CBS Sports | Mike Axisa: The Yankees’ offensive slump has been spectacular in all the wrong ways. Axisa details some of the numbers behind the skids, including a regression in Aaron Judge’s approach. Judge has chased on pitches out of the zone at roughly a league-average rate the last few weeks, a sharp increase for a player who almost never expands the zone when he’s locked in. Compounding the problem, no one’s been there to step up as Judge has finally looked mortal, with Ben Rice, Paul Goldschmidt, Trent Grisham, Anthony Volpe, and Cody Bellinger all slumping concurrently.
New York Daily News | Gary Phillips: Aaron Boone will manage the American League in Atlanta in this year’s All-Star Game, and he’ll be joined by a special guest in his former Yankees skipper, Joe Torre. Boone was thrilled with the opportunity to invite one of his predecessors, who managed six Midsummer Classics himself while in New York. “I asked him would he consider coming. And right away, he was like, ‘Yes!’ and seemed really excited about it,” Boone said. “He seemed moved by it, which could not have gone better in my eyes. So I’m excited to have the skipper with us.”
Boone noted that Torre has on occasion provided advice, and, as Boone called it, “sage experience and wisdom,” wisdom that surely can only be earned by dealing with the pressure cooker that is managing in New York.
New York Post | Mark W. Sanchez: The story this week has been the Yankees’ nonexistent offense, and it cost them a chance to win behind Will Warren on Tuesday night, the young righty appearing to gain confidence with each start. Warren struck out a career-high 11 against the Angels, and though he surrendered three runs over six innings, he’s a bit undersold by that line, with the Angels scoring runs on balls that didn’t leave the infield. He’s lowered his ERA to 4.85 on the season, still not a great figure, but one that’s come down since his disastrous start in LA a few weeks ago.
New York Daily News | Gary Phillips: It was reported the Yankees held a players-only meeting after being shut out for a third consecutive game Tuesday night, but it turns out there was no true closed-doors meeting. It was more of a conversation in the clubhouse, with the players discussing what they needed to do to get going again. “It wasn’t like that,” Cody Bellinger said Wednesday. “It was just postgame chatter. It was like, ‘What do you got? Blah, blah, blah.’ We were just chatting.”
The chatting helped them snap the scoreless streak at 30 innings, but the Yankees fell to the Angels anyway, 3-2, for their sixth loss in a row. They only mustered three hits.