Yankees: Take two aspirin, drink water, and get plenty of rest

The Yankees lost three of four to the Astros this weekend, and it was no accident. They’re the better team this season, and this means all roads to the World Series in the American League lead through Houston. Sorry, it’s the truth.

The Yankees have nothing to be ashamed of a month and a half into the season. They’re holding on to first place in the AL East, and they are nine games over .500.

But the Astros showed the Yankees a thing or two this weekend that explains why they have the best record in the major leagues at the moment.

Excuses? No, the Judge rules them out of order

And I guess if you want to make excuses for the guys in Pinstripes, you can point to Jeter Week as being a distraction to the entire team as reporters descended on the team from all points of the globe trying to get a quote or two from players. Regardless of the fact that most of whom never set foot on the same field as Derek Jeter.

But as far as I can tell, Jeter did not suit up to play in the games this weekend. And by the time Masahiro Tanaka had given up that grand slam in the first inning, and the Yankees came to bat for the first time behind 6-0, Jeter and family were tucked away in limousines on their way to whatever plans they had for the evening, his business with the Yankees completed.

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And if you want to view the cup half-full further, you could see a reversal of fortune entwined with a bunch of ifs. If Jordan Montgomery didn’t make that one bad pitch to Brian McCann that he smacked for a three-run homer, and if the Yankees didn’t run head-long into a pitcher in Dallas Keuchel, who could beat the NL All-Star team at this moment.

And if Luis Severino could have managed more than 2.1 innings in the only game the Yankees won on another majestic blast by Aaron Judge and two other by Starlin Castro and Mighty Mouse, Brett Gardner, while giving up an alarming three walks and registering only two K’s on 77 pitches, taxing the bullpen, maybe things would have been different.

Favorable schedule helps

There’s another relief in sight, though, as the Yankees have the opportunity to finish out the rest of May with a favorable schedule that begins, following a day off today, on Tuesday again the Royals.

The Royals (16-21) are playing better of late, but it’s already probably too late for them to make any noise in the AL Central where, sooner or later, the Cleveland Indians will own the division and walk to a title. Nevertheless, this is a team the Yankees are supposed to beat, and any let up following the disappointing weekend in New York is something the Yankees can ill afford.

Is it really do or die for CC?

Ironically, it’s CC Sabathia who gets the ball on Tuesday night. The man who’s been much maligned in recent days due to his previous two starts and a crescendo of calls for his head and an end to his ill-fated attempt to transpose himself into a finesse pitcher.

All bets on Sabathia are off, and all we can do at this point is let it play out. Yanks Go Yard has given you the argument both ways. My colleague, Robert Husby, says in a piece earlier today, that Sabathia is pitching on borrowed time, while others, like myself, have written stories with titles like, “Rumors about CC’s death are greatly exaggerated.”

But it’ll play out where it’s supposed to, on the field.

Yankees remain in control of their destiny

The good news is the Yankees are not competing against the Astros, at least not yet. The AL East is all that matters. The Blue Jays have won five straight, which means they could be straightening things out after a horrendous start to the season.

The Red Sox are the Red Sox, and sooner or later they’ll reel one off to climb back in the fight. And the Orioles, much like the Yankees, will not go away.

Yankees will find out only now what they are made of

It takes blood and guts to get the glory; now we are going to see what these Yankees players are made of. Time of your life, huh kid?

So while we learned a lot this weekend in uncovering the fact that there is one team, at least, who is better than the Yankees in 2017, it’s still a matter of taking care of business in our own division.

Because as they say, “you gotta be in it to win it.”

But before we leave you for tonight, in case you missed it, here’s the Derek Jeter four-minute speech delivered last night, courtesy of the YES Network:

Not too shabby for a young man from Kalamazoo Michigan.