Across their wildly successful West Coast trip, the Yankees reinforced the idea that “this team is different,’’ to borrow Aaron Judge’s line.
Sunday’s late comeback win against the Giants wrapped up a California road swing that saw the Yanks win seven of nine games – starting with an 8-0 blowout victory at San Diego.
The last stop was San Francisco, where the Yankees turned a two-run, ninth-inning deficit against hard-throwing Giants closer Camilo Duval into a 7-5 win, completing a three-game sweep.
Yankees’ ace Gerrit Cole’s 2024 debut on the horizon
Along the way, the Yankees lost valuable utility infielder Jon Berti to a calf strain, possibly until sometime in July, and they lost starter Clarke Schmidt to a lat injury – probably costing him two months.
But the Yankees got DJ LeMahieu back from the IL, and Gerrit Cole officially begins his minor league rehab assignment Tuesday at Class AA Somerset.
If he only needs two rehab starts, circle June 20 – the official first day of summer – as Cole’s potential return date, against the second-place Baltimore Orioles at Yankee Stadium.
If he requires a third rehab start, then circle June 25, against the Mets for Cole’s 2024 debut, at Citi Field.
Either way, it’s a grand entrance for the Yankees’ ace, coming back from a diagnosis of elbow nerve irritation that shook up Yankees spring training camp and spurred a lot of dark scenarios about their pennant chances.
Instead, the rotation has overall been a signature strength, led by Luis Gil’s ascension from Cole’s placeholder to AL Rookie of the Year and Cy Young Award candidate.
And the Yankees’ top-of-the-lineup trio has been a minefield for opposing pitching.
Yankees’ relentless trio of Anthony Volpe, Juan Soto, Aaron Judge
Across the Yanks’ nine-game Western swing, Anthony Volpe, Juan Soto and Judge combined to bat .349 (37-for-106) with 27 runs scored, four doubles, five triples, 10 home runs, 14 walks and 26 RBI.
Individually, here’s how they fared:
Volpe: .316 (12-for-38), 10 runs, a double, three triples, 2 RBI, three walks.
Soto: .382 (13-for-34), eight runs, two doubles, two triples, four homers, 12 RBI, six walks.
Judge: .353 (12-for-34), nine runs, a double, six homers, 12 RBI, five walks.
This weekend the NL West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers arrive to further electrify Yankee Stadium, featuring their vaunted top three of Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman.
Before that series, the Minnesota Twins arrive for three games beginning Tuesday night, and all the Yankees did was outscore them 14-1 in a three-game sweep last month at Target Field.
So, try and prevent the masses from looking ahead to Friday, when Masahiro Yamamoto might finally be on the mound at Yankee Stadium, months after the Yankees tried desperately to woo him here.
As it is, these Yankees have fashioned the AL’s best record (42-19) despite whiffing on Yamamoto and not signing the likes of starter Blake Snell or closer Josh Hader.
The trades for Soto and Alex Verdugo helped transform the lineup, and the Marcus Stroman signing worked to stabilize the rotation at a fraction of Snell’s cost, let alone Yamamoto’s.
An electric atmosphere when the Dodgers arrive
Adding to the what-might-have-been scenarios was Judge’s presence at San Francisco, belting three homers in the first two games, with so many friends and family (among tons of Yankees fans) from his native Northern California in attendance.
Judge was at least close to cashing in on his 62-homer season in free agency with the Giants, and perhaps the Padres, until Hal Steinbrenner personally intervened.
Snell exited Sunday’s game against the Yanks with left groin tightness, having previously missed time this year due to an adductor strain.
Soto’s first homer Sunday came off Snell. His second, a two-run shot, gave the Yanks a ninth inning lead off Doval.
Volpe was aboard, having tripled home the Yanks’ first run in the ninth. And that was made possible by Jose Trevino’s hustle, narrowly avoiding tapping into a double play after Gleyber Torres’ opening single.
That brand of play has marked these Yankees as different from recent past teams, including the 2022 Yankees who ran out to a 61-23 record, then played sub-.500 baseball from July on, and were ultimately swept out of postseason by the Houston Astros.
Seems a little different this time, with a club that has impressed manager Aaron Boone for its “singluar focus on the team and…what can we do to win that game’’ each day.
“The purpose they’re playing the game with, and for one another, you can feel that in here every day,’’ Boone told reporters Sunday.
