Gardy’s oppo research!
His 2nd career opposite-field HR riles up mates
LIONS: STAFFORD HAD FALSE POSITIVE
The Detroit Lions removed Matthew Stafford from the COVID-IR list, saying he received a false positive test result.
The list was created for players who either test positive for COVID-19 or have been in close contact with an infected person. Stafford was listed on it Saturday, but the team said Tuesday his testing sequence for the preentry period was: negative, negative, false positive — then the next three tests were all negative.
NO FANS FOR INDY 500
Roger Penske has reversed course and decided not to allow fans at the Indianapolis 500 later this month. The 104th running of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” will be the first without spectators, who showed up at Indianapolis Motor Speedway every year, even during the Great Depression.
It was a flip for Penske, who purchased the iconic speedway in January and has spent every day since upgrading his new showplace to prepare for his favorite race. The pandemic forced the race to change dates for the first time, from Memorial Day weekend to Aug. 23.
Penske had initially said he wouldn't run the 500 without fans. But as the pandemic continued to spread across the nation, the decision was made to limit capacity to 50%. The speedway then lowered that number to 25% and presented an 88-page manual on how to safely host spectators.
Brett Gardner has hit 126 home runs in his career, but none like the one he hit Monday night. The Yankees' veteran outfielder cracked one to the left-field stands, just the second opposite-field homer of his 13-year big league career.
So, of course, the Twitterverse — and his teammates — had to chirp in.
Former Yankees and Twins pitcher Phil Hughes tweeted immediately after the shot to left:
“Gardy's my boy, but if he's going oppo, the league has a baseball problem.”
During the one-hour and eight-minute rain delay, one of Gardner's teammates made sure the 36-year-old saw Hughes' tweet. They printed it up and had it waiting on the chair in his locker — a picture of which Hughes also tweeted out.
“So I don't have social media so a lot of things go unnoticed by me, but somebody made me aware of Phil tweeting about me hitting oppo homers,” Gardner said with a laugh. “So, I just texted him and gave him a hard time and just asked him where he was at? You know, I bet he's at the house watching TV. He was asking me how it is playing in front of no fans and a few other things.
“He's one of my guys from going all the way back to 2005 and 2006. So all in good fun,” Gardner said of the now retired Hughes.
“Anytime I hit a homer, it's usually unexpected, especially to that side of the field. So no, I just felt good to put a good swing on the ball,” Gardner said. “And like I said, the guys are always giving me a hard time as I do back to them most of the time.
“So yeah, just a lot of fun. good all around clean game and some fun out there.”
While Hughes may not be wrong about the baseballs being lively again this year, it also happened to coincide with Gardner making adjustments.
After years of getting by with balls on the ground, line drives and speed, he has converted himself to a devotee of the launch-angle.
Last season, combined with what Gardner called being smarter with his workouts and preparations, he saw the results of that change in approach, plus the fact that there was definitely something different with the baseballs. Gardner hit a career-high 28 homers in 2019 — crushing his previous best by seven. That helped get him a deal here for this season.
Early on into the coronavirus-shortened 2020 season, there have been some indications the balls are just as lively as last season, when they set a record for home runs across the league. The Yankees had three home runs in Monday night's 6-3 win over the Phillies at Yankee Stadium. In their first nine games, the Yankees have 20 home runs.
It was Gardner's second homer of the season — and the second dramatic home run he has hit. Friday night, the outfielder absolutely crushed one into the second deck of seating in right field.
That, however, was not as surprising as seeing the ball clear the fence in left field Monday night. The only other time in his career he had a home run to left field, it was an inside-the-park rattler.
So, even Yankee manager Aaron Boone was surprised.
“He hit and I went ‘I think that's gone.' That was my first thought,” Boone said. “It was similar to when he hit the ball in Baltimore last year we really like right away it felt like a homer to me. And sure enough, he rode it out of here so obviously the guys had a lot of fun with that.”
Gardner took the teasing in the nature it was intended, but he's not ready to just let it go. When asked who might have printed out Hughes' tweets, Gardner smiled.
“I've got some ideas. So we'll do a little more analysis and we've got quite a bit of baseball ahead of us and I've got a few tricks up my sleeve,” Gardner said. “So we'll have some fun with it.”