There it was, as if it were waving from the flagpole behind the bleachers in left field.
There it was, a five-pitch explosion in the bottom of the seventh inning in The Bronx that provided the ultimate representation of the power and glory that has defined the Yankees since Babe Ruth settled in New York 104 years ago.
Aaron Judge had already made history by smacking his 50th home run in the first inning but Sunday’s game against downtrodden Colorado wasn’t quite the day at the beach one might have envisioned. The Rockies scraped and were within 4-3 when Juan Soto stepped to the plate with one out in the bottom of the seventh.
He hit reliever Jeff Criswell’s first pitch deep into the right-field stands.
Judge followed. He hit the first pitch into the first row of the right-field stands.
Giancarlo Stanton came next. It took him three pitches to pick one out and bash it into netting protecting Monument Park.
“A trifecta,” is what manager Aaron Boone called it after the 10-3 victory that gave his division-leading team its 17th victory in the last 26 games. “Juan gets it rolling, Judge, he does what he does and G leaves no doubt.”
Two-three-four in the order is the new three-four-five. I’m not sure that there has ever been a more lethal three-four-five in baseball history. When Ruth hit third and Lou Gehrig hit fourth for the 1927 Yankees, Bob Meusel hit fifth. When Roger Maris hit third and Mickey Mantle hit fourth in 1961, Yogi Berra, Elston Howard and John Blanchard divided the chores hitting fifth. When Joe DiMaggio hit third and Gehrig cleanup in 1936, Bill Dickey owned the five-hole.
Now, we are talking about Hall of Famers here. But in terms of sheer wattage, power (and marquee power, too), this feels unique.
Of course, in talking about Ruth and Gehrig and DiMaggio and Mantle and Maris and Blanchard, we are talking about Yankees who won multiple World Series. Talking about Soto, Judge and Stanton, and the collective rings on their fingers add up to one — and Soto’s was won with the Nationals.
History comes second to winning in The Bronx. History comes second to winning for Judge, who is the first player since Ruth not associated with performance enhancing drugs to hit 50 home runs at least three times in a career. He is on pace to eclipse the AL record of 62 he hit two years ago.
“The main thing is that we’ve still got a ball game to play,” Judge said when asked about his ability to filter out the noise when he steps into the box. “The biggest and easiest thing, you want to be out there to win the game. It doesn’t matter what you’ve just done.
“It’s only something special when you hit home plate. Then it’s onto the next, you know? That’s what helps me to stay locked in on a game.”
Judge has hit 47 homers in his last 102 games. He has hit 150 over the last three years, averaging one home run every 9.29 at-bats. Ruth hit 161 homers from 1926 through 1928. He averaged one home run every 9.76 at-bats.
The Yankees haven’t been quite so vulnerable behind Judge in the order since Stanton returned from a six-week absence in late July. There is some protection there. Moving Gleyber Torres to the leadoff spot has changed the dynamic. Indeed, Torres, leading off for the ninth straight game, hit the Yankees’ fifth homer in the eighth inning to cap the spree.
But still, just like the home runs in the classic movie “Major League” were hit “too high,” the Yankees were also believed to hit “too many home runs” through many of their failed postseason runs since 2009. There is always the question whether the Yankees offense is diversified enough or whether better pitching will shut down this show of muscle.
Baseball has become a playoff sport just like hockey and basketball. The Yankees have had their troubles in the postseason lately, you may have realized. So, too, has Judge, who went 1-for-16 in the ALCS loss to Houston two years ago and is slashing .211/.310/.462 with 13 homers and 66 K’s in 171 playoff at-bats.
No. 99 is the Greatest Show on Earth, and no, I’m not talking about Wayne Gretzky. When only two people in history have accomplished a feat and the other one is Babe Ruth, we can probably leave the 1-for-16 for another day.
Sunday afternoon in The Bronx, Soto, Judge and Stanton went boom into the air and lit up the sky.
Once in a Lifetime is meant to be savored.
