{"id":109225,"date":"2025-08-25T16:20:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-25T16:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/109225\/"},"modified":"2025-08-25T16:20:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-25T16:20:08","slug":"for-the-yankees-a-dash-of-perspective-after-a-clean-finale-to-a-weekend-mess","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/109225\/","title":{"rendered":"For the Yankees, a dash of perspective after a clean finale to a weekend mess"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK \u2014 The last time the New York Yankees saw Walker Buehler in relief in the Bronx, they were doomed. He was there to punctuate their self-inflicted humiliation<\/a> in the final game of the World Series last fall, and the Yankees capitulated, 1-2-3, season over.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, Buehler\u2019s presence meant that things were going well, at last, for the Yankees. Demoted to the bullpen by the Boston Red Sox this weekend, Buehler came in with a deficit. Last October, his curveball clinched the title for the Los Angeles Dodgers. This time, a Buehler curveball wound up in the right-field seats as Jazz Chisholm Jr.\u2019s second home run.<\/p>\n

The Yankees never trailed in Carlos Rod\u00f3n\u2019s 7-2 victory, their only win in this four-game showcase series. Their leadoff hitters blitzed Boston starter Dustin May in every inning \u2014 walk, single, homer, double, homer \u2014 and the Yankees played crisply all around.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have played a lot of those games, believe it or not,\u201d Yankees manager Aaron Boone said, citing the defense at several spots. \u201cSo, yes, always good to play a clean brand of baseball, especially when you\u2019ve had a tough weekend and you\u2019ve lost three to your rivals, to come out and kind of do it in all facets \u2014 Carlos set the tone, defense, power, adding on, getting the guy over, sacrifice fly. It was good to see all that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Yankees (70-60) and Red Sox (71-60) are separated by a half-game with five weeks to go in the regular season. With the Toronto Blue Jays five games ahead in the American League East, the pennant race, such as it is, will mostly settle seeding for the wild-card round in all likelihood. Only one team outside the current AL playoff mix (the Kansas City Royals) even has a winning record.<\/p>\n

It is easy to lose perspective when so much bad baseball scrambles the signals. It is all part of the experience in New York.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe highs are so much higher, the lows are so much lower,\u201d said third baseman Ryan McMahon, who was traded to the Yankees last month from the worst team in the majors, the Colorado Rockies. \u201cBut honestly, man, these guys do a really good job of showing up ready to go every single day. Even like \u2014 we got punched in the mouth a little bit, right? We weren\u2019t playing great, but we showed up ready today.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt like we showed up ready all those other days, too. And it sucks (to lose), but it\u2019s the old cliche \u2014 it\u2019s baseball, stuff like that\u2019s gonna happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Trent Grisham admires his fifth-inning home run. He also homered to lead off the third. (Vincent Carchietta \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The Yankees\u2019 flawed fundamentals may cost them in the end, as they did in last year\u2019s World Series. But they are strong enough to win slugfests (Trent Grisham also homered twice on Sunday) and power over most mistakes. They lead the majors in homers and trail only the Dodgers in runs per game. They\u2019ll have a chance in October.<\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s victory snapped the Yankees\u2019 eight-game losing streak against the Red Sox. In both of their last two series, the Yankees were coming off a night game in a different city, while the Red Sox were off. That\u2019s no excuse \u2014 that\u2019s life in the big city, you could say \u2014 but you\u2019d rather be well-rested than exhausted. In any case, this was their first eight-game losing streak to the Red Sox since \u2026 2009, a year that turned out just fine.<\/p>\n

This week gives the Yankees a chance to pad their record, with seven games against the lowly Washington Nationals and Chicago White Sox. The Yankees then play four series against contenders \u2014 Houston, Toronto, Detroit, Boston \u2014 and finish with four against also-rans: Minnesota and Baltimore on the road, the White Sox and Orioles at home.<\/p>\n

Then it\u2019s on to October, and they\u2019ll take their chances. More games like Sunday\u2019s will be critical, especially in the field. McMahon made a smooth backhand to start a double play with Chisholm in the fifth, and with two on and two out in the ninth, first baseman Paul Goldschmidt scooped McMahon\u2019s one-hop throw from the hole to end it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe played a good, clean game tonight,\u201d McMahon said. \u201cI think if we do that on defense, we\u2019re never going to be out of the game. Because of those weapons up and down the lineup, we\u2019re always going to have a chance if we take care of the ball. That\u2019s my personal opinion, and I think we do have the guys to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Ryan McMahon reacts after making a play in the series opener. \u201cWe played a good, clean game tonight,\u201d he said of Sunday\u2019s 7-2 win. (Wendell Cruz \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

The Yankees have bailed on some of those guys along the way, eating the sunk costs on underperforming veterans like DJ LeMahieu and Marcus Stroman. Then again, they\u2019ve shown extraordinary faith in shortstop Anthony Volpe, the only qualified hitter in the majors with a sub-.700 OPS and a batting average below .210.<\/p>\n

From June 30 through July 30, Volpe played every game and drew one walk. He recently homered seven times in two weeks \u2014 nobody doubts his raw skills \u2014 but Volpe\u2019s overall struggles, at the plate and in the field, have cried out for a change.<\/p>\n

Boone gave in on Sunday, using Jose Caballero at shortstop<\/a> for just the second time since July 31, when the Yankees acquired him in a trade with the Tampa Bay Rays. Boone continued to portray Volpe, 24, as impervious to the booing of his hometown fans.<\/p>\n

\u201c(He\u2019s) mentally very tough and totally wired to handle all the things that go with being a big leaguer in this city,\u201d Boone said, \u201cand a young big leaguer that\u2019s got a lot of expectations on him.\u201d<\/p>\n

With a three-run lead in the eighth inning on Sunday, Boone shifted Caballero to right and inserted Volpe at shortstop. The first batter dutifully hit the ball his way \u2014 that\u2019s baseball, Suzyn \u2014 and Volpe made the play. It started a perfect inning for the mercurial Devin Williams, who has retired the side in order in five of his last seven games.<\/p>\n

\u201cReally good to see him just continuing to pitch really well around a lot of things that have gone on this year,\u201d Boone said. \u201cThat\u2019s a credit to him and the quality of pitcher he is and the fortitude to just keep going. Because certainly that\u2019s what he\u2019s capable of.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Yankees are capable of games like Sunday\u2019s. They are 40-41 in their last 81 games \u2014 half a schedule of mediocrity \u2014 so it\u2019s hard to trust that they\u2019ll turn hot enough to play that way consistently when it matters most. But it is possible. And it would be fairly shocking if they don\u2019t at least get the chance.<\/p>\n

(Top photo of Aaron Judge and Jazz Chisholm Jr.: Vincent Carchietta \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK \u2014 The last time the New York Yankees saw Walker Buehler in relief in the Bronx,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":109226,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[363,369,99],"class_list":["post-109225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-mlb","tag-new-york-yankees","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109225\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}