Rice Is Cooking For the Yankees
Photo: Special to the NY Beacon
By Matthew Kennedy – Staff Writer
It hasn’t been a good few weeks to be a Yankees fan. The Bronx Bombers got swept by the Reds, and are now 5-13 since June 13th, the worst record in baseball in that time. They also dropped both game of their Subway Series against the Mets, and are now 9-13 against their intercity rivals in the 2020s.
As usual, Aaron Judge has been raking at the plate. Juan Soto and Anthony Volpe have also been producing, but the middle and end of the Yankee lineup is either hurt or performing abysmally. Gleyber Torres is in the midst of the worst slump of his career and Giancarlo Stanton, who was finding his eye at the plate, is now injured. His loss hurts the Yankees immensely, as he was starting to exercise more control, choosing his swings more wisely. Jon Berti has also been injured, which has thrown the team’s third base/utility infield situation into tumult.
Luis Gil, who started off the season as strong as any rookie pitcher in Yankee history, has begun to falter. His command has become erratic and his ERA has gone up nearly 1.4 in just 3 starts. Carlos Rodon has also been stinking it up, allowing 5+ runs in each of his last 3 starts.
But not all is lost. The reigning Cy Young, Gerrit Cole, has struggled, but has only been back for a month and is still getting his footing after being injured for the first half of the year. Gil is still throwing strong and the pitching staff is confident that a few minor adjustments can get him back on track. Stanton has started ramping baseball activities back up, and looks to make a speedier recovery than expected. His return will hopefully galvanize the middle and end of the lineup into performing better.
The Yankees have called upon new arrivals to fill the void, as Anthony Rizzo has also been injured. Ben Rice, who was promoted last month, has gone 5-16 with 4 RBI in the past 5 games.
New York now looked ahead to its massive series against the Red Sox, who have been creeping up behind them in the AL East. Boston sits 5.5 games behind New York in 3rd place, after they were previously 14 games behind 3 weeks ago. Their struggles continued as they lost 2 of the 3 games to Boston getting shutout Sunday night 3-0.
The Bombers to looked to reestablish themselves as one of best teams in baseball when they went on the road to face the Tampa Bay Rays before going to Baltimore before the All Star break.
Recent Comments