Yankees have little to be confident in and a lot to prove without Aaron Judge

Forget about Ryan McMahon being uncomfortable in his new surroundings. He should be familiar with this — he is just playing for another version of the Colorado Rockies.

These days, they go by the name New York Yankees, a team with one above-average skill — hitting the ball out of the ballpark — and now they are going to be without arguably the foremost power hitter in the world for at least 10 days.

The Yankees mopped some sweat that Aaron Judge’s injury is “just” a flexor strain that will send him to the IL and not an elbow ligament tear that would have required an operating room. Since Judge said it only hurts when he throws, the hope is he can return in 10 days as a DH. That would take one of their few currently productive hitters, Giancarlo Stanton, out of the lineup unless the Yanks want to risk Stanton’s fragile body in the outfield as Judge ramps back up for a few days (or more) to return to right field.

Without Judge on Saturday, the Yankees offered another game of wide-ranging incompetence to get routed 9-4 by the Phillies. The Yankees are now an AL-worst 14-23 since June 13. McMahon’s old team, the historically atrocious Rockies, went into their Saturday night game 14-21 in the same period.