A rain-out couldn’t slow down the New York Yankees from another impressive week of play with stellar highlights.
Facing some of the most difficult tests in their young season, the New York Yankees came to play. Highly underrated, they spent the week defeating division rivals in dominating fashion.
The hardest part of this job this week was selecting which plays ended up being the top ones, only because there were so many stellar moments that were worthy of recognition.
What a problem to have.
During this time frame, the Yankees went 4-0 and defeated the likes of the Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles. They completely shut them down and just proved that the hot start for the Yankees is absolutely no fluke.
Without further adieu, here come the best plays of the week for your New York Yankees.
6. Torreyes’ backhanded stop (4/26)
While Didi Gregorius has made his triumphant return to the Bronx, we can’t forget just how valuable Ronald Torreyes is to the current Yankees team. Torreyes showed off his skill in Boston earlier this week.
Torreyes made an impressive backhanded stop deep in the hole before firing to Starlin Castro to get the final out of the seventh inning. Castro deserves some credit here too, as his scoop saved the play.
Torreyes may not be as slick a fielder as Gregorius but he has been getting the job done. This is just one of the many great plays he has made in his short time as a starter for the Yankees.
The Yankees may be happy that Gregorius is back at the helm in the infield but both them and the fans will be missing out on our favorite Little Toe.
5. Gardner’s Two Home Runs (4/29)
It’s about time Brett Gardner has started putting the bat on the ball. Even better that he’s started to put the ball out of the ballpark.
Gardner had enough of being the odd one out after Friday’s night barrage of home runs. So he decided to slug two of his own on Saturday afternoon.
Leading off the game with a solo shot, Gardner followed it up with a three-run shot to the Yankees bullpen.
We got to hear “Gardy Goes Yardy” twice yesterday but we also got to see Gardy start to actually hit the ball convincingly. That’s a win-win in my book.
Someone read Chase Headley's lips please #Yankees pic.twitter.com/FjqwP8XKWd
— Sung Min Kim (@sung_minkim) April 29, 2017
4. Headley’s Line Drive Snag (4/29)
Chase Headley had himself one heck of a start to the season. He continued his hot defense in the Bronx against Baltimore.
Headley made a stellar dive on a line drive off the bat of Manny Machado. After retiring the future Yankee, Headley expressed incredible emotion with some vulgar words.
We’ll forgive you this time because that catch was absolutely miraculous. But seriously, that was quite the defensive effort from a guy who isn’t getting any younger.
See you in pinstripes in 2019, Machado!
3. Judge’s Diving Catch (4/26)
Aaron Judge makes his way on the list one way or another. He’s just that good. This time, it was for his defensive abilities.
On a foggy night in Boston, which also happened to be Judge’s 25th birthday, Judge covered a lot of ground before finding his way into the stands with the ball in his glove.
After much debate and a “short” replay challenge, the verdict was in: Yes, Judge had ACTUALLY caught the ball.
That diving catch and going full-force into the stands simply proved that Judge isn’t just a power hitter, he’s also a power fielder.
2. Tanaka’s complete game shutout (4/27)
Masahiro Tanaka is the Yankees ace. He proved that Thursday night in Boston.
Tanaka was up against dominant lefty Chris Sale and he made sure the baseball world knew that there was only one ace that night.
Tanaka pitched a complete game shutout in only 97 pitches. While he didn’t strike out many batters (only three), he managed to induce soft contact while giving up only three hits on the night.
In short, he looked like the Tanaka we are used to seeing. He looked like the type of Tanaka that the Yankees would be insane to let go.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKmbZLfDjss
1. Friday Night’s Home Run Derby (4/28)
The entirety of Friday night was heaven. And since I couldn’t include every single play from that game, I narrowed it down to the most exciting moments of Friday night’s miraculous comeback. That just happens to be the plethora of home runs during that game.
Judge homered twice. Jacoby Ellsbury added his first career grand slam. Castro slugged a ninth-inning moonshot to tie the game. And, of course, Matt Holliday capped off the comeback with a walk-off three-run home run.
The Bronx Bombers are officially back! Friday night was just a prime example of it all coming together at once.
The Yankees had a wild week full of comebacks, nail-biting victories and top plays. This week will likely bring even more of this new Yankees team and we love it.
