The New York Yankees are, collectively, slumping.
Last night the pinstripes dropped their sixth straight contest, losing 3-2 to the Los Angeles Angels. Such a loss to a sub-.500 team usually doesn't come with a bright side but this one did for the Yankees as they broke a 30-inning scoreless streak by way of a Jazz Chisholm home run in the second inning. It didn't exactly awaken the bats but it was a better than New York had seen in a few games.
Speaking candidly to reporters after the loss, star slugger Aaron Judge had two words to sum up his team's struggles: "That's baseball."
"That's baseball," Judge said, per ESPN's Jorge Castillo. "We know what we signed up for. You're going to play 162. You're going to hit a little rut like this, but you can't give up. You can't mope about it. You just got to show up the next day and you got to be ready to play."
It's an important attitude to have in this game given the length of the season, as Judge points out. Struggles will be had and there will be dry stretches of offensive production no matter how many good hitters a team may employ.
Nevertheless this Yankees streak is pretty brutal and not even Judge's MVP bat can shake them out of it. Their next chance will come on Thursday as the Angels try to complete a surprising sweep of the Yankees in the Bronx.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Aaron Judge Used Two Words to Describe Yankees' Slump After Latest Loss.