BOSOX BASHER Stanton smacks pair to pick up Yankees
Giancarlo Stanton is starting to develop a reputation as a Red Sox Killer. A reputation that could eventually win over all the Bombers fans who booed him so vociferously as his strikeouts began to pile up in The Bronx. A reputation that could help the $295 million blockbuster trade import from Miami finally earn his pinstripes. Stanton upped his season batting average against the hated Sox to .600 — 9-for-15 in four games — belting a pair of homers off lefty Drew Pomeranz in the Yankees’ 3-2 victory on Tuesday night at the Stadium that moved them into a firstplace tie with rival Boston in the AL East. Stanton’s first homer against Pomeranz leading off the second inning got out of Yankee Stadium in a hurry — a screamer of a solo shot to left that exited his bat with a velocity of 111.5 mph. “I just kind of looked and smiled,” Aaron Boone said, referring to Stanton’s hack as a “superhero swing.” “When he connects it just comes off different. Pomeranz was attacking him up there and he just put a real short swing on it. And when he catches it on the barrel, that’s the result.” Stanton added another solo shot leading off the fourth — this one an opposite-field homer to right. “As long as it’s helping us win the game, it doesn’t matter the opponent,” Stanton said. “It’s sweeter with the rivalry, but it’s the same.” With nine homers and 21 RBI in his first 35 games, the reigning NL MVP is producing at a 42-homer, 97-RBI pace.
His OPS is .828. But he’s also on-pace for 245 Ks — which would be an MLB record. He’s frequently gotten himself behind in counts. And as one scout said recently, when he swings and misses, “It’s ugly.”
So there’s still work to be done, but things appear to be moving in the right direction.
Last Thursday, he hit two homers off 2015 AL Cy Young award-winner Dallas Keuchel in Houston.
“There’s more space out there to see it,” Stanton said when asked about his recent success versus southpaws. “I’m just glad I can help us get up and stay up.”
Ultimately, Stanton has said he’s not interested in a breakout game. He’s interested in breakout week. Maybe the long wait for one of those will be over soon.
“Look, any time you have the ability that Giancarlo has, I feel like that’s imminent and he will have that breakout week,” Boone said before the game. “Whether that’s now, whether that’s tomorrow, whatever, it’ll happen.
“But the one thing I’m excited about is even though he hasn’t broken out and gotten incredibly hot yet, he’s still getting a lot of big hits for us, getting on base and he’s been a part of us winning ballgames. I think that’s comforting, knowing at some point he will find a good rhythm and eventually go off.”
Regardless, the Yankees have been just fine without Stanton producing at an AllStar level, winners of seven straight and 16 of 17.
And these days, Brett Gardner and Gary Sanchez are both hitting below the Mendoza Line, while April MVP Didi Gregorius is hitless in his last 15 at-bats. Miguel Andujar has also cooled off. But none of it has mattered. The team’s lineup collectively never allows opposing pitchers any easy outs.
“We’re always fighting,” Stanton said. “It doesn’t matter who is on the mound. We’re going to put tough at-bats together and wear them down.”
All while Stanton has had to adjust to his new surroundings in New York, serving as a regular DH while also playing a mostly unfamiliar position in left on occasion. His home woes have been welldocumented — his home-road OPs splits going into Tuesday a staggering .586 to 1.000. Yet his teammates have been able to pick him up. But on this night against hated Boston, he picked them up — a Red Sox Killer in the making.