The Yankees have hit a huge scuffle

NEW YORK – After dropping the series opener to the Padres on Monday night, the Yankees are officially on a 3-game losing streak and are 2-5 since the double header against Toronto.

Entering play on Tuesday, the Yankees are sitting atop the AL East, by 1.5 games, and hold a 19-16 record. Now, while the record is good, there are big issues with this team rearing their ugly head.

Entering the top of the eighth inning on Monday night, the Yankees lead the Padres 3-0, handing the ball to former closer, Devin Williams. Williams did record two outs, but sandwiched between those two strikeouts was a walk and a single and after the strikeout and ejection of Tatis, he walked Luis Arraiz to load the bases with two outs. Luke Weaver got touched up, giving up the lead on back-to-back hits.

After the outing Weaver spoke to the media and said:

"Yeah, I had a chance to jump back and look at it and just not executed well enough. The circumstance really needed some true quality pitches and felt like it just didn't really get it to where it needed to go. Yeah, I think it's just it's a lack of execution. "

Then, Weaver was asked about the conditions out tonight, and he responded:

"Yeah, I mean, not ideal, but everybody's playing through them and obviously it comes and goes. There's obviously some conditions there, but it's no excuse. You try to go out with the same mindset like nothing's happening. Tonight was not one of those nights. It just felt a little clouded, just didn't quite have that focus that I needed to really drive it in there."

Devin Williams also met the media after his performance and said:

“The biggest thing is command and being ahead and not putting guys on. Stuff is there. Stuff’s fine. I do believe he’ll get on a roll and be lights out and be dominant. But the command part of it where walks are getting him behind in certain situations that hurt him.”

With all that being said, the scuffle is not just on the bullpen. It's also on the defense this past week and on the offense.

After the loss last night, some stats about the Yankees were swirling around Social Media, so I compiled some of those stats in 1 tweet:

One of the things I have observed and have been writing for weeks, is the Yankees lack of ability to come back in games. This is not a new thing for the Yankees. They are not clutch in the slightest. It feels like they can't even get baserunners in late situations and constantly go down 1-2-3 in the ninth inning. I get that teams throw their best pitchers in the ninth, but there is NEVER a glimmer of hope for the Yankees to come back in games.

You know when the Yankees last hit a walkoff homer? It was the night Aaron Judge hit is 60th home run - in 2022. We are in 2025. This is not a new thing, I think it's more of a mental thing, because it is not exclusively a 2025 thing, it has been this way for years now. It is almost like the team sees that they are down and has a "better luck next time", or "will get 'em tomorrow" attitude, and that is a reflection on how the clubhouse is managed.

The Yankees also don't play small ball well at all. There are situations close and late in games where the Yankees should be bunting or stealing in spots, and they don't play situational baseball. When you have almost 3 automatic outs (Peraza, Vivas and Volpe) in the lineup on a daily basis, they need to be putting the ball in play on a more consistent basis to capitalise on as many scoring opportunities as possible. Volpe did this today in the sixth inning with a runner on third and one out, he hit a deep fly ball (that if it was warmer, could have been a double or more), that was able to score Goldschmidt from third. You know how Goldi got to third? A single, stolen base and an E2. Running and getting on base creates trouble.

The Yankees have not been playing fundamentally sound baseball lately either. I mentioned that the Yankees are 2-5 in their last seven games, two of those losses were the result of an error allowing the tying and/or go-ahead runs to score. Teams that are fundamentally put together don't perform like that in crucial spots in the game. That is also a mental thing that is coached and is a mindset exercised by the coaching staff and the manager.

At the end of the day, it's still on the early side of the season, but losses pile up and so do the struggles from the team. The Yankees will try tonight to even up the series against the Padres sending out Clarke Schmidt to make the start against former teammate, Michael King (weather pending).