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Gary Sanchez has been a game-changer for the Yankees
Sunday’s Say Hey, Baseball features the baseball wizardry of Gary Sanchez, a perfect/almost perfect game and two home run bashing brothers.
Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images
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The Yankees, who were in fire sale mode just over a month ago, have played their way back into the Wild Card race. Since Aug. 22, they’ve won 13 games and lost just five. In that time, they’ve pitched two shutouts and had two games where they scored more than 10 runs. Plus, they’re currently on a six-game winning streak. And while wins are a team effort, there’s one name that keeps coming up. That name is Gary Sanchez.
Gary Sanchez is a rookie sensation in a season full of rookie sensations. Sanchez signed in 2009 when he was just 16, and has made his way up and down the prospect lists. Over seven seasons in the minors, he had a .275/.339/.460, which isn’t anything to get too excited about, but he’s certainly proved himself in the majors. The Yankees called him up when they traded nearly everyone on their roster, and ever since he’s been a magical baseball wizard, forcing Brian McCann into a part-time role. In 32 games and 129 plate appearances, he’s hit .341/.417/.707 with 12 home runs. In August alone, he hit .389/.458/.832 in 107 plate appearances. That’s just insane.
But hitting well isn’t the only thing he’s done. You can barely go a single day without hearing about some cool/amazing/exciting/spectacular thing he’s done. Just take this weekend for example. On Friday, he threw out Corey Dickerson at second base with a throw that hit 84.1 mph on the gun. And just yesterday, he turned an intentional walk into a sac fly. You read that right. He was being intentionally walked, swung at a pitch and hit a sacrifice fly that scored a run. And that sac fly was home run! HE’S A WIZARD.
- Gary Sanchez isn’t the only good thing the Yankees have going for them. Their bullpen has been pretty magnificent lately.
- So, uh, Rich Hill had a perfect game for the Dodgers... right up until the seventh inning when Dave Roberts pulled him.
- Yasiel Puig made a spectacular catch to save that perfect game, which was all for nothing since Jeff Francoeur homered off of Hill’s replacement, Joe Blanton.
- Brothers Corey and Kyle Seager both homered yesterday, and they’ve set a home run record for brothers, which is pretty neat.
- Stephen Strasburg was up front with reporters after he received an injection in his elbow: he doesn’t know if he’ll be back this season.
- Danny Salazar has forearm tightness, which could bad, bad news for pretty much everyone involved, the Indians’ future playoff performances included.
- More bad news: Lorenzo Cain’s wrist injury really isn’t any better, and he could be out for the rest of the year.
- For a little while, everyone thought A.J. Pierzynski was retiring. But hold on to those cigars and hugs, because it’s not happening quite yet.
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