Yankees ignoring obvious cause of Anthony Volpe's latest sinkhole slump

On Thursday evening, Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe's immediate future hung in the balance after several off-balance at-bats against the Angels. As his team wrapped up a soaking wet loss to a moribund team, he was in the exam room, having joined DJ LeMahieu in the self-inflicted wound club after fouling a ball hard off his foot/ankle.

Three empty at-bats and a painful-looking strikeout later, Volpe was removed from the game once it got out of hand. Postgame, Aaron Boone reported that x-rays were negative and the issue would be treated as a "bruise," but any self-respecting Yankee fan knows that a bone bruise can linger, regardless of the initial classification.

How long did Volpe rest after suffering the impact? He missed the final few innings of Thursday's somehow-not-a-washout, then skipped Friday's game. The whole team did, as a matter of fact. The opener against the Rangers was rained out.

When the team embarked on a doubleheader Saturday afternoon, there was Volpe -- twice. And when he struck out in the second inning of Sunday's game, which he also started, that marked an 0-for-20 slump that has undone a good deal of the second-half progress he made, adding to his reputation for streakiness.

Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe enters another slide on bum ankle

Volpe has looked bleak in a correctable way during this particular rough stretch, flying open repeatedly, as the above assessment noted. But 13 of those 20 at-bats came in the wake of Foot Gate, and it doesn't take a doctor to suspect that Volpe is probably unnecessarily playing through significant pain. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to take a doctor to give medical advice to the New York Yankees, either.

A batter making out after out on off-balance swings? Probably not related to one of his two legs throbbing. Probably should just let this to play out, give him a few more uncomfortable games to get right.

The weather has loaded up a few of the Yankees' recent days while providing unexpected breathers in the schedule. They won't have one on Monday, though, flying to Chicago to take on the White Sox immediately after the conclusion of this lengthy homestand. Depending on how the remainder of this game plays out, they might have to have a difficult conversation with Volpe about taking the exact kind of breather he clearly detests.