The Yankees slinked to the bottom of the AL East in the first game back from the All-Star break, further burying Aaron Boone's reputation among fans.

Earlier this season, Hal Steinbrenner angered fans when he said he was confused as to why they were so frustrated by the state of the 2023 season. It's only the third week of June, he said.

Well, it's now the middle of July and the Yankees fighting with the Red Sox for the right to sit in last place in the AL East, a position they haven't been in during the second half of the season since 1992.

On Friday, in the first game back from the All-Star break, the first with new pitching coach Sean Casey in charge, the Yankees looked no different than before.

Sans Aaron Judge, they eeked out two runs in a 7-2 loss to the NL West-bottom-feeding Rockies.

So, Hal, is it starting to make sense as to why fans aren't all that happy?

New York baseball fans go off on last place Yankees

The Yankees have the second-biggest payroll in baseball. The Al East-leading Rays have the fourth-smallest. The second-place Orioles have the second-smallest. The Red Sox are not in a position to compete. Neither are the Blue Jays. This is not a division that should be giving New York this many problems.

Judge's injury has certainly contributed, but leaning into the idea of being a one-man team is a weird strategy for a franchise spending more than $200 million on players not named Aaron Judge.

As of Saturday afternoon, they were out of last place only by virtue of the Red Sox loss to the Cubs.

It's a sad state of affairs indeed when the only positive the Yankees can cling to is the Red Sox being marginally worse.