Thor feelin’ Super but
Gary Sanchez has started to heat up at just the right time, and the Yankees need that to continue on a consistent basis if they’re going to stave off the rest of the pack in the American League wild-card race and qualify for the playoffs.
Sanchez went 2-for-3 with a solo homer and a sacrifice fly in the Bombers’ 4-2 victory over the Mets on Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium. In his last seven games, the 24-year-old catcher is batting .440 (11-for-25) with four homers, seven RBIs, six runs and three walks.
“I just think he’s in a really good spot,” Joe Girardi said of Sanchez. “I think his approach has been good, and he’s not missing his pitch.”
The Yankees went into Tuesday night’s game ranked second in baseball in team ERA (3.17) following the All-Star break but just 24th in runs scored (125 in 31 games). Aaron Hicks has given the lineup a big boost since returning from the disabled list due to an oblique injury, but the Bombers have clearly missed Matt Holliday, Starlin Castro, and, mostly importantly, the MVP-caliber production Aaron Judge gave them in the first half.
Judge, who homered on Monday and doubled on Tuesday, has started showing signs of coming out of his second-half slump recently, while Sanchez has put it in another gear, consistently having quality at-bats. His best AB of the night on Tuesday came in the eighth. It was only a sac fly that put the Yankees up 5-2, but Sanchez had gotten behind in the count 0-2 against Jacob deGrom and was still able to deliver an RBI with a well-struck fly ball to deep center.
“I think about how he stayed in the middle of the field,” Joe Girardi said of Sanchez, who is just 3-for19 with runners in scoring position in the second half after going 17-for-57 with RISP in the first half. “And the great hitters have the ability to do that. But it’s really important to have those guys in the middle of the order going.”
Sanchez has had a difficult sophomore season, dealing with a right biceps injury that cost him 21 games and his struggles behind the plate (12 passed balls, 11 errors), which have drawn the ire of Girardi. Still, he has managed to deliver a career-high 21 homers in 85 games following his remarkable 20-homer, 53-game stint in 2016.
Sanchez credited a recent lunch with Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez for his success, with a lot of the talk revolving around defense, routine, preparation and the power of positive thinking.
The Yankees, who aren’t necessarily out of the AL East race just yet — 4½ games back of Boston — were a much better team when Sanchez,Judge, Holliday and Castro were all going strong. For now, they’ll take what they can get. It would certainly take a lot of pressure off Greg Bird (right ankle surgery), who is about to start his minor-league rehab stint on Wednesday, if he comes back to a lineup that is consistently producing runs.
As for Sanchez, he made his name as a rookie by going on a hot streak in August and September last season. The Bombers are hoping he can make it 2-for-2 in 2017. “I’ve been working really hard with the hitting coaches, and right now I’m getting good results,” Sanchez said. “So I want to keep doing what I’m doing right now and keep helping the team win.”
During his three-and-a-half months on the disabled list since tearing his lat muscle, Noah Syndergaard has changed the emphasis of his workout routine, and says he believes it is already having a significant effect.
In fact, after his bullpen session on Tuesday, his first time throwing off a mound since his injury, Syndergaard said, “This is the best I’ve ever felt. I’m looking forward to the next step.”
The Mets haven’t laid out a plan publicly for a rehab assignment and his expected return to the bigleague club, but Syndergaard said he’s anxious to pitch again, and said he’d be willing to pitch either as a starter again or a reliever if the team decides not to push him too hard.
“Regardless what our future is for the rest of the season,” he said, “I haven’t pitched in a game since April 30, so I don’t want to just shut it down for the rest of the season, and not compete for eight or nine months.
“Whether it’s in the bullpen or starting, I just want to get out there and compete.”
Syndergaard said he has spent considerable time while sidelined working on his “hip mobility,” which he hopes will add deception to his fastball and perhaps allow him to pitch without using maximum effort on every pitch, as has been his habit.
“The past couple of years I really neglected working on my hip mobility,’’ he said. “It’s just something I’ve been working on that I can really feel a huge difference, not only in my hips, but also affects my shoulder as well.”
He explained what he’s doing as a “different kind of stretching” and indicated that the work on his hips