New York Yankees Enter Round Two Of The Subway Series Grinding Through A Slump

The Subway Series is always a source of hype regardless of the condition of either team. There have been notable moments when the Yankees were rolling and the Mets were teetering on the fringes of mediocrity or outright experiencing a nightmare season.

When the schedule was released last year it featured the Bronx version in mid-May and the Queens version on the fourth of July weekend, which informally often gets described as the second milepost in the marathon of a 162-game season.

Back in May the teams competed for nine hours, 52 minutes in a series where the focus was highlighted about Juan Soto’s return to the Bronx. Soto had last been seen there staring from the Yankee dugout as the Dodgers celebrated their World Series title and then in the middle of the crowded Yankee clubhouse at about 1:30 am discussing the realm of possibilities about to happen.

Soto was off to a slow start when the Yankees took two of three but both teams were in first place. For the Yankees, it was two of their wins in a run of 16 victories in 20 games that ascended to them a somewhat commanding seven-game lead in the AL East and offered the perception the rest of the division might be experiencing a down year.

Seven weeks later, the Yankees are going through it. It can be called a swoon, a slump, a slide, a skid or any other phrase to describe a bad stretch.

Either way, the Yankees head into Round Two of the Subway Series going through some painful moments such as the four-game sweep in Toronto they just experienced. While the Blue Jays did not dominate (except for George Springer) them as much as the one in Sept 2021, the Yankees still got it handed to them.

The four-game skid is part of prolonged stretch of 19 losses in 32 games. Last year the Yankees went through a similar stretch that derailed their 45-19 start and were 10-22 from June 15-July 24.

Three years ago, the Yankees hit the All-Star break with 64 wins in their first 82 games and around this time held a 15-game lead. By mid-August, it was halved down and they were 11-21 from July 15-Aug. 20 with the end of that skid coinciding with a third loss to the Blue Jays, resulting in manager Aaron Boone slamming his right hand on the podium in the Yankee Stadium interview room a few times.

These Yankees were never going to confused with the championship versions of 2009 or 1998. Those teams won 103 and 114 respectively and the 2009 team started 15-17 while the 1998 team experienced a 15-17 stretch late in a season when it secured the division shortly after Labor Day.

These days, Boone is fond of saying “the 162” or some variation of it as a reason for the slide and there is some validity to it. The Mets can say the same thing as they are 5-17 in 22 games since June 12 when Kodai Senga injured his hamstring stretching to field a high throw at first base from Pete Alonso.

Of late, lack of clutch hitting is showing up. The Yankees were 9-for-50 with runners in scoring position and left 40 runners in base.

In Cincinnati when the Yankees lost two of three, those numbers were 28 runners stranded and 5-for-43 with runners in scoring position.

Getting 93 at-bats with runners in scoring position is better than what unfolded when the Yankees lost six in a row from June 13-June 18. The Yankees experienced a 30-inning scoreless streak that was seven off the team record set in 1908 when Walter Johnson pitched three straight complete games and, in that skid, they were 4-for-42 and stranded 38.

The opportunities are popping up but the at-bats are not coming up with those hits and now along with a bullpen that is starting to show its wear and worries about Clarke Schmidt’s forearm are among the concerns heading into Queens.

Another is playing Jazz Chisholm Jr. at third base. A second baseman by trade, Chisholm showed a willingness to move over because of Gleyber Torres being at second and when he was rehabbing an oblique injury, he still showed a willingness.

It is not for lack of effort at third and Chisholm has made his share of nice plays but in Toronto, his presence along with DJ LeMahieu’s injury and age-caused lack of range at second base are sticking out along some of the other mistakes.

The Yankees are going through it and it seems to be an annual occurrence. It is even more magnified because of the relative hot start and the fact the next series is against the Mets.