Yankees spark plug's Fenway power surge should end the Anthony Volpe experiment

Nobody wants to declare Moral Victory on a Losing Monday here — let's save that for the Giants blogs. But, coming off a weekend series victory at Fenway Park, the Yankees entered Sunday Night Baseball with the less-than-enviable task of trying to beat a desperate Red Sox team sending Garrett Crochet to the mound. Goal No. 1 was sweet victory. Goal No. 2 was to make Boston fans at least a little itchy along the way.

Goal No. 3? Don't embarrass yourselves. And, while it looked like they might fail in every respect in Will Warren's first inning, the Yankees eventually turned things around, agitated a bit, and proved some pretty important things before the home plate umpire decided to give Garrett Whitlock Greg Maddux's strike zone.

A game that began — and we really mean began — 6-0 Boston ended up 6-4 and significantly in the balance headed to the eighth inning, thanks in large part to Jose Caballero, who played a smooth-as-silk shortstop, ran all over the Red Sox, and showed off a new tool in his bag of tricks late on Sunday.

Caballero, the likely third-place finisher to Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Aaron Judge in the race for the "Most Visible Yankees Star This Weekend" award, went 3-for-12 with two doubles, a stolen bag, a stolen run on Friday night, and this ridiculous bomb out of the entire ballpark. Even considering Fenway's wimpy dimensions, that's impressive.

Jose Caballero emphatically proved he deserves Yankees shortstop role over Anthony Volpe in Red Sox series

The Yankees can say all they want to downplay the effects of Volpe's partial labrum tear, but anyone who watched his pre-shoulder injury play (and post-All-Star break/post-cortisone shot effectiveness) knows that, while his development track may still have been imperfect, this injury fully derailed the train.

Is Caballero — an elegant solution to the Yankees' years-long allergy to traditional baseball — the long-term solution at shortstop? Ideally, no; you'd rather plug him in all around the diamond, or late in a nail-biter, rather than run down his battery. But, in the short-term, with a hobbled Volpe clearly lost in space, there's no reason to continue to try to force a round peg back into a square hole — and, yes, I'm referring to Volpe's shoulder and socket.

Will the Yankees opt for normalcy over the next few weeks and ride with Caballero's comfort? Or will they attempt to pretend everything's fine yet again with Volpe? This weekend should've told them all they needed to know. If Volpe's shoulder wasn't the primary issue, then why did he need five days off to recuperate from an injection? If the Yankees tell you this weekend wasn't calculated, don't believe them — and Caballero gave them plenty of answers, with an added exclamation point on Sunday Night Baseball.