CASHMAN PROTECTED LOMBARD. WHAT ELSE HAVE YOU DONE FOR THIS TEAM?

I keep seeing these ridiculous takes about the Yankees’ trade deadline:

“One of Brian Cashman’s best moves was not trading George Lombard Jr.”

Seriously?

Protecting your best young player isn't some brilliant front-office achievement. That’s Cashman’s job. You know what else is his job? Finding another way to make the Yankees better.

If a team demands Lombard, say no. Then call somebody else. Offer different prospects. Take on money. Get creative. 

Cashman has an entire organization at his disposal. The choices aren't trade Lombard or go home.

This Yankees’ deadline leaves us in a familiar place: Cashman made moves, including Heliot Ramos and Luis Garcia Jr., but did he actually do enough to turn this team into a championship favorite?

That’s the problem. He did not. Cashman always seems to go through the motions. Make the calls, make better calls. Ask about the big names. Tell everyone the prices were too high. Protect a prospect. Make a few secondary moves. Do something meaningful.

Deadline over. And we did this last year too.

In 2025, Cashman brought in Ryan McMahon, David Bednar, Camilo Doval, Jake Bird, José Caballero, Amed Rosario and Austin Slater. There was plenty of deadline excitement then, too.

And where did it get us? Doval, Bird and Slater are already off the team. We didn't move the needle. That’s why I don't want to hear about Cashman “winning” another deadline because he didn't make a stupid trade.

Not making a bad trade isn't the same thing as making a great one. Keep Lombard. Absolutely. But then GO GET SOMEBODY ELSE. Someone meaningful.

We are the New York Yankees. Cashman has prospects, major-league players and enormous financial resources to work with. Eventually the standard has to become championships again—not congratulating Brian Cashman because he managed to protect one of his own best prospects.

But that’s not genius. That's just part of the job.

CASHMAN’S CASINO: WEATHERS IS THE LATEST 'HOPE' DICE ROLL

Call me a hater. I’ll survive.

Ryan Weathers is pitching out of his shoes right now. Good for him. He changed his pitch mix, dramatically cut back on the four-seamer that got hammered in the past, leaned more on his sinker and secondary stuff, and suddenly looks like a different pitcher.

Fantastic.

But Ryan Weathers is also the perfect poster child for how Brian Cashman builds the Yankees these days. Roll the dice and hope. That's it. That's the strategy.

Instead of aggressively building a roster designed to overpower the competition, Cashman seems obsessed with finding the next reclamation project, the next injured player, the next underachiever with "upside" who the Yankees believe they can fix.

And when one of those lottery tickets hits? Suddenly we're supposed to applaud the genius. Weathers came to the Yankees with a career ERA around 5.00, a losing record and an injury history that included finger, flexor and lat problems. That's not me being a hater. That's the résumé.

Now he's pitching great. His 7 1/3 innings of one-run baseball against Toronto were outstanding. He's changed his approach and deserves credit for it.

But let's not rewrite history because the roulette ball landed on black a few times. Cashman rolled the dice. Weathers is currently paying off.

There's a difference. And that's what bothers me about these Yankees. Too often it feels like Cashman would rather prove he can outsmart baseball than simply go get the best players available and build the strongest roster possible.

Maybe Weathers becomes something. Maybe the injured guy stays healthy. Maybe the struggling veteran rebounds. Maybe Matt Blake fixes another pitcher. Maybe the bargain-bin acquisition turns into a postseason hero.

Maybe. Maybe. Maybe.

At some point, "hope" stopped being the backup plan and became the Yankees' actual business model. That's not how the New York Yankees should operate. This is supposed to be an organization with enormous resources trying to win championships, not Brian Cashman standing at a craps table shaking the dice yelling, Come on, baby, daddy needs a No. 3 starter!

And yes, sometimes it works. Right now, Ryan Weathers is working.

Am I happy for the kid? Sure. Am I a fan? Nope. Would I buy a ticket specifically because Ryan Weathers is pitching? Absolutely not. Not that exciting.

Because I've seen hot stretches before, and Weathers' career tells us this level of dominance is anything but normal. Maybe the pitch-mix adjustment changed everything. Maybe he really has figured it out.

Or maybe we're watching a guy on one hell of a heater. Keep dealing, Ryan. Prove me wrong. But don't use Ryan Weathers' sudden success as proof that Cashman had some brilliant master plan. He rolled the dice.

This time, maybe he hit his number. The problem is the New York Yankees shouldn't have to keep visiting the casino to build a championship team.

FRIED AGAIN? YANKS CAN’T KEEP ANYBODY HEALTHY

Just when you thought the Yankees were finally getting their rotation together, Max Fried is back on the injured list. Again.

Fried was placed on the 15-day IL just a short time ago with a left elbow bone bruise — the same injury that cost him nearly two months earlier this season. Seriously, why the hell can’t the Yankees stay healthy?

We literally just got finished talking about how exciting it would be to finally see Gerrit Cole, Max Fried and Carlos Rodón healthy and pitching in the same rotation. That's the kind of three-headed monster that can carry you through October.

And right on cue, Rodón is ready to return Tuesday after dealing with his own elbow inflammation and Fried goes down. You can't make this stuff up.

At some point, I think it's fair to start asking questions beyond simple bad luck. Should the Yankees be taking a serious look at their medical staff, training staff, strength and conditioning programs and the way they manage player health?

I'm not accusing anyone of causing injuries. Pitchers get hurt. That's baseball. But when you're constantly waiting for Judge, Stanton, Bellinger, Rodón, Fried and others to get healthy, eventually somebody needs to examine the bigger picture. The Yankees' current injury list includes several major pieces, and Fried's latest setback only adds to it.

Because this is getting ridiculous.

The Yankees have spent a fortune assembling a championship-caliber roster. It would be nice if we could actually see the damn roster on the field at the same time.

RODÓN'S BACK, BUT WHY ARE THE YANKS MESSING WITH WARREN?

Carlos Rodón is back, and that should be great news. Instead, because these are the Yankees, his return immediately turns into another episode of Who Are We Screwing With This Week?

Rodón will return Tuesday against Baltimore, and the immediate rotation squeeze appears to involve Will Warren and Ryan Weathers.

If Warren is ultimately the guy pushed aside, I don't like it.

And yes, I understand Weathers has been terrific lately. In fact, he's been downright dominant — a 0.85 ERA over his last five starts. But if I'm making the decision, I'm keeping Warren in the rotation and finding another role for Weathers.

Why?

Because at some point the Yankees need to stop jerking Will Warren around. Remember the trade deadline. Warren's name was floating around in discussions involving the Padres. Reports at the time identified him as one of the pitchers who could potentially be included in a significant package. Now Rodón returns and suddenly Warren's rotation spot is the one we're talking about again?

Maybe that's coincidence.

I don't think it is.

To me, it looks like the Yankees have soured on Warren to some degree. Why else are you willing to discuss trading the guy, then potentially make him the odd man out when the rotation gets crowded? If Warren is supposedly an important piece of your future, start treating him like one.

This is what drives me crazy about the Yankees. They develop players, hype players, defend players and then seemingly change their opinion overnight. There's no consistency. There's always some roster shuffle, some mysterious organizational preference or some Aaron Boone explanation that somehow leaves you knowing less than you did before he opened his mouth.

But here's the other side of this.

Rodón coming back could be HUGE.

Imagine walking into a postseason series and seeing Max Fried, Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodón lined up.

Now THAT gets my attention. Cole is back pitching well after Tommy John surgery, Fried is Fried, and a healthy Rodón gives the Yankees three legitimate weapons at the top of that rotation. That trio could be absolute gold in October.

There is just one tiny problem. THE YANKEES STILL HAVE TO SCORE FREAKING RUNS.

That's the insanity of this team. We spend all this time debating Warren versus Weathers, celebrating Rodón's return and dreaming about Cole-Fried-Rodón in October while watching an offense that too often makes two runs feel like an offensive explosion.

You can have Koufax, Gibson and Seaver out there and it doesn't matter if your lineup can't push anybody across home plate.

So welcome back, Carlos. I'm thrilled you're here. Now somebody please tell the Yankees hitters.

Because a rotation of Fried, Cole and Rodón could win a championship.

They just can't win every game 1-0.

BEN RICE SAVES THE DAY, BUT CASHMAN’S MESS IS STILL HERE

The Yankees escaped Toronto with a 4-3 win in 10 innings Sunday, and thank God for Ben Rice, because without him we're talking about getting swept and another humiliating chapter in this maddening season.

Rice made an error in the ninth, then did what competitors do — he responded. His two-run homer in the 10th saved the Yankees' asses and got them out of Toronto with something.

But let's not pretend everything is fine. This Yankee offense is a disgrace.

They scored two runs in the first two games of this series. Two! It's August. This is supposedly a championship contender, yet we're still watching pitchers being asked to be nearly perfect because the lineup disappears for entire games.

Enough with hard-hit balls, exit velocity and Aaron Boone telling us how close everybody is.

SCORE. THE. DAMN. RUNS. And then there's Brian Cashman.

Cashman knew this offense desperately needed help, and his answer was Heliot Ramos. The Yankees gave up Henry Lalane and Kaeden Kent, and through Ramos' first eight games in pinstripes he was 2-for-25 with 10 strikeouts.

That's not reinforcement. That's dead weight.

Then against Toronto, Ramos didn't even hustle out of the box on a ball the Blue Jays misplayed. Seriously? You're struggling, your new team can't score, you're trying to prove you belong — and you can't bust your ass down the line?

This is Cashman all over again. Find the distressed asset. Find the hidden value. Find the guy whose underlying numbers suggest something wonderful might eventually happen.

How about finding somebody who can actually freaking hit? The Yankees don't need another project. They need runs.

Ben Rice saved them Sunday, and good for him. But one huge swing doesn't erase the bigger problem.

The offense can't score. Boone keeps preaching patience. Cashman keeps collecting projects. And Yankee fans keep being told it's all eventually going to click.

Enough.

It's August.

Stop explaining the offense and start scoring some damn runs.

DAVID CONE JUST EXPOSED THE YANKEES’ BIGGEST PROBLEM

There comes a point when “trust the process” becomes an excuse for not having a solution. David Cone appears to have reached that point with the Yankees.

During Saturday’s miserable 4-1 loss to Toronto, Cone pushed back on the philosophy we’ve heard repeatedly around this team: keep hitting the ball hard, keep putting together good at-bats, and eventually those hard-hit balls will start falling.

Cone’s point was simple: That’s not enough anymore. Thank you, Coney.

The Yankees aren't playing for exit velocity points. Nobody gets half a run because Statcast liked the contact. You have to actually score. And these Yankees simply don't.

Since Aaron Judge went down, the Yankees have averaged only 3.3 runs per game and scored just three runs over their last 27 innings. Saturday they managed four hits — all singles — against seven Toronto pitchers. Their only run came when Spencer Jones singled and George Lombard Jr. eventually knocked him home.

One run. That was it.

And this isn't a cute little slump anymore. The Yankees have been one of baseball's worst offenses since Judge went down. That's why Cone's criticism matters. When Plan A isn't working, your manager's job is to find Plan B.

Move runners. Change the lineup. Manufacture something. Create pressure. Demand better at-bats. Get angry. DO SOMETHING.

Instead, Aaron Boone gives us the same corporate Yankee word salad. Good swings. Good process. Hard contact. Eventually they'll fall.

When, Aaron? November?

This is exactly why I don't believe Boone is the right manager when things get difficult. When Judge is launching baseballs and the Yankees are scoring six runs, Boone looks fine. But when the offense disappears and the players start pressing, he doesn't seem capable of changing the temperature of that clubhouse.

Boone doesn't motivate. He waits.

And then there's Michael Kay. I like Michael, but enough already with explaining why things aren't quite as bad as Yankee fans think they are. We have eyes. We see the scoreboard. At some point, defending the process starts sounding less like analysis and more like selling the company line.

Cone didn't do that. He challenged the philosophy itself.

The Yankees don't need somebody telling them their hard-hit percentage suggests better days are coming. They need runs. They need urgency. They need somebody in that dugout who understands that August baseball doesn't care about expected statistics.

This pitching staff continues giving the Yankees opportunities to win, and the offense continues wasting them. That's not bad luck anymore.

That's Brian Cashman's roster. That's Aaron Boone's clubhouse. That's the Yankees' philosophy.

David Cone finally poked a hole in the analytics balloon. Stop telling us how hard they're hitting the baseball and start explaining why nobody can get a runner home.

Because right now, I don't see a manager solving the problem.

I see Aaron Boone waiting for the problem to solve itself.

And that may be the biggest problem of all.

THE MACHINE IS A CHAMPION!

How great is this?

Congratulations to DJ LeMahieu, who in his first season as manager of the Royal Oak Leprechauns just led them to their first Northwoods League championship.

And they certainly earned it.

Royal Oak had to fight just to get into the postseason, clinching its first Northwoods League playoff berth during the final week of the regular season. From there, the Leprechauns got hot. They beat Madison 6-1 to win the Great Lakes Division championship, setting up Thursday night's title game against the St. Cloud Rox.

Then they finished the job.

Behind terrific pitching, Royal Oak beat St. Cloud 3-1 at Joe Faber Field in Minnesota to capture the championship. It was the perfect ending to an incredible postseason run—and an incredible first year in the dugout for LeMahieu.

And I absolutely love this for DJ.

Yankee fans remember what LeMahieu was when he first came to New York. He was everything you wanted in a baseball player: quiet, professional, prepared and incredibly intelligent. No nonsense. No excuses. He simply understood how to play the game.

Apparently, he understands how to manage it, too.

LeMahieu was hired in May to manage a collegiate summer team filled with young players trying to develop and take the next step in their baseball careers. Royal Oak specifically wanted DJ's experience and baseball knowledge around those kids.

A few months later, they're champions.

That's not an accident.

His Yankee career didn't end the way any of us wanted it to, but that should never erase what DJ LeMahieu was at his best—or the respect he earned while wearing pinstripes.

Now he's taken that baseball knowledge into the dugout, helped guide a bunch of young players through a championship run and added another chapter to an already terrific baseball life.

The Machine is now The Manager.

And in Year One, DJ LeMahieu is already a champion.

Couldn't happen to a better baseball man.

--Alvin Izzo
BYB Yankee History Contributor

CASHMAN BUILT IT. BOONE CAN’T FIX IT.

The Yankees lost to Toronto 4-1 Saturday. Four hits. One run. Two runs over their last 27 innings. Read that again.

This isn't a slump anymore. This is an offense with a missing-person report. And even the one run deserves some context. Spencer Jones led off the second with a single, stole second, and George Lombard Jr. brought him home with an RBI single to left.

There it was. 1-0 Yankees.

Enjoy it. That was the entire offensive highlight reel.

Cam Schlittler gave them 5 1/3 innings of one-run baseball and struck out seven. Once again, Yankee pitching kept them alive while the offense showed up carrying pool noodles instead of bats. How many games are these pitchers supposed to win 1-0?

And then there's Aaron Boone. What exactly is he managing? Where are the adjustments? Where's the urgency? This offense keeps disappearing and Boone keeps showing up afterward with another explanation.

Enough. You're the manager. Manage. But this goes higher. Brian Cashman made his deadline moves, shuffled the furniture and supposedly improved the Yankees. So I'll ask the obvious question:

Did Brian Cashman actually make this team better? Because it sure as hell doesn't feel like it.

Toronto used seven pitchers Saturday. Seven. The Yankees countered with four singles and one lousy run. That's embarrassing. This is August. The Yankees aren't supposed to be "figuring it out." They're supposed to be gearing up for October.

Instead, we're wondering where the next run is coming from. That's why Yankee fans should be entering panic mode.

Blue Jays 4. Yankees 1.

Cashman built it. Boone manages it. And right now, this thing looks broken.

COLE DESERVES BETTER... AGAIN

The Yankees lost 3-1 to Toronto Friday night, and once again, the story wasn't complicated: they couldn't score.

Gerrit Cole gave them six strong innings, allowing two runs — only one earned — and kept the game exactly where an ace is supposed to keep it. The Yankees rewarded him with one lousy run, a Trent Grisham solo homer.

That's becoming a serious problem. We have  talked about it all last week. The Yankees have scored just one run over their last 18 innings and two runs or fewer in nine of their last 14 games. This isn't April. It's August. You don't stroll into October hoping the offense eventually wakes up.

Meanwhile, Aaron Boone found another battle to fight — with an umpire. No one cares Aaron, you're a fool.

Boone was ejected after arguing a low strike called on Luis García Jr. Was it low? It certainly looked that way. But here's my question: maybe Boone should worry a little less about winning arguments with umpires and a little more about winning baseball games.

Getting tossed isn't managing. Screaming at Vic Carapazza doesn't drive runners home. Somebody needs to explain why this lineup continually disappears.

The sixth inning was a mess, including the scary collision between Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and George Lombard Jr. near third base that resulted in Guerrero being evaluated for a possible concussion. Nuts.

But none of that changes the biggest problem. The Yankees scored one run. Again. Cole deserved better. The pitching staff deserves better. Us fans certainly deserve better.

October is coming.

You can't win if you don't hit. And apparently, no amount of Boone yelling at umpires is going to change that.

 

LOMBARD & PITCHING CAN'T DO IT ALONE

The Yankees lost 1-0 to the Seattle Mariners Thursday afternoon, and there really isn't some complicated explanation for what happened. They didn't score. Again.

Four hits. Zero runs. 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position. It was already the seventh time this season the Yankees have been shut out. And this is becoming a very real problem.

Wednesday night, the Yankees exploded for 10 runs and everybody got to smile and pretend the offense had finally awakened. Then Thursday arrived and somebody apparently unplugged it again.

Max Fried was excellent. Returning from injury, he gave the Yankees five strong innings and allowed exactly one run, a solo homer. The bullpen did its job after that. The pitching staff gave the offense eight innings to find one lousy run. They couldn't find it.

What exactly are these pitchers supposed to do? Throw a shutout every night and then hit for themselves?

That's what concerns me as we head toward September and hopefully October. Playoff pitching gets better, not worse. You cannot continually ask your pitching staff to be perfect because your offense disappears for entire games.

Look, George Lombard Jr. has been an incredible addition, but he can't do everything. The defense. The instincts. The athleticism. The energy. It seems like every night we're watching this kid do something that reminds us what shortstop is supposed to look like.

But here's the problem: George Lombard Jr. cannot save the Yankees by himself.

He's a rookie. The Yankees shouldn't need a kid who just arrived in the major leagues to become the spark plug, defensive savior and offensive answer for a supposedly championship-caliber team.

Lombard is doing his part. The rest of this lineup needs to do theirs. Because eventually another beautiful Lombard play doesn't mean much when you look up at the scoreboard and it still says:

Yankees 0.

And then there's Brian Cashman. Remember the trade deadline? Remember all that talk about improving the roster? So where exactly is the improvement?

The Yankees added Luis García Jr. and Heliot Ramos, but weeks later I'm still waiting to see how Brian Cashman's deadline made this team significantly better. Ramos pinch-hit Thursday and grounded out. He's now 2-for-25 as a Yankee. I'm not blaming Ramos for the entire offense. But when evaluating a trade deadline, the question is pretty simple:

Did Brian Cashman make the New York Yankees better? Right now, I'm having a difficult time seeing it. Once again, we're watching the Yankees approach the stretch run hoping injured players return, hoping the offense becomes consistent and hoping the pitching can continue carrying an enormous load.

That's not roster construction. That's crossing your fingers. Thursday was the perfect example. The pitching was good enough to win. Again. The offense wasn't. Again.

George Lombard Jr. has been terrific, but he can't drag this team into October by himself. At some point the established hitters have to hit. The deadline additions have to matter. And the front office has to stop expecting everything to magically work itself out.

October is getting closer. And you know what doesn't work in October?

Zero runs.

IT'S NOT OFTEN THAT I AGREE WITH AROD, BUT IT JUST HAPPENED!

Ten years ago yesterday, August 12th, 2016, Alex Rodriguez played in his last game as a Yankee against the Rays. Oh how I look at that and think about the irony. Now he just sits back and talks about them and the strategy the Yankees should've taken to chase down the Rays in the AL East.

It's funny because he's been doing a lot of talking lately. I don't always agree with him. His idea that the Dodgers are good for baseball this week is one I don't agree with. However, the idea that the Yankees should've gone "all in" at the trade deadline I do agree with. If you missed it, check it out HERE. 

"The issue that you have with the Yankees, it's a tale of two stories," Rodriguez said. "They have the best pitching in baseball. They've collected some of the best pitchers, and by the way they haven't even been healthy all year but this is a championship-caliber pitching staff. I would've loved to see an extra arm or two because the by-product of not having a good offense, especially without Aaron Judge, they're pretty much 30th in every offensive category. What's gonna happen is you’re gonna play in a lot of tight games, you're not gonna blow anyone out. That means you're gonna tax your bullpen. You're gonna be the belly of your bullpen most of the year, and by the time September comes, their arms are gonna fall off. So that's my biggest concern."

We have wasted so many good, productive years in Judge's career. Next year he will be 35 and let's be honest, he's had some gnarly injuries. That's not going to get easier for the Yankees to manage. He's not going to be the young spring chicken anymore. Our starting pitching hasn't been this strong in a long time. Why waste that with an anemic offense that doesn't show up when Judge is out? It's even worse considering Cody Bellinger and Giancarlo Stanton are still out with their own injuries. It's like they are giving up without actually selling off the team.

Why not go "all in" as Rodriguez said and get some impact bats and upgrade your weaknesses that clearly aren't working? If you aren't going to sell, then don't just stand pat and make Band-Aid fixes! Cut the dead weight! Cutting Anthony Volpe wasn't enough. George Lombard Jr. getting his promotion needed to happen (it just wasn't an option not to), but they should've done more than just that. They needed to upgrade Austin Wells too!  That line from Brian Cashman about having "limited options" at catcher was a load of crap! Our rivals did it. That doesn't fix the Yankees but it sure is an addition by subtraction just getting rid of Wells who can't even hit his weight.

The Yankees needed to do more. They needed to be hungrier. The rest of these teams are looking at our starting rotation wishing they had it. They are envious for a moment, and then they realize all their offense has to do is 'keep them in the game' because they are likely to win those close games because our bullpen is not at the same level. A one run lead isn't as hard to protect for our rivals as it should be. You can't just rely on your starting pitching....the offense and bullpen need to also execute.

As Rodriguez said, "It's amazing how the whole fan base knew exactly how this was going to turn out and it did." That shouldn't be okay. That shouldn't be accepted and swept under the rug. Judge deserves more. The team deserves more. The fans deserve more. We deserve a front office with balls. We deserve a change from the top down. 

What a disgrace.

--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa

BYB Senior Managing Editor

Twitter: @nyprincessj

ANOTHER YANKEE RALLY & MORE LOMBARD MAGIC!

The Yankees won again Tuesday night, beating the Mariners 4-1 for their third straight comeback victory.

That's the good news.

The other news? Can we please stop making “comeback” part of the nightly game plan?

Ryan Weathers deserved better than another night of waiting around for the offense to show up. He carried a one-hit shutout into the sixth and stretched his scoreless streak to 23 innings before Randy Arozarena finally got him with a solo homer. Weathers went 5.2 terrific innings, and the Yankee bullpen was spotless again.

And yet, there were the Yankees, trailing 1-0. Again. Thankfully, the bats eventually received the memo. In the seventh, Ryan McMahon delivered a two-run single and Trent Grisham followed with another two-run knock. Just like that, 1-0 became 4-1, and the Yankees had another win.

I love the fight. I love three straight comeback victories. But eventually, how about throwing the first punch? You can't keep spending six innings wandering around offensively and expect to flip a switch every night. Score early. Give your pitchers a lead. Maybe even make a game comfortable once in a while.

Crazy concept, I know.

But the moment I can't stop thinking about wasn't a hit.

It was George Lombard Jr.

In the first inning, a ground ball up the middle ricocheted off the second-base bag and changed direction. Lombard adjusted instantly, grabbed it with his bare hand and fired to first for the out.

Beautiful.

And here's what made it so impressive: it wasn't showboating. It was instinct. Lombard didn't barehand the ball because he wanted a highlight. He did it because his baseball brain immediately told him that's how the play had to be made.

You can't teach that. You can practice footwork, throwing mechanics and positioning. You can take 10,000 ground balls. But that internal clock — seeing something unexpected happen and reacting correctly without hesitation — is something special.

Lombard has it.

And I'm going to ask the question because every Yankee fan watching that play had to think about it:

After all the errors, misplays and routine grounders that somehow turned into adventures, do you think in a million years Anthony Volpe makes that play?

Come on. We've spent years being told how “elite” Volpe is defensively. Now we're watching Lombard play shortstop, and seemingly every game there's another defensive highlight. Great range. Smooth hands. Difficult throws made naturally. And now he's barehanding a ball that ricocheted off second base like somebody forgot to tell him the play was supposed to be difficult.

We're getting spoiled. Actually, maybe we're not. Maybe this is simply how a Yankee shortstop is supposed to operate. What was Yankee management doing force feeding Volpe on us? What a waste of time!

There's a difference between being told someone is an elite defender and watching someone whose instincts practically jump through the television. Lombard doesn't look frantic. He doesn't fight the position. He just plays it.

That's what makes this kid so impressive. The Yankees won 4-1. Weathers was terrific. McMahon and Grisham delivered. The bullpen did its job.

Three straight comeback wins. I'll happily take them. But tonight, maybe score before the seventh inning. And please, keep hitting the ball toward George Lombard Jr.

I want to see what the kid does next.