About Last Night: Yanks Lose 3rd in a Row
- Paul Semendinger
- May 6
- 5 min read
by Paul Semendinger
May 6, 2025
***
Last night, on a rainy, wet, and, "yucky," night, the Yankees lost 4-3 to the Padres.
Quick Stats:
Carlos Rodon: 6.2 ip, 3 hits, 1 BB, 0 Runs, 5 strikeouts!
Aaron Judge walked to reach base for the 31st consecutive game!
Trent Grisham hit his 9th home run!
Devin Williams' ERA, for the season, is 10.03
The Yankees managed only 6 hits. The bottom four batters in the lineup combined for only one hit.
The Game Story:
I'll apologize in advance for a somewhat truncated game summary. I got to the game coverage late, missed the first inning, saw the second and third innings, listened to the fourth inning on the radio to prepare the SSTN Podcast, missed the 5th and 6th to do the podcast, and saw enough of the end of the game to watch the disaster. I was tired and then did not stay up to watch the game's conclusion.
1st Inning: Carlos Rodon retired the Padres in order, gaining two strikeouts. The Yankees threatened, Judge walked, Ben Rice doubled Judge to third, but when the throw from the outfield seemed to get away from the infielder, Judge tried, unsuccessfully, to score. It was a bad read. That was the closest the Yankees would get to scoring in that inning.
2nd Inning: Rodon retired the Padres in order. He got another strikeout. Austin Wells singled, but that was the Yanks' only offense.
3rd Inning: Rodon gave up a lead-off single, but no other damage, He struck out two more. The Yankees scored two runs on a Jorbit Vivas walk that was followed by yet another Trent Grisham homer - his 9th of the year!?! Yankees 2-0
4th Inning: The Padres got a would-be pop out that fell for a single, but Rodon retired every other better. Before the Yankees' half, the game was delayed for rain - a downpour. Once the Yankees got up...they failed to score.
5th Inning: Carlos Rodon continued to be masterful. He retired the side in order. The Yankees also didn't score.
6th Inning: Carlos Rodon again retired the Padres in order. The Yankees pushed across a run playing small ball. Paul Goldschmidt singled, stole second, went to third on a bad throw, and scored on an Anthony Volpe sacrifice fly. Yankees 3-0
7th Innings: Carlos Rodon allowed a hit and a walk, but did record two outs. With runners on the corners, the Yankees turned to Fernando Cruz. On what could have been a wild pitch, the Padres runner from third tried to score and was tagged out by Austin Wells. The Yankees then failed to score.
8th inning: DISASTER - With one out, a strikeout, Devin Williams walked a batter, he then gave up a single, he then got another strikeout, before walking the bases loaded. At that point, Aaron Boone saw enough, he went to Luke Weaver, who allowed a two-run double and then a two-run single to put the Yankees behind. The Yankees didn't respond.
Padres 4-3.
9th Inning: Tim Hill retired the Padres in order. The Yankees also went down in order. Game Over. Yanks lose.
Player of the Game:
Carlos Rodon - He pitched a gem. He has now turned in four excellent starts in a row.
My Takes:
The Yankees are now 19-16 on the season. They are on pace to win 88 games for the season. If you've seen this before it is because almost every season under Aaron Boone goes like this, or so it seems. The Yankees can look great, they can compile impressive statistics, but they also are very inconsistent. The Yankees should consider using Sisyphus as their symbol as they are forever trying to roll that giant rock up a hill, only to get to a point where they fall back. This has been the Yankees since 2018.
Listening to the coverage of last night's game, I heard that the Padres have had a ton of injuries. Still, they keep winning. I also heard that the Dodgers have had a ton of injuries. They also keep winning. For the Yankees, though, when they talk about injuries so many say, "Well, you can't expect them to win... they have too many injuries." What the Yankees actually lack is depth.
The Yankees are 2-5 over their last 7 games. They have dropped three in a row.
Last night was Carlos Rodon's fourth very good outing in a row. This is a great sign and a necessary sign for the Yankees. The need Carlos Rodon to be great - and he has been.
Carlos Rodon's last four starts combined: 25.2 innings, 11 hits, 3 earned runs (1.27 ERA).
A lot is being made of Jasson Dominguez not starting, and I get it, but Trent Grisham has been so good, so so so so so good, that it is impossible to put him on the bench. Cody Bellinger, despite his slow start, also needs to play.
The new(er) schedule with every team playing every team often in just one series forces games to be played in weather like last night in a monsoon. The new schedule was a bad idea and games like last night prove it. This is the only time the Yankees play the Padres so they need to do whatever they can to get the games in. Major League Baseball needs to rethink this.
The Yankees score a ton of runs, so they have some impressive statistics, BUT, those numbers are very misleading. Over their last 27 games, the Yankees have scored 67 runs. That's just 2.48 runs a game. The Yankees had some huge run scoring totals to open the season. Since then, they have not scored very much. At all.
The Yankees began the season 6-2. Since then, they have gone 13-14. In Games Max Fried doesn't start, the Yankees are 12-16. None of these numbers are good. Yet, when they are pointed out, when I simply report facts, some accuse me of being negative. "How dare you point out that this team is struggling!"
Great teams have depth. Great teams invest in having depth. We have seen very little of any of this during the last many years. Again, that is just a fact.
The single worst stat in baseball just might be the "Hold." Devin Williams put the Yankees in the position to lose last night. Yes, Luke Weaver gave up the big hits, and he must do better, but for the game, Devin Williams was credited with a "Hold." That makes very little sense. Sure, Williams left the game with no runners scoring, but he also left the Yankees on the brink of collapse. That's like turning over the Titanic after it hit the iceberg and blaming the new captain for the fact that it sunk. "Hey, when I was relieved of duties, the ship was still floating."
It is clear that Devin Williams has lost all his confidence, maybe his ability. What one has to wonder is if the Brewers knew this. Was Brian Cashman taken for a ride on that deal?
The Yankees have the 5th best winning percentage in the American League right now. There are 6 teams in the National League with better winning percentages than the Yankees. Thus far, the Yankees are good, not great. They are not terrible. But, they also are not a great team. They're good enough. This is the design and it has been for years. We see this in the way the team is designed year-after-year. BUT, the Yankees are as good as they are this year because their ace left-handed starter, Max Fried, is 6-0, 1.01 and their right fielder, Aaron Judge, is batting .414 with 11 homers and 33 Runs batted in. Judge and Fried are carrying the Yankees. If they fall off, even a little, the Yankees could be in huge trouble.
Next Up:
The Yankees play again tonight (weather permitting). Clarke Schmidt will start against Mike King. Game time is 7:05 p.m.
it is true that 1. the offense is NOT producing enough runs on a consistent basis. I do not care what the pitchers do. ANY time you lose a game 0-1, 1-2, 2-3, or 3-4, that is the fault of the offense PERIOD.
go back and see how many of those games have been lost
yes it is true that the pen has blown up in as many as 5 of those, but the offense allowed that to happen by not scoring more.
if you lose 4-5, I am gonna call that a wash. neither the hitters or pitcher did enough but also were not terrible. 5-6 might be the same but maybe I lean toward the pitchers needing …
look at Leiters expected stats. he has had plenty of bad luck and is often killed by weak contact. but he does give up too many BBs and he is definitely also TOO HIGH on the trust ladder!!! he is better than Williams but it is again idiotically stupid to keep putting him in the spots where Hill and Cruz should be
clearly the Yankees want to keep Hill around, but they really do not want to trust him and it continues to cost them games!!!!!!
can he handle NY or can he not? maybe it is that again. I dont know if we know yet. but they made the move to remove him as the closer.
do they honestly think putting him into basically the number two spot in the pen is truly turning down the pressure and giving him a minute to get his feet on the ground?
that is just grotesquely idiotically stupid!! and I DO believe that is Boone making the decision. if it is the analytics folks (who I DO believe are overvalued, but not sure they are the ones to blame for all they get blamed for), HOW do analytics NOT show that Cruz is the 2nd best reliever a…
We've seen this before. Some players simply cannot handle the pressure of playing for the Yankees. Gray was a good example.
I think they prefer the trade market as opposed to Free agent market because they have more control of the cost, thus switch equivalent salaries of 7-8 million and give away a promising moinor leaguer. I didnt see this trade coming. I figured they would sign Scott, Yates or one of the other top reievers on the market. I was sorry they gave up Durbin. With their infield issues, he could be a bigh help given time. Time will tell. As for Williams he is basically a rental. I dont see them re signing him unless he has a remarkable rebound. They sure could have used Cortes in the rotation now, instead of Carrasco.