With today’s off day, I figured it was a great time to head on down to Yankee Land and catch up with the Bronx Bombers.  Since we last checked in, the Yankees have gone 12-4 and just had a 4-game winning streak snapped by the San Diego Padres.  They now stand at 37-18 and are tied with Baltimore for 1^st place in the AL East (remember only thing that matters is the loss column).  The team has been rolling of late.  So lets dive in.

The starting pitching for the Yankees has been so good this season that if it came out tomorrow that they are cheating I wouldn’t even question it.  I’d just be like “yeah, that makes sense”.  Nester Cortez has a 3.29 ERA which is 20^th in the AL.  He is by far the Yankees worst starter.  Each of the other starters have an ERA under 3.  Luis Gil’s ERA is at 2.11, 5^th in the AL, and he has 70 strike outs in 55.1 innings.  He’s given up 2 runs total in his last 5 starts and has a 0.59 ERA in May.  Coming into Spring Training Gil was battling for a roster spot hoping to be a piece in the Bullpen.  Now he is the defacto Ace of the staff.  At least until Cole gets back.  Talk about making the most out of an opportunity.  Rodon, Stroman, and Schmidt have also been dominating over this stretch.  The Yankees went 12 games where their starter went at least 6 innings and didn’t give up more than 2 runs.  This includes a 4-game stretch where they combined for 0 runs in 30.1 innings.  It would be outlandish to expect more from the rotation than what the Yankees have gotten this season.  And next month, it could actually get better. 

The Bullpen has come down to earth a bit.  Holmes finally gave up an earned run as he blew a save against Seattle.  Caleb Ferguson has been a weak point all season.  I know he is one of only 1 of 2 lefties in the pen but it may be time to consider moving on from him.  They did get Kahnle back and he looked great.  Their bullpen does still has the second-best ERA in the Majors.  They even got a boost when Yoendrys Gomez made his major league debut and struck out all three batters he faced.  The starters need to keep getting into the 6^th inning, or actually go longer, to keep the pressure off the bullpen and keep it rested.  If they do, the Pen will continue to be a weapon for the Yanks.

Now for the offense, which has exploded.  Pretty much everyone is hitting now.  Well, Gleyber Torres and Austin Wells are still struggling a bit but have started to come around.  Gleyber more so than Wells.  The Bombers have moved up to 3^rd in the Majors in runs scored (1^st in the AL), 1^st in home runs, 3^rd in BA, and 1^st in OPS.  It took a month to get going but we are now seeing the offense we expected to see when this line up was assembled in the offseason. 

Juan Soto continues to rake.  His average has come down a bit but he’s never really been a .300 hitter except for one season.  He still continues to be productive and wreak havoc on opposing pitching staffs.  Volpe has turned it on again.  He brought his average back up to .282 after it had fallen off when he was moved to the lead off role.  He seems to have fully adapted to batting in front of the big boys as he is even on a 19 game hitting streak. 

Verdugo is also still taking advantage of spot in the line up, hitting clean up behind Judge.  In 91 at bats batting 4^th, he has 19 RBIs.  In the 97 ABs he has had not batting 4^th, he has 9 RBIs.  He is clearly the best guy to take advantage of Soto and Judge’s OBP.  Stanton also continues to be productive.  He is only hitting .238 but he has 13 home runs which is 6^th in the AL and only 11 short of what he hit all of last season.  He has never been a big BA guy so as long as the power is consistent, the Yankees will be very happy with him. 

Then there is Aaron Judge.  The Captain is on a historic run right now.  In May Judge is hitting .383 with 11 homers, 12 doubles and 21 RBIs.  His 11 home runs would be good for 14^th in the Majors if they were his only round trippers.  He is up to 17 dingers for the season, which is 2^nd in the Majors.  His 39 RBIs are now 7^th in the Majors, and his 18 doubles are second.  He has his batting average up to .279 and his 1.039 OPS leads MLB.  He is on pace to obliterate Babe Ruth’s total bases record.  He also leads the Majors in walks.  He is the first player to have 12 doubles and 11 HRs in a 20-game stretch in Major League history.  He had a four-game home run streak and he had a 13-game stretch where he went .455 AVG .569 OBP 1.182 SLG 8 HR 8 2B 17 R 14 RBI.  Basically, he is putting up video game numbers in May.  There is no way he can keep this up but it’s a lot of fun while it’s happening.

The depth of the line up has paid off this season.  Judge, Soto and Stanton have combined to hit 44 home runs.  That ties the trio with the Colorado Rockies for 26^th in the league.  It’s ahead of the Rays, Marlins, Cardinals, and White Sox.  But as Judge said, it’s not a big 3, it’s a big 9.  Everyone in the line up is contributing.  Jose Travino is hitting. 283 with 17 RBIs in only 99 Abs.  Rizzo has 25 RBIs, Berti made the most of his time between injuries with 6 dingers while hitting .273.  The team has even calmed down with the Double plays.  They are down to .95 GIDPs per game from the 1.12 at the last check in, and fell to next to last in the Majors.  The only guy on the team that doesn’t contribute offensively is Trent Grisham.  He can’t hit at all. 

There is even help on the way.  DJ LeMahieu is expected to be activated tomorrow to take over the third base position.  He is not the hitter he was but he will probably be better than the production they have been getting at third base since Oswaldo fell back to Earth and Berti can’t stay healthy.  Aaron Boone has said that Vople will remain in the lead off spot even with DJ returning.  This is good and falls under the old “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” model.  I would love to see DJ bat second in a traditional line up but I can’t imagine they have even considered it.  I just hope Boone doesn’t take Verdugo out of the 4^th spot.  

Speaking of returns from Injury, Gerrit Cole has begun facing batters in his rehab.  The Yankees say he will throw one more bullpen session this week and if all goes well, he will begin a rehab assignment next week.  Getting the reigning AL Cy Young award winner back will be great but right now there is no reason to rush him in the slightest. They need to, and probably will, take their time building him up before they move him to the rotation.  I believe you get a month for a rehab assignment.  They should take all of it. 

The Martian is continuing his rehab assignment.  He was moved to AA and hit his first home run of the year.  He is hitting .314 with 5 RBAs a double and the aforementioned round tripper.  He is still only DHing, so he has a ways to go before he is ready to come back.  Not that there is a place for him in the line up right now anyways.   

The Yankees are cooking on both sides of the ball right now.  Their biggest problem is that the Orioles never lose.  Baltimore is starting a very interesting stretch in their schedule today.  They play the Red Sox and Tampa at home for 3 each then go to Toronto and Tampa for 4 each.  While the Sox, Rays and Jays aren’t the best teams out there, they are divisional foes which usually makes for good games (of course they are playing the first game against the Sox now and are up 11-3 as I write this).  If Baltimore stays hot, at least the Yankees will have a chance to put a lot of space between them and the bottom of the division.  After that, the Os have Atlanta and Phila come in before heading to the Bronx for the big showdown with the Yankees.  That’s a very pivotal 23 games. It is going to be intriguing to see what the standing look like heading into that series in NY. 

That about covers it.  The Yankees currently are 3^rd in the league in runs scored and 1^st in runs against.  If that keeps up, they should have one hell of a season.  Hopefully our next trip to Yankee Land will be just as fun.