Must-see Sanchez is the best show in the Bronx this season
TORONTO — With the fall television season upon us, the networks are vying for viewers’ attention, trying to stress that their shows are this year’s “Must-See TV.” Forget the dramas, sitcoms or reality shows. For the past six weeks, the YES Network has had the hottest program on TV: The Gary Sanchez Show.
Sanchez carried the Yankees to a pair of wins in Tampa earlier this week, keeping their faint playoff hopes alive. Even when he went hitless Thursday night (he was 0-for-2 with two walks), he helped the Yankees keep things close, throwing one baserunner out trying to steal second while picking off another at second base.
“He can help you in so many ways,” Joe Girardi said.
Whatever happens over this final week and a half — and we’re pretty sure we know how this is going to end for the Yankees — Sanchez’s emergence has given the team and its fans something to get excited about for 2017 and beyond: a homegrown future face of the franchise.
“You can’t really overstate what he’s done for us,” Chase Headley said. “It’s been as impressive as anything I’ve seen in the game.”
Sanchez’s first week after being called up on Aug. 3 wasn’t even very good. He hit .217 with no home runs and three RBI in his first five games, and although he showed some extra-base ability with three doubles, he was also striking out an average of once every four plate appearances.
He hit his first home run on Aug. 10 and he hasn’t stopped. In his past 38 games entering Friday, Sanchez was hitting .352 with 19 home runs, 35 RBI, eight doubles and an incredible 1.235 OPS. “He’s playing a different game than everybody else right now,” Headley said. “People get hot, but a lot of people don’t have the ability, even when they’re hot, to do the things that he’s doing.”
“I never though it was going to be like this,” Sanchez admitted Wednesday night, speaking through a translator after his two-homer game. BASEBALL
The Yankees had to be feeling a bit dazed and confused after leaving Boston last Sunday night, their four-game sweep leaving their postseason hopes on life support. But Sanchez’s three-run homer Tuesday night helped snap the team’s five-game losing streak, then his two-homer, five-RBI game Wednesday seemed to inject some belief into the clubhouse that a wild card was still in play.
Many young players going through a six-week stretch that included a Player of the Month award and seemingly a new record for “Fastest to (fill in the blank) in major-league history” might begin to buy into his press, taking for granted how difficult the game can actually be.
Sanchez hasn’t fallen into that trap. He remains quiet and humble, not just in front of the media, but also in the clubhouse with his teammates.
He has a job to do and he’s doing it quite well, but the team’s precarious position in the standings seems to be preventing him from enjoying it, at least not outwardly.
“He’s pretty business-like,” Headley said. “We finally get him to smile a little bit when he hits a home run; the first couple times, you couldn’t tell if he had just hit a home run or struck out. I think he’s enjoying it, but he takes his job very seriously. That’s just kind of been his personality so far.”
If Sanchez isn’t allowing himself to get caught up in his madefor-TV start, his teammates are doing it for him. Every time he steps to the plate, the chatter in the Yankees dugout stops as everybody watches and wonders what he’s going to do next.
Then, against all odds, he seems to deliver once again.
“You look at the guy next to you and just shake your head; it’s fun to watch,” Headley said. “You’re just not surprised anymore. I’ve seen a couple runs that have been pretty good, but nothing to start a career. It’s different when you see it from someone that’s been around a little while, but to do what he’s doing — in New York during a playoff push — it’s pretty W impressive.” e’ve all been waiting to see who will emerge as the next homegrown group to lead the Yankees back to glory. The jury is still out on Luis Severino, Aaron Judge and others, but Sanchez looks like he’ll be drawing viewers to Yankees telecasts for years to come.