Remember the glorious past in which a baseball player was most worried about a ankle sprain, knee strain, hamstring pull, ligament tears, tilted tweaks? Remember, in other words, the spring and summer of 2019 glorious Yankees?
Every week brings a new wave of visits to the injured list. Every week brings fresh faces and unknown family names to the ranks. Every now and then the Yankees have to call a replacement for a replacement and – bang! – Like clockwork, the submarine will have time to inspire the good and old-fashioned person from John Sterling on the radio booth.
There was a match in mid-May, the Angel Stadium in Anaheim, where DJ LeMahieu – 15 minutes after wringing so much about where the Yankees would polish him in line – led the match. Luke Voit – anyone’s idea of the second hitter – nobody hits. Brett Gardner, who has spent most of his career either first or ninth, reached third. Gleyber Torres, hitting cleanup, really saw that part. Thus, the bottom five-ninths of the reading line are as follows:
5. Mike Ford (replaced after three at-bats – and one home run – by Gio Urshela).
6. Mike Tauchman.
7. Austin Romine.
8. Thairo Estrada.
9. Tyler Wade.
Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
And the Yankees won, 5-4. Domingo German won. Luis Cessa gives the eighth one locked. Zack Britton who saved. Not exactly what the people in the organization did in February, but it was a blueprint they would follow throughout the summer and fall, the next guide to 103 wins that sometimes looked like the Yankees did. with mirror.
“I hope,” Aaron Boone said on Monday, “that at some level our experience has paved the way for us for whatever we will face this year.”
Look, there’s no real way to show what the 60 game baseball season looks like, or feel like …
(Disclaimer required here: IF there is a season.)
… because we have never done it before, at least not in this century, or the last. If anyone has time and can find members of the Boston Red Stockings 1873 (43-16, good for first place in the old National Association) or ’77 Red Stocking (42-18 in the National League) … well, by all means, you know where to find me.
But in the context of baseball, have we known and understood the last 125 years? We have no idea. Maybe a team that doesn’t understand and is young like Orioles can really ride big waves for 60 games. Maybe a very clever operation like Sinar has an advantage. Maybe super powers like the Dodgers can defeat the field.
The Yankees, of course, have enough talent if you want to project the Dodgers method onto them, especially since they seem to be quite healthy now. But they also have one year of experience when almost everything that went wrong DID was wrong. It feels like it fits your resume in 2020.
“This year is a totally different ball game, a completely different set of events, difficulties that we can’t even imagine,” Boone said. “I really feel that anyone can be ready to face it, and we will face it and hopefully as a club we can handle it very well.”
Urshela became the face of the Yankees in 2019, and who they are. He hit .314 in 422 in-bats, which was only 81 points higher than he had hit in the big leagues before, and played a sparkling third base, and became an important part of the fabric team – so the 2018 Runner-up Rookie of the Year, Miguel Andujar, needs to find a new home in diamonds.
“We have to pay attention to details,” Urshela said. “We also have to look after teammates and family, pay attention and try to stay healthy.”
Maybe that won’t be a problem once the game starts real …
(Public service announcements: IF they start real.)
… and maybe the Yankees won’t be able to adapt to the madness of 2020 like they did in 2019 zaniness (and maybe they don’t have to). However, until proven otherwise, they are the team that best knows how to adjust quickly. It doesn’t matter what a fly is.
