Daily Report – 6/16/25
Here is today’s AGM Sports report:
Yankees
If you were to ask me before this series if I would substitute getting swept by the Red Sox for Boston trading Rafael Devers to San Francisco, then I would have said yes. If you were to tell me before this series that Aaron Judge would go 1-for-12 with nine strikeouts, but Rafael Devers would get traded to San Francisco afterward, then I would have been on board.
Thankfully, the Yankees pitched well this weekend, because their offense didn’t show up to the tea party. The Yankees scored one run on Friday, three on Saturday, and zero on Sunday.
On Friday night, against a dominant Garrett Crochet, Aaron Judge broke the southpaw’s scoreless outing with a ninth-inning solo shot to send the game to extra innings. The majestic blast that soared over the Green Monster, but Boston still beat the Yankees 2-1.
Judge has entered a slump, and his batting average has sunk to .378. His teammates didn’t offer much support while he repeatedly struck out on low and outside pitches. His worst out was an inning-ending double-play groundout in the eighth inning of yesterday’s game.
“You’ve got to swing at strikes,” said Judge, who whiffed on Brayan Bello’s sliders, sinkers, cutters, and four-seamers yesterday. “It usually helps any hitter when you swing at strikes.” The Yankees were aggressive at the plate all weekend, but they rarely cashed in. Their only long ball was that majestic Judgian blast on Friday night. “You take some hacks trying to make something happen instead of taking you’re walk if they’re gonna give it to you,” said Judge, who hasn’t worked a walk since last Wednesday.
This is a bad time for the Yankees’ offense to start slumping. “We’re in the middle of a tough stretch right now, obviously 16 [games] in a row,” said Aaron Boone. The Yankees are 8-11 against American League East opponents this season, with a 42-28 overall record that sits 3.5 games ahead of Tampa Bay for the division lead. But Boston is 8-2 in their last 10, and just half a game out of a playoff spot.
But then, the Red Sox traded away Rafael Devers, the notorious Yankees killer, whose 31 career home runs against the Bombers are the most in baseball since 2017. I don’t know what comes next in Beantown, but I can certainly conclude there is dysfunction on Jersey Street. Meanwhile, on East 161st Street, the Yankees still feel confident. The reigning ALCS MVP Giancarlo Stanton returns tonight against the Angels, which will help the Yankees’ offense.
Just when they need help the most.
“It sucks losing to the Red Sox,” said Yankees manager Aaron Boone, who famously hit a walk-off homer against Boston in 2003 to send the Yankees to the World Series. “We never like that, but it’s why teams don’t win 120 games. We’re really good. I think that’s going to continue to show itself. We had a tough weekend, and frankly, had a chance to potentially win all the games, even back at home against them. Credit to them, they were a little bit better than us this weekend.”
I credit the Yankees’ rotation for holding the fort this weekend. Every starter pitched well, and Carlos Rodón and Max Fried were so good that the Yankees only had to use one reliever behind each of them. That preserves the bullpen for this next stretch of games, including a four-game series against the Angels beginning tonight.
Fried only surrendered two runs through seven innings yesterday, but Boston’s Brayan Bello tossed seven innings of scoreless baseball, surrendering just three hits while striking out eight batters. In the third inning, the Yankees had runners at first and second base with two outs, and with a 2-1 count to Jazz Chisholm Jr., Ben Rice got caught indecisively stealing third base. This marked the third such instance in this series.
On Friday night, in extra innings, Anthony Volpe got caught stealing third base. On Saturday, Jasson Domínguez got caught sleeping between second and third base. Both instances deflated any chance for the Yankees to work a necessary rally. According to Aaron Boone, only Domínguez and Rice’s mistakes were “blunders.” However, all three were frighteningly reminiscent of the mistakes that cost the Yankees a World Series victory over the Dodgers last season. Remember the fifth inning?
But the Yankees, who have so far put that disastrous World Series behind themselves, must put this Boston series behind themselves as well.
Tonight, at 7:05, Giancarlo Stanton returns to the Yankees lineup as RHP Clarke Schmidt (3-3, 3.60 ERA) starts against RHP José Soriano (4-5, 3.86 ERA) (YES). The Yankees have designated Pablo Reyes for assignment in exchange for Stanton. The Yankees also announced that reliever Jake Cousins will undergo Tommy John Surgery on Wednesday.
Here is tonight’s starting lineup for the New York Yankees:
CF Trent Grisham (L)
1B Ben Rice (L)
RF Aaron Judge (C) (R)
LF Cody Bellinger (L)
DH Giancarlo Stanton (R)
3B Jazz Chisholm Jr. (L)
SS Anthony Volpe (R)
C Austin Wells (L)
2B DJ LeMahieu (R)
P: RHP Clarke Schmidt (3-3, 3.60 ERA)
Schedule
7:05 PM: NYY vs. LAA; YES; SP: RHP Clarke Schmidt (3-3, 3.60 ERA)
8:30 PM: 2025 NBA Finals, Game 5 – IND (2-2) at OKC (2-2); ABC
