Life On Mars

The Yankees had a good chance to sweep a 4-game series away to the Detroit Tigers. They won the 1st 3. But they lost the 4th in the 10th inning. Had they lost any of the other games, in any other way, it would have felt a lot better. But losing the last game, beyond what would normally be the last inning, was a bit disheartening.

It could be joked that their punishment for playing so poorly before this was that they had to go to Detroit, and that their punishment for losing this game was that they had to go to Texas. And face the Houston Astros, the Chicken Fried Cheats, the Red Sox South, at Minute Maid Park. And, despite what some blithering idiots say about the new Yankee Stadium, Minute Maid Park is a lot closer to being "a little league field." Especially with the Astros' cheating.

In what seemed like an act of desperation, general manager Brian Cashman made his initial September call-ups, players who would be ineligible for the Playoffs if the Yankees made it, which they won't. Included among these is the most highly-touted Yankee prospect since Gleyber Torres: A young man whose play is so otherworldly, he is known as El Marciano: "The Martian."

Jasson Domínguez, no middle name, was born on February 7, 2003 in Esperanza, in the Dominican Republic. That's right: When Aaron Boone, now his manager hit that home run, Domínguez was all of 8 months old. And, like the House of El crest on Superman's costume that resembles the letter S, the name of his hometown, "Esperanza," means "Hope."

His father, Felix, is a Yankee Fan, and named him after Jason Giambi. Bad choice. Like Elvin "Mutt" Mantle did for his son Mickey, Felix taught Jasson to switch-hit. He throws righthanded. He started as a catcher before being moved to the outfield.

Jasson Domínguez was ranked as the top prospect eligible to sign with an MLB team in the 2019–2020 international class. He signed with the Yankees for a franchise record $5.1 million signing bonus on July 2, 2019. The hype has been unrelenting since, but, of course, one must take any hype around a Yankee "prospect" with a grain, a pinch, or even an entire mine's worth of salt, because so many of them flame out, and so many others have been screwed up by Yankee management.

He did not play at all in 2020, due to the cancellation of the minor league baseball season resulting from the COVID pandemic, and instead trained at a baseball academy in Santiago, in the Dominican. He began the 2021 season in extended Spring Training, played in the 2021 All-Star Futures Game, was promoted to the Class A Tampa Tarpons after that, played in the Futures Game again in 2022, and was promoted to the Class A Hudson Valley Renegades and then the Class AA Somerset Patriots.

He started this season with Somerset. In 109 games with them, he batted .254 with 15 home runs and 66 RBIs. On August 22, he was promoted to the Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. In 9 games with them, he batted .419 with 19 RBIs, although he didn't hit a home run. With little left to lose, it was announced on Wednesday afternoon that he would make his major league debut last night, September 1, 2023. He wore Number 89. Presumably, he will eventually get a lower number. Then again, Aaron Judge still wears 99.

With little left to lose, the Yankees played with this starting lineup, at these ages, against the execreble Astros last night:

26 1B DJ LeMahieu, 35

99 RF Aaron Judge, 31

11 SS Anthony Volpe, 22

27 DH Giancarlo Stanton, 33

89 CF Jasson Domínguez, 20

12 3B Isiah Kiner-Falefa, 28

88 C Austin Wells, 24, also making his MLB debut

80 LF Everson Pereira, 22, his 11th MLB appearance

91 2B Oswald Peraza, 23

The starting pitcher was Carlos Rodón, Number 55, age 30, and a tremendous disappointment since his acquisition. The opponents were the Astros, in Houston, and their starting pitcher, Justin Verlander, recently reacquired from the Mets, and, since his days with the Tigers, a tough opponent for the Yankees -- and, of course, everyone else.

So it was a "What else have we got to lose?" game. It seemed more like a game for a weird occurrence than a win. A weird occurrence such as a player hitting a home run in his 1st at-bat.

vGoing into last night's game, 134 players had hit a home run in their 1st MLB at-bat. They include 2 Hall-of-Famers: Earl Averill and, oddly, a man renowned as a great relief pitcher, Hoyt Wilhelm. They also include such notables as 1950s New York Giants star Whitey Lockman, future World Series-winning manager Chuck Tanner, future Yankee broadcaster Bill White, star Oakland Athletics shortstop (but not exactly a slugger) Bert Campaneris, 1980s All-Star 3rd basemen Tim Wallach and Gary Gaetti, and 1980s All-Star 1st baseman Will Clark. Not including active players, 22 of the players to have done it never hit another homer in the big leagues.

There had been 5 Yankees to do it: John Miller in 1966, Marcus Thames in 2002, Andy Phillips in 2004, and, in back-to-back at-bats in 2016, Tyler Austin and Aaron Judge. Of those, Judge was the only one who amounted to anything.

LeMahieu led off the game with a home run. After Judge and Volpe grounded out, Stanton drew a walk. And Domínguez, batting lefthanded against the righthanded Verlander, hit one to the opposite field, into the Crawford Boxes in left field. It was 3-0 Yankees before the cheats even came to bat.

José Abreu hit a home run for the Astros to lead off the bottom of the 2nd. But Judge led off the top of the 3rd with a single. After a Volpe floyout, Stanton hit a home run. It was 5-1 Yankees. The Astros got a run back in the bottom of the 3rd, but Judge led off the top of the 5th with a home run, the 250th of his career.

Rodón got through the 5th with the lead. Randy Vásquez pitched a scoreless 6th and 7th. Wandy Peralta and Jonathan Loáisiga combined for a scoreless 8th, and Loáisiga pitched a perfect 9th. Yankees 6, Astros 2.

This is, arguably, the highlight of the Yankees' season thus far. They are now 66-69. They need to go 15-12, playing at a 90-win pace, over the rest of the season, to finish at .500.

The Martian gave the Yankees hope -- if not for the season, then maybe the next. There may be "life on Mars," and maybe even in The Bronx.