Yankees will find out only now what they are made of

Sorry Mets Fans

Which brings us back to the Yankees. I write this before either game of the doubleheader against the Astros. Odds are that the teams split the day; that puts the Yankees as losers of four out of the last five, at least. If they lose while the Sox win—or the Orioles, who seem to be paralleling the Yankees wins and losses—there could be a very quick change in the standings.

That makes it imperative that the baby Yankees keep this from becoming a long losing run. The good news is in the indicators. Long losing streaks often result from poor pitching. That has not

been the Yankees problem. CC is pitching like a true number five but the staff is fourth in MLB ERA at 3.61. And the eye test shows both Tanaka and Severino looking capable of beating any other team’s best starter.

Judge provides some optimism on the offensive side. He has gone in a slump not so coincidentally at the same time as the team. The fear for the Yankees was that his slumps would see him striking out at the same sad rate as last year. And perhaps that a prolonged strikeout slump could propel the bombers into a losing streak as long as the winning one.

That has not been the case. Judge has not been hitting a lot or any home runs for a few days now, but he has still been hitting the ball. His outs are still coming in the field of play, punctuated with hits like his recent triple.