Yankees Hot Corner – Stanton finally earning his pinstripes

I’ve learned that during my tenure as a Yankee fan there have only been two players who were never booed;  Derek Jeter and Hideki Matsui.  The former was never booed because even when he was young he knew he was going to be one of the Yankees’ greatest players.  The latter was never booed because he hit a walk-off, grand-slam in his Yankee Stadium debut.

Giancarlo Stanton is neither of those two players.  If anything, he’s the exact opposite, as boos have rained down on him since Day 1.  There are certain expectations that come with being a Yankee, and he quickly learned that.  It seems as though Yankees fans are slowly warming up to him.

Stanton has been heating up as of late, but really the turning point for him and the reason why he’s finally earned his pinstripes has been this week specifically.  Monday night against the Nationals came four hits as part of a 4-2 win to split the “double-header”.  Wednesday night was the cherry on top, as Stanton had another two hits, including a two-run, walk-off home run.

That home run, as seen below, was a moonshot at 453 feet.

The Yankees have won yet another series and Stanton is a main reason why.  He’s finally starting to show what he can do when he puts bat to ball, and his strikeout rate is much lower as of late.  The main difference?  Laying off pitches low and away that he was swinging at early in the season.  His stats still aren’t great, currently batting .255 with nearly 100 strikeouts, but he has been productive with 18 home runs and 42 RBI.

Gary Sanchez has also been a huge part of this string of Yankees wins, despite the rest of the team being ice cold.  Sanchez was the turning point of the game and the focus of the rally on Wednesday after being down 5-0.  The Yankees scraped three runs together as Aaron Judge was able to bring Miguel Andujar and Aaron Hicks home on a single, and Didi Gregorius brought Clint Frazier home on a sac fly.  Down 5-3 in the bottom of the 8th, Sanchez turned on a cutter and ripped the ball into the stands, tying the game at five.  The rest is history as Stanton gave the Yankees their sixth walk-off win of the year, one more than all of last season.

Notes

These notes are just some interesting tidbits from the YES Network and Katie Sharp (Twitter – @ktsharp).  This shows how impressive the Yankees’ lineup has been so far and how clutch they’ve been.

• The Yankees are 11-0 when Gary Sanchez hits a home run this season
• The Yankees have 23 comeback wins, the most in the MLB
• This was the first time all season the Yankees have come back from 5+ runs
• This was only Giancarlo Stanton’s fourth walk-off home run, first with the Yankees

Regardless of how the Yankees win games, Giancarlo Stanton is now a part of the Yankees’ fabric for this season.  He is an integral part of the lineup and is finally starting to show some of his MVP prowess from last season.  There is only one goal this season;  To win a 28th World Series.