Yankees 5, Rays 1

By Mike Whiteman July 7, 2026 Happy Birthday to Chuck Knoblauch! The pesky second baseman averaged 5.4 WAR per season for the Minnesota Twins through the fist seven years of his career. He was acquired by the Yankees before the 1998 season, seemingly the missing piece needed at the top of the batting order and across from Derek Jeter in the middle of the infield. Knoblauch didn't sustain his Minnesota performance in Pinstripes, but was a useful player on the 1998 and 1999 World Series champions. I'll always remember his three-run home run in Game One of the 1998 World Series which brought the Yanks back from a 5-2 deficit in the seventh inning. He struggled to make the throw from second to first base, and was moved to left field in 2001, then out of New York in 2002. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/k/knoblch01.shtml https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/chuck-knoblauch/

Quick Stats: The Yankees are 50-40 on the season, good for second place in the American League East, three games behind the Rays. Cam Schlittler is now 9-5, 2.01 ERA on the season, and is in the conversation to start for the AL in the All-Star game.

Big Story: Having lost 12 of their previous 15 games, the Yankees needed some big performances in the first game of a four-game set against the division leading Rays. They got them. Schlittler came back from his clunker against Detroit to toss eight innings of one-run baseball. Jose Caballero homered twice and drove in four runs. Ben Rice added a solo home run.

Unfortunately for the offense, the home runs were the only hits on the night by the Yankees. I'm not going to be too picky though. It was a good win against a good team. You can't have a winning streak in one night, but you can start one. Yankees win, 5-1. Here's the boxscore: https://www.mlb.com/gameday/yankees-vs-rays/2026/07/06/822958/final/box Player of the Game: Schlittler's night was ace-quality. "Back in the day", he might have gone all the way for a complete game. Notable Performances: David Bednar came on for Schlittler in the ninth and threw a scoreless ninth. The Yankee closer last allowed a run on May 18. Better to Forget: Players not named Caballero and Rice were hitless. Last night the team got away with it, but that won't happen too often. They Said It: "He thinks he's the best player on the field every night" - Aaron Boone on Jose Caballero. My Take: There's not much to say about the Yanks of late that hasn't already been said - they have been playing bad baseball. It's been a frustrating part of seemingly every year now. Is this the year it all falls apart, gets the manager fired, and leads to an overhaul? It's felt like it at times, but it's felt like it before. The "swoon" has turned into a "boon" more than once. Of course a big part of the previous recoveries has been the presence of Aaron Judge. If we're looking at August return for him at the earliest, that's still a significant period in which the team needs to get it done without their captain and franchise player. Good pitching goes a long way in getting there, and the Yanks have some, which keeps me hoping for this team despite the warts. On another note, I've never been a soccer guy by any means but I've become a bit hooked on the World Cup! Some time off from work and the oppressive heat kept us inside more than usual over the holiday weekend, and there was a game on TV much of the time. There were some compelling games, and the Argentina/Cape Verde and England/Mexico contests were as good as sports can get in my opinion. Sadly, the US didn't play their best game last night and lost to Belgium, but there's still plenty of good soccer left. Next Up: Game two of the series tonight; starting time 6:40 pm (I really like 6:40 starts). Will Warren (7-3, 3.73) takes the mound against lefty Ian Seymour (5-1, 4.02).