Judge slugs another, might soon clear ballpark
SEATTLE — Here is what Aaron Judge brings to the Yankees and MLB. It is rare, something seen just once in a great while in sports.
Judge brings something bigger than the wow factor.
To every fan who comes to a game Judge brings anticipation, the ability to witness an “I was there’’ moment. All rise, indeed. That is so rare these days. In the NBA, LeBron James and Steph Curry possess that ability. In the NFL there is Odell Beckham Jr., who has “the gift.” What makes Judge so different, especially in this generation, is that he is so humble. The big man puts his head down and offers an aw-shucks smile when asked about his achievements.
Such was the case after his prodigious three-run home run at Safeco Field on Friday night that lifted the Yankees to a 5-1 win over the Mariners. The Statcast radar lost contact with the arcing baseball.
Call it the biggest error in the Statcast era, but we will know when the next 120-foot bloop hit lands in the outfield.
Judge homered again on Saturday night at Safeco Field in a 6-5 loss in 10 innings to the Mariners, his MLB-leading 32nd of the season. Statcast measured the blast to right-center at 396 feet off side-winding right-handler Steve Cishek.
That solo home run in the sixth cut the Mariners lead to 4-3. The Yankees tied it in the eighth on a key double by Clint Frazier and a sacrifice fly by Matt Holliday.
After David Robertson allowed a first-pitch home run to left to Robinson Cano in the eighth the Yankees tied it once again on Ronald Torreyes, two-out, two strike, ninth-inning single to left at 5-5.
The Mariners won it in the 10th on ex-Yankee Ben Gamel’s leadoff double off Adam Warren and after an intentional walk to Cano, Nelson Cruz singled to left for the winner.
It was not a good night of pitching for the Yankees. Masahiro Tanaka offered up a brutal third inning, allowing four runs.
An “official’’ guesstimate measurement of Judge’s Friday blast was offered by the Mariners at 440 feet, something everyone who witnessed the home run scoffed at immediately.
Mr. October was in the house Friday and Reggie Jackson, you’ll remember, hit one off a light tower in Detroit at the 1971 All-Star Game, so he knows great home run distances better than anyone. In the clubhouse he was told that the estimate was 440 feet and Reggie immediately said, “That ball was hit at
least 500 feet.’’
He went on to add that he was so sure it was that type of tape-measure home run, that it had gone that distance, he would “eat’’ the baseball, if it had not.
It is a good thing the roof was open, because if it had been closed Judge’s ball might have scraped the baseball umbrella that sits 217 feet above second base.
The pitch was a hanging curve by Andrew Moore that floated to home plate at 77 mph and at just the right height for the 6-foot-7 Judge to lay into the pitch with every ounce of muscle in his body. The blast left the bat at 115.6 mph and according to the ESPN home run tracker landed 434 feet from home plate with a stadium distance of 454 feet. Different esti- mate; still not long enough.
This is not about numbers, it is about the moment and that is what Judge gives the Yankees and fans.
When Judge homers he puts his head down and runs the bases. He did not know the exact spot where it landed. He might have been the only person in the ballpark Friday night who did not watch the ball.
They all witnessed.