SHOULD YANKEE FANS PANIC YET?

The Yankees had this game. Then, almost on cue, they gave it away.

New York jumped out to a 4-1 lead after Heliot Ramos, George Lombard Jr. and Spencer Jones all homered in the third inning. The kids supplied the power, the Yankees grabbed control—and then everything collapsed.

Arizona scored seven unanswered runs, with Nolan Arenado delivering the crushing blow: a fifth-inning grand slam off Brent Headrick that turned a three-run Yankees lead into another ugly loss. The Diamondbacks won 8-4 and took the series. Once Arenado’s ball landed in the seats, the Yankees never answered. Five Arizona relievers shut them out over the final 6 1/3 innings. 

So, do we panic yet?

Maybe “panic” is too dramatic, but concern is absolutely justified. This is no longer about one bad inning in Arizona. The Yankees are now six games behind Tampa Bay with only seven remaining, and their shot at the American League East is barely breathing. They will almost certainly enter October through the Wild Card door—assuming they don’t stumble even further.

And that brings us back to Aaron Boone.

Boone has won plenty of regular-season games. His defenders will always point to the record, the playoff appearances and the consistency. But managing the Yankees isn’t about piling up victories from April through August. It’s about executing when the pressure arrives.

Boone has repeatedly shown that when a game tightens, his decision-making does too. Sunday was another example. The Yankees had a lead, the inning was slipping away, and Boone entrusted the game to an overworked Headrick, making his 79th appearance. By the time Boone reacted, Arenado had already put Arizona ahead for good.

That is Boone’s greatest weakness, and it will always make him a poor manager in my eyes—regardless of how many regular-season wins appear next to his name. The postseason exposes hesitation, questionable bullpen choices and managers who fail to feel the moment. We have watched that movie before.

The Yankees now head into a four-game series against Tampa Bay. Boone says they need to “kick their butt.” That sounds wonderful. But this team doesn’t need another Boone slogan. It needs urgency, clean execution and a manager capable of staying ahead of the game instead of reacting after it has already been lost.

Should Yankee fans panic?

Not yet. But if this is how Boone and the Yankees plan to handle October pressure, we already know how the story ends.

The dude can't close. Yes, we clinched a playoff spot, but that means nothing if we can't win it all.  The dude's not George Patton... he not even close.

IS PLAYOFF BASEBALL A POSSIBILITY WITHOUT JUDGE?

Nothing hurts more than being kicked when you are down. That's how I feel right now. The Yankees are down, and begging for a postseason miracle as the bad luck just keeps on coming. It's a consistent kick to the gut and the pain just keeps intensifying.

What a weekend. We lost the series to the Diamondbacks which I hate more than anyone here could ever understand. The weekend they celebrate their 2001 World Series against us, we lose again. Luis Gonzalez didn't deliver the crushing blow this time but that spirit still lives on. Of all the times I wanted the Yankees to win, this ranks high up there. We lose again, and it stings.

Then to add insult to injury, we all get to sit and hold our breath about Aaron Judge, who is back on the Injured List. On September 2nd, we wrote AARON JUDGE IS CLOSE TO A RETURN - BUT IS HE READY? I was worried he wasn't going to be ready because a rub injury is no joke and our medical staff IS a joke. Now Judge lasted 7 games before his next problem....a calf strain.

I swear I am so sick about this team and their calf strains. It is ridiculous! Here we are again. Judge has a right calf strain, and we don't know how bad it is. Our plan of attack includes hoping that we can get him back by the last game of the regular season and ready for the postseason. This sounds a little scary....

"They haven't told me yet [grade of muscle strain]. But he did reveal that the strain was to the soleus muscle, which he said "is a little more crucial with running and hitting," said Judge.

"It doesn't matter what grade it is, said Aaron Boone. "We're going to get him back, or we're not. That's what we're going to work to do, and we'll see."

That doesn't make me feel great. For the record, I don't believe that the Yankees don't know what grade strain he has. They absolutely do, they are just trying to keep it under wraps.....which makes it sound really really bad. It also makes the rest of us speculate which is dangerous.

Soleus muscle injuries can be precursors to Achilles tears if they are not treated properly or if someone is rushed back prematurely. Judge is so important to this team, but if they don't rehab this correctly it could cost us the rest of the season. The Yankees are six games behind the Rays with seven games left to go. Odds are the Yankees are going to be playing in the Wild Card spot again....and we need Judge ready to contribute.

A Wild Card berth means the Red Sox would be waiting for us again. The Red Sox are always a pain in the ass, but would be an even bigger one without Judge. That's just something I don't want to think about.

It's been a rough season, and even though the regular season is almost over it certainly isn't getting easier. This is definitely more than I want to stress about right now. It's time for the bleeding to stop. It's time to start praying to baseball gods and asking for a postseason miracle.

--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa

BYB Senior Managing Editor

Twitter: @nyprincessj

GREAT PITCHING ALONE WON’T SAVE THE YANKEES

There is no question the Yankees have the pitching to make a serious run in October. The rotation is strong, the bullpen can shorten games, and when everything is clicking, this staff can shut down anybody.

But here’s the problem: pitching cannot carry a dead offense forever.

The loss of Aaron Judge changes everything. He is not simply the Yankees’ best hitter—he is the one player opposing pitchers fear. When Judge is missing, the lineup becomes easier to navigate. Pitchers can attack everyone else without worrying about the big man waiting around the corner.

That puts even more pressure on Ben Rice.

Rice has shown that he can provide legitimate power and change a game with one swing. Now the Yankees need him to prove he can do it when the pressure rises. Cody Bellinger needs to contribute. The middle of the order needs to produce. Someone must take control instead of waiting for Judge to return and rescue everybody.

The Yankees can celebrate their record and recent winning streak, but October does not care what happened in September. One quiet night at the plate can end a season. Two quiet nights can send everyone home.

This pitching staff is good enough to win a championship. But if Rice and the rest of these bats don’t step up, it won’t matter.

You cannot pitch your way around an offense that disappears. And without Judge, that is exactly what the Yankees are in danger of becoming.

DEVERS TO THE YANKEES? DO WE REALLY NEED THIS?

Here we go.

Rafael Devers and the Yankees are being mentioned in the same sentence, and naturally Yankee fans are going to start dreaming about home runs into the short porch.

ESPN's Buster Olney recently floated Devers as a potential fit for the Yankees, reportedly saying, "He would be perfect with the Yankees."

Perfect? I'm not so sure.

Nobody needs to convince me Rafael Devers can hit.  The bat isn't my problem. The baggage is. Remember how this whole thing with Boston went down?

When the Red Sox signed Alex Bregman and wanted Devers to move away from third base, Devers publicly pushed back. Then, after Triston Casas went down and Boston approached him about potentially playing first base, Devers wasn't exactly thrilled with that idea either.

Eventually Boston shipped its $313.5 million star to San Francisco. Now we're supposed to look at all of that and say, You know what the Yankees need? Rafael Devers.

Do they? That's the question. This isn't fantasy baseball. You don't just collect names and home-run totals. You're building a clubhouse. And if you're Brian Cashman, before you even think about calling Buster Posey, you'd better know exactly which Rafael Devers you're getting.

Because New York isn't Boston and it sure isn't San Francisco.

If Devers didn't like questions about his position in Boston, wait until he's surrounded by 25 reporters after an 0-for-4 night in the Bronx. That's what concerns me. They need guys willing to do whatever is necessary to win.

Could Devers come here, DH, play some first base and absolutely rake in Yankee Stadium? Of course. Would I love his bat between some of the hitters in this lineup? Absolutely.

But I'm not giving away the farm and taking on a massive contract simply because somebody showed me his Baseball Reference page.

I want to know about the guy. I want to know about the teammate.

And most importantly, I want to know what happens the first time Aaron Boone tells Rafael Devers he's doing something Rafael Devers doesn't particularly want to do. Because we've seen that movie before.

Maybe Devers comes to New York, settles in, lets Judge lead and hits 40 bombs. Great. But before Yankee fans start Photoshopping him into pinstripes, somebody needs to ask the question nobody seems interested in asking:

Do the Yankees really need Rafael Devers... or do they just need Rafael Devers' bat? Those are two very different things.

And after everything we've watched this organization get wrong over the years, that's a distinction Brian Cashman better understand before he picks up the phone.

YANKEES WALKED OFF IN ARIZONA AS VOLPE BEGINS ANOTHER FREE FALL

The Yankees didn’t just lose to the Diamondbacks on Saturday night. They let a winnable game slip away at exactly the wrong time.

Arizona beat the Yankees 5-3 when pinch-hitter Pavin Smith launched a two-run, walk-off home run off Michael Fulmer in the bottom of the ninth inning. The 391-foot shot came immediately after Fulmer issued a controversial leadoff walk to Ildemaro Vargas.

Just like that, it was over. A Boone decision. Remember this as we are entering October baseball.

Cam Schlittler once again did enough to give the Yankees a chance. The rookie allowed only three hits over six innings, surrendering three runs—but just one earned—while lowering his American League-leading ERA to 1.94.

The Yankees didn’t help him.

A Schlittler fielding error opened the door for Arizona in the fifth inning, and Jordan Lawlar made them pay with a two-run triple. New York eventually grabbed a 3-2 lead behind solo home runs from Heliot Ramos and Austin Wells, but the Diamondbacks tied it again before Smith ended it in the ninth. By the way, Wells? Batting .185. Why in the freaking world so I care about a solo homer from this guy once a week if he can't even hit consistently?

The loss dropped the Yankees five games behind Tampa Bay in the American League East with only eight games remaining. Yes, the Yankees have already clinched a playoff spot. No, that doesn’t make losses like this acceptable—not with the division and home-field positioning still hanging in the balance.

And while everyone talks about the walk-off, let’s not act like we don’t see what is happening with Anthony Volpe.

Over his last seven games, Volpe is batting .217 with a .280 on-base percentage and a .304 slugging percentage. He has five hits in 23 at-bats, no home runs and only two RBIs.

That is not production. Those are “not a Major League player” numbers.

Once again, Volpe put together a small stretch of respectable baseball, and Yankee fans immediately declared that he had turned the corner. The broadcasts celebrated him. His defenders rushed back out. Everyone wanted to believe the Yankees had finally been proven right.

Once again, they were fooled.

Now Volpe is free-falling right back toward the same offensive numbers that have followed him throughout his career. This is the problem with judging a player by a handful of games instead of the complete body of work. A hot week doesn’t erase months—or years—of inconsistency. You need to watch the long game.

The Yankees have protected Volpe, promoted Volpe and made excuses for Volpe. Other players are forced to earn their opportunities. Volpe is handed his and then given endless time to justify them.

Meanwhile, the lineup continues to disappear for long stretches. Three runs weren’t enough Saturday night, just as three runs frequently won’t be enough in October. The Yankees have excellent pitching, but even excellent pitching needs support. Schlittler gave them six strong innings, and they still found a way to lose.

Most Yankee outlets will focus on the drama of the walk-off and move along.

Bleeding Yankee Blue will focus on the problem that refuses to disappear. Anthony Volpe still isn’t producing—and pretending otherwise won’t help the Yankees win in October.

YANKEES WIN BIG—BUT JUDGE’S INJURY CHANGES EVERYTHING

Give the Yankees credit. They are finding ways to win, and Friday night’s 9-2 beatdown of the Diamondbacks was another impressive example.

New York buried Arizona with five runs in the first inning and never looked back. Ben Rice launched his 39th home run and added a triple. George Lombard Jr. drove in three runs, including two on his own homer. Gerrit Cole finally looked like Gerrit Cole again, allowing two runs over six innings while becoming the winningest No. 1 overall draft pick in baseball history.

That is the formula the Yankees need: hit early, pitch well and stop making every game feel like open-heart surgery.

But let’s not dance around the real problem. Aaron Judge is hurt again, this time with a calf strain, and he is headed to the injured list. The Yankees can survive a few regular-season games without Judge. Winning four postseason series without him—or with a compromised version of him—is another story.

I don’t believe this team can win it all without a healthy Judge. Rice, Lombard and the rest can contribute, but Judge is the force that changes an opponent’s entire game plan.

Then there is Aaron Boone. Once October arrives and every pitching change, lineup decision and defensive substitution matters, we already know what happens. Boone overthinks, waits too long or finds some new way to blow it under pressure.

So yes, applaud the Yankees. They are winning, showing depth and refusing to fold. But if Judge isn’t right—and Boone is still Boone—the ending may be painfully familiar.

CABRERA NEVER STOOD A CHANCE

Oswaldo Cabrera didn’t make the cut with the Yankees—not because he failed, but because he wasn’t one of their chosen ones. That's the truth and that’s the ugly part.

Cabrera did everything the organization asked. He played all over the field, accepted every role, worked his way back from a devastating injury and hit .288 at Triple-A. He was a terrific teammate and exactly the kind of versatile bench player a contending team should value.

But none of it mattered. Cabrera didn’t receive the organizational protection afforded to Anthony Volpe.

The Yankees have bent over backward to defend Volpe, excuse his failures and manufacture opportunities for him. Cabrera received no such patience. When a roster spot was needed, he was the expendable one.

Then Aaron Boone foolishly hoped Cabrera might clear waivers.

Why would he?

Other organizations aren’t obligated to participate in the Yankees’ favoritism. Cincinnati saw a capable, versatile player with a minor-league option remaining and immediately claimed him. The Reds recognized Cabrera’s value while the Yankees were too busy protecting their preferred players. Boone's a fool.

Bottom line, the wrong infielder went to Cincinnati.

Anthony Volpe should be playing second base for the Reds right now. Instead, Cincinnati landed Cabrera—a player who earned his opportunities but never received the same endless chances.

Cabrera didn’t lose a fair competition. He lost a rigged numbers game.

He simply wasn’t a Yankees favorite—and with this organization, that matters more than performance.

I mean Christ, do the Yankees realize many fans just don't like these Yankee players? It's ridiculous already.

THE YANKEES FAILED OSWALDO CABRERA

There are Yankee moves that make you scratch your head. Then there are Yankee moves that make you wonder if anybody in that front office actually remembers what building a baseball team is supposed to look like.

Designating Oswaldo Cabrera for assignment falls into the second category.

The Yankees DFA’d Cabrera Wednesday to clear a 40-man roster spot for Clarke Schmidt. Technically, that’s the transaction.

But this is bigger than a roster spot.

This is about how the Yankees continue to treat certain players like disposable parts while seemingly giving others every opportunity imaginable to prove they belong.

And Cabrera deserved better.

This is a guy who did whatever the Yankees asked him to do.

Third base? Sure. Second? No problem. Shortstop? He’d do it. Outfield? Give him a glove. Sit on the bench for a week and then suddenly get thrown into the lineup somewhere he hadn’t played in a month?

Oswaldo Cabrera would smile and say, “Let’s go.” Was he a superstar? Of course not. That’s not the point.

Cabrera was exactly the kind of player championship teams need — a versatile, energetic utility player who understood his role, never complained and was willing to do just about anything to help the New York Yankees win.

And after battling back from that horrific ankle injury, Cabrera went to Triple-A and hit .288 with a .790 OPS this season.

His reward? DFA. Beautiful.

Meanwhile, we continue to hear about Anthony Volpe. 

CC Sabathia recently talked about Volpe’s “perseverance and determination,” and look, I understand CC’s point. Volpe didn't quit when the Yankees finally sent him to Triple-A. He worked. He made adjustments. He learned second base even though he didn't want to. He hit the baseball down there.

Good for him. Seriously. But perseverance cannot become another excuse for pretending the previous four years didn't happen. Volpe entered this latest opportunity with an 85 wRC+ across parts of four major-league seasons. This year, before his demotion, he was hitting .240/.325/.322 with one home run in 56 games.

At some point, Major League Baseball has to be about major-league production. And let's also stop rewriting the reason Volpe came back.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. hurt his thumb and went on the injured list. The Yankees suddenly needed another second baseman. José Caballero had already stepped in at second, but Caballero's value to this roster is his ability to move around the diamond.

So Volpe got the call. That's roster necessity. That's different from the Yankees suddenly deciding Anthony Volpe had conquered Triple-A and earned his triumphant return to the Bronx.

Maybe Volpe has figured something out. Who knows. I really don't care anymore.

The Yankees' fascination with making Anthony Volpe happen has gone on long enough that fans have every right to question why the standards appear different depending on whose name is on the back of the uniform.

Because that's what bothers me about Cabrera. Oswaldo Cabrera earned the right to be useful to this team. He accepted every role. He played everywhere. He came back from a devastating injury. He produced in Scranton. And the Yankees still decided he was expendable.

The Yankees decided preserving their pitching depth and keeping their other roster possibilities open was more important than keeping Cabrera on the 40-man roster.

That's their right. But fans have the right to call it what it looks like, too. Another good Yankee gets squeezed while the organization continues bending over backward to find roles and opportunities for players it has decided are part of the plan.

That's the problem. It's not that Anthony Volpe shouldn't have been recalled when Jazz went down. The roster situation made the move understandable.

It's that Oswaldo Cabrera seemingly never received the same runway.

One player gets patience. Another gets DFA'd. One gets talked about in terms of determination and development. The other does everything asked of him, fights his way back from a gruesome injury, hits .288 in Triple-A and gets shown the door.

Oswaldo Cabrera wasn't Aaron Judge. Nobody ever claimed he was. He was something every good baseball team needs. A good Yankee. A useful Yankee. A selfless Yankee.

And once again, the Yankees somehow found a way to make that guy the expendable one. Maybe another organization claims Cabrera and actually appreciates what he brings to a roster.

I hope they do. Because Oswaldo Cabrera earned his opportunity. The Yankees just decided someone else deserved it more. And we've seen that movie before.

YANKEES FIRE FIVE SCOUTS; HYDE & HENDRY SURVIVE

The Yankees are not waiting for the offseason to begin cleaning house.

According to industry sources, the organization has dismissed five members of its international scouting department as part of a planned overhaul. Gone are José Sabino; Arturo Peña Jr., the club’s Cibao-area scout in the Dominican Republic; Santo Domingo-area scout Moises Brito; video assistant Miguel Mojica; and Venezuela supervisor José Gavidia.

Those dismissals came just days after the Yankees separated from longtime international scout Victor Mata, who spent more than 30 years with the organization. Mata reportedly played a role in evaluating and signing Robinson Canó, Alfonso Soriano and Gary Sánchez.

That is a significant shakeup—and the timing is impossible to ignore. The regular season is not even over, the Yankees are headed toward October and the organization has offered no public explanation for the sudden changes.

Clearly, somebody inside the Yankee hierarchy believes the scouting operation needs fixing.

Us here at Bleeding Yankee Blue has questioned Yankee scouts and their evaluation process for years. Most recently, we examined the unusual favoritism surrounding Anthony Volpe and questioned how he became the Yankees’ starting shortstop after being rushed through Triple-A.

That brings me to Matt Hyde and Jim Hendry.

Both men remain employed by the Yankees.

Our investigation in, HOW YANKEE SCOUTS LOST THEIR WAY IN THE VOLPE RECRUITMENT detailed Hyde’s longstanding relationship with Volpe and his relentless internal campaign to promote him. Hendry, meanwhile, developed a close relationship with the Volpe family before the draft and was reportedly present years later when Volpe learned he had made the Major League roster.

Maybe the Yankees see nothing wrong with any of that. I do.

If the organization is willing to overhaul its international scouting department and dismiss longtime employees, it is fair to ask why Hyde and Hendry have escaped scrutiny after becoming so personally invested in a player whose performance has never matched the enormous organizational hype.

Perhaps they are simply praying that Volpe eventually becomes the star they promised everyone he would be. If that happens, they can declare victory and skate.

Until then, the question remains:

Why were five scouts fired while Hyde and Hendry are still collecting Yankee paychecks? My opinion? I find it weird.

Stay tuned.

VOLPE HAD HIS MOMENT & THE YANKEES STILL LOST

Maybe I’m getting old. Maybe I’ve watched too many Yankees teams that actually finished the job.

But can we please stop celebrating every little moment like we just won Game 7 of the World Series?

The Yankees lost to the Twins Wednesday, 5-4, in 13 innings. They had chances. Lots of them. Anthony Volpe delivered a two-out, two-run double to tie the game. The Yankees took leads in both the 10th and 11th. Then they loaded the bases with nobody out in the 12th and somehow scored nobody. Minnesota eventually walked it off in the 13th.

Yet watching Yankees social media after Volpe tied the game, you would have thought the Canyon of Heroes parade route was being mapped out. And yes, I’m picking on Volpe because everybody knows I’m not exactly president of his fan club. But this really isn't about him.

It's about the constant need to manufacture stars and manufacture moments.

A big hit happens? Clip it. Slow motion. Dramatic celebration. Everybody loses their minds.

Wonderful.

They lost the game. That’s the part that actually matters.

It reminds me of how we still see Aaron Boone’s home run off Tim Wakefield in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS. Was it incredible? Absolutely. I remember exactly how that felt.

But here's another thing I remember:

The Yankees didn't win the World Series.

Florida did.

Volpe is Boone. I think that's why Boone glazes him so much.  He sees so much in him. My opinion of course.

And maybe that makes me different from today's marketing department, but I don't want moments. I want championships. I want moments when championships and wins happen, not when they lose. When they lose, I don't care.

Meanwhile, the biggest story Wednesday wasn't Volpe's double anyway.

It was Aaron Judge leaving the game.

Judge was removed in the sixth inning because of tightness in his lower right leg. He said he first felt it while playing the field in the first inning and tried to continue before deciding it wasn't worth risking something worse. This was only his seventh game back after missing more than three months with a stress fracture in his right rib. Judge indicated afterward that he probably wouldn't need imaging, but we'll see.

That's the story I'm worried about.

Because we've already watched this Yankee season without Judge for far too long. The last thing this team needs, with October approaching, is another Judge injury.

So spare me the premature celebrations.

I'm a Yankee fan. I want this team to win. I desperately want to get excited about them. But give me something worth celebrating. Win the games.

Win in October. Win the World Series.

Then post every damn video you've got.

Until then, they're just moments.

And Wednesday's big "moment" ended exactly where too many of these Yankee moments eventually end:

With somebody else celebrating.

CC SABATHIA COMMENDS VOLPE'S PERSEVERANCE WHILE FANS CONDEMN HIM!

We don't need a reminder about how brutally honest the New York Yankee fan base is, and neither does CC Sabathia. Fans didn't hold back when he was playing, and they still don't. The only difference now might be that there may be more CC's out there to support those underperforming players.

That's what he is doing now, he's supporting Gary Sanchez, Miguel Andujar and last but not least Anthony Volpe, read more HERE. These guys were given "labels" from the fan base, which happens a lot when you don't meet expectations underneath New York's bright lights. For years we have been writing about how the Yankees coddle their players and but now CC wants the Yankees to also help them adapt to this demanding environment.

I agree with that to a point. New York is a tough place to play for established veterans, let alone when you are a young kid like Volpe was making it onto the big stage as an everyday player. There should be some mental preparation there for players, but it should also be prepared with the confidence of pairing that with good fundamentals to help you perform at a high level under those bright lights. If you have that track record of faltering (like Volpe has) that's when the Yankees need to be more hands on. It's exactly what the Yankees haven't done well.

Everyone in life needs feedback. It's what helps us improve and hone in on our craft. The Yankees do need to look for new ways to help guys deal with the pressures in the bright lights but maybe that doesn't look like what CC is suggesting. Maybe it's a more real-world scenario that the rest of us deal with since we don't make the big bucks playing a kid's game for a living.

The Yankees coddle; I call it the Aaron Boone approach. He's warm and fuzzy. The Bronx, however, is not a warm and fuzzy place. It's as real as it gets. Why aren't we giving that fair, but realistic approach to these guys? This isn't a sunshine and rainbows environment. This isn't a "safe space." This is a 'pull your big boy pants up and be tough' environment and get the job done. Figure it out and use your resources. The Yankees have lots of resources and patience. The fans don't have the patience, and we shouldn't be expected to have patience.

You can still give honest feedback that is firm but fair. It builds character. Hugs are not included on the side here. That's what Boone and the Yankees do. They give hugs, but they don't give reality. Give these guys a real environment to adapt in and help them through the bumps and they will perform better, period. If they don't, then they get sent down to the minors like Volpe did or traded. 

Only the strong survive here, and the Yankees need to figure that out. The coddling isn't working. Not everyone is cut out to play here so it's time to be honest about that. 

--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa

BYB Senior Managing Editor

Twitter: @nyprincessj

YANKS KEEP TEARING IT UP

The Yankees are rolling. There, I said it. And now I’m immediately nervous.

New York beat up the Twins again Tuesday night, 8-1, winning their third straight and seventh in their last eight games. Suddenly this team looks dangerous at exactly the right time.

Max Fried was outstanding. Seven innings, one run, six strikeouts and no walks. That’s the Fried the Yankees need in October.

Cody Bellinger stayed hot, going 3-for-4 and launching a two-run homer in the first inning. Then Spencer Jones delivered the knockout punch — a massive 423-foot, three-run bomb in the sixth that blew the game open.

And don’t overlook George Lombard Jr. The kid had two more hits and drove in a run. Heliot Ramos had two hits as well, and the Yankees piled up 14 hits even with Aaron Judge getting the night off.

This is what we’ve been waiting for. Pitching. Power. Young guys contributing. Different guys stepping up every night.

The Yankees are 88-63, they’ve already punched their ticket to October, and right now they’re playing some of their best baseball of the season.

I want to get excited. I really do.

But I’ve watched this team too long to get my hopes up just yet.

Keep rolling. Keep winning. And maybe — just maybe — they’ll make believers out of us.