Fox News Flash top sports headlines for August 16
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The New York Yankees have officially hit rock bottom.
The Yankees lost a fourth-straight game Wednesday night for the fifth time this year, dropping to 60-61 on the season and 6.5 games out of the final wild-card spot.
The 2-0 was the second straight time they were shut out, and it finished a sweep by the Atlanta Braves, but more importantly, it put them in territory that an entire generation of Yankees fans have never seen before.
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New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone makes a pitching change during the fourth inning against the Atlanta Braves at Truist Park on Aug. 16, 2023 in Atlanta. (Todd Kirkland/Getty Images)
The Yankees are under .500 in the month of August for the first time since 1995.
It has been a surprisingly disastrous season for the Yankees, who won 99 games and went to the ALCS last year, although they benefited from a historically hot start that put them at a 120-win pace in June.
Just about everybody has had a tremendous dropoff offensively. One player who has not is Aaron Judge, who missed almost two whole months on the injured list with a toe and oblique injury.
Entering Wednesday, their .232 batting average was the second-worst in baseball ahead of only the Oakland A's, their .307 on-base percentage was the fifth-worst, and their 4.28 runs per game ranked 21st in all baseball.
Outside of AL Cy Young Award favorite Gerrit Cole, the starting rotation is abysmal. Cole's ERA sits at 2.76 - the second-lowest ERA by a Yankee starter is Domingo German's 4.56, and he is out for the year as he entered a rehab program earlier this month. They also have two pitchers with ERAs over 7.00: Luis Severino (7.98), and Carlos Rodon (7.33), the latter of which has made just six starts since signing a six-year, $162 million deal.
Randy Vasquez, #98 of the New York Yankees, reacts during the fourth inning against the Atlanta Braves at Truist Park on Aug. 16, 2023 in Atlanta. (Todd Kirkland/Getty Images)
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The team is 12-23 since July 5, the fourth-worst record in baseball since that date.
Fans have called for the firing of general manager Brian Cashman and Aaron Boone for several years now, given the championship-or-bust mentality most of them have (their last came in 2009). However, one of them seems here to stay. According to New Jersey Advance Media, letting go of Cashman "isn't even on the table" for owner Hal Steinbrenner and is "not up for discussion."
However, Boone's future is somewhat in doubt. Boone took the reins from Joe Girardi following the team's surprising 2017 season when they went to Game 7 of the ALCS against a cheating Houston Astros team in what most thought to be a rebuilding season.
New York Yankees designated hitter Aaron Judge, #99, reacts after making contact with the baseball during the MLB game between the New York Yankees and the Atlanta Braves on Aug. 14, 2023 at Truist Park in Atlanta. (Jeff Robinson/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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If there is a silver lining, it is that the last time the Yankees were in this situation, they went on an insane run. The Yankees were 54-59 entering play on Aug. 29, 1995 - but they went on to win 25 of their final 32 games to clinch a postseason spot and bring then captain Don Mattingly to his first, and only, postseason. They would eventually lose to the Seattle Mariners in a memorable ALDS.