A Lot of Smiles at Yankee Stadium These Days

The Yankees got off to an awful start this season. After an embarrassing loss to the Mets (Is there any other kind of loss to the Mets?), they were 41-41.

Even in the 2 weeks after the All-Star Break, they looked bad. Here's 3 titles I had for posts:

* July 24: The 2021 Yankees Are Obscene

* July 26: Yankees Can't Stop Digging

* July 30: Trades and Tampa Series: Too Little, Too Late for This Season?

But now... Can you imagine if the Yankees had acquired Anthony Rizzo and Joey Gallo before the season? We could have been playing like this all year long.

Gerrit Cole started yesterday afternoon, and he did what he does: He went 6 innings, allowed no runs on 5 hits and 1 walk, striking out 6. Lucas Luetge pitched the 7th and 8th innings, and did what he does: He allowed a run -- but only 1. Albert Abreu pitched a perfect 9th.

The Yankees got a run in the 2nd inning. Rougned Odor started it by being hit with a pitch. Luke Voit singled him over to 2nd. After 2 outs, Tyler Wade singled Odor home.

Then came the 5th inning. With 1 out, Wade doubled, DJ LeMahieu singled, Rizzo was hit by a pitch, and Wade scored on a wild pitch. Aaron Judge drew a walk, and Giancarlo Stanton doubled home LeMahieu and Rizzo. Odor grounded into a fielder's choice to eliminate Judge, but Voit doubled home Stanton and Odor.

And the kid from The Bronx, the man known as "Squid," Andrew Velazquez, in his 147th career plate appearance over 4 seasons, his 34th as a Yankee, hit his 1st major league home run. The game was already in hand, but look at the smile on his face in that photo: By no means was it meaningless.

Yankees 7, Twins 1. WP: Cole (12-6). No save. LP: Kenta Maeda (6-5).

Today's series finale with the Twins was postponed to Monday, September 13, due to Hurricane Henri, although the worst of it was in the middle of the night, so maybe it could have been played. It's just drizzling as I type this.

There's a lot of smiles at Yankee Stadium these days. The Yankees have won 9 in a row, 11 of their last 13, 16 of their last 19, 31 out of 42 since they bottomed out at .500. They are 4 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League Eastern Division, and currently stand to be the home team in the AL Wild Card Game. There are 6 weeks, 38 games, remaining in the regular season.

After the shortest Yankee season ever last year, 60 games due to the COVID shutdown, this has felt like the longest Yankee season ever, and we're still in August. And there's still a long way to go.

But, right now, the Yankees are more exciting than they've been since the last title season in 2009. We shall see.