Yankees GBU – How sweep it is

The New York Yankees went into Baltimore for the Orioles’ home opener and came away with three straight victories and a sweep they so badly needed.  It was guided by a power surge and timely pitching, and although it wasn’t ideal that most of the Yankees’ runs were produced off of home runs, they played much better than the past week and a half.

The Yankees now open up a huge series in Houston, where the Astros are coming off another ALCS appearance.  Justin Verlander is set to pitch the first game against the Yankees, so it was vital that the Yanks got the sweep.

The Good

The home run barrage

Gary Sanchez had four home runs in the series, Gleyber Torres three, Clint Frazier three, and Aaron Judge two.  In total, the Yankees hit 14 home runs in three games, including a franchise record seven in one game.  Although the games were close, the long ball put the Yankees over the top.

Gary Sanchez had one of the best weeks of his career, launching three home runs on Sunday for a career high.  Clint Frazier established himself as a legitimate replacement with all of the Yankees’ injuries and is finally starting to show that sweet swing that made him such a highly touted prospect.

Domingo German has been golden

Domingo German has gotten off to a scorching hot start, going 2-0 with a 1.64 ERA so far this season.  While German has always been inconsistent, he’s starting to show why the Yankees want him to be a part of this rotation.  German pitched six strong innings of two hit, two run ball on Sunday.

German is not letting this opportunity go to waste, as he’s pretty much filling in at the bottom of the rotation with Luis Severino, Jordan Montgomery, and C.C. Sabathia out.  German may be pitching his way into a permanent spot in the rotation, and that’s a good problem to have.

The Bad

The bottom of the bullpen

The two culprits, really the two only blemishes on this great series were Stephen Tarpley and Jonathan Holder.  Holder nearly gave up the game on Saturday as he gave up two runs in 1 2/3 innings, the two runs coming in the bottom of the 7th.  Adam Ottavino saved Holder from a loss, and Clint Frazier gave them the win.

As for Tarpley, his blemish wasn’t nearly as bad, giving up an RBI on Sunday after the Yankees had already built a near double digit lead.  Still, it’s less than ideal that he now has a 10.80 ERA in only two appearances.  If Tarpley is going to stay on the roster, he needs to start pitching the way he did in Spring Training.

James Paxton

Sure the Yankees won the game that Paxton pitched on Friday and he got his first win in pinstripes, but Paxton has been underwhelming so far this season.  He is 1-1 with a 4.09 ERA, and he gave up four runs in 5 1/3 innings against a hapless Orioles team.

While he struck out nine and only walked one, Paxton struggled to get out of the fifth inning and isn’t pitching the way the Yankees want him to.  They gave up a lot to Seattle and were expecting an ace.  Paxton has been anything but that and although it’s early in the season, they need him to be an ace type figure with the uncertainty of Luis Severino.

The Ugly

None.

The Yankees had a great series and therefore there is no ugly to this series.  If they can find a way to win the series against Houston they’ll be in good shape for the rest of the month.  It may catapult them into the stratosphere if they can sweep Houston.

It’s been a rough start to the season but the Yankees are slowly but surely starting to turn it around.  With decent situational hitting and some big time home runs the Yankees are getting back to being the Yankees.  Hopefully this is just the beginning of a good run.  There’s still a long ways to go in the season so buckle up folks.