FIVE WAYS TO SOCK BOSTON
A to-do list for Yankees that can leave rivals seeing Red
The Yankees continue to be nothing short of captivating, with their thrill-ride offense that erupts at any given moment, whether it’s four home runs in an inning, a feat they pulled off Saturday in Toronto, or Aaron Judge regularly hitting the ball harder than anyone since Robert Redford in “The Natural.”
In their last four wins they’ve scored 36 runs, and talk about Bronx Bombers: for the season they’re averaging 5.8 runs per game at Yankee Stadium, where their 17-8 record is the second-best in the majors, just behind the Astros.
All of which is another way of saying: welcome to town, Red Sox.
Ah, this should be fun. Suddenly, The Rivalry feels as fresh as it did tired in recent years, thanks to young stars on both sides and the rare Yankees-as-underdogs storyline.
For that matter, they may be in first place, two games ahead of the Sox, but Boston has played better baseball the last few weeks, going 14-9 since falling to five games out on May 10. Meanwhile, the Yanks are 12-13 since that heady sweep of the Cubs at Wrigley a month ago.
The Sox came into the season as heavy favorites to win the division, and that may still be the overall perception.
On Saturday’s FOX telecast of YanksBlue Jays, in fact, recently-retired catcher A.J. Pierzynski helped set the stage for these three games by expressing just such a sentiment.
Noting the Yankees’ first-place status, Pierzynski said that “a lot of people still consider the Red Sox the class of the division.”
That sounded like a roundabout way of saying it’s only a matter of time before the Sox take control of the top spot, and certainly getting David Price back last week adds to such a notion, especially the way he dominated the Orioles over seven innings on Saturday.
Rick Porcello hasn’t pitched like he did in winning the Cy Young Award last season, but Price and Chris Sale — who the Yankees miss in this series — make for a formidable top of the rotation. And closer Craig Kimbrel has been mostly unhittable this season, giving up eight hits in 25 1/3 innings.
The Sox, meanwhile, still miss David Ortiz’s long-ball bat, as their 53 home runs rank last in the American League, but their offense has come alive in recent weeks: their 271 runs rank fifth in the league. The Yankees, with 84 home runs,
are outslugging them, and with 294 runs outscoring them as well, but until Masahiro Tanaka starts pitching like an ace and Aroldis Chapman returns from injury and proves his shoulder is OK, the Sox have an edge in pitching that could be all-important.
Bottom line, the hard part is still to come for the Yankees, and with that in mind, here’s my five-item To Do list that I think will be necessary to hold off the Red Sox over the next four months.
1. CHAPMAN IS CHAPMAN AGAIN
I actually think this is at least as important as Tanaka finding his form. The Yankees’ pen has been exposed a bit lately as vulnerable during Chapman’s DL stint: Dellin Betances has been great as the closer but it’s a huge dropoff in the setup spots now, as Adam Warren and Tyler Clippard has struggled at times. The Yankees need that Betances-Chapman combo to own the late innings.
2. TANAKA BETTER FIGURE IT OUT
Duh. I think Brian Cashman will add a starting pitcher one way or another, so
Tanaka doesn’t necessarily have to be an ace, but he sure as heck can’t keep pitching to a 6.34 ERA, currently second-worst (to Bartolo Colon) among all qualifiers in the majors.
He did pitch one of his few gems this season in Fenway in April, throwing a completegame three-hitter, and he gets the ball on Tuesday. More than anyone he can make a statement for the Yankees in this series.
3. GREG BIRD JOINS THE PARTY:
Amazing that the Yankees are mashing while getting almost nothing from first base, whether it was Bird’s struggles early or Chris Carter since then.
But was it the foot injury with Bird or something more ominous that caused him to look shockingly overmatched at the plate, hitting .100? We should know soon enough, as he is playing rehab games in Tampa, seemingly close to returning. I still think Bird will hit, and the Yankees will need him at some point.LEYB
4. TORRES TAKES OVER AT 3RD
Time is running out on Chase Headley, and somewhat like the situation at first base, sooner or later the lack of offense at a corner spot will catch up to them. Gleyber Torres, the uber-prospect who is now playing some third base at Triple-A, continues to impress the Yankees with his mature approach to hitting, and I think he’ll get the call sometime after the All-Star break.
Torres hit his first Triple-A homer for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, going 3-for-3 with 4 RBI.
5. CASHMAN ADDS PITCHING
Maybe Chance Adams, the kid who is dominating at Triple-A with power stuff, will turn out to be the answer. But even if he’s promoted at some point, the Yankees could run into innings-limitations with Adams, Jordan Montgomery and even Luis Severino. So I’m convinced, as I’ve been writing for weeks, that Cashman will give up a top prospect or two to make a trade for a starter with controllable contract years ahead, even if none of the obvious candidates, Jose Quintana, Sonny Gray or Gerrit Cole, has pitched great this season.