Aaron Judge
(Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

After a truly forgettable week, can the New York Yankees really sink any lower than a miserable 5-10 start?

Another week gone, another week that we’re cursing the New York Yankees to high heaven.

Yes, it is still April, but guess what? The Yankees’ next game will mark almost 10% of the season being gone. The bats are asleep and any pitcher not named Gerrit Cole is either underachieving or receiving little to no support.

Cut to the Bronx “Bombers” being 5-10 and last in the AL East, and it’s no wonder Aaron Boone yelled at the team after Friday’s loss.

Anyway, let’s save the ranting for another time and recap a week of awful baseball.

The Florida Project: Phase 1

You’ll recall last week, I said the New York Yankees had to do something about playing poorly in Florida. This applies not only to the Tampa Bay Rays and Tropicana Field this year, but the Toronto Blue Jays and TD Ballpark in nearby Dunedin. Due to the ongoing pandemic, they still can’t play at the Rogers Centre per usual.

Well, the hitting woes continued and the pitching wasn’t much better. The Yankees needed two home runs from, of all players, Kyle Higashioka to carry Gerrit Cole to the win on Monday. Keep in mind, both Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton are both healthy.

The next two days, both Jameson Taillon and Corey Kluber struggled to the point where the bullpen was leaned on yet again.

Granted, Taillon is pitching extensively for the first time in two years, and he got squeezed on a call or five in his start Tuesday. Kluber, meanwhile, had command issues again, though the Yankees lost Wednesday on a Bo Bichette walk-off home run.

But regardless of some fight in the rubber game of the series, the New York Yankees weren’t much different in Dunedin. The at-bats were lifeless and there was a constant feeling of playing catch-up. New York only got outscored 13-10 but with how the team looked, 13 might as well have been 30. To add insult to injury, we didn’t even get Jennifer Garner’s cute smile as a consolation prize!

Sting-Rays

One would think that the New York Yankees would feel more comfortable playing the Rays at Yankee Stadium than at the Trop. A three-game sweep later, one would be horribly wrong.

Friday night was a disaster from fielding to a bullpen game gone horribly wrong. Saturday saw more competitive at-bats, but Jordan Montgomery still lost despite allowing just four baserunners in six-plus innings. Gerrit Cole pitched his heart out on Sunday, but the bats were lifeless and wasted more opportunities.

All told, the Yankees were outscored 18-7 and went 2 for 11 with runners in scoring position. Oh, and let’s not forget the Yankees didn’t get a single player into scoring position in Friday’s game.

Looking ahead

The New York Yankees can lick their wounds, but not for too long. The Atlanta Braves come to town for two games starting on Tuesday, and then comes a road series with the blue-collar tough Cleveland Indians. The bats have to wake up at some point, or the boo-birds will only get louder.

In the meantime, welcome to rock bottom, Yankees fans. Best get comfortable until we’re told otherwise.

Josh Benjamin has been a staff writer at ESNY since 2018. He has had opinions about everything, especially the Yankees and Knicks. He co-hosts the “Bleacher Creatures” podcast and is always looking for new pieces of sports history to uncover, usually with a Yankee Tavern chicken parm sub in hand.