About Last Night: Yanks 6, Angels 3

by Paul Semendinger

September 3, 2026

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The first thing about last night's game was that I sincerely dislike late west coast games. It's a bear for the writers to stay up late to watch and then craft a game story. And, as for me, I never stay up that late.

And I didn't stay up for the whole game last night. I am with my grandkids right now doing things much more important than watching the Yankees.

If readers would like a summary of The Little Engine That Could or from some of my research at Gettysburg for West Point at Gettysburg - Vol. 2 (which I do find time to work on in between playing with toys - nap time works well for this, as do early mornings and night time), I can easily accommodate. As for the play-by-play of a Yankees game played well into the night... not so much.

What follows are quick highlights from ESPN Gamecast along with other information that may be of interest.

THE GAME:

• The Yankees have been struggling, for the most part, in scoring runs, although they've been much better of late in that regard.

• George Lombard, Jr. was out of the lineup again. This has to be somewhat concerning. How badly injured is he?

• That being said, the Yankees, as we all know, have made some atrocious decisions with injured players including with the last shortstop prodigy, Anthony Volpe. Last year they played him day-in-and-day-out even with a shoulder injury. Prudence is the better part of valor. I am happy to see prudence taking the day in this situation.

  
  

• I have said this for months now - while I have been down on the Yankees, and I have very little confidence in their ability to play good strong fundamental baseball in big games, and I have little confidence in Aaron Boone as a tactician, because of the depth of pitching on the 2026 Yankees, this team could go all the way. Boy wouldn't that be nice!

• Once again the Yankees couldn't score last night - until they did. Through nine innings, the Yankees scored but one run. Then in the 10th, they scored five times.

• The Yankees scored those five runs off five singles and a walk. That was impressive!

• Cam Schlittler went 8 innings allowing just one run on two hits. He struck out nine. In a different world, one in which the Yankees scored runs when he pitched, his record would look a whole lot better than 12-6.

• Schlittler leads the league in WAR, ERA, Games Started, Innings Pitched, and ERA+. He is second in WHIP and third in strikeouts. That, to me, spells "Cy Young" (at this point).

• With the Yankees leading 6-1 in the bottom of the 10th innings, Aaron Boone argued a check swing call and was thrown out. Why? What's the purpose of acting foolish there? It's the 10th inning and your team is up big. Why, Mr. Boone? Why?

• Max Fried takes the hill tonight in San Diego in yet another 9:40 start. I wouldn't mind if the Yankees never played regular season games in California or Seattle.

• The Yankees are now 80-60, twenty games over .500.

OTHER STUFF:

• My two-year-old grandchildren helped me in typing this - setting up the pages and such before their bedtime. They are good at typing. They have also typed some of the words in West Point at Gettysburg, Vol. 2. It is a slow, but fun process to include them. "Type a g" (as I guide a finger to the G). "Type an r" (as I guide the finger again). They also seem to like it when I say, "comma" for whatever reason.

• Cam Schlittler is a top pitcher in baseball. The Yankees actually followed a smart plan with Schlittler in acclimating him to the Major Leagues. He never pitched more than 5.1 innings in any of his first six MLB starts. Further, he didn't pitch seven innings until his 14th start (in last season's penultimate game). In other words, the Yankees brought him along slowly. They didn't rush him. They didn't force the issue. The Yankees should follow this slow roll out with their young position players too.

• So many talk about the lack of run support Ryan Weathers received this year, but, Schlittler also doesn't get much support - even dating back to last year. How about these games:

  • July 22: 5 innings, 2 runs - No Decision

  • August 2: 5 innings, 2 runs - Loss

  • August 8: 5 innings, 2 runs - No Decision

  • August 13: 5 innings, 1 run - No Decision

  • August 20: 6.2 innings, 0 runs - No Decision

  • August 30: 6 innings, 1 run - No Decision

  • September 21: 5.1 innings, 1 run - No Decision

• Here is a fun story from my other (non-Yankees) site about a toy car: https://drpaulsem.com/2026/08/17/a-story-of-a-toy-car/

  
  

• And here's a story about East Cavalry Field: https://drpaulsem.com/2026/08/31/my-kingdom-for-a-horse/