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WPCNR VIEW FROM THE UPPER DECK By “Bull” Allen. July 5, 2025:
Hello there everybody, THIS is Bull Allen.
I am sitting in the Mel Allen Honorary Broadcast Booth in the open mezzanine under the Upper Deck in the Ghost of The Big Ball Park (Red used to the stadium that in its glory days) Macoombs Dam Park at 161st and River Avenue in The Bronx in Heaven
I am looking at the Home of Champions stretching out in the endless green carpet of the outfield of yesterday where the legends played: The Babe, The Rabbit, The Old Crow, The Mick, the Lou’s, The Jet, The Moose, Ellie, Old Country, Roger, Bernie, The Stick, Poosh Em Up, The Chairman of the Board, Prince Hal, Steady Eddie The Super Chief, The Yankee Clipper, Lefty, Red, King Kong, Bob Meusel, Willie, E-5, played pitched and still play in this Ghost of a Ball Park in Heaven.
I am seeing a second straight season of altered baseball, a Yankee team lose 15 of their last 21 games. Leave 634 runners on base, the most in the major leagues. Lose 12 of 18 1-run ball games in the last 3 weeks, and lose 5 extra inning games, winning only 1.
The bullpen, I am tempted to rename the “Gashouse Gang” has blown 9 saves.
The same offenders keep throwing away 1 run leads with throwing high strikes for leadoff hits, compounding that felony with walks and fat homers. 3-run homers which rebuild the lead after the Yankees tie it up. The pitchers that do this, consistently seem to do it, but instead of blown saves, they get losses on their record.
The Homer happy Bombers have now lost 5 in a row to Toronto and now the Mets on 4th of July.
The batters have a consistent problem. They leave runners in scoring position with 2 outs a lot. The team does not have a hitters that can hit to the opposite field to advance the runner. They swing for the fences and hit homers with the bases empty and not when there are two on.
I have not seen a season of inept Yankee baseball like this in my 65 years of watching the Yankees play.
They only win when they put up 7 to 10 runs, and even then that kind of lead is not safe with this group of bullpen and inconsistent starters.
Now fans, I know you scoff at my criticism of the new rules in baseball.
The Yankee performance this summer is a replay of what the team started doing last July when the same thing appeared. Sleepy ball. You recall they got hot against a soft schedule in September and finished first. But when they hit the World Series against good pitching from the Dodgers, the bullpen collapsed and the Yankees lost in 5. The obvious Yankee need going to this season was more starting pitching and bullpen improvement.
However, due to injuries, the bullpen has been inconsistent and I am being generous here with that adjective
Going to the 9th with a lead in Yankee Stadium today, is excruciating for fans in the upper deck who do not leave the game early. This is not Manuel Rivera coming out of the bullpen. And they know it. The stadium is silent with anxiety. It is never a 1-2-3 inning. It’s usually a 10 batter inning and the visitors have a big winning lead.
But when the Yankees fall behind early because of inept pitching or “Hold the lead” pitchers do NOT hold the lead. The game becomes “unwatchable.”
Yankee Starters are barely giving 4 good innings. Before they leave giving up 4 runs. And then….and then, the bullpen parade starts. The Yankee bats fail to get the big hit.
Toronto the first strong team the Yankees have played in awhile, swept them four games and scored 36 runs in 4 games off Yankee pitching. There was no good pitching.
The Mets also having trouble in June (it must be a New York thing), have seen pitching and bullpen problems too.
I remember in the time George Steinbrenner was running the Yankees, if they were going bad the manager was gone in midseason. He fired Billy Martin and brought in Bob Lemon in 1978 with the Bombers 14 games behind the Red Sox. The Yankees caught them and won the playoff in Fenway on Bucky’s homerun.
At this point, the Yankee manager has worn out his bullpen, the guys come in every day he has to use so many pitchers. He has no confidence in any of them and this wears down the pitchers’ confidence. When you warm up you throw 20 pitches…then you come in and throw 20 more in action. This wears down arm and control which is evident from pitcher performances the last 2 months.
The manager has not learned. The pitchers have to go out every day. There arms are ready to fall off. The starters are demoralized.
The Yankees score a lot of runs but the last month that has been sporadic. And when they do hit the other team hits more. This is an insoluble dilemma.
The front office has the option of trading for pitching (ONE 7 inning stsrter please, 2 would be great and closer)
The confidence of the young pitchers on this staff is shot. One has 4 blown saves for example. He has been ruined.
The team needs a pitching coach or manager who knows how to handle pitching. It’s not pitch counts that make pitchers. It’s knowing how to pitch.
“Stuff” makes good pitchers.
“Control” makes pitchers effective.
“Confidence” makes pitchers tough.
“Toughness’ instills fear in the hitter as Sandy Koufax once said.
Right now the bullpen needs rehab, rest. The Yankees could lose 8 more games before the daily horror of the next game ends. The Yankees have Mets for two games. The Seattles for 3 games and the Cubs for 3. The Yankees will roll the dice every time one of their in-shock relievers is summoned.
It is not enough to say “We’re the best team in the league right now.” (The manager said that yesterday.}
The Tigers and the Astros are.
The Yankees are praying for 6 rainouts this week.
The manager has proven to be inept and not learn from his mistakes.
The players may like him. But he is the worst manager the Yankees have had in decades.
If the Yankees would exhume Billy Martin’s coffin and put Billy back in the dugout in the corner the present manager could consult with Billy through the coffin and we might improve.
It is time to relieve the general manager and the manager who refuse to recognize their mistakes.
It is time for sportswriters to explore the fatigue in the bullpen. It is time to question strategy. It is time to question the week hitting bench with the lack of clutch pinchitters like Oscar Gamble and Enos Slaughter of the past, and an infield prone to crucial errors and failure to turn Double Plays in the clutch. you cannot run a baseball team on stats analysis and projection.
Heart counts.
It is time.