3 Yankees overreactions for 2022 after opening series win vs Red Sox

The 2022 New York Yankees are far from perfect (imagine them being perfect after three games?), but following a 2021 season that felt like a 2020 hangover, it’s been refreshing to watch the Bombers erase deficits, battle back (unless Jake Diekman’s involved), and stay stingy on the mound.

You can choose to harp on dropping the final game of three to the Red Sox if you’d like, the last time New York will see the BoSox until July for some reason. Stranding 11 men on base is frustrating, sure, but it really boiled down to Aaron Hicks grounding into a double play and Aaron Hicks popping out on a 3-1 pitch with runners on second and third and one out.

Would you like to flay Aaron Hicks alive? Fine. Spend your time doing that. But a 3-for-11 outing with RISP where literally one additional single could’ve won the game (and swept a series) will not have me waxing negative about a team that showed off a lot of strengths against an unsightly Red Sox core that’s repeatedly punked them in the recent past.

The Yankees encountered a scorching Alex Verdugo, allowed an Aaron Judge extension cloud to block out the sun on Opening Day, and fell behind by deficits of 3-0 (first inning, no outs), 2-0 (second inning, no outs) and 2-0 again (first inning, one out), only to capture two wins and nearly a third.

And God, will there ever be a cockier collective of Narrow Series Sweep Avoiders than Red Sox fans? You got a single win by a fingertip and your offense ate paint in 18 previous innings. Handle your in-house business and extend your best players so they don’t play bored, maybe?

It’s too early to plan the parade routes (I mean … unless you just want to get ahead of things …), but several Yankees showed this weekend just how impactful they can be if everything goes right, while one player proved that while the ice isn’t thin yet, the top layer may have already melted.

These three players have already shown us something significant after one short series victory.

3 snap judgments about Yankees players after opening series vs Boston

3. Anthony Rizzo Can Be a Leader (and Also Dominant)

Did the Yankees sign Anthony Rizzo on what essentially amounts to a one-year deal after swinging and missing on Matt Olson and Freddie Freeman? Sure. But the amount of disrespect tossed Rizzo’s way after the deal has only been equaled in grossness by the horde of Yankee fans who now have whiplash from spinning around to pray at his altar.

None of the Rizzo hatred was warranted when he inked a two-year, $32 million deal with an opt out, and through three games against the Red Sox, he’s been a one-man argument in favor of both “intangibles” and “clutch.”

During a three-game set, Rizzo went through the Yankees ringer. He was drilled by an inside fastball in Game 1, briefly sending fans into Manic Injury Mode. He shook it off, homering for the second time in as many games the next day. In the series, Rizzo launched a two-run shot that stole the momentum in the opener, tied the second contest with a similar blast, and briefly equalized Sunday night’s game with a line-drive, two-run single.

Add in the pep talk he gave Ron Marinaccio that got the Toms River native on track in Saturday’s most important inning, and the Thurman Munson-worshipping arm of Yankees Twitter is hiking up their shirts at the tattoo parlor already.

Rizzo’s “down 2021 season” that torpedoed his value was, in reality, an above-average 111 OPS+ season with sterling defense. If that’s the baseline for Rizzo’s contributions, the Yankees will take it — for a single season.

And this opening set proved he could be something intangibly important to this team even if the overall offensive numbers are down from his peak.

1. Yankees Uncovered a Good One in Ron Marinaccio

The Yankees bullpen was a strength when camp broke in mid-March. In the three weeks since, it’s only gotten stronger — in multiple respects.

Trading their excess lefty Joely Rodriguez for Miguel Castro of the Mets seems like a win-win, need-filling trade, and one that has left the Yankees in a far better position than if they’d carried Rodriguez, only to not trust him in high-leverage situations.

Then there’s the decision to carry 16 pitchers, and while the jury’s currently out on JP Sears, Clarke Schmidt seems to have found his legs in relief after poor showings in 2020 and 2021, while New Jersey native, Yankee diehard, and late-round pick Ron Marinaccio was given a trial by fire Saturday and came out tan rather than scorched.

The first man out of the ‘pen after Luis Severino got victimized by Alex Verdugo, both otherwise showed off, Marinaccio walked the first man he faced in Trevor Story, who was borderline not a major-leaguer this weekend (oh no!).

After an Anthony Rizzo pep talk, though, he breezed through the rest of the lineup, showing off each and every one of his pitches. There was the change he got Bobby Dalbec to flail over, the 96 MPH fastball at the edges that nipped Boston’s rally in the bud, and the sweeping slider that ended the inning, playing the role of strike three to Christian Vazquez. Once Marinaccio booted up, he found his location robotically, sending the Red Sox packing in order during the inning that could’ve been the breaking point in an eventual comeback win (the Yankees evened the score in the bottom half).

For too long, we’ve heard that Marinaccio could be a weapon if given a chance to contribute. We’ve also spent years (decades?) watching the Next Big Thing Reliever hit the bigs only for his control to be nonexistent and his poise to be lacking. After the briefest of speed bumps, Marinaccio showed he can be the real deal with three different pitches — and now, this bullpen is stuffed.

Yes. After three games. It’s official.

3 players most likely to become Yankee Killers in 2022

These 3 seemingly random MLB players who other teams manage to handle relatively easily will be certified Yankees Killers in 2022.