New York Yankees

In 1961, 10-year-old Gwen Goldman wrote the New York Yankees, hoping to be the team's bat girl. Her request was denied. 

On Monday, 60 years later, the Yankees granted her wish as a part of HOPE (Helping Others Persevere & Excel) week:

At 10 years old, Gwen Goldman wrote a letter to the Yankees asking to be a bat girl.

Tonight, as a part of the first day of #HOPEWeek, we welcome her to Yankee Stadium to live out her dream 60 years later. pic.twitter.com/ixiFtkkADi

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) June 28, 2021

“Some dreams take longer than they should to be realized, but a goal attained should not dim with the passage of time.”#HOPEWeek pic.twitter.com/Ashp6ONmxs

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) June 29, 2021

Tonight’s 12th Edition of #HOPEWeek kicked off with honoree Gwen Goldman throwing out the first pitch. pic.twitter.com/lmoPe3lpA5

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) June 28, 2021

In 1961, then-Yankees general manager Ron Hamey rejected her request, writing in a latter: "While we agree with you that girls are certainly as capable as boys, and no doubt would be an attractive addition on the playing field, I am sure you can understand that it is a game dominated by men a young lady such as yourself would feel out of place in a dugout," (h/t the Associated Press).

But current general manager Brian Cashman was forwarded an email by Goldman's daughter, Abby, and made aware of the former request. 

"Some dreams take longer than they should to be realized, but a goal attained should not dim with the passage of time," he wrote Goldman in a letter. "I have a daughter myself, and it is my sincere hope that every little girl will be given the opportunity to follow her aspirations into the future."

The New York Yankees apparently made turning a triple play an area of focus in the offseason.

With runners on first and second and clinging to a 2-1 lead in the ninth inning, the Bronx Bombers turned a Sean Murphy ground ball into three outs to beat the Oakland Athletics on Sunday.

Just ending the game on our daily triple play 🤷‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/Hwt7C8hRqj

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) June 20, 2021

This was the third triple play by the Yankees, tying the MLB record. According to ESPN Stats & Info, the Philadelphia Phillies were the last team to end a game with a triple play when they accomplished the feat against the New York Mets in 2009.

With the victory, New York has won five of its last six games after falling to just one game over .500 following a 7-0 defeat to the Philadelphia Phillies on June 13.

Clearly, the Yankees should try turning triple plays more often.

The New York Yankees returned home to the Bronx on Friday night for what was supposed to be a celebratory homecoming. The COVID-19 restrictions had been lifted, and a full-capacity crowd was expected at Yankee Stadium for the series opener against the Oakland A's.

Instead, only 24,037 showed up, and they booed their own team, as a pitcher who was supposed to wear pinstripes earned the win in Kelly green.

It's tough to know what to make of the Yankees these days. They swept the Toronto Blue Jays this week but were undone by AL West-best A's. The game was mostly tied until the sixth, when Oakland went single-single-home run for a two-out rally and went up 5-3. The team came back home with some swagger after that sweep but was unable to build on that showing.

"You're up against a good opponent, and it's razor-thin," manager Aaron Boone said in his postgame Zoom press conference. "You have two outs, and nobody's on looking like you're going to get out of that inning. So obviously, there is frustration that we didn't pull one out tonight."

Meanwhile, James Kaprielian, once a can't-miss Yankees prospect after New York selected him in the first round of the 2015 draft out of UCLA, earned the win for the A's, limiting the Yankees to three earned runs on three hits over 5.2 innings.

The Yankees gave up Kaprielian in a trade for Sonny Gray in 2017. In New York, Gray was never the ace he was in Oakland. He's now having a career resurgence in Cincinnati, and Kaprielian is doing exactly what he was expected to do in Oakland.

Should they have hung on to Kaprielian?

Coulda, woulda, shoulda.

It probably stings a little considering how little starting pitching depth the Yankees have behind ace Gerrit Cole. The only thing they can do now is try to build on some of the good things they've done lately and wait to see if they can plug some of the holes at the trade deadline at the end of next month.

There is a belief that they can turn things around and start climbing the standings. It's one of the most cliche cliches in the book, but they take it game-by-game and never doubt when they're down, especially since four of the last five wins and six of their last eight have been of the comeback variety.

"I think that confidence is growing within our group," infielder DJ LeMahieu said Friday. "We had the lead, they hit a homer and I felt like we were going to come back one way or another, but we just couldn't put anything together. But I think our confidence is growing from our group in those situations."

So, what is plaguing the Yankees, and what can be done about it?

The Yankees live and die by the home run. They slugged two of them Friday, and they've hit 27 in their last 16 games. But there aren't a lot of rallies like the ones the A's put together in the sixth. They just have to out-slug their opponents on most nights.

This feared lineup wasn't producing offensively to start the season, but it overcame that cold open. LeMahieu, the 2020 American League batting champ, came into the game hitting .306 over his last eight. He went 1-for-4 with a two-run homer against Oakland to improve on those numbers.

"I'm not super hot right now. The ball is not a beachball right now," he said. "But I think I'm where I need to be."

It's where the Yankees need him to be because they aren't getting a lot of production from Gleyber Torres, Clint Frazier and Miguel Andujar. But Brett Gardner and Gary Sanchez have been hot as of late, which is a good sign for an offense with the 15th-best OPS that needs to overcome a thin starting rotation.

Jameson Taillon had a good outing, but he's still making adjustments after missing the 2020 season to rehab from Tommy John surgery.

"It's been the in-game execution," Taillon said. "I can play catch with the best of them, I throw great bullpens, but when it comes down to it, you need to make the pitch when the game is on the line and there are runners on base. You have to have that mentality of, 'I'm going to make this pitch, and I'm going to out-execute the hitter.' I feel like, to this point, sometimes that just comes and goes."

The Yankees will rely on Taillon heavily as we get deeper into the summer. With Corey Kluber out and Deivi Garcia getting beat up in Triple-A (1-2, 8.10 ERA, exited after the first inning during last start with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre), Taillon has to remain durable and eat some innings until the Yankees can get some reinforcements.

"Hopefully, I can put my foot down and go back to who I know I can be and who I know I need to be going forward," he said.

So where will these reinforcements come from? The bullpen is the fourth-best in MLB (second-best in the AL), and the Yankees are getting a decent amount of innings from their starting pitchers (361.2), but they have to get innings from somewhere with Corey Kluber (shoulder) and Luis Severino (Tommy John rehab) both out right now.

It's clear they need to target a starter.

They could try to get someone like Matthew Boyd from the Detroit Tigers. The 30-year-old left-hander would help alleviate the pitching situation now and into next season since he's under team control through 2022 (arbitration-eligible this winter).

The big target would be shortstop Trevor Story of the Colorado Rockies. That would solve a lot of their problems. The pressure would be taken off Torres. Rougned Odor is fine off the bench, but Story would put them over the edge.

But taking on Story would require the Yankees to go over the luxury-tax threshold.

The other option is to change managers, but no matter how much fans on Twitter try to get a hashtag trending, it's not going to sway the organization from keeping a manager who is so popular with the players. A managerial change is not the right option to begin with. It might have been George Steinbrenner's preferred way of doing business, but these are different times and chaos is bad for the ballclub. Midseason firings signal chaos.

The Yankees aren't chaotic; they're just in the middle of the pack. There is still time to turn it around, and the performance of some of the hitters as of late indicates that they can right the ship. But they can't do it without some pitching help. After all, this year is all about pitching.

It’s too soon to boo. The Yankees aren't dead in the water yet.

The New York Yankees announced that shortstop Gleyber Torres left his team's road game against the Toronto Blue Jays on Thursday with left lower back stiffness (h/t Brendan Kuty of NJ.com). He will be evaluated further on Friday.

Torres is hitting .260 with three home runs and 23 RBI in 59 games. He went 0-for-2 with a strikeout on Thursday before second baseman Rougned Odor replaced him in the lineup. Tyler Wade, who started at second base, moved over to short.

The 24-year-old has been looking to bounce back after a relatively disappointing 2020 campaign. He dealt with both hamstring and quadriceps injuries and finished the year with a .243 batting average and three home runs in 42 appearances.

It was out of character after earning All-Star selections in each of his first two years in the majors. The former top prospect lived up to the hype by finishing third in Rookie of the Year voting in 2018 before getting MVP votes in 2019.

His injuries fit in with the rest of the Yankees, who have had some bad luck in recent years.

Wade should spend time at shortstop if Torres is unavailable. The Yanks start a three-game homestand against the Oakland Athletics on Friday.

New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole is the latest pitcher to express frustration with Major League Baseball's decision to take a hardline stance on all foreign substances being used during games to grip the baseball. 

Speaking to reporters after a 3-2 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday, Cole urged MLB to "please just work with us" to find a solution:

"It's so hard to grip the ball. For Pete's sake, it's part of the reason why almost every player on the field has had something, regardless if they're a pitcher or not, to help them control the ball.

"We are aligned in a lot of areas with the commissioner's office on this." 

Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Tyler Glasnow told reporters on Tuesday that he had to change the grip on his fastball and curveball because he stopped using sunscreen in anticipation of the rule change. 

"I switched my fastball grip and my curveball grip," Glasnow said. "I had to put my fastball deeper into my hand and grip it way harder. Instead of holding my curveball at the tip of my fingers, I had to dig it deeper into my hand. I'm choking the s--t out of all my pitches."

Glasnow said the change contributed to him suffering a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament and flexor strain.

Cole and Glasnow both said MLB should have made the change during the offseason to give players a chance to adjust, instead of implementing the rule in the middle of the season. 

MLB announced that it will implement enhanced enforcement of rules that prohibit players from applying foreign substances to the baseball. 

Starting pitchers will be subject to more than one mandatory check by umpires during games. Relievers will be checked either at the end of an inning or when he gets removed from the game, depending on which comes first. 

Catchers will also be subject to checks, as well as position players if they are observed making moves to their uniform or body that are consistent with applying some substance to the balls. 

Umpires have the discretion to check players at any point if they notice a ball has "an unusually sticky feel to it," or if they notice pitchers going to any part of their body or uniform to potentially apply a substance to the baseball. 

Anyone who is found to be in violation of the rules will receive an automatic 10-game suspension. 

Cole tied his season-low with four strikeouts in his start against the Blue Jays, but he only allowed two earned runs and four hits over eight innings. 

New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone told reporters (h/t Lindsey Adler of The Athletic) on Tuesday that starting pitcher Luis Severino has a Grade 2 groin strain that will delay his return to the field by at least one month.

Per Bryan Hoch of MLB.com, Severino may "possibly" be back by late July or early August.

Severino, 27, excelled for the Yankees during the 2017 and 2018 seasons, going 33-14 with a 3.18 ERA, 1.09 WHIP and 450 strikeouts in 384.2 innings.

However, Severino was limited to just five starts (three regular season, two playoffs) in 2019 due to rotator cuff inflammation on his right shoulder and then a Grade 2 lat strain.

Severino's bad lack continued the following year when a torn UCL in his right elbow forced him to undergo Tommy John surgery in Feb. 2020. He missed the entire 2020 campaign.

The Yanks placed him on the 60-day injured list in Feb. 2021 as he continued his recovery. He made his first rehab start on Sunday, June 6, and looked good for the Single-A Tampa Tarpons, per Max Goodman of Sports Illustrated:

Luis Severino threw 2.2 innings, striking out three in his first rehab start since Tommy John surgery (for the Tampa Tarpons).

His fastball touched 98.8 mph, averaging 96.8. Of his 34 total pitches, he threw 11 sliders and five changeups.

— Max Goodman (@MaxTGoodman) June 6, 2021

Unfortunately, Severino left a rehab start with the High-A Hudson Valley Renegades last Saturday with the groin injury after throwing just 1.2 innings.

"The 27-year-old began to hobble quickly after throwing a pitch in the second inning," per the Associated Press. "He limped behind the mound, struggling to put weight on his right leg. Coaches and a trainer had to help him off the field."

The Severino report is just another piece of bad news for the slumping Yankees, who have lost 13 of their last 18 games to fall to 33-32 and fourth place in the American League East. They'll look to rebound against the Toronto Blue Jays for a three-game road set in Buffalo, New York that begins Tuesday.

The New York Yankees have been among the most disappointing teams in all of Major League Baseball in the early going this season, but sitting in fourth place in the American League East apparently won't preclude them from adding to the roster.

General manager Brian Cashman said New York is in "buying mode" and "open to anything and everything," per Bryan Hoch of MLB.com.

Things have gotten particularly troublesome for the Bronx Bombers of late.

Sunday's ugly 7-0 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies moved their record to 5-13 in the previous 18 games. They are nine games behind the first-place Tampa Bay Rays and also looking up at the rival Boston Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays in the division.

Still, a playoff run is far from out of the question.

The Yankees are just four games behind the Houston Astros for the final wild-card spot in the American League and proved they are capable of playing well when they got off to a 28-19 start that included a sweep of the Chicago White Sox and series victories over the Rays and Astros.

Yet the frustration is evident, as manager Aaron Boone told reporters he is "very concerned" with the team.

"We're going to find out what kind of character we're made of," Boone continued. "We're clearly in the midst of incredibly tough times, we've faced it throughout this season, and we're going to find out what we're made of and if we're the team we think we are. ... We need to step it up, period."

They will begin finding out with a series against the Blue Jays that starts Tuesday. They also play the American League West-leading Oakland Athletics and Red Sox in the second half of June, so things don't get much easier in the immediate future.

New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman didn't exactly provide a ringing endorsement of Aaron Boone when asked about the future of the Yankees manager.

"We made this bed and we are going to sleep in it," Cashman told reporters Tuesday. "We are in this together."

He added he doesn't believe any massive changes are justified as the team sits fourth in the American League East at 33-32, nine games behind the first-place Tampa Bay Rays.

A manager should always be judged in large part by the performance of his team. Still, it's fair to wonder how much Boone is responsible for an offense that ranks 14th in weighted on-base average (.309), per FanGraphs, despite having Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Gleyber Torres, DJ LeMahieu and Gary Sanchez, among others.

Blame for the current state of the Yankees could be apportioned to others inside the organization as well.

But the level of scrutiny on Boone isn't a recent development as he entered the year on the hot seat.

Perhaps Cashman is of the opinion something larger than the manager is wrong with the Yankees and that firing Boone now would merely paper over the cracks.

The New York Yankees entered the 2021 campaign with realistic championship aspirations, but they are in fourth place in the American League East after losing Sunday 7-0 to the Philadelphia Phillies.

"Very concerned," manager Aaron Boone told reporters when discussing his team that is now 5-13 in its last 18 games. "Obviously a couple tough losses...but not able to amount much against [Aaron] Nola, who took a lead and was on the attack and dictating counts right away. But we've got to find a way to get better."

New York is 33-32 and 8.5 games behind the first-place Tampa Bay Rays.

"We're going to find out what kind of character we're made of," Boone continued. "We're clearly in the midst of incredibly tough times, we've faced it throughout this season, and we're going to find out what we're made of and if we're the team we think we are. ... We need to step it up, period."

It doesn't get much easier for the Bronx Bombers.

They face the team directly ahead of them in the Toronto Blue Jays, the American League West-leading Oakland Athletics and the rival Boston Red Sox in three of the next four series. If they continue to play like they have of late, the Yankees could find themselves out of the playoff race by the All-Star Game.

The offense is a middling ninth in the American League in OPS, and Dan Martin of the New York Post noted the starting pitchers have an ugly 6.16 ERA in the past 14 games.

It was more of the same Sunday with the bats and on the mound, as the offense failed to score a run and Domingo German allowed seven earned runs and 10 hits in 4.1 innings.

New York Yankees star Luis Severino left his rehab start Saturday with a groin injury and will undergo an MRI on Sunday. 

It's a right groin injury for Luis Severino, with an MRI to follow tomorrow. Not great news, considering Severino was supposed to return sometime in July.

— Bryan Hoch ⚾️ (@BryanHoch) June 12, 2021

Per Lindsey Adler of The Athletic, Severino had to be helped off the mound after he appeared to take an awkward step on the mound. 

Conor Foley of the Times-Tribune added that Severino was barely able to put any weight on his right leg. 

https://twitter.com/wisdom_studios/status/1403813307979546624

Severino is still in the process of working his way back to the big leagues after undergoing Tommy John surgery. 

Saturday marked Severino's second rehab start in the minors. The two-time All-Star allowed one run on two hits with three strikeouts over 2.2 innings in his first outing for the Tampa Tarpons on June 6. 

Yankees manager Aaron Boone told reporters on Thursday that Severino was expected to throw three innings and around 40 pitches. 

New York has been without Severino for most of the past three seasons. He did make three relief appearances in Sept. 2019 and made two starts in the postseason after missing most of the year with a shoulder injury. 

After experiencing elbow discomfort during spring training last year, Severino had Tommy John surgery on Feb. 27, 2020 and was ruled out for the entire season. 

Severino was arguably New York's best starting pitcher prior to having injury issues. The 27-year-old posted a 3.18 ERA with 450 strikeouts in 384.2 innings in 2017-18 combined. He finished in the top 10 of American League Cy Young voting in both seasons.