Keefe To The City Podcast

The Yankees had 13 hits, two walks and got two free baserunners in extra innings and still only managed to score three runs in a 4-3 11-inning loss to the Orioles. The Yankees' inability to drive runners in, produce productive outs and simply have good situational at-bats cost them a sweep and has now cost them two games this season: this game and Opening Day.After the recap, former Yankees reliever Scott Proctor joined me to talk about his time with the Yankees, getting drafted by the Mets, becoming Joe Torre's go-to guy, setting up for Mariano Rivera and being a part of some great Yankees teams that came up short in the postseason.

Aaron Boone is out of control with his scheduled days off for everyday players.

The Yankees beat up on the Orioles for a second straight night, winning 7-2 to go above .500 for the first time in 2021. When things are going as badly as they were this past weekend against the Blue Jays, there's nothing better than seeing the Orioles on the schedule.Former Yankee and three-time World Series champion Shane Spencer joined me to talk about growing up a Padres fan, getting drafted by the Yankees, his magical September 1998, his approach at the plate, winning the World Series against his hometown Padres, the 2001 World Series, the breakdown of the Flip Play, his relationship with Paul O'Neill, coming up through the minors with the Core Four and how the team changed in 2002.

That's more like it. The Yankees finally looked like the Yankees and beat up the Orioles (like they always do) in a 7-1 win. Aaron Judge hit a solo home run, Giancarlo Stanton hit a grand slam, Aaron Hicks got on base and Jordan Montgomery gave the bullpen a rest with six innings. It was the best kind of Yankees win: no frustration, disappointment and no moments of high intensity moments. A nice, easy win.After the recap, Eric Arditti of Barstool Sports joined me to talk about the state of the Orioles, when they will be good again, their last window from 2012-16, the departure of Gary Thorne from the broadcast booth and the careers of Nick Markakis and Matt Wieters.

No position player other than Gary Sanchez did anything to help the team win and the Yankees turned in a lackluster Opening Day performance, losing 3-2 in 10 innings. If you're frustrated with what you watched on Thursday, you'll enjoy the recap.After the recap of the season-opening loss, Cam Lewis of Blue Jays Nation joined me to talk about the Blue Jays, their previous championship window of 2015-16, the quick rebuild, frustrations from fans over their payroll and expectations for them this season.

It's the annual over/under Yankees podcast! Andrew Rotondi of Bronx Pinstripes joined me to discuss some original over/unders for the 2021 Yankees, including games played for Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Hicks and Brett Gardner, home runs for Gary Sanchez, ERA for Gerrit Cole, innings pitched for Corey Kluber and Jameson Taillon, a return date for Luis Severino, batting average for DJ LeMahieu and wins for the Yankees.

The Yankees could have set their season-opening rotation in the most logical way with Gerrit Cole followed by Corey Kluber followed by Jameson Taillon followed by Jordan Montgomery followed by scumbag Domingo German. Instead, they decided to try to be smart and crafty, the way they are with their batting order and the way they were in Game 2 of the 2020 ALDS.

The Yankees couldn't get through the remainder of spring training without an injury. On Monday, reliever Justin Wilson went down with an apparent shoulder injury as the Yankees are now down two elite relievers to open the season.

The Rangers routed the Flyers 9-0 on Wednesday and they did so without David Quinn and his entire coaching staff. What does the Rangers putting together their best performance of the season without their head coach say about their head coach?

There's two weeks until Opening Day. That's exciting because it means real, meaningful baseball is also back. It's also worrisome because it means two weeks in which the Yankees can suffer even more injuries. Injuries are what worries me most about the 2021 Yankees.

The Yankees have played Tyler Wade for parts of four seasons because they believe he will eventually hit at the major league level. It hasn't happened yet for the utility player, and now that Gio Urshela is being given innings at shortstop, does it mean the Yankees are looking to build their 2021 Opening Day bench without Wade on it?

From the start of 2019 through the end of 2020, the Yankees placed someone on the injured list 46 times, not including for COVID-19 reasons. So far 2021 looks to be a continuation of the last two seasons when it comes to injuries for the Yankees.

Brian Cashman recently called the Yankees' bullpen "very strong," and it's still strong, but no longer "very strong." Zack Britton will undergo an MRI for elbow soreness, and that's very bad news. As a 33-year-old who has thrown as hard as Britton does for as long as he has, Britton knows his body and for him to report the soreness, there's something there. The Yankees' decision to be under the imaginary salary cap this season and trade Adam Ottavino looks even worse than it already did.

There are two available spots on the Yankees' roster. One is the last man on the bench and the other is the last man in the bullpen. Mike Tauchman, Miguel Andujar, Derek Dietrich and Jay Bruce are competing for the last spot on the bench, and Albert Abreu, Nick Nelson and Michael King are competing for the last spot in the bullpen.

The Rangers entered the second quarter of the season needing to win two-thirds of their remaining 42 games to have a chance at reaching the postseason. So far, so good in the second quarter as they have now won four of their last six games after beating the Sabres 3-2.

If you ask the Yankees, they will tell you there is a competition for the fifth spot in the rotation between Deivi Garcia, Domingo German, Michael King and Jhoulys Chacin. In actuality, the spot is wrongfully going to go to German.

After beating the Capitals and Flyers recently, the Rangers continued their impressive showing against the league's best by beating the Bruins 6-2 on Thursday. It was an unexpected effort from both the Rangers and Bruins, further proving the Rangers can beat any team in the league when they play a complete game. 

The Rangers lost another game they could have won, this time 4-3 to the Flyers. After their atrocious first quarter of the season, the Rangers need to cancel out some of those early-season losses with wins, and Wednesday in Philadelphia was a perfect opportunity to do so, and they didn’t.

The Yankees have spent the first week of spring training talking about how much starting pitching depth the team has, even though one of their starting pitching options is now shut down for the next three to four weeks. Aaron Boone keeps talking about how Gary Sanchez will catch Gerrit Cole and that Clint Frazier will be the everyday left fielder over Brett Gardner, but it's hard to know what to believe from the Yankees manager.Frank Marco of Bronx Pinstripes joined me to talk about the first week of spring training, the lineup questions and injury concerns this season and what Yankees fans' confidence level should be right now.

The Yankees set the all-time single-season record for most players placed on the injured list in 2019. Then in 2020, they lost Luis Severino and Tommy Kahnle to season-ending injuries and lost Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Gleyber Torres, DJ LeMahieu, Zack Britton to injuries throughout the season. Six days into the 2021 season and it looks like nothing has changed.