Avoiding the Sweep. Yankees 2, Guardians 1

About Yesterday Afternoon: Avoiding the Sweep. Yankees 2, Guardians 1

By Tim Kabel

June 5, 2026

***

To borrow a line from The Music Man, “Well, ya got trouble my friend, right here. I say, trouble right here on River Avenue.”

The Yankees salvaged the final game of the three-game series against the Cleveland Guardians yesterday, eking out a 2-1 win. It was a well-pitched game that emphasized defense and timely hitting. In other words, it was the type of game the Yankees don't often win but will need to if they're going to win a championship this year.

However, the game is the secondary story. For the third straight day, Aaron Judge was out of the lineup. Aaron Boone was completely unable to provide any information regarding his status. As everyone knows, I am not the biggest fan in the world of Aaron Boone. I never have been. I never will be. I have never hidden that fact. However, I must admit that watching him fumble and bumble his way through these news conferences, struggling to say anything coherent is painful. I feel sorry for the man. For a moment during yesterday's conference, I thought he was going to cry. I know I was.

Aaron Boone has never been one to provide a lot of information in the first place. That is particularly true when it comes to injuries. Remember last year when Boone kept everyone in the dark regarding Anthony Volpe’s injury for most of the season and only announced it at the very end of the year? He then said that the injury didn't impact Volpe’s play. Well, as you recall Volpe had surgery immediately after the season. That would indicate to me that it was pretty serious and did impact Volpe’s play. Remember the whole kerfuffle last year with Aaron Judge and his throwing issue? Boone said that he may not be able to throw for the rest of the season and was completely unaware that Judge was throwing in the outfield before the games. As we used to say in my former job in child welfare, Aaron Boone is not a reliable source of information.

This situation is something completely different. It's not that Boone is being less than forthcoming. Well, that's part of it but now that his feet are being held to the fire, he has no information. There have apparently been no updates. That my friends, is why there is trouble on River Avenue. It is unclear if this was a shoulder problem that became a rib problem or a rib problem that became a shoulder problem. That's a big part of the problem. Apparently, Judge had a nagging injury that was basically ignored for a few weeks until it became something much larger. I know some of you are saying, “How can you say it's something much larger when we don't know everything yet?” Well, I'll tell you. If it was nothing, Judge would not have needed to meet with more doctors than there were in the entire history of the show M*A*S*H. He has had meetings with specialists. Apparently, the fact that the one specialist is from Texas is a big deal because everyone keeps mentioning that. I'm not sure why that deserves special attention, but it does. The fact that it has been three days and there are no updates but there have been more tests, and more consultations is very worrisome. If it were something that simply would require rest and would not need an IL stint, would there have been this much of a delay? Would Judge have needed to meet with multiple doctors, including the one from Texas? Would there have been repeated and additional testing? The answer to all those questions is probably not.

I'm not going to go over or every single injury in the recent history of the Yankees that turned into something huge that was either ignored or minimized by Brian Cashman and Aaron Boone. There are too many and it's not a productive use of time. We all know about them. This is just the latest example. The fact that it concerns the team’s captain and best player and quite possibly the best player in the American League only makes it worse. I would be extremely surprised if Judge avoids a trip to the IL. Hopefully we will know something soon. At least that will put Aaron Boone out of his misery during these press conferences.  

Back to the game. Carlos Rodon continued his improvement since his return from off-season surgery. He pitched 6 innings allowing 2 hits and 1 run. He struck out 7 and walked 3. Brett Headrick, who was the winning pitcher, Fernando Cruz, and David Bednar combined to pitch 3 innings of scoreless relief. 

Jazz Chisholm, Jr. hit a game-tying sacrifice fly in the 4th inning and in the 7th inning walked, stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch. He then scored on Ryan McMahon single.

That was it. The Yankees only had a total of five hits and only one of them, Trent Grisham’s double was for extra bases. It is quite possible that this is the type of game the Yankees will have to play and win if they are to do anything significant this season. Whether or not they are capable of doing that consistently is another question.

This was the Yankees 7th win in their last 10 games. Hurray. However, it was the only win against a team with a winning record. Cancel the Hooray. The Yankees are now 4-10 this season against teams with winning records. That is a problem. Why? Because the Yankees are proving that they cannot beat good teams, teams with winning records. They may be able to make the playoffs but most likely any team they face in the playoffs will have a winning record so as Archie Bunker would say ipso fatso the Yankees will be in trouble.  There will be a lot more trouble on River Avenue if the update on Aaron Judge is not a positive one.

A Few Tidbits: 

·       Amazingly, three of the Yankees five hits came from Trent Grisham, and Ryan McMahon two players who have struggled offensively all season long.  That's baseball, Suzyn.

·       Jasson Dominguez is set to begin his minor league rehab today. He could possibly be back by next weekend.

·       Giancarlo Stanton continues to take batting practice and is reporting progress. He will not accompany the team on the upcoming road trip to Cleveland and Toronto. The timetable for his return is not clear at this point. It seems that the Yankees may once again skip a minor league rehab with Stanton, which almost always results in him taking a good deal of time to bang off the rust. Oh well, live and learn. Unless you're in the Yankees of course.

·       Spencer Jones is batting.268 with 13 home runs and 48 RBI. He also has nine stolen bases and an OPS of 951. He has played 42 games at Scranton and has 153 at bats.

·       On June 4th, 1990, the Yankees drafted Andy Pettitte in the 22nd round and Jorge Posada in the 24th round in the MLB draft. I think I have heard of them.

***

Tonight, the Yankees will open a three-game series against the Red Sox at 7:05 PM at Yankee Stadium. Ryan Weathers, (2-3, 3.52 ERA) will face Sonny Gray, (6-1, 3.06 ERA). Let's hope the weather is sunny for Ryan but the clouds are gray for Sonny.