swoon has become as much a part of Yankee tradition as complaining about Aaron Boone, so it couldn’t have been much of a surprise that the month started off with hints at what would be the worst possible news — a long-term injury to Aaron Judge. Apparently he’s been suffering from shoulder discomfort for the past week or so, corresponding with a time during which he was hitting more like Judge Reinhold than Aaron Judge, and tests have revealed a bone bruise, which reminded me that we haven’t seen Max Fried for a while, which then made think, “Wow, Cam Schlittler has been so great that I actually forgot about Max Fried!”

But Schlittler has the same calendar the rest of us do, so maybe we shouldn’t have been surprised when he was shelled by the Guardians on Tuesday night. Can’t we have nice things? At least for a while?

But the news isn’t all bad. In fact, there’s reason for hope. Paul “Run It Back” Goldschmidt has been raking against lefties, and he had another nice night in the 9-4 loss. Ben Rice has been so good that I don’t think anyone’s expeting a regression anymore. Also, there’s word that the Yankees are preparing to unleash Weapon X on the American League, as they’ve moved flamethrower Carlos Lagrange into the bullpen down in Scranton with designs on bringing him to the Bronx in the near future. (Don’t worry, this isn’t another Joba Rules fiasco; they still see him as a future mainstay in the rotation, but the possibility of seeing 103mph fastballs coming out of the bullpen is too much to resist right now.)

Oh, and what about the Tarik Skubal rumors? While it’s nice to dream about a playoff rotation of Cole, Skubal, Schlittler, and Fried, with Rodón, Weathers, Warren, and Schmidt in the bullpen, a Skubal trade would be foolish, since any conversation with Detroit would begin with Schlittler, Rice, and probably Lombard, Jr. or Lagrange. I still don’t mind that they packaged prospects for a year of Juan Soto, but sending a bigger haul for half a season of Skubal, even if it netted a World Series win, seems a bit steep.

Finally, before June gets too gloomy, let’s remember that these Yankees are still just a game out of first place. Let’s go, Yankees!

[Photo Courtesy of the Author]