Aaron Is Judge, Jury and Executioner as Yanks Sweep Sox

Find yourself someone who will love you as much as Aaron Judge loves beating the Boston Red Sox.

It's getting to the point where you cannot stop him, and even "You can only hope to contain him" might be going by the boards.

And that whole debate with Met fans that Pete Alonso might be better? Yeah, that's over. This is not Mickey Mantle vs. Willie Mays: Alonso is in full "sophomore jinx" mode, while it's beginning to look like Elvis Presley was the Aaron Judge of music.

Aaron is being Judge, Jury, and definitely Executioner.

The Auld Enemy did not want to get swept at Yankee Stadium this weekend, and, last night, they showed up as if the pharmacist and the Apple Watch repairman had both arrived. Xander Bogaerts went 4-for-4, including home runs in the 1st and 5th innings. Thanks to him, the Sox had 2 runs before the Yankees even got to bat.

But Judge hit one out as well, in the bottom of the 1st, giving the Yankees a 3-2 lead. That was his 5th straight game with a home run. The major league record is 8, shared by a Yankee (Don Mattingly in 1987), a player who would go on to become a Yankee (Dale Long of the 1956 Pittsburgh Pirates), and a player who refused to become a Yankee (Ken Griffey Jr. of the 1993 Seattle Mariners).

The Sox retook the lead in the top of the 3rd, going up 5-3, and ending James Paxton's night. But in the bottom of that inning, back-to-back doubles by a finally-waking-up Gary Sanchez and an already-wide-awake Gio Urshela tied it, 5-5. This was beginning to look like a typical Yanks-Sox game at Fenway Park, but it was at Yankee Stadium II.

The teams traded home runs again in the 5th, Bogaerts for them, Luke Voit for us, to make it 6-6. Rafael Devers hit one out in the 7th, to make it 7-6 Boston. Mike King gave up both of those home runs. Out he went, in came Adam Ottavino.

In the bottom of the 8th, the Yankees staged a good-old-fashioned 2-out rally. Cliche Alert: Walks can kill you. Or, if you're the team whose players are drawing them, they can save you. Mike Tauchman drew a walk, and stole 2nd base. DJ LeMahieu singled him home to tie the game.

And then Judge hit one 468 feet to left center. Had this one been hit at the old Yankee Stadium, this would have been over Monument Park. That's 6 home runs in 5 games for him.

On the ESPN broadcast, Matt Vasgersian went nuts. And he's no kid: He's about to turn 53. Nor is he a New Yorker or a Yankee Fan: He was born in Oakland, and grew up in nearby Moraga, and may be an Oakland Athletics fan. But he acted like he was a kid who had never seen one of these before.

One of these days, Judge is going to hit one so far, whoever is broadcasting it is simply going to say, "Holy shit," on the air, and no one will fine him for it, because they'll understand.

Zack Britton closed it out. Yankees 9, Red Sox 7. Sweep. WP: Ottavino (1-0). SV: Britton (3). LP: Matt Barnes (0-1).

The Yankees are now 7-1. Next-best in the major leagues are the Minnesota Twins and the Chicago Cubs at 7-2. In the American League Eastern Division, the Baltimore Orioles are 5-3, the Buffalo Blue Jays are 3-4, the Tampa Bay Rays are 4-6, and the Red Sox are 3-7. The Mets are also 3-7, including a couple of embarrassing losses to the Atlanta Braves this weekend. The only team with a worse record than that is the Pittsburgh Pirates, at 2-7.

So, with the rearranged schedule, the Yankees start a home series with the Philadelphia Phillies tonight -- further COVID-19-connected rulings permitting. The intended starting pitchers are Gerrit Cole for us, Jake Arrieta for them.