Keefe To The City Podcast

The Yankees overcame a blown three-run lead, losing Domingo German to a foreign substance ejection, losing Ian Hamilton to a groin injury, four Gleyber Torres brain farts, an Anthony Volpe error and the Blue Jays accusing Aaron Judge and the Yankees of cheating to win 6-3 on Tuesday in Toronto.

The Yankees beat the Blue Jays 7-4 on Monday in Toronto. The story isn’t that the Yankees won, have won six of eight or beat up Alek Manoah for the first time ever. The story is that Aaron Judge kept looking in the Yankees dugout during his plate appearances in a game in which he hit two home runs and reached base all five times.

Every single day Aaron Boone does something inexcusable as manager of the Yankees. Today it's dropping Anthony Volpe down to seventh in the order, while Isiah Kiner-Falefa will bat sixth.

The Yankees trailed 2-0 and were being shut out when the sixth inning began on Tuesday night, and it looked like yet another sad and embarrassing loss. But the top of the order came through, and the Yankees are now above .500.

The Yankees are in last place in the AL East this late in the season for the first time since 2016. That was the last season the Yankees missed the playoffs.

It was going to be nearly impossible for this version of the Yankees to beat Jacob deGrom and essentially impossible once Aaron Judge wasn’t in the lineup Judge had to undergo an MRI on his hip and the Yankees lost 5-2 in a game that was as boring as any meaningful game could ever be.

The Yankees roster was intentionally built to look like this,  and it's performing exactly as expected.

The Yankees’ roster is littered with oft-injured, underachieving, overpaid and washed-up players as well as a few players who don’t belong in the majors. Whose fault is that?

The Yankees lost to the Guardians 3-2 on Monday night, but the game was really over on Monday afternoon when Aaron Boone posted the lineup.

The Yankees are off to good start this season, having won their first two series and boast a nice 4-2 record after their season-opening homestand. But hanging over this season is Aaron Hicks, his roster spot, his contract, his playing time and his performance. In a season that is supposed to be about trying to end a 13-year championship drought, Hicks' presence has become a distraction.

The Yankees took an early lead against the Phillies on Monday night, kept tacking on runs as the game went on and eventually won a laugher, 8-1. Nestor Cortes was solid through five innings, Gleyber Torres and Anthony Rizzo homered and the bullpen provided four scoreless innings. More easy wins like this, please!

After a disappointing 7-5 loss to the mediocre-at-best Giants on Saturday, the Yankees looked more like the Opening Day Yankees on Sunday, winning 6-0. The power showed up with Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Kyle Higashioka hitting home runs an Johnny Brito was dominant with five shutout innings in his major-league debut. The game wasn't without lineup controversy as Aaron Hicks was on the bench against a right-handed starter, while Isiah Kiner-Falefa started in center field despite having zero career outfield appearances. Hicks wasn't happy and made it known to the media.

There's nothing like an Opening Day win, especially when it comes as easy as it did on Thursday. The Yankees beat the Giants 5-0 the exact way they plan to win every game: great starting pitching, a shutdown bullpen and home runs.

Yankees baseball is back and so is the annual Yankees over/unders podcast.Andrew Rotondi of Bronx Pinstripes joined me to go through our annual over/unders for the Yankees’ roster.

The Yankees were thought to have the "best rotation in baseball" for 2023. Now that rotation is down 40 percent of its members with Nestor Cortes working through a hamstring injury and Frankie Montas set to undergo shoulder surgery. Cortes is expected back for the start of the season, if all goes right, but Montas' best-case scenario is to be back sometime late in the season. The Yankees' pitching depth will be tested right away, and the depth isn't what it was before the trade for Montas.

There's still more than three weeks until the trade deadline, but the Rangers decided not to wait until the last minute, trading for the Blues' Vladimir Tarasenko, who will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season.The Rangers sent Sammy Blais, Hunter Skinner, a conditional first-round pick an a conditional fourth-round pick to the Blues in exchange for Tarasenko and Niko Mikkola with the Blues also retaining 50 percent of Tarasenko's cap hit.There isn't a single negative to the trade for the Rangers. It's an unbelievable job by Chris Drury.

The World Baseball Classic rosters were announced on Friday and three Yankees will be participating: Kyle Higashioka, Nestor Cortes and Jonathan Loaisiga. I’m not worried about Higashioka participating. I’m somewhat worried about Cortes participating. I’m extremely worried about Loaisiga participating given his injury history.

In what was the most exciting and entertaining game of the season, the Rangers beat the Flames 5-4 in overtime at the Garden. It may not have been the Rangers' best performance, but the game had everything coming off a 10-day layoff, and that included Jacob Trouba having to defend himself after two more clean open-ice hits.

A new baseball season is just about here, and the Yankees continue to try to change the perception of how last season ended and how this offseason has gone. Over the last few days, Brian Cashman once again talked about how close the Yankees were to the World Series, and Michael King went on to say only injuries prevent the Yankees from beating the Astros. It wasn’t a great weekend to be a Yankees fan.

The Yankees blew a two-run lead at home in Game 2 of the ALDS and now go to Cleveland having given away home-field advantage. Nestor Cortes wasn't himself, the offense performed its annual postseason disappearing act and Aaron Boone had one of his worst games as Yankees manager in the Yankees' 3-2 loss in 10 innings.