It’s been a bit since we’ve released a baseball piece here at the site. Life and work have gotten in the way, but it feels good to be getting this one out. To make sure we cover all the bases (pun intended) as we head into the holiday week, I am going to combine The Subway Beat and Around the Horn as I have thoughts on the state of the Yankees and the Mets, as well as stories from around the baseball. Let’s dig in!
The Subway Beat
Yankees
For most of the season I have had the pleasure of talking about a lot of Yankee wins, until recently that is. At the time of writing this piece, the bombers are 4-10 in their last 14 games and have been mired in a true rut of late. The best news for the Yanks is that Sunday’s win in Toronto, one that earned them a split with the Jays north of the border, featured a big day from the tandem of Soto and Judge and the ace of the staff looking like himself as Gerrit Cole threw five innings of one run ball. This much better outing comes in the aftermath of him struggling mightily in the Subway Series as the Mets hammered him Tuesday night.
Other than playing like utter garbage in Queens, the Yankees made headlines as it seems the losing has seemingly gotten to this group a bit. I’ve never been one to praise their leadership, particularly from the skipper, and to me the players need to take it upon themselves. We saw two different examples of the fiery personalities on the team making themselves known in a big way. The first was Carlos Rodon who decided to take it upon himself to…throw the ball at his own teammate in a fit of rage. Rodon is known for his “edge”, but this isn’t what we’re looking for at all. On the flip side there is Marcus Stroman, who in my opinion is more on the mark.
Stroman has thrown the ball well all year and while I don’t think this play was necessarily a total mistake from Torres, I can respect how fired up he is over not turning two here. Now I don’t believe this event is some smoking gun that we can point to as saving the season, but someone on this roster needs to hold players accountable. Boone hardly ever does, so if a player comes from a place of competition, then I don’t have a problem with one of them doing it. Torres has made a miserable year and in my mind he exemplifies some of the attitude that we have seen the team play with in the second half under Aaron Boone in the past, which has led to some real collapses. Boone to his credit sat Torres this week after he failed to hustle against the Mets and Torres responded well in Toronto with some good work at the plate. The Yankees don’t have nearly as good a culture as they claim, those who want to help fix it should be praised, not derided for it by the fans.
As I wrap up the Yankee portion of this, I would be remiss if I didn’t once again heap praise on the ever-brilliant Aaron Judge. Number 99 is on track to pass his career high home run total of 62 from back in 2022. I acknowledge how good Ohtani and Betts and many others are in this game…but there is no player I would rather than have than Aaron Judge, he is the best in the world, plain and simple. The Yanks are coming home to take on the Reds through the fourth of July, and then will host the Red Sox over the holiday weekend and look to avenge an ugly series loss from a few weeks back. They need to find some consistency here at home and get back on track to close the half while Brian Cashman needs to get busy bringing in help for this roster.
Mets
Meanwhile across town, the vibes are a lot better, even if this weekend set with the Astros was disappointing. The Mets have played their way back into the playoff race off the back of a terrific month of June and have put the fire sale on hold for now. One of the biggest reasons for that has been the terrific hitting of Mark Vientos, who really shined in the Subway Series.
Vientos is far from alone at the plate as JD Martinez has been great while Pete Alonso, Francisco Lindor and a healthy Francisco Alvarez are heating up to make the Met lineup really deep. They don’t have many holes right now, making them the opposite of the crosstown rivals they embarrassed this week. The Mets really humbled the Yankees over the course of two days that saw them put up 21 runs against Gerrit Cole and Luis Gil. The bats really need to keep it going with the hit and miss nature of Mets pitching right now. Their best success story in the rotation so far has been Luis Severino, who is coming off of a fabulous outing in Chicago against the Cubs.
Aside from Severino, the rest of the staff needs some help, especially as they keep Christian Scott and Jose Butto in the minors to manage their innings count. Tylor Megill continues to struggle in the rotation and was sent back down for it, while bullpen has lost some depth due to injury to Drew Smith and the suspension of Edwin Diaz. While it feels like bringing some help in would make sense, I get the feeling David Stearns will wait until we are closer to the deadline to determine if he should be buying at all or sell like he originally intended.
No matter how this goes, the Mets at the minimum deserve credit for turning this season around and giving the fans something to cheer about. I hope to see them stay in the hunt the rest of the way as New York city is better with them in it. Their June was brilliant…OMG brilliant.
Around the Horn
First Base
Welcome to the Show: The Nationals have been surprisingly competitive so far this season and will likely take another step in that direction as they called up one of their top prospects, outfielder James Wood. The 6-foot 7 lefty is hitting .346 with 10 homers and 34 RBI’s at Triple A this year, so it certainly seems like the right time for the call up. Wood is yet another piece of the massive return the Nats got for Juan Soto two years ago from the Padres and if he continues to develop well, the Nationals will have fully won this trade with acquisition CJ Abrams already leading the way at short.
Second Base
Lunar Re-entry to the Playoff Race: Houston we no longer have a problem. The Astros, seemingly back from the dead, have re-entered the playoff picture in AL as they are over .500 at 42-41 and have their lineup firing on all cylinders. They made it up and over the .500 mark thanks to two huge late inning wins in New York over the Mets. Houston still has lots of work to do but they are going to be a factor the rest of the way, and frankly we shouldn’t be surprised.
Third Base
Get Up, Get Outta Here, and Gone: The words of the great Bob Uecker have been ringing out on Milwaukee radio of late, as the Brewers have now hit five Grand Slams in their last eight games. I said a few weeks back that they don’t play like “Harvey’s Wallbanger’s”…I stand corrected.
Home Plate
Bo Knows: Our home plate this week comes from KC as the Royals honored one of my favorite athletes of all time, a man who is celebrated wherever he goes, the great Bo Jackson by inducting him into their hall of fame. No athlete captured the imagination of sports fan the way Jackson did in both baseball and football, as he played both sports at a really high level in the two best leagues in the world. He likely would be in Cooperstown and or Canton right now if he didn’t get hurt but it’s fitting the Royals recognized him this past weekend so he can continue to have his rightful place in baseball lore. With the All-Star game around the corner, now feels like a good time to callback to this classic Bo moment.
The Walkoff
The Double Kid: Jarren Duran may not be upper middle class during the week and dropping his R’s with his Daddy the Donkey on the weekends (yes that’s a Departed reference), but he does lead the majors in two baggers. Duran has been wicked this year for the Sox, who surprisingly in the AL Wild Card race at 44-39. He punctuated his awesome first half with a walk off in front of the newly crowned World Champion Celtics and trip to the mid-summer classic in Arlington. It’s a wonderful story considering Duran had once lost the centerfield job and embarrassed himself in the field on more than one occasion. Not sure it’s enough to impress Staff Sargeant Sean Dignam.
I will have more thoughts on the New York teams and the MLB as a whole next weekend, as I will be away over the Fourth of July and unable to write. Enjoy the weather (hopefully at the beach like me), a barbecue, a couple cold ones and the nations pastime. There is a great slate of MLB action over the holiday so head to the ballpark and celebrate our nation on its birthday with the team you love like I will be Friday night in the Bronx as the Red Sox come to town. You can find me on Twitter @YNWA9623 and subscribe to the site by hitting the follow button in the bottom right corner and entering your email address. Check out our Instagram feed @thebroadwaybreakdownsports for special gameday and promotional content. We have also launched a podcast which carries the same name as the Instagram account. Visit the Rangers Ed Shop by clicking the link on our homepage. The store just went live and Little Ed has been in the lab cooking up some can’t miss items for you fans. Check out our mailbag page to join the conversation here on the site and on our partners show, The Rangers Ed Podcast! We’ll be back with more soon!
The Broadway Breakdown 
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