Sometimes you don’t need 10 runs. Sometimes you just need Cam Schlittler.
The Yankees beat the Red Sox 1-0 Friday night, and Schlittler was the story. The kid went 5 2/3 scoreless innings, allowed just two hits and struck out eight, while picking up his 200th strikeout of the season. His ERA dropped to an AL-best 2.09.
And against Boston? Even sweeter.
The only offense came from Paul Goldschmidt, who launched a solo homer in the third inning. From there, the Yankees protected that one lousy run like it was the last cannoli at Sunday dinner.
Cody Bellinger made the play of the night, firing a 99.7 mph strike from left field to nail Ceddanne Rafaela at the plate and preserve the lead. David Bednar handled the ninth for save No. 31.
George Lombard Jr. makes a few errors and suddenly people are examining the kid like he's been playing shortstop in the Bronx for five years.
He's 21. He's been here for about five minutes. And quite frankly, George Lombard Jr. has been one of the most refreshing things to happen to this Yankees team all season.
The kid has energy. He has confidence. He has range. He has an arm. He moves like an actual shortstop. And we've already watched him get to baseballs that Yankees infielders weren't getting to earlier this year.
O'Neill has praised Lombard's natural defensive ability on YES and essentially told everyone to relax about the recent errors. He's talked about the plays Lombard can make, his range and his ability to handle the position.
I'll take Paul O'Neill's eyes over somebody counting errors on a stat sheet after two weeks.
And here's the other thing:
STOP TRYING TO TURN GEORGE LOMBARD JR. INTO ANTHONY VOLPE.
Seriously. Stop. This isn't about Volpe. This is about Lombard. They're different players. Different circumstances. Different skill sets. Different stories.
Every time Lombard makes an error, we don't need a referendum on Yankee shortstops. The Yankees shouldn't panic. The fans shouldn't panic. And Lombard certainly shouldn't start playing scared because everybody suddenly expects perfection from a kid who was in the minor leagues a few weeks ago.
Want to know what young players do?
They screw up. Then they adjust. Then they get better. That's baseball.
One of Lombard's recent mistakes came down to something as simple as glove positioning. That's not some catastrophic revelation that the kid can't field. That's a mechanical mistake.
You fix it. You move on. What you can't teach nearly as easily is the stuff Lombard already has. Range. Arm strength. Athleticism. Instinct. Confidence.
That's the package I'm interested in.
And there's something else about Lombard that doesn't show up in a box score. The Yankees look comfortable with him out there. He looks comfortable being there. There isn't that feeling that everybody is holding their breath waiting for something to happen.
He's playing baseball. Let him. That's what has made Lombard such a breath of fresh air. He's young. He's exciting. He's aggressive. And he carries himself like a kid who believes he belongs in the Bronx.
Will there be growing pains? Of course. We have stated that here at Bleeding Yankee Blue. There damn well better be. He's 21 years old. If we're expecting a finished major-league shortstop two weeks into his career, the problem isn't George Lombard Jr.
It's our expectations. So enough with the panic. Enough with counting every error. And please, enough with the Volpe comparisons. Let George Lombard Jr. be George Lombard Jr.
The talent is there. The confidence is there. The Yankees are behind him. Now give the kid some time. He's going to be just fine. And I have a feeling we're going to be watching him make plays in the Bronx for a very long time.
Of course the Yankees checked in on Zack Littell. Brian Cashman apparently can't drive past the pitching clearance rack without stopping.
Littell was released by Arizona after a rough stint, and suddenly the Yankees are sniffing around. Because nothing screams pennant race like, “Hey, maybe Matt Blake can fix him.”
Look, the Yankees need pitching depth. I get it. Littell has experience and can eat innings.
But we've seen this movie before. Cashman finds a discarded arm, hands it to Blake and hopes he turns a pumpkin into Gerrit Cole.
Maybe Littell helps.
Maybe he doesn't.
But somewhere, Cashman is clipping another coupon.
And the hits just keep on coming, huh? We can't catch a break. Just when we think it's getting better the other shoe drops. The rug is ripped out from under us. Pick a cliche, any cliche you like because ladies and gentlemen that is exactly where we are as we inch closer and closer to September.
I guess we could go with "There's always next year" or "We can chase number 28 in 2027" for right now. The state of the Yankees pitching staff is arm-ageddon right now. My heart sank when Max Fried hit the injured list, and as much as we don't need to see another arm like Fernando Cruz suffer the same fate I'm not surprised. I am tired of it though.
This team just doesn't demonstrate fundamentals or execute like other top teams in the league. We can't stay healthy. When our starting pitchers get past the fourth inning it feels like a miracle. Our starters can't get deep into games and then our relievers are coming into games too often and expected to clean up the mess that was left for them and eventually it catches up to guys. That could be what happened to Cruz.
Back in April, May and June, Aaron Boone was running him out on the mound constantly. His early success earned him a setup role to David Bednar and lately, he's looked like a shell of himself. The splitter doesn't split like it did, the fastball isn't as fast and the slider doesn't move the same. He's already pitched 54.2 innings this season, and his career high was 66.2 innings. He's 36 and not a young spring chicken anymore. We've seen it with the home runs he's given up and blown leads recently.
And this is why Brian Cashman needed to add stability at the trade deadline and find us some fresh arms. He failed. The Yankees are failing, because they aren't meeting expectations. They are in danger of falling further in the standings because the Yankees have four critical games this weekend against the Red Sox, who have magically come back to life and chasing down the Yankees in the Wild Card race.
If the Red Sox pass the Yankees in the Wild Card race, I won't be able to accept that. NONE of us should. This team isn't what it should be. Everything needs to be torn down to the studs and built back up otherwise it is the same old dance.
Will arm-ageddon be the Yankees final nail in their coffin? I hope not....but this season has been exhausting.
When Reggie arrived in the Bronx before the 1977 season, the Yankees were already Munson’s team. Thurman was the captain, the reigning American League MVP, and the heartbeat of a club that had just gone to the World Series. Reggie arrived as something entirely different.
He was the superstar free-agent signing. He was outspoken. He was confident. He was controversial. And most importantly, he wasn't interested in quietly blending into the wallpaper. In other words, George Steinbrenner had just thrown another stick of dynamite into a clubhouse that already had Billy Martin walking around with a match.
And then came the quote.
In a 1977 Sport magazine article, Jackson was famously quoted describing himself as “the straw that stirs the drink,”while suggesting Munson could only stir it bad.
Whether Reggie believed he was quoted accurately or not almost didn't matter. The words were in print. Munson read them. And the captain was furious. This wasn't some anonymous teammate Jackson had taken a shot at. Munson had spent his entire major-league career with the Yankees. He had caught countless games on battered knees, taken foul balls off every imaginable body part and helped drag New York back to the World Series in 1976.
Then the new guy showed up and, before he'd accomplished anything in pinstripes, appeared to tell the world whose team it was.
That went over about as well as you'd expect.
Welcome to the Yankees, Reggie. Meet Thurman.
The relationship became one of the many soap operas surrounding the 1977 Yankees. Jackson battled with Martin. Munson resented the attention surrounding Jackson. The clubhouse had factions. Steinbrenner hovered over everything.
Yet something strange happened while everybody was waiting for the Yankees to implode. They won, and winning has a funny way of forcing two great players to recognize something they may not particularly want to admit:
I need that guy.
Munson could look beyond Reggie's personality and see an enormously talented baseball player who could help the Yankees win championships. Jackson could look beyond Thurman's hostility and understand why that clubhouse followed its captain. Their personalities were completely different, but their objective wasn't.
There are stories of the two finally clearing the air, including a memorable conversation in a sauna. It didn't magically turn them into childhood buddies. This wasn't a Hollywood movie where the music swelled and suddenly Reggie and Thurman skipped into Yankee Stadium holding hands.
It was something more believable. They developed respect. And for two intensely competitive men, respect probably meant more than friendship anyway.
Munson saw Jackson deliver when the Yankees needed him most. Reggie saw exactly what made Munson the captain—the toughness, the leadership and the willingness to play hurt without asking anybody to feel sorry for him.
By the time Jackson earned the name “Mr. October” with his three-home-run performance in Game 6 of the 1977 World Series, there wasn't much left to debate about whether Reggie belonged in New York. And Munson didn't need Jackson's approval to prove who he was either.
Thurman had already earned the Bronx. Their relationship continued to evolve. Jackson reportedly even flew with Munson in Thurman's plane, and accounts over the years have described Reggie affectionately referring to Munson as “Coach.” Think about how remarkable that is considering where these two started.
From a newspaper quote that nearly poisoned the clubhouse to two men eventually understanding each other. Not perfectly. Not sentimentally. But genuinely.
Then came August 2, 1979. Munson was killed while practicing takeoffs and landings in his Cessna Citation near Canton, Ohio. He was only 32.
Suddenly all those arguments, headlines and clubhouse battles didn't seem very important anymore.
What remained was the respect.
And maybe that's the part of the Reggie Jackson–Thurman Munson story worth remembering most.
They didn't have to be best friends. They didn't even have to particularly like each other at first. They were two enormous personalities fighting for space inside the craziest baseball clubhouse in America. But somewhere between the arguments, the championships, the back pages and the October nights, they figured each other out.
Thurman was the captain. Reggie was Mr. October.
The Bronx was big enough for both of them. And in the end, they knew it. Rest in peace, Captain.
Thurman Munson — June 7, 1947 – August 2, 1979. Nearly five decades later, No. 15 still belongs to him.
The Yankees’ pitching problems just added another name to the list.
Fernando Cruz has been placed on the 15-day injured list with right elbow discomfort, a concerning development for a bullpen already searching for stability.
The timing is especially troubling. Cruz surrendered the game-tying two-run homer to Jeremy Peña in Tuesday night’s 9-7 loss to Houston, and afterward was seen leaving the clubhouse with Yankees head athletic trainer Tim Lentych. Cruz had said he was healthy, but less than 24 hours later, he was headed to the IL.
And maybe the recent numbers were telling us something. Cruz has been hit hard since the All-Star break after being one of the Yankees’ most dependable bullpen weapons earlier in the season.
The Yankees signed veteran Michael Fulmer to a Major League deal to help fill the hole. But with September approaching, replacing Cruz’s swing-and-miss stuff won't be easy.
For a team trying to make a serious October run, another important arm going down is the last thing they needed.
When you've followed the Yankees long enough, you realize that Yankee Stadium has hosted a lot more than baseball.
Presidents have been there. Popes have been there. Prize fights, football games and concerts have filled the old place.
And in 1987, Dolly Parton showed up. Yes, that Dolly Parton. Country music royalty walked into the House That Ruth Built, grabbed a baseball bat and spent some time with the Bronx Bombers.
With the sad news of Dolly's passing at age 80, we hear at Bleeding Yankee Blue found ourselves thinking about that wonderful little piece of Yankee history. Casey asked me to put this together and I was happy to do it.
Dolly came to Yankee Stadium while filming her ABC television variety series, Dolly, which premiered in September 1987. The Yankee Stadium visit was filmed for an "Out and About" segment appearing in the show's third episode. Waiting for her in the Bronx were four pretty recognizable Yankees:
Ron Guidry. Dave Righetti. Rick Cerone. Mike Pagliarulo.
For Yankee fans of a certain age, those names require no introduction. Guidry was Louisiana Lightning and already a Yankee legend. Righetti had gone from Rookie of the Year starting pitcher to one of baseball's premier closers. Cerone had been behind the plate through some memorable Yankee seasons.
And Pagliarulo — Pags — was the Yankees' hard-hitting third baseman.
Then Dolly Parton walked into the middle of them.
Only at Yankee Stadium. And Dolly wasn't content just shaking hands and posing for pictures. She picked up a bat. Standing near the first-base line, Dolly took a few swings and apparently wasn't too bad at it. At one point she wondered what would happen if she actually made contact and whether somebody might get hurt.
Pagliarulo eventually presented her with an official Yankees bomber jacket, which Dolly immediately put on. Then she wanted the cap. There was, however, a slight engineering problem.
Dolly Parton's hair. If you remember Dolly in 1987, you understand. That Yankees cap wasn't going over that hair. It was going to have to sit on top of it. And that's exactly what happened.
There she was — one of the biggest stars in America, standing at Yankee Stadium in a Yankees jacket with a cap perched on that famous blonde hair.
It was a terrific image. But looking back on it almost 40 years later, there's something else that strikes me about the moment. Dolly looked like she belonged there. That's probably because Dolly Parton seemed to belong everywhere.
She could stand on a stage in Nashville, appear in a Hollywood movie, walk through Dollywood or wander onto the field at Yankee Stadium and immediately make people smile. There was no pretense about her.
She was Dolly. The Yankees she met that day have long since retired. The old Yankee Stadium itself is gone. Baseball has changed enormously since 1987. But that's the beauty of Yankee history. Sometimes history isn't Babe Ruth hitting a home run. It isn't Lou Gehrig's speech. It isn't Reggie hitting three home runs in a World Series game or Don Larsen throwing a perfect game.
Sometimes it's something small and sweet. Something you almost forget happened. Like the afternoon Dolly Parton came to Yankee Stadium and took a few swings with the Yankees.
Today, that memory means a little more. Dolly Parton died yesterday at the age of 80, leaving behind an extraordinary legacy as a singer, songwriter, actress, entertainer, businesswoman and philanthropist.
Millions will remember the songs. Others will remember the movies. Still others will remember the enormous amount of good she quietly did for people throughout her life.
Here at Bleeding Yankee Blue, we'll also remember that day in 1987 when a little bit of Nashville came to the Bronx. Dolly Parton was one of us.
Rest in peace, Dolly. Thanks for giving us one more wonderful story from the House That Ruth Built. And somewhere, I hope there's a Yankees cap big enough for that hair.
The Yankees had this one. Then they had it again. And then, somehow, they had it again.
And they still lost.
The Yankees fell 9-7 to the Astros Tuesday night, blowing three separate leads as the bullpen completely unraveled. After Will Warren left, Yankee relievers allowed six runs over the final four innings.
That wasted a good night from the offense. Cody Bellinger launched a three-run homer, while Luis GarcÃa Jr. went 4-for-5 with a homer and three RBIs. Jeremy Peña tied the game with a two-run homer off Fernando Cruz in the sixth, and Houston eventually took control against Brent Headrick in the eighth.
This one is pretty simple: seven runs should be enough.
The Yankees offense did its job.
The bullpen didn’t.
Astros 9, Yankees 7. A bad one to give away this late in August.
For nearly three months, the Yankees have been playing the waiting game with Aaron Judge. Finally, there’s some actual movement.
Judge continues to make progress from the stress fracture in his right rib, and the Captain is slowly checking off the boxes. He’s throwing, running, lifting and has begun working his way back into hitting, including taking swings off a tee. So far, importantly, there haven’t been any reported setbacks.
Now comes the part Yankee fans actually care about: Can Judge get back on the field before this season runs out of runway?
There’s still no official return date, and nobody should start circling days on the calendar just yet. But every swing, throw and workout gets No. 99 a little closer.
At this point, Yankee fans don't need another vague medical update. They need Aaron Judge walking back into that lineup.
Because if the Yankees are going anywhere this fall, having the Captain along for the ride would certainly help.
The Yankees called up the veteran reliever ahead of their series with Houston. Topa has looked decent in a handful of innings at Triple-A since joining the organization, so maybe the Yankees see something they like. But there’s one rather large number staring everybody in the face: 8.05. That was Topa’s ERA with Minnesota this season.
And somehow, that gets you a ticket to the Bronx.
This is what I don't understand about the Yankees and their obsession with numbers. They have analytics for everything. They can probably tell you a pitcher's spin rate on a Tuesday night with two outs and a runner on second. But figuring out who actually deserves an opportunity? That's apparently more complicated.
Some Yankees get chance after chance no matter how poorly they perform. Others can produce and seemingly never get a legitimate opportunity. Then somebody carrying an 8.05 ERA comes through the door and the Yankees say, Let's see what we've got.
Maybe Topa pitches lights-out. I hope he does. This isn't a knock on the guy for accepting an opportunity. It's about the Yankees.
For an organization that supposedly lives by the numbers, they sure have a strange way of deciding which numbers actually matter.
The Yankees have a real opportunity here. Cuban outfielder Raider Sanchez is 20 years old, has serious power potential and is now available on the international market.
Here’s the kicker: the Yankees reportedly have more international bonus money remaining than any other team. Translation: Brian Cashman has the biggest wallet at the table. For once, this shouldn’t require a complicated Yankee analytics meeting.
Prospects are never guarantees. Sanchez could become something special or disappear into the minors. Nobody knows. But what we do know is the Yankees take changes all the time. But when a team has money and a talented 20-year-old power hitter is sitting there, the decision seems pretty simple.
I say go get the kid. Sánchez batted .355 with 2 home runs in Cuba's Elite League at the start of the 2026 season before leaving Cuba as a much-touted prospect.
Then again, these are the Yankees. Simple decisions somehow become calculus.
Jon Heyman dropped an interesting nugget earlier this month. I didn't want to forget to tell you. Allegedly the Yankees are among the teams linked to Japanese slugger Teruaki Sato, the 27-year-old Hanshin Tigers third baseman expected to pursue MLB after the 2026 season.
Heyman's report appeared in the New York Post on August 13, with the Mets, Yankees, Dodgers and Phillies among the clubs connected to Sato.
Now, "linked" is doing a lot of work here. This isn't a signing. It isn't even necessarily serious negotiations. It's a loose rumor. But it's an interesting one.
Sato is one of Japan's premier power hitters, and here's where this gets even more intriguing.
Meanwhile Ryan McMahon landed on the 10-day IL August 21, retroactive to August 20, with a Grade 2 sprain of his left thumb after jamming it sliding into second base against Baltimore.
And remember: Heyman's Sato report came eight days earlier.
So no, the Yankees weren't suddenly linked to Sato because McMahon got hurt. They were apparently interested before the injury. Coincidence? Probably. But now that McMahon is hurt, that little August 13 rumor suddenly feels a bit more relevant.
Maybe Sato becomes another name swallowed up by the endless Yankee rumor machine. Or maybe this is one worth remembering. For now, it's just a link.
