About Last Night: Cleveland 4, NYY 0

by Paul Semendinger

June 5, 2025

***

Let's begin this game summary with an exercise.

Close your eyes. Notice the darkness. If it's too light outside or you are in a bright room and you cannot be in total darkness with your eyes closed, find someplace dark. Go into a closet, or under the covers, or into a dungeon. Old root cellars work well for this. Once you're in a darkened place, close your eyes.

Hummmm... if your eyes are closed, you can't read any of this now. I didn't think that far ahead.

Hopefully, at some point you decided to open your eyes and find light again. Hopefully you also came back to this article.

Please think back to when you were in the darkness. That's how I saw last night's Yankees' game. It was on some streaming service. I refuse to pay to watch a game on those services.

Since I didn't see the game last night, I'm writing this summary mostly from the text of the ESPN Gamecast.

I used to enjoy games on the radio a lot more. Today I find that the radiocasts are much too littered with ads. The ads get in the way of the game which is a shame:

"Here's the pitch."

"The first pitch is brought to you by Jim's Auto Service of White Plains, Ronkonhoma, Syosset, and Loch Sheldrake . If your car is making noise, come to us first."

"Ball One."

"The first ball comes to us from our friends at Have A Ball. Have a party to arrange? Come have a ball at Have A Ball. We have ball pit parties for kids and we also have formal balls, like Cinderella had, for grown ups. Be a kid or be a princess. We cater to both (and Prince Charming too!) at Have A Ball."

"The last two pitches, which we missed, were both balls. The count is 3-0."

"3 and oh, is so so so, much better than 2 and 25. Come to the new offices of Hungadunga, Hungadunga, Hundadunga, and McCormick, now at 30 South Broadway in the heart of Manhattan. If you liked our old offices, you'll love these. Waiting has never been more fun."

"There is a strike."

"The first strike is brought to you by Mary and May's Muffler Service with locations across the tri-state area. If you mention this radio ad, we'll give you a free coffee mug."

"The pitcher winds and..."

"Sorry, but that last pitch was the fourth pitch of the game and when you need to go forth remember that there is no better way to move than with walking and running gear from The Sport of Sports, New York's greatest shoe and apparel store."

"That last pitch was a ..."

"No time for that because this game has now been played for ten minutes. Ten minutes? Yes, ten minutes. Did you know that ten minutes can save lost dogs and kittens? Come to the Animal Shelter of Bayonne. Give us ten minutes and we guarantee you'll be walking out the door with an animal that you saved. Be a hero, give us two high fives, yes, a high ten. Located right on the corner of Lexington and Blexington. We're your home to turn your house into a true home."

"After one half inning, it's the Guardians 3, and the Yankees are coming to bat. Now we'll step out for a commercial break and this special word from Toyota."

***

About Last Night:

The Guardians shut out the Yankees 4-0.

Quick Stats:

• Clarke Schmidt - 5.2 innings, 7 hits, 3 runs, 8 strikeouts (LOSS)

• Trent Grisham went hitless (0-for-2). He did walk twice, but is now down to .244 for the season. He's remarkable no longer. Over the last 28 days, he is batting .193. (We knew this was coming.)

• Aaron Judge had two hits, athough he struck out in the ninth inning. He's at .389 for the season.

• Ben Rice had two more hits. He should not lose playing time to allow Giancarlo Stanton to start regularly.

• D.J. LeMahieu went 0-for-3. He has played in 17 games in 2025. He has gone hitless in 11 of those games. (In other words, in 65% of the games DJ LeMahieu has played, he has failed to get a hit.)

• Jazz Chisholm went 0-for 4. He's batting .188 on the season.

  
  

The Scoring:

Maybe it was a good thing the game wasn't televised.

Clarke Schmidt began the night by walking Steven Kwan. Next Angel Martinez hit a two-run homer. Later in the inning, Daniel Schneemann doubled to right scoring Jose Ramirez who had also doubled to right. After one-half inning, the Guardians were up 3-0.

The Yankees didn't score in the first inning.

The Yankees didn't score in the second inning.

The Yankees didn't score in the third inning.

The Yankees didn't score in the fourth inning.

The Yankees didn't score in the fifth inning.

The Yankees didn't score in the sixth inning.

The Yankees didn't score in the seventh inning.

In the top of the eighth inning, Kyle Manzardo homered for Cleveland.

The Yankees didn't score in the eighth inning.

The Yankees didn't score in the ninth inning.

Player of the Game:

Luis Ortiz (Cleveland) - Winning Pitcher (5.2 innings, 3 hits, 7 strikeouts, 0 runs)

My Thoughts:

It's exhausting and tedious "watching" a baseball game on the ESPN Gamecast. I greatly dislike that the Yankees (and all MLB teams) put the games on a variety of pay services. It's a slap in the face to fans that care. But, MLB and the teams don't care. "You know, in 1923, none of the games were on TV."

One day all the games will be streamed. And, one day baseball will lose all its popularity because only fans willing to pay extra will see the games. You can't create new fans that way. It's a short-term approach that will hurt the game tremendously in the long run. But, again, they don't care.

If you didn't see the game, you didn't miss anything.

Other Thoughts:

Clarke Schmidt pitched the Yankees into a hole they couldn't get out of, but after a bad first inning, he didn't allow another run. Maybe that's something to grow on.

D.J. LeMahieu is at .308 for the season. That's not his batting average. That's not even his on base percentage. That's his slugging percentage. Some will say, "Give him time, he'll come around." Maybe. But, just for the record, he slugged .259 last year.

If DJ LeMahieu had his 2021 season in 2020, he wouldn't be a Yankee today. In 2021, DJ batted .268/10/57. (He hasn't had a batting average even that high since.) But, the Yankees were mezmerized by DJ's 2020 season - a shortened season in which he played in only 50 games. The Yankees thought it was real. It wasn't. 2020 was his career "season." At 31-years-old, ikt is obvious that D.J. LeMahieu would never hit like that again. The Yankees didn't see reality and gave LeMahieu a 6-year contract after that season. He has accumulated 5.4 total WAR and has an overall OPS+ in that time of 95. Oh, and he still signed through next season as well. The Yankees paid $90 million for a sub-replacement level player. Many people got mad at me and argued with me at the time when I wrote that the contract was not one that would age well. It didn't. At all.

When the Yankees complain about how much things cost and how difficult it is to be a winner, part of the problem is that they spend their money poorly. Imagine what the Yankees could have done with that $90 million. Imagine the holes they could have filled.

I have said that the Yankees have surprised me with how well they have done this year. They're in first place and have played very well. The Yankees are one of the top two teams in the A.L. They might even be the best team. That is something.

The Yankees never addressed third base in the off season. If they had, they wouldn't be in a situation where they have to play a bunch of guys at second base, none of whom have an OPS+ higher than 84. Jazz Chisholm, who isn't hitting either, would at least be playing his natural position, second base, on defense and not playing a position that it takes years to learn.

Still, somehow, the Yankees are winning most games. If they can avoid the typical swoon that starts around this time of year, it could be a magical season. Time will tell.

Next Up:

The series concludes tonight. Max Fried takes the mound for the Yankees. Game time is 7:05 p.m.