The Yankees took a bus ride to Baltimore Sunday night when their plane needed repair. They would have walked to Camden Yards if they had to.
The Yankees hit three more home runs Tuesday night against the Baltimore Orioles, making the Orioles the fastest team to allow 100 home runs in a season. A whopping 28 of those HR’s have been hit by the Yankees. At this pace, the Orioles will finish the season allowing a mind-blowing 335 homers, shattering the 242 allowed by the Cincinnati Reds in 2016.
Led by newly invigorated Gary Sanchez and shortstop Gleyber Torres, the Yankees continue to pummel Orioles pitching, especially at Camden Yards. For the second straight game, Sanchez, whose hitting philosophy is simply, “hit strikes hard”, blasted a three-run home run. Clint Frazier, who has been struggling of late added two more.
Five of Frazier’s eight home runs this season have come against Baltimore, and Sanchez and Gleyber Torres each have homered eight times against Baltimore pitching.
The Yankees – A Team On A Roll
The Yankees are on a roll, winning three of every four games they play for almost a month. The team sits atop the AL East, trailed by Tampa Bay and the oncoming Boston Red Sox. Though still a team playing without Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Didi Gregorius, Dellin Betances, and Luis Severino, the Yankees are doing what they need to do by beating up on the have-nots of baseball.
In fact, it’s hard to imagine those players in the Yankees lineup today having a better record than the so-called B-Bombers have compiled. You can’t say enough about the Yankees bullpen, which has been called on to pick up the slack behind J A Happ’s disappointing starts, and James Paxton‘s extended trip to the Injured List.
The Yankee’s rookie sensation, Domingo German is responsible for nearly one-third (9 of 30) of the Bombers victories. German pitched only five innings Tuesday night to earn his ninth victory against a single loss. Given that the most German has pitched in is 112 innings in a season, that was more by design than necessity as the Yankees are beginning to temper his starts and innings pitched as the season wears on.
Purposively missing a start or two is not out the question either as the Yankees figure to need German, as well as their entire staff, on into October.
Indeed, these are heady times for the New York Yankees and their fans. The team continues to dominate talk on MLB XM Radio, as anyone who hasn’t been paying attention now realizes they are witnessing something never seen before a baseball, similar for instance, to watching the underdog Oakland A’s winning 90 games last season.
Only three teams in MLB have a better run differential (runs scored vs. runs allowed) than the Yankees at +58. Not surprisingly, they are all first-place teams (Dodgers +69, Cubs +59, Astros +99, and the underrated Twins +81.
Questions about whether this is a tribute to the Yankee’s pitching or their hitting are moot since all that matters is they are thirteen games over .500 and leading the AL East, which is no small accomplishment either. Remember, the Yankees have handicapped themselves for the past two seasons as a Wild Card team going into the playoffs…
Yankees – A Story About Camaraderie
The camaraderie within the team is noticeable. The B-Bombers continue to play with an air of confidence, not defined as arrogance, but one that demonstrates – these guys like each other. Fears that stars returning from injury as the season moves on are muted since each is well-established as a Yankee.
And for those being demoted as part of the process, players like Mike Ford, Tyler Wade, Mike Tauchman (already), and possibly Thairo Estrada, Clint Frazier, and Cameron Maybin in the future – all have padded their resumes significantly, and each can call on Aaron Boone for a glowing recommendation anytime they need it. Noticeably perhaps, Gio Urshela has been omitted from the list – he’s a keeper.
I’ve been following the Yankees for than a half-century and never have I seen a season quite like this one, and that includes the run of four championships in five years during Joe Torre‘s tenure as manager. There’s a lot of baseball to be played, but there’s also a feeling that something special is going on here…
Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona. Not all holes, or games, are created equal.
