Hm.
I'm looking for the *Yankees*.
The New York Yankees.
I lost them a few days ago and I've had to watch this other team with a similar name, and pinstripes.
Has anyone seen those guys?

Not good

Got my new foot pump earlier and blew up everything possible in the garage. 4-0. Wtf!? Might have to deflate everything and start over.

Signs of life.

[1] Oh there they are!
Yep, those guys.

Falafel!

I have to wonder is Sevy is hiding an injury.

[7]Yeah seems *very* likely.

[7][8] That is really worrying, for him AND for the team in the second half..

Blue Jays fired their manager?? Harsh, mid-season. Lot of manager firings this year

I mean, that's just an awful strike call, the umpiring seems worse than ever these days.

[10] Yeah, and if the Jays get hot now, the front office will be certain the team was underachieving because of Montoya.
Which is ridiculous.

[11] Yeah I was just thinking, "Thank you, terrible umpiring!"
Because you know, we criticize terrible umpiring so much when Aaron Judge gets called out, so we really should thank terrible umpiring when it helps us out.

But, nothing terrible umpiring could do about that double.

[13] Are the Yanks a little tired out, in need of the days off maybe? They look bad these last 4 games in all parts of the game

No way, this guy's name is 'Buck Farmer'???

Oof.
Terrible umpiring switches sides.

[16] Dreadful!

[10] yeah, the Blue Jays are in the hunt for the WC, not Montoyo’s fault the Yankees are running away. Panic move or something behind the scenes.

I just realized that the Bombers have an at-home series with Boston to wind up the 1st half. I'd have to say that's a must-win series, in fact a sweep would be ideal.

I know all games are "must win," anymore but they have to grab some mojo against a rival that's about to get some pitchers back going into the break.

Wasn't Tommy Pham involved in baseball's version of "The Slap" or do I have that wrong?

[20] He was! And Joc Peterson gave a really strange interview about it, he sounded like a stoner in it.

[19] :0
"All games are 'must win' anymore'!
Positive 'anymore'!
Where did you grow up, Boatzilla? New Jersey, maybe?

[22] Yes. Good catch. North Jersey. I was there from late 1971 until '90, when I came to Japan.

[23] Dang!
That is amazing -- I think that is the only part of the US that has positive 'anymore'. (It's also common in parts of northern England and Scotland.)

I remember being absolutely blown away when I went to college and started hanging out with people from all over and heard the positive “anymore” for the first time.

Almost as blow away as I am that the Yankees haven’t gotten a hit since the fourth inning against this team.

[24] Never knew that about the UK.
I'm probably clinging to that usage to keep a tiny piece of home with me. ;>)

I have heard an anymore on occasion and always thought it was so odd. It has quite a description on Wikipedia. I had no idea! Learn something new every day on the Banter.

I miss Didi. And Jeter, obviously.

[26] Amazing, that's not one I remember hearing at all in Brooklyn as a kid, must be very localized?

Thank you, short porch.

Stantoian!

[29] Or Brooklyn is very localized. ;>)

[32] It certainly used to be! But I don't know from Brooklyn now, too many neighborhoods with boring overpriced bistros and craft beer joints :)

"I don't know from Brooklyn". There ya go. More of that please.

[34] 'I need some change for a token, buy a slice, a zeppole and a rainbow ice to break this 20?

4 for his last 48! How much more do they keep playing Gallo?

I don’t even know why we have umpires anymore. (That’s a negative “anymore.”)

[37] Could have made that one "anyways". ;>)

Grrr. I did not want extra innings. I have stuff to do.

[35] Don't think I've ever had a zeppole. Is that like a crusty cream puff?

[39] Kind of, but without the cream inside and with powdered sugar on it. The pizza joints in my neighborhood both used to sell them, but not every pizza shop did..I wonder if maybe was a Napoli thing? Both shops near me the guys came from Napoli region..

[39] Any Italian-Americans in the Banter, please chime in?

Wild Pitch for the win! (Still hate the runner on second rule though)

Wild finish.

I'm pretty sure zeppole are pan-Italian. The Italians I hang out with now are also southern, but I distinctly remember getting the little buggers in Little Italy on St. Joseph's Day.

Like Hank, I first encountered positive 'anymore' in college -- a roommate. I think I did a spit take or something like that, and asked him, "Did you hear what you just said???" And of course, he had no idea what he had said that sounded weird.

So far Nadtyks pitching decently.

Nasty that is.

How about a hit.

Ok, now some runs, please.

Ok, one.

Gleyber!!!!!

Rough night for Carpenter in left.

I know that Luetge has pitched well this season according to his numbers, but there's something about him. Whenever he's in a high leverage situation, I have zero faith. This bullpen is just so gassed right now. It's a shame.

A rally in their bones? Heading to extras I had a strong feeling that Carpenter would put one in the seats, which makes those three Cincinnati runs in the top half hurt all the more.

Sigh.

If last night was an Audition I’m hiring Castillo as my #2 pitcher.

Good, Judge isn’t in the HR Derby. He needs to rest his legs for when homers matter.

Lat strain for Sevy.

Boo! I hate Devers.

Maybe treat Devers like Barry Bonds?

Phew

Stanton!

Carpenter hammered that.

Yargh, Chappie.

It was tied and I had to shut down for a couple of minutes. What happened? Chappie screwed the pooch again?

Maybe they can make a package of Chapman, Gallo and PTBNL for a pitcher.

Chapman's salary is fairly prohibitive, but you never know. Someone might think they can fix him.

There's no evidence to support this, but every time Gallo comes up all I can hope for his a home run.

[67] I am at the point of wanting him to fail so they have no choice but to unload him, DFA him, whatever, and give Florial or Adujar a chance. But it seems like they have no bottom for him.

One thing (kind of) worth watching the rest of the way will be the race between Joey Gallo (.161) and the all-time lowest batting average for a qualifier (Chris Davis, .168). That's where we are.

[68] I agree. I mean, he can't really be worse, so it's curious that they keep running him out there. And it doesn't seem like his defense is really THAT much better than those other options you mention. I'm pretty certain those guys could hit better than .161 -- but what do I know?

[70] Devers is a good example. He's not a very good 3rd baseman. I wonder how Andujar's fielding would compare to him if they had kept sending him out there.

On the other hand, I'm happy that the Yankees made defense a priority.

At a certain point the Yankees need to start putting some pressure on Major League Baseball. It's ridiculous that one of the sport's premier players so constantly has the bat taken out of his hands with bad strike calls. The team needs to flood their social media feeds with clips of below-the-zone strike calls on Judge. Will there be fines? Will Rob Manfred get upset? I don't care, and neither should the Yankees. It's an embarrassment.

[72] The Boss would never stand for it. And Judge is one of the faces of baseball today. NHL knew better to protect Gretzky.

I'll take it any way I can get it!

Yankees MVP "Jackie Error"

JFC!

How does that even happen? Sigh.

I was so worried about the Treviño double play there, I was almost rooting for a strikeout.

If you are going to hit into a double play, strike out.

Just like a walk.

Well, here we are again...

Yes. Here we are again. Fuck.

Grumble.

I'm getting too old for this shit.

Matty Mustache is gonna walk it off.

[85] He is out of the game.

Thanks to the AppleTV+ fiasco, I'm forced to watch NESN tonight, which means listening to Kevin Youkilis say "What a game!" every ten minutes.

[86] Marwin then???

Not a fan of Donaldson. Just not a fan.

Marwin would have been better.

Well that sucked.

NESN isn't showing me a replay. I suppose that isn't a terrible loss, not like those huge leads they blew against the Angels and the Astros last summer, but these missed opportunities will be tough to sleep on for this team. Bases loaded and no outs in the ninth, first and third and one out in the tenth, wild pitch to lose it. Awful stuff.

Fox game. Just plunk Devers

Listen to me next time. Yeesh.

Carpenter nails it!

Carpenter obviously has to be in the lineup every day at this point. (Deep analysis there.) I'm not sure why they don't just play him at third. Defensively he'd be a step down from Donaldson, but I wonder about the relative defensive impact compared to playing him in the outfield.

[95] What game is that for? Every game.

That was a pretty play.

Apparently Judge's slump is over.

Feels like we're gonna see Jackie Bradley, Jr., pitch the eighth.