About Yesterday: Mets 12, Yankees 6

By Mike Whiteman July 6, 2025 Happy Birthday to Willie Randolph! One of my favorites, a steady, quiet, dignified cog in the Yankee machine of the 1970s and 1980s. I'd love to see him in a full-time role within the Yankee organization today. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/randowi01.shtml

https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/Willie-Randolph/

Quick Stats: The Yankees are 48-41, and are in second place in the American League East, tied with Tampa Bay, three games behind Toronto. They have lost six games in a row. Aaron Judge Watch: Judge was hitless with a walk. He is slashing .362/.472/.733 on the season. Big Story: The Yankees came into yesterday's game struggling with a five game losing streak that dropped them out of the lead in the AL East. What they really needed was a well pitched game with some length from a starter. It just so happened that the rotation had turned to Carlos Rodon, whose 9-5, 2.95 ERA on the season has been worthy of All-Star consideration. Just what the Yankees needed to start working out of their funk, right? Sadly, it was more of the same as the Mets got off to an early 4-0 lead in the first inning when Rodon allowed a double, two walks, and a Brandon Nimmo grand slam. The Yankees responded with a run in the second when Jazz Chisholm Jr. homered, but then he basically gave it back when he committed a two-base throwing error on a grounder by Tyrone Taylor, who scored when Starling Marte singled. It was 5-1, Mets after two. In the third inning, Austin Wells ripped a solo home run, and Rodon set the Mets down in order. Score: 5-2, Mets. The Yankees could make no headway over the next two innings against old friend Frankie Montas, the disastrous 2022 Yankee late season pickup who has had a 4.90 ERA since leaving after the 2023 season. Rodon matched the zeroes until the bottom of the fifth, when he allowed a home run to Pete Alonso, and the Mets had a commanding 7-2 lead.

Give the Yankees credit, they came right back and scored two in the top of the sixth on a hustling double by Cody Bellinger. Anthony Volpe's home run in the seventh brought the team to within 7-5. While the offense kept getting close, the pitching couldn't hold the Mets down, and they broke the game open with four more runs in the seventh, highlighted by another home run by Alonso, this time a three-run shot. Single runs by both teams in the eighth ran the score to 12-6, and a scoreless Yankee ninth closed out another contest the Yanks and their fans would like to forget. Mets win, 12-6. Player of the Game: Alonso twice broke the Yankee hearts as they started coming back with big home runs. Notable Performances: Bellinger has an eleven-game hitting streak. While down 7-2, he ran hard all the way to turning a two-run single into a double in the sixth. He has been a consummate pro for the Yanks this year due to moments like this along with his positional flexibility.

Jayvien Sandridge made his MLB debut for the Yankees, going two thirds of an inning in the seventh, allowing two walks, a home run, and two earned runs. Welcome to the bigs! Better to Forget: Coming off the field after the bottom of the fourth inning, Volpe tossed a baseball to Judge, which I hear is a usual thing. This time, Judge seemingly wasn't paying attention and the ball hit him in the face, near his right eye. Judge stayed in the game, and hopefully the only thing hurt is his pride. When asked after the game, he said his eye was "good" and didn't elaborate. Phew!

They Said It: "We're facing it a little bit. We're not where we want to be. I trust everyone in this room....we're going to be where we need to be." - Aaron Judge My Take: The Yankees stink right now. The drop-off in performance over just over a month is just startling. Their high-water mark on the season was after the May 28th win over the Los Angeles Angels when they were 35-20, playing .636 baseball, and leading the America League East by seven games. Since that time they are 13-21. Offensively, the team went from scoring 5.5 runs per game down to 4.4. All the while, the pitching staff which was allowing 3.5 runs per game has allowed five per since. The bullpen has particularly struggled with an ERA of about five since May 28th. So, what is a freefalling team to do with just a bit less than half a season left and about three weeks until the trade deadline and decision time: Option One: Stay the course Hope/confidence that players will start to perform again and right the ship without much in the way of changes. This would be the apparent Aaron Boone way. I say apparent because it's rare for a manager of a team that's struggling to publicly call for a lot of changes - that certainly wouldn't go well in the clubhouse. While unpopular, there is some track record of success with this, as they have bounced back from slumps seemingly annually to make the postseason every season of late with the exception of 2023. That of course, doesn't feel good right now at all, and poses risk that the team realizes they need to make changes but it's too late. Option Two: Change the Lineup This lineup, despite one infield position unfilled has generally performed well in 2025 and for the first time in years, there looks to be some depth and options at Boone's disposal. More playing time for Jasson Dominguez and Ben Rice along with less for Paul Goldschmidt and Giancarlo Stanton seems a good place to start. I like the arrangement Boone used yesterday of Bellinger moving to first base to get both Dominguez and Trent Grisham into the lineup. Alas, this isn't Strat-O-Matic. There are egos, feelings, clubhouse harmony and lots of money involved. Sitting Stanton, a respected clubhouse leader, may be easier said than done. If the Yankee bench Stanton, they almost need to release him, and I'm not sure the Yanks are ready to eat the remainder of that contract. I was fine with giving the alignment of Chisholm Jr. at third and DJ LeMahieu at second a look, especially as DJL looked a bit more spry to me when he first came off the IL. Unfortunately, Jazz looks to be struggling more at the hot corner than last year, and DJL 's performance isn't enough in my opinion to rationalize the change. The Yankees are 11-17 since Chisholm Jr. came off the IL despite his hot bat, and one small step back to winning ways may be to move him back to second, and put Oswald Peraza primarily at third for good defense and athleticism. Dominguez has stepped up and since June 1 he was slashing .322/.368/.460 coming into yesterday and along with his energy and speed is showing a glimpse of what the team thinks will be a great future. I feel like Boone has done as good a job as possible to spread playing time among the abundance of outfield/DH/first base candidates, but Dominguez has now clearly earned priority within the group. Option Three: Change the players:

I can't remember the last time the Yanks haven't rebuilt the bullpen during the season, and it looks like they will need to do so again this year. The good news is that they have done this fairly well in the past. Overall, I see needs at third base, the starting rotation, and the bullpen. With depth at the MLB level and a decent farm system, there look to be resources for an upgrade should they find the right trading partner(s). At this point, I can't see the Yankees signing Devin Williams after the season. His body language and interviews don't seem to reflect someone enjoying his New York experience. Dealing him now may be able to net some return from a team in a smaller market hoping a change of scenery would be beneficial for the stretch run. Option Four: Change the manager: You can't go to any Yankee fan site or social media spot and not see frustration with Aaron Boone. Many fans are clamoring for his firing. There are times when this works: https://www.mlb.com/news/teams-to-make-world-series-after-manager-change That being said, some quick research indicates that MLB teams have changed managers in season over 300 times through the years, and most of the time it doesn't change the trajectory of of the team. A good team poorly managed may get better with a change in leadership. A flawed team usually doesn't show much improvement. With Boone under contract through 2027, I find it unlikely that he will be shown the door anytime soon. If they would go the route of a change in the dugout, the gentleman I wrote about at the beginning of his article would be my choice for his replacement. Option Five: Tear it all apart I'd see this as the least likely option here on July 6th. Could the snowball effect of more poor play and the loss of Clarke Schmidt cause a selling situation? Maybe, but I'd rather not go there right now. The last thing I'll add is that I've said before that Luke Weaver may be my favorite current Yankee. His story and candor about his career along with what looks to be a friendly demeanor make him very easy to root for. During his recent rough stretch, his interviews have been more honest and insightful than we usually see from professional athletes in slumps. I give him a lot of credit and respect for his, and am rooting hard for his return to form. Next Up: Time for a stopper! Max Fried (10-2, 2.13) tries to avoid the sweep against righthander Chris Devenski (0-0, 3.38), who appeared in relief yesterday. Gametime is at 1:40pm.