HOLLIDAY’S ROAD
Girardi said Matt Holliday (back) is doing fine. “He’s going to get rest and treatment. We’re going to try to get him going as quickly as we can,” Girardi said. USA TODAY
It was only a couple of weeks ago the Yankees appeared to be on the verge of taking control of the AL East. Actually, more to the point, the Red Sox appeared to be imploding. Then Eduardo Nunez showed up.
Who would have thought? Nun-EEE, as he was known affectionately during his days in the Bronx for his less-than-stellar glove work, came over in a trade from the Giants and, astonishingly enough, turned into Manny Ramirez, hitting .420 with six doubles and four home runs in 11 games.
And everything changed for the Sox. After losing five of seven games, falling a half-game behind the Yankees, and circling the wagons in the clubhouse to shield themselves from the uproar over David Price’s shabby treatment of Dennis Eckersley, the Sox finally started hitting again. And winning.
With Nunez seemingly in the middle of every big rally, along with rookie call-up Rafael Devers, the Sox reeled off nine wins in 10 games and roll into the Bronx this weekend riding an eight-game winning streak that has put them comfortably back in first place.
So much for the Yankees winning the trade deadline between these teams, something Red Sox Nation was screaming about at the time.
Actually, Brian Cashman’s deals may yet prove to be the difference in this Yankees-Red Sox race, depending on whether Sonny Gray delivers dominance and the bulked-up bullpen continues to rescue games as early as the fifth inning, as it did in relief of Masahiro Tanaka on Wednesday night.
But for the moment Boston’s trade for Nunez, which seemed like a relatively minor deal at the time, has had the most impact, sparking an inconsistent offense that has averaged 6.25 runs per game during this winning streak and allowed the ballclub to move on from all the Price-Eckersley drama.
Nunez isn’t going to slug at a .780 clip for long, but he could always hit.
Don’t forget, Cashman once liked him enough to refuse to include him in a potential trade for Cliff Lee, when the Mariners wanted either Nunez or Ivan Nova in addition to the agreedupon Jesus Montero.
But it turned out Nunez didn’t have the glove for shortstop, and never found a full-time job with the Yankees — though Alex Rodriguez always thought highly of his offensive potential, often talking privately about how he wanted Nunez to get a shot full-time