About Yesterday Afternoon: Finishing Strong. Yankees 5, Nationals 3
- Tim Kabel
- Jul 13
- 4 min read
About Yesterday Afternoon: Finishing Strong. Yankees 5- Nationals 3
By Tim Kabel
July 13, 2026
***
The Yankees beat the Nationals again yesterday, to sweep the three-game series and go into the All Star break off a four-game winning streak. In all three games against the Nationals, the Yankees were trailing after seven innings. To steal a line from The Wizard of Oz, Nationals fans must be singing, “If I only had a bullpen.”
Will Warren bounced back from a few rough outings and pitched five innings, allowing four hits and one run. He had two strikeouts and two walks. Tim Hill, who will probably benefit from the All-Star break more than any other Yankees pitcher, gave up a run in 1/3 of an inning. The Nationals scored their last run in the 7th inning as a result of a Jazz Chisholm error. Angel Chivilli pitched 1 inning and allowed only that unearned run. Ryan Yarbrough, who came in to close out the 7th inning earned the win. Paul Blackburn, who started the game on Thursday against the Rays to begin the winning streak, closed the game out yesterday to earn the save. That's baseball, Suzyn.
In the 8th inning with the Yankees trailing 3 to 2, Ben Rice hit a two-run triple off Andrew Alvarez to give the Yankees the lead. They added a run in the ninth inning on a Jose Caballero sacrifice fly.
The three victories against the Nationals were not lopsided affairs. The Yankees did not dominate the games. They had to come back late in all the games to win. However, they won the games, which is all that matters. As I have written many times, the Yankees need to make hay while the sun shines. The Nationals have a dreadful bullpen. The Yankees took advantage of that. That is what they must do if they are going to make the postseason and advance.
It is great that the Yankees won four games in a row to finish out the nominal first half of the season. However, looking at the bigger picture, the Yankees were 12-14 in June and are 6-5 in July. That is a record of 18-19 since June 1st. That is mediocre and the very definition of a Boone-Swoon. Clearly, that is not winning baseball. It is not the type of performance that will allow a team to advance in the postseason. Winning four in a row was nice but there has to be more than that.
When the Yankees resume play after the All-Star break on Friday, July 17th, they will have a three-game series against the Dodgers at Yankee Stadium. They will then play the Pirates, Phillies, White Sox, and Cubs to close out July. They will be playing tough teams. None of those teams have losing records or bullpens that would be mediocre in the minor leagues. Matt Krook, who was brought in to close the game on Friday but failed and then again on Saturday, was designated for assignment by the Nationals on Sunday. So, he went from being the nominal closer on Friday to being booted off the team on Sunday.
The point is that when the Yankees come back from the All-Star break, they will have no breaks. They will be playing tough competition. The first time they play a team with a record below .500 will be on August 11th when they play the Mariners. Mind you, the Mariners are only one game below .500 right now. They may be playing much better in a month. The Yankees can only play the teams that are on the schedule. They had some trouble recently beating weak teams. Beginning on Friday, they won't be playing any weak teams. This will be the true test for the 2026 Yankees. They have been mediocre since the end of May.
Beginning on July 17th, they will have to be excellent against much stiffer competition if they hope to win the division or advance very far in the playoffs.
A Few Tidbits:
· This is the first time the Yankees have won four games in a row since June 13th to the 17th.
· The Yankees tied the White Sox with their eighth win when trailing in the 8th inning or later for the most such victories in the American League.
· The Yankees are 6-34 when trailing after 7 innings. Half of those wins came in this series against the Nationals.
· James Wood led off the game for the Nationals with a home run. It was his 28th home run of the year and his 10th leadoff home run, breaking the Nationals record he shared with Alfonso Soriano who hit 9 in 2006.
· The Yankees swept a series for the seventh time this season.
· Ben Rice has an 8-game hitting streak and has reached base 12 games in a row.
· Tim Hill has allowed four home runs so far this month. He may not be over the hill, but he is clearly overused.
· The Yankees selected two-way player Luke Pettitte, the son of five-time World Series champion Andy Pettitte in the eighth round of the 2026 draft yesterday., Luke who like his father is a pitcher, was unable to pitch during his junior season after having Tommy John surgery. He became a full time DH and hit .337 with 16 home runs and 48 RBI.
· On July 12th, 1951, Allie Reynolds threw the first of his two no-hitters that season. He defeated Bob Feller and the Cleveland Indians 1-0.
***
After The All-Star break, the Yankees will open a three-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday, July 17th, at 7:05 PM at Yankee Stadium.
As bad as it is for us enduring the annual Boone Swoon, reflect for a moment on the misery of Nationals fans. Since they won the World Series in 2019, they have finished as high at 4th once and the best they've done is land 23.5 GB at the end of the season (grossing up 2020 to 162 games). Washington: first in war, first in peace, last in the NL East.
Then, their fans get to watch them lead after 7 innings in all three games against a team that (as Tim points out above) have a .081 winning percentage this year when trailing after 7. The Gnats manage to lose all three, giving up a total of 10 run…
the Yankees were 12-14 in June and are 6-5 in July.
so, so true
this mediocrity is clearly Aaron's fault, although the additional absences of Fried and Rodon contributed.
Goldschmidt made an excellent effort to offset the absence of Stanton,
but the team was pretty short of outfielders and neither Jones nor Dominguez made up for the shortage.
this lousy, rotten, notsogood Yankee organization has pretty much entirely failed to develop an MVP position player in the last dozen years
with only a single exception
and even though that guy was named MVP three times as well as named runner-up once,
what has he done for the team lately, I ask youse?
if my memory is correct, HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAUL!
I'll takethe wins when we can get them, especially with a 4 day break coming. Now, coming out of the break, I want Cole pitching Friday night, Weathers on Saturday, and Schlittler on Sunday.
Hopefully, Max Fried at some point next weekend will pitchbin rehab game 1.
Great to sweep. I'll take it. But looks can be deceiving. They went 3-20 with RISP. They teed off on one of the worst bullpens in MLB. That has to change.
Angel Chivilli looks pretty good, and he better be, they gave up TJ Rumfeld for him. TJ had a great first half in Colorado while striking out only 16% of his ABs.