LEADING MEN
Girardi must keep Ellsbury, Gardner together atop lineup
THE band got back together on Opening Day in The Bronx, and it looked so good, the Yankees might as well keep them in tandem for a while now.
No, this is not a call for the return into active duty of Tino Martinez, Willie Randolph and Joe Torre, the revered trio that threw out the ceremonial first pitches Monday afternoon to celebrate Team USA’s success in the very same World Baseball Classic that sidelined Didi Gregorius for a while. Rather, this calls for Brett Gardner and Jacoby Ellsbury to remain a leadoff duo — against right-handers — after their first 2017 assignment resulted in the Yankees’ best offensive output of the season, an 8-1 victory against the Rays.
“Our offense runs through [Gardner],” said Aaron Judge, who slammed his second homer in two days. “When he and Ellsbury are up there, it’s fun to watch.”
The eternally erratic Michael Pineda provided the most fun on this day, retiring Tampa Bay’s first 20 batters before Evan Longoria’s two-out double in the seventh eliminated dreams of historic perfection. More to the point, when the Yankees mapped out their 2017 game plan, they envisioned their offense running through Gary Sanchez, the sophomore catcher who powered last year’s posttrade-deadline Yankees into the pennant race’s periphery.
Yet, Monday’s victory, the Yankees’ second straight, Joe Girardi announced Sanchez, placed on the 10-day disabled list Saturday, would miss about four weeks of action with a Grade 1 strain of his right brachialis muscle. So the sound plan to hit Sanchez second will be shelved until further notice.
Hence the reunion of Gardner, who had been leading off, and Ellsbury, who was hitting fifth, to this group that, as Girardi pointed out, is notably more athletic than its recent predecessors. They responded by teaming for the game’s first run, and Gardner stole two bases in the Yankees’ five-run eighth, which blew the game open.
“He’s obviously comfortable hitting there — one, two, wherever, I think,” Gardner, who is slashing .267/.353/.333, said of Ellsbury, who is mashing at .348/ .375/.565. “He’s one of those guys that can hit wherever, up and down in the lineup. We’re accustomed to hitting back-to-back. Just another day.”
In the third, with one out, Gardner whiffed on a knucklecurve by Rays starter Alex Cobb, only for the ball to get away from catcher Derek Norris. Gardner sprinted to first safely, and Ellsbury slammed the very next pitch to right-center field for a double. Gardner dove into home, easily beating the relay, for the 1-0 Yankees lead.
Gardner led off the eighth by reaching on an error by Rays second baseman Brad Miller (yes, the visitors helped out quite a bit in this game), and by
going all the way to third by himself, he cruised home when Matt Holliday crushed a double to center field.
“I talked to him in spring training and gave him a goal, basically,” Girardi said of Gardner. “I said, ‘Your job is to score 100 runs. And I don’t care how you get to the next base. Your job is to score 100 runs. And if you do that, if Ells can do that, we’re going to have a pretty good offense.’ ”
“I say all the time, we’ve got some big guys in the middle of our lineup,” said Gardner, who has five stolen bases and six runs scored in this young season. “If I can get over there into scoring position for them, that makes their job easier, too.”
So how about that GardnerEllsbury combo? You won’t see it Wednesday, not with the Rays starting southpaw Blake Snell. You’ll see it Thursday against right-hander Matt Andriese, since Girardi noted the Rays have only one lefty reliever, Xavier Cedeno, and therefore can’t go matchupcrazy against the Yankees’ lefty-hitting leadoff guys.
The manager declined to commit beyond that; it’ll be tougher against clubs with multiple lefties in the bullpen. As long as Sanchez mends, however, no perfect solution exists.
See what the veterans can do. Let it roll for a while. With so many youngsters on this roster, and with Sanchez sidelined, some veteran wisdom — and athleticism — might be the perfect complement.