The New York Yankees are in the midst of their toughest stretch of competition. During those games, they take on the Toronto Blue Jays, Minnesota Twins, LA Angeles of Anaheim, the World Champion Houston Astros, Cleveland Indians and Boston Red Sox.
Without question an arduous task for a team with so many young first and second-year players on it. So far the Yankees are have played nine of those games and have won eight of them including sweeping both the Twins and Angels.
The Yankees ran into a difficult task on Monday night as Charlie Morton of the Astros was absolutely dealing, and the Yankees were only able to squeeze out one run. The positive takeaway from the loss is that Sonny Gray seemed to take incredible strides forward in regaining his all-star ace-caliber form.
Last night Justin Verlander continued the trend that Morton started the night before pitching eight shutout innings before coming out of the game for Houston closer Ken Giles. Giles however, did not have the same magic that Verlander was using all night and the Yankees were able to take advantage. Verlander in eight innings struck out fourteen Yankees while not walking a single batter. Giles have up a hit to the first batter he faced in Aaron Judge. Then Didi Gregorius lined a double into the gap, and after a strikeout of Giancarlo Stanton, Gary Sanchez came up and launched a bomb over the center field wall for a home run.
Tonight, the Yankees look to continue their winning ways as they once again take on the Astros. Houston will send Dallas Keuchel to the mound to face off against Yankee ace Luis Severino. Digging deeper the Yankees are in the midst of a stretch where they are playing eighteen games in eighteen days without an off day. They are playing five teams with a winning percentage over .500. They are taking on the three division leaders in Houston, Boston, and Cleveland. All three of those teams have the top starting rotations in the American League.
Now, while the Yankees offense is starting to heat up not everyone has joined the party as Giancarlo Stanton hasn’t yet found his footing in the Bronx. Stanton has always been known as a slow starter and with the calendar rolling over into May, so too should Stanton roll into his natural approach and start hammering the ball all over the ballpark.
The Yankees have had a lot of good production from many sources on this team and should continue to receive that same level going forward. With Greg Bird, Brandon Drury and Clint Frazier all going through the rehab process the Yankees should be getting reinforcement soon to add to the dynamic of this team. With the way the magical 2017 season went for the Bronx Bombers, much was expected for the 2018 incarnation. Back to the days of “The Boss” George Steinbrenner when it was World Series or bust.
This team of young Yankees has an aura about them, they have been able to come back and win games that they seem destined to lose. As evidenced by the win last night or the walk-off to close out the homestand against the Twins. The Yankees are going to be fighting and scrapping all season long as Boston is also playing well, but one thing is for sure the Yankees will not go down without a fight, just ask Joe Kelly.
