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SoMnFan -> RE: MLB General Information PT 4 (8/16/2016 10:31:46 AM)
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NEW YORK -- Joe Girardi says there has been a different feeling in the New York Yankees clubhouse since the decision was made at the trade deadline to shed some of the aging bodies on the roster -- and bloated contracts on the payroll -- and go younger.
"I think a clubhouse always changes when different people come in," Girardi said. "It's definitely different. It's a different group of guys. Very professional, ready to go every day, like the other guys. But it's just different. There's a little more energy, but that happens when you have young players."
So far, that energy has translated into runs -- 69 in the 14 games played in August, a healthy 4.9 runs per game -- and wins. The Yankees are 9-5 since the trading deadline and, at 4½ games out of the second wild-card berth, can even legitimately claim to be in a playoff hunt.
Some things have not changed: They left a whopping 14 men on base Monday and went 2-for-18 with runners in scoring position, and one of those hits didn't even drive in a run. The "old guard" -- Jacoby Ellsbury, Chase Headley, Brian McCann and Mark Teixeira -- went 3-for-13 with four strikeouts.
As a result, their 1-0 victory on Monday night over the Toronto Blue Jays, one of the teams they are chasing, was mainly to the credit of three of the newest Yankees -- Chad Green, who turned in one of the best starts of any Yankees pitcher this year; Gary Sanchez, who had two more hits to raise his average to .302 and whose familiar presence behind the plate provided a level of comfort for Green; and Aaron Judge, who for the first time in his big league career did not hit a home run.
But Judge did the next best thing -- driving in the only run of the game with a fourth-inning double. And in the process, he became the first Yankees player to do something neither Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio nor Derek Jeter ever did -- collect an extra-base hit in each of his first three games with the club.
The kids got some help from a veteran, Headley, who picked Edwin Encarnacion's one-hopper on his backhand with the tying run at third in the ninth to start a game-ending double play, and from a quasi-veteran, Dellin Betances, who picked up his fifth save since becoming the new closer when Aroldis Chapman and Andrew Miller were traded away.
It was Green who made the biggest impression of the night. Green's previous appearances as a Yankee -- he has made the trip back and forth between Scranton and the Bronx five times this season, the most recent on Monday morning -- have shown flashes of great promise and gut-wrenching failure.
In four of his prior big league performances this year, he held opponents scoreless; in the other four, three of them starts, he allowed 15 earned runs and eight home runs in 18 innings for an unsightly ERA of 7.50.
With Nathan Eovaldi on the disabled list, Ivan Nova traded to Pittsburgh and Luis Severino back in Scranton trying to find his lost effectiveness, the Yankees had no choice but to give Green another shot at MLB success. For Scranton, he had been lights-out, his 7-6 record a misleading blot on a season in which he had a stingy 1.52 ERA and 100 strikeouts and just 21 walks in 94 innings.
What Green did on Monday night surpassed anything he had done at Scranton all season. Shutting down the Blue Jays' lineup, even minus Jose Bautista, is no easy task, and to stifle it the way Green did even more impressive. Mixing in a newly nasty slider with his 95 mph fastball, Green retired the first 12 batters he faced before Troy Tulowitzki singled with one out in the fifth. Darrell Ceciliani followed with a single, and with runners on second and third, the Blue Jays seemed to be in business.
But that is where Green did his best work of the night, getting Justin Smoak to chase a slider for strike three and winning a nine-pitch duel with Melvin Upton Jr. by blowing a 94 mph fastball by him. The two hits were the only ones Green allowed all game; he finished up his six-inning stint with no walks and 11 strikeouts, the most by a Yankees rookie starter since Masahiro Tanaka did it in 2014.
"Since we've seen him in spring training, his slider has improved drastically," Girardi said. "Everything's gotten better. We loved his arm, and that's why we traded for him."
Green was acquired along with Luis Cessa last winter for Justin Wilson, who was a useful situational lefty for the Yankees last season. One of the things that most impressed Girardi about him was his refusal to mope over his frequent demotions and those dispiriting trips on the Scranton Shuttle.
"Each time, he took his demotion the right way and said, this is what I need to work on and I'm going to get better," Girardi said. "He never got down on himself, never hung his head and just went to work. And he works extremely hard."
Green acknowledged the improvement in his slider but attributed it more to attitude than execution.
"I didn't really change the grip on it too much," he said. "I think it was more like a mindset. Just how I went about it, I guess. Being confident with it is huge."
Green too can be huge for the Yankees down the stretch, if he can continue to pitch the way he did Monday night. With the starting staff decimated by injury, trades and demotions, he will remain in the rotation for as long he continues to produce, and the chances are Cessa will get his chance, as well.
"I think every time we go out there, they're evaluating us," Green said. "We're always playing for the next day, I guess. Every time I run out there, it's almost like a tryout."
On Monday, Green passed his latest tryout. The next one will come in five days or so on the Yankees' upcoming West Coast trip. And whether the Yankees are better, worse or pretty much the same the rest of the way, the new makeup of their clubhouse at least guarantees they will be different.
"It's always fun to see young guys play," said Teixeira, a member of the old guard who is in his final weeks as a Yankee. "They bring a type of energy that sometimes you need. We've really enjoyed those guys coming up so far."
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