BALTIMORE — It doesn’t really matter that it was just the Orioles. The Yankees are beating all newcomers these days, and they are doing it in different ways, with a multitude of heroes. This time Giancarlo Stanton rested, MVP candidate Aaron Judge registered no hits from the DH spot and the Yankees still had the upper hand, taking their last of many series to 21 wins in 24 games.
The Yankees’ main rival is now history, with the outmatched Orioles just a foil and a footnote.
The Yankees’ 3-2 win Wednesday night, which was built on ace Gerrit Cole’s arm, a smaller than usual ball and plenty of good glove work, sent this team into thin air.
Yes, the Yankees are now truly 28-9, easily the best in baseball and equated for the best in the wildcard era (since 1994) right now with the 2001 Mariners and 1998 Yankees, two historically outstanding clubs. Those teams won 116 and 114 games respectively and are separated only by a championship.
These Yankees are now at a pace of 123 wins, which would of course outpace anyone. It’s hard to imagine they’ll continue to win at this rate, but it’s just as hard to anticipate that they’ll lose a lot, at least not in the near future, not like they perform in so many different areas.
“We won tonight defending and running bases. And we’re the Bronx Bombers,” Cole remarked at a clubhouse, where daily wins are currently expected.
Most years this isn’t a fair fight, and with the Yankees’ $250 million salary five times that of the Orioles, this season is no exception. To the credit of the Orioles, they played the first three games of this series – all Yankees win – fairly competitively, given the huge talent gap.
The Yankees needed some handy singles from Josh Donaldson and Gleyber Torres, who both scored on a wild pitch in a first inning for three runs, and some great early catches from super sub Marwin Gonzalez, who replaced Judge, who earned a day at DH after his superhuman efforts the night before.
Although the Yankees didn’t sign a big free agent this winter, stayed under the luxury tax, and got big and undeserved heat for it, the Orioles’ big move was to crack open their piggy bank to resize the sport’s most beautiful. baseball field.
The Orioles had only a few cents to spend, and they used it to push back the left field fence at the beautiful Camden Yards, practically to Pratt Street. The move was supposedly a boost to their beleaguered pitchers, but only until the schedule reminded them that they still had 76 games left to play against the other AL East teams, including 19 against the Yankees. Fairness will be addressed next year when a more balanced schedule is introduced.
Tonight’s Orioles can at least take some comfort in finally stopping the unstoppable Judge, who had hit 13 home runs in his previous 21 games and was serenaded with “MVP, MVP” chants. Only the night before, Judge was prevented from his first three-home game by the newly cavernous Camden Yards when he plastered a ball into left field, the very spot where the Orioles had pushed the fence back 26.5 feet (not to mention the raise the field). from 7 feet high to 13), making home runs nearly impossible that way.
It’s no coincidence that the Dingers are down nearly 60 percent this year, from 3.42 per game to 1.39, although Judge hit two home runs later Tuesday — one to right-centerfield and the other to right.
“I feel like it’s ruining the park,” Judge said of the recently expanded ballpark dimensions for the competition. “It was quite a nice park as it was.”
There is probably no dimension that would even make this score. Recall that this time around, Cole is guaranteed to get more money in his career than the entire 26-man Orioles roster (and throw in the manager and coaching staff) for about $350 million, taking into account his $8 million signing bonus from UCLA. .
Cole, who came into the game with a 1.41 lifetime ERA against Baltimore, threw a decent game. He smoked five straight Orioles at one point and took the game to eighth, when the impenetrable Clay Holmes took it home for the save.
Sure, the Yankees have those twin towers of power in Judge and Stanton. But their defense has moved from the bottom step to the top third and their bullpen, lately led by Holmes and Michael King, is incomparable. But perhaps the greatest strength of this team is that there are no weaknesses.
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