NEW YORK - Fresh off a sweep of the Orioles in Baltimore, the Yankees return home having won four in a row and eight of nine, and most importantly, they shaved 3 ½ games off their AL East deficit in the span of about 50 hours.
Manager Aaron Boone hopes that momentum can keep rolling Monday, as his team kicks off their penultimate homestand of 2018 with game one of three against the White Sox. The Yankees hitters will face lefty Carlos Rodon, who has spun seven straight quality starts and sports a 1.60 ERA in that span.
Because of that, it's of little surprise that Brett Gardner, who played all four games in Baltimore, is off today, and also of little surprise that Greg Bird is out - but what may be a surprise is that Luke Voit, who has homered in three straight games, is tonight's cleanup hitter.
"We've needed guys to step up for us, and he's been one of those guys that has played a big part in us winning some games," the skipper said of Voit. "He's been a shot in the arm for us, and I think he's been welcomed in the room because he brings a different swagger in each day. It's been fun to watch him go out there and produce, and we've needed it."
On the mound is Masahiro Tanaka, who has thrown two straight quality starts and has four of six since the All-Star break, but he'll face a White Sox team that has won nine of their last 12 and has 67 homers since July 2, fifth most in MLB. If it needs to be an early night for the bullpen, then, most of the big guns are well-rested after pitching only Friday and Sunday, but Boone might not be afraid to start extending some pitchers as needed now that the stretch run is here.
"There may be spots where we may be in a situation where those things start to happen a bit," Boone said. "We always have to balance it and make sure we keep protecting those guys as best we can, because I think part of their effectiveness is the way we use them and how we're able to build in rest, but roles could continue to evolve, though, and we may see guys get extended more than they have."
With just 32 games left to play in the next 35 days, there's really not much more to say other than this: Boone and the Yankees know it's crunch time, and after seeing what happened this weekend, the sense of urgency is perhaps even more present now than it has been.
As the team had a late report this afternoon, here are just a few more notes and quotes from the skipper, mostly injury updates, from a quiet pregame in the Bronx:
-The biggest injury update is that Aaron Judge did shag fly balls today and is "gradually starting some more baseball-type activities," but still has yet to swing a bat; that's hopefully coming soon, says the skipper, who also has no worry his slugger will be back: "He's continuing to improve, and I think we're slowly starting to introduce little things and seeing he can tolerate. He isn't ready to swing a bat yet, and hasn't thrown full force, but I'm confident he'll be back at full strength (sometime this season)."
-Gary Sanchez's rehab assignment moved up to Triple-A today, and according to RailRiders beat writer DJ Eberle, the plan for Sanchez is to catch seven innings tonight, DH nine tomorrow and then catch nine the next two games. It's a quick progression - keep in mind that rosters do expand Saturday - and the skipper says Sanchez should be fine, as his conditioning is better than he's seen: "I don't know necessarily if it wasn't 'down' before, but I just feel like his conditioning is at a really good level, and to me it's the best it's been all year. Just from watching him move in the days leading up to him leaving us, watching him run, swing the bat, and his defense…I just feel like he's in a really good place physically, and I know he's worked really hard to get to that point."
-Didi Gregorius has played catch and hit in the cage, and will see the doctor later today. He told Meredith Marakovits that he still feels a little something in his heel but thinks he could play right now, but the skipper was a little more cautious on the shortstop's prognosis: "We've seen significant improvement with him every day, so we'll see how it goes with the doctor today. If all goes well, hopefully we'll be able to get him out on the field pretty shortly and start ramping him up, but we have to feel that he's safe going out there and can move around like he needs to move to be Didi Gregorius."
-And as for Aroldis Chapman's knee? Here's Boone: "There has been a little bit of improvement, but we're still in the early days of him responding to the injection he had. We're kind of trying to have him stay off it as much as he can for these next few days to let the injection take hold, and hopefully a he'll have a little bit of down time before we start ramping him back up."
-Last word from Boone is a non-injury update, this his answer when asked about Luis Severino's comments that the team is enjoying watching Luke Voit's exuberance on the field: "I have noticed that. He's a character, and he's fun to watch the excitement that he plays the game with. I think he enjoys coming to the field, and he has an expectation and a belief that he's going to be successful. He's gotten a chance to show that, and he's produced, and it's been fun to see the guys kind of feed off him and react to him, and to see his reactions when he's had success."