The Yankees are in the midst of a dream season, one not many saw coming especially after last year’s tedious 527 hour, 39 minute slog to 92 wins and quick ouster in Fenway Park in the wild-card game.
Even dream seasons hits rough patches and it is the best way to describe recent events for the Yankees, who head into their final five games before Tuesday’s frenzy known as the trade deadline coming off two frustrating losses to the Mets in the Subway Series.
It was a series where Aaron Boone was outfoxed at times by Buck Showalter, notably the eighth inning Tuesday when he sent up Joey Gallo to bat for Isiah Kiner-Falefa. Showalter countered the move sending in closer Edwin Diaz for Adam Ottavino and five pitches later it ended in a strikeout that these days for Gallo is unfortunately all too predictable.
On Wednesday, as Brian Cashman was finalizing the acquisition of Andrew Benintendi from Kansas City, the Yankees took another frustrating loss where their offense consisted of a tying two-run homer by Gleyber Torres on a night when Aaron Judge struck out three times against Max Scherzer – all on sliders, a pitch he has seen 433 times and batted .305 against.
It was so frustrating even the reserved DJ LeMahieu showed some anger by flinging his bat after making one of the four outs the Yankees made on balls hit at least 100 mph.
"Actually, I thought we played a really good game," manager Aaron Boone said. "I thought we had the right at-bats against Scherzer. We hit into some tough luck in some big spots."
It also is the continuation of a frustrating series of events for the Yankees, who hardly are dominating this month. The team who enjoyed 16 wins in 17 games from May 31 through June 18 and 22 wins in 26 games from April 22 to May 21, is now slogging its way through the proverbial dog days of summer.
Since June 18, the Yankees are a .500 team at 17-17. It is not a sample of their entire season just a bunch of results for over a month and with a more recent results they are 5-10 in their last 15 games with six of those losses decided in the final at-bat against a bullpen whose is 29-18 with an 2.94 ERA and 3-7 with a 3.67 ERA this month.