And I Didn't Write About The Jets

I am feeling better. My cough is subsiding. I am getting my energy back. Finally. 

Could it be a coincidence that the Yankees are playing, well, like the Yankees of the first half of the season? Maybe they all took Z-pack like I did? Or maybe the calendar turned and August is a distant memory? Or perhaps that some pitchers have really stepped up and the hitters—yes, you Gleyber Torres—have gotten hot at the right time? Even without D.J. LeMahieu and Anthony Rizzo absent from the lineup and Aaron Hicks becoming a true enigma?

Whatever the reasons, this is a feel good period for the Bronx Bombers. I mean they won a game in Boston with what announcer Michael Kay aptly described as a Little League home run—Torres hit a single and with some bad play by the Red Sox, he scampered around the bases to slide in safe at home plate. Check the Internet for that hot video. 

Pursuers Tampa Bay and Toronto are in the midst of their head-to-head play over a two week period and now New York sits 6 games ahead of the Blue Jays and 6.5 in front of the Rays. With 19 more games to go. 

The Yankees magic number has been mentioned. It is 14 right now. Dare I say that two weeks ago, most Yankees fans were not thinking about the team clinching the AL East, let alone making the playoffs. 

A lot of things can still happen during this last stretch of games. Some great philosopher once said “It ain’t over til it’s over.” But just like me, the Yankees and their fans are breathing once more. 

Rizzo and LeMahieu are coming back soon. Giancarlo Stanton is slowly coming around, although he did strike out 4 times on Wednesday and looked awkward at bat. Harrison Bader will be making his Yankees debut very soon and can make the loyalists forget about the seemingly one-sided trade for Jordan Montgomery.

Luis Severino will be on the mound in short order, making the rotation more formidable. A number of relievers will be returning too. Suddenly, the team is getting healthy.

Oh, and Aaron Judge has been in another zone. His statistics are Ruthian—and I do mean that, because his season is being compared to those of the Bambino. 

Sitting at 57 home runs, it is a matter of when he will surge past Roger Maris. For now, he isn’t the player on the Yankees who has had the most home runs in a season—Stanton  slugged 59 in 2017. He will race by that shortly. 

In New York, we haven’t had too many watches involving the Yankees. The Jeter watch seems to be the last one, when he was looking to collect his 3,000 hit. 

The three game inter league series this weekend in Milwaukee, followed by the Pirates coming into Yankee Stadium for two tilts should give us an idea of when Judge’s at bats will be must see TV (as if they already aren’t?). And ironically, the Red Sox come to town after the Pirates—it was Maris clubbing a Tracy Stallard pitch for his 61st homer; Stallard wore a Boston uniform that day. 

I was questioned about being too Yankees centric. I acknowledge my long time bias. But there are only a few races left to follow as the season heads to its ultimate conclusion. 

The closest is in the NL East, where the Mets and Braves are separated by 0.5, with Atlanta having played one less game. Both could win 100 games this season. They have a critical three game set in Atlanta the final weekend. New York must go on the road to Milwaukee and Oakland. The Braves have a slew of games with the Phillies, a team two games up on San Diego and four games ahead of the Brewers for a Wild Card berth. One will emerge as the division winner, one will be the top NL Wild Card team. New York just needs one win to secure the tiebreaker between the two rivals. 

Otherwise, the Orioles sit for games behind the Rays for the final AL Wild Card slot. Cleveland holds a four game margin over the White Sox and five over the Twins in the AL Central. That’s the extent of what is happening in pennant races for 2022. 

Let me go back to Judge’s pursuit of 61. There are the baseball purists, who point out that Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire muscled their way into the record books by cheating—allegedly using steroids to enhance their power. Those purists want Judge to be their standard bearer. 

This brings me back to when Maris was hitting homers in 1961. It was decreed that his performance would not be breaking Babe Ruth’s mark—because it happened in a 162 game season, whereas Ruth and his Yankees played in only 154 games. 

While this slight was ultimately corrected, baseball never really has dealt with the home run record. Only the Hall of Fame voters have chosen to police the steroid use by keeping the aforementioned trio out of the shrine. Those voters are sportswriters. 

My take on this is simple. Unless the games suddenly don’t count anymore, then the records stand. The marks set by Bonds and Mc Gwire will not necessarily be threatened by Judge this year.

What Judge is doing is unprecedented. He will have the American League record for home runs. That is one heck of an accomplishment. Everything else that he leads the league in is so far ahead of his pursuers that it is almost comical. That’s how good he’s been.

Let’s celebrate Judge for what he is doing. No matter if he wins or loses the AL M.V.P., this will be a year to remember. Like I do with 1961. Or how there was always a second individual chasing Bonds (Sosa) or Mc Gwire (Sosa). Or even Maris (Mantle). 

Nobody is close to Judge in homers—in either league. Let that sink in, purists. How are you going to deal with that one to denigrate what Judge has achieved?

One other topic. Retirement has become of vogue. First, there was Serena Williams after her US Open loss. 

Then there was the kerfuffle regarding the G.O.A.T. of the NFL. That would be one Thomas Edward Patrick Brady, Jr. So much has been made of his 11 day absence from training camp. 

He left because his wife wanted to go on a pre-planned family vacation—one which he decided to do when he initially retired after last season, before unretiring. Giselle Bundchen  has made it abundantly clear that she disapproved of his choice and there are plenty of reports that the marriage is rocky right now. 

Brady is obsessive when it comes to football. He wanted to play at age 45. Check. 

His career will end this season, no matter what. Whatever happens to his marriage as a result is a private matter. Except to everybody who follows the NFL. It sure is hard to be Tom Brady these days.

Serena kind of said that she could play on like Brady. Really? I doubt it. I would advise her to look no further than Roger Federer, the Swiss tennis legend who announced that he will play in one more tournament than call it quits. I don’t hear that his marriage is in trouble—nor did Serena’s appear to be this last US Open fortnight. 

College football heads into its third week with Georgia leading the polls. Alabama had trouble in Austin. Texas A&M has Miami invading College Station. With the weather beautiful for much of the country. 

The Giants upset the Titans on a gutsy two point conversion called by first year head coach Brian Daboll. Denver’s coach blew the game with his horrible clock management. The Bengals loss of long snapper Clark Harris cost them a win over Pittsburgh. Indianapolis and Houston played to an ugly tie. And Eagles fans, let’s see how your team does at home with a Minnesota team which took down the vaunted Aaron Rodgers and his Green Bay Packers. At least those teams are better off than Dallas, where QB Dak Prescott is out after hand surgery. 

A lot of rocking the boat this week. In baseball, college football and in the NFL. And I didn’t even write about the Jets.