Three takeaways from the Yankees' series win over the Seattle Mariners
The Yankees' Anthony Volpe, left, is congratulated by DJ LeMahieu after scoring a run during the sixth inning of a game against the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday in Seattle. Credit: AP/Stephen Brashear
SEATTLE – Three Yankees takeaways from their series win against the Mariners, which allowed them to go 4-2 on their first West Coast trip of the season:
The Yankees’ infield is a potential mess.
Really, this is at two positions. Second base became problematic when Jazz Chisholm Jr. went to the IL May 2 with a right oblique strain. He’ll be out another month at least. DJ LeMahieu just returned from the IL and he should stabilize the position, on defense if nothing else as he’s a three-time Gold Glove winner there, though it remains a question just how much the injury-prone 36-year-old will be able to play.
Third base was a weak spot starting in the spring — the reason the organization spent the winter and spring exploring options there, and are still exploring them — and that was before Oswaldo Cabrera went down Monday night with a broken left ankle. The time, for now, will be split between Jorbit Vivas, who started there Wednesday, and Oswald Peraza. Neither are ideal, or realistic, long-term solutions.
Devin Williams seems to be getting on track.
Two of the righthander’s last three appearances have come in what is any reliever’s least-favorite spot — extra innings when the opposition starts with a runner on second base. He’s come through both times, most recently in the 10th inning of Tuesday’s 2-1 loss in 11 innings when Williams escaped a runner-at-third, one-out jam. Since losing his closer job in late April, six of Williams’ seven outings have been scoreless (the one hiccup was May 5 against the Padres when he allowed three runs, a hit and two walks in two-thirds of an inning of a 4-3 loss).
“He’s a really good pitcher,” Aaron Boone said. “We all see what he is. And now he’s been 10th inning his last couple times [and gotten out of them]. He’s going to have a rough one at some point, but that’s who he is, right there.”
The first edition of the Subway Series will be something.
Yankee Stadium and Citi Field always rock for the Subway Series, regardless of how the respective teams are playing. It’s not a playoff atmosphere — as any fan who has attended postseason games at either ballpark can attest — but it’s the closest thing to it the regular season can bring. And there will be extra electricity in the Bronx Friday night because, in what has been a rarity in a series that started in 1997, both teams are leading their divisions. Throw in that it will be Juan Soto’s first game at Yankee Stadium since jumping across town to sign a 15-year, $765-million free agent contract (the Yankees offered 16 years and $760 to retain him) and the Stadium will really be lit.
“It’ll be interesting,” Boone said with a smile of the kind of reception he anticipates Soto will receive from Yankees fans. “It’s the Bronx.”
Speaking by phone from his office in Citi Field on Tuesday, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza, who spent 15 years in the Yankees organization before getting the Mets job before the 2024 season, laughed when asked the same question.
“I think,” Mendoza said, “I have a pretty good idea how it’s going to be.”
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
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