After these many weeks of mediocrity and worse, we may have figured out the Yankees’ issue. They needed to face better competition, preferably a future Hall of Famer.
One day after beating Jays ace Alek Manoah, the Yankees looked their best in weeks, defeating Mets co-ace Max Scherzer, an all-time great who brought his swagger, his smarts and a 96 mph heater to The Bronx. Could it be the Yankees — 4-2 winners Monday night in a rollicking Subway Series matchup — were bored these many weeks?
Whatever, the Yankees finally were on their game.
The old game, that is, the one that put them on a historic early pace.
Probable AL MVP Aaron Judge, who hit a monster home run off Scherzer, said the team brought the “intensity” from the start. That matched the sellout Yankee Stadium crowd, which was keyed up despite the team’s inexplicable slide.
“It was fun,” Judge said. “The fans were bringing it. That’s as close to a playoff atmosphere as we get.”
After a few weeks of misery that included a variety of foot injuries (four different ones if you’re scoring at home), much depression by a fan base accustomed to much better and one postgame table pounding Saturday night by fed-up manager Aaron Boone, the Yankees deserved some good news. And the day began with a gift.
Two hours before game time, Mets manager Buck Showalter announced that all-world pitcher Jacob deGrom would be pushed back to Thursday or Friday, missing the two-game Subway Series. It really wasn’t clearly explained why, though we can assume it has nothing to do with any sympathy the Mets feel toward the Yankees.
The Mets, who must have had their reasons, have been a lot more consistent than the Yankees, who started the year like the 1927 Yankees, then suddenly, inexplicably began to play like the 2022 Detroit Tigers. No one can quite explain it, but it’s been a stunning fall that’s resembled a brick being hurled off the Empire State Building.
Entering the Subway Series, the Yankees had lost 14 of 18, 17 of 25, 20 of 30 and 25 of 38. Somewhere along the line we stopped talking about the 1998 Yankees, the 1961 Yankees and 1927 Yankees and started combing the record books for the greatest collapses in baseball history. Things were looking that bad.
While the fans surely were feeling a little shell-shocked, they weren’t going to let it affect their mood. The crowd was fired up, anticipating a championship bout, even if the Yankees looked nothing like champions lately.
The Yankees still aren’t at full strength — Giancarlo Stanton (Achilles) could be back Thursday, with other pains including a foot fracture (Matt Carpenter), plantar fasciitis (Harrison Bader) and toe tendinitis (DJ LeMahieu, who’s back) — they put their best foot forward, so to speak.
“What we’ve been through here these last couple weeks, it’s halfway encouraging and exciting to be playing really good against two really good opponents when they’re got two great pitchers on the mound,” Boone said. “But we’ve got a long way to go in this thing. If we play this brand of baseball, we’ll be in good shape. I know that. And that’s what we’re working toward.”
Judge, who’s probably been tired from carrying the team and himself fell into a tiny slump, hit a typical Judge-ian home run deep into the lower stands in right field — a rather loud blast that was heard clear back to Queens. If the Boone slap started the Yankees back on their usual track, Judge’s dinger served word the Yankees were back in business.
The “MVP,” chants rang out, as if we need any more convincing. That race is over, and has been for a while.
As for the Yankees, they still have work to do. We’ve been fooled before during their slide by a couple wins here or there.
This one was one of the more efficient, impressive wins, with starter Domingo German justifying their faith in him with a nice 6 ¹/₃ -inning outing (two runs, one earned). But what separated these last two victories is they came against their main competition, one in the AL East, the next in the battle of the boroughs. They look like they are going to win the East thanks to an unbeatable cushion built with their semi-historic start.
As for the battle of New York, it’s really been more a Mets year at this point. They’ve just done so much right, from the Tom Seaver statue unveiling to the Keith Hernandez number retirement to the season, which has seemed like an inexorable march to a division championship, thanks to one good move after another.
The Yankees started like it was going to be a perfect season, then took a U-turn south like never seen before. When the team’s managing partner Hal Steinbrenner appeared to honor Paul O’Neill on his own weird number retirement ceremony (only past Yankees were allowed since current players are disallowed from going near the unvaccinated O’Neill), he was lustily booed.
It’s been a tale of two halves for the Yankees. But the second half just might be getting a little bit better. Maybe.
Credit: Source link
