The Yankees now quite unbelievable Spring Training soared to new heights this afternoon as a trio of Yankee pitchers no-hit the Detroit Tigers.
The Yankees, whom Boston Red Sox GM, Dave Dombrowski called a legitimate threat in 2017, have been looking even better than that during the Preseason.
And this afternoon, the team soared to a new height when they traveled to Lakeland Florida to meet the Detroit Tigers. Not only did the Yankees win again by a score of 3-0, but they did it with a punctuation mark by no-hitting the Tigers in a streamlined fashion.
Three pitchers, led by Masahiro Tanaka who went 4 1/3 masterful innings striking out six, combined to toss the gem. Chasen Shreve completed the fifth inning for Tanaka, and then Jordan Montgomery came on as advertised shutting the Tigers down for the remaining four innings.
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The Yankees bats were relatively quiet today, but they did all they had to do picking up RBI singles from Rob Refsnyder and Gleyber Torres (yup, him again).
On the downside though and something to remain mindful of, the Yankees were 4-16 with runners in scoring position leaving 11 men on base and Torres committed his fourth error of the spring on a throw.
The win today pushed the team’s spring record to 16-5. On the surface, it all means nothing because the last time anyone looked, all 30 teams still have a 0-0 record for the 2017 season.
But winning now creates an atmosphere that all teams strive for and the Yankees, arguably, have lacked since the departure of Derek Jeter. Joe Girardi explained to the New York Post:
"“I think it’s important, “I think a winning culture is important with some of the younger guys. And one of the reasons we’re winning games is our younger guys who come in are really talented. And they add on or score runs late.”"
While no one, to my knowledge, has ever been able to figure out a winning team’s construction formula, we do know this. When teams win titles, contributions come from everywhere. The masterful use of all 25 players on his roster by Joe Maddon and Terry Francona sets the bar for the Yankees this season.
And maybe that’s was makes the Red Sox a bit jumpy as they watch from a distance what their arch rivals are doing this spring.
But Reality Is Different From The Dream
The trouble, of course, is that the team we see this spring is not the team the Red Sox or any other team will face this season. Jordan Montgomery is not scheduled to pitch four perfect innings against them and Gleyber Torres, and possibly Refsnyder, won’t be there to send pesky little ground balls through their infield scoring key runs.
Yankees: Are They Unintentionally Running A Scam?
For at least the next two seasons, the Baby Bomber Yankees are blocked everywhere they look. Are the Yankees running a scam with many of these players?
But, that’s a story for another day. For today, it’s enough to dream on.